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Chapter One

Wayne glanced at his watch. He didn't think the last few questions asked by the audience were bad, but it was getting late and he had skipped lunch earlier in the day to attend a workshop. Wayne didn't regret it, it was a good workshop on writing geography in fantasy and sci-fi settings. He just was ready to relax and get some food.

“...And we are going to call it there. Thank you everyone and have a good night.” The presenter was met by applause.

Wayne joined the clapping before getting up out of his chair. Good or bad panel, after an hour and a half in the crappy chair his butt was stiff. Wayne stretched a bit before grabbing his messenger bag. He pulled out his phone that had been on silent during the panel. A quick check in with his mom and an update on his status satisfied Wayne for now. Time enough to check his email later tonight back in his room. Wayne knew he should run out to one of the surrounding restaurants to get some dinner but he needed to relax first.

He decided a walk to the hotel bar would do him some good. He slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and left the meeting room. He nodded to some of his fellow attendees in the hall as he headed to the lobby. There were a lot more people there, not too surprising as the hotel was host to two events for the next three days. Wayne didn't know what it was exactly, just that it had something to do with business. He was surprised how empty the bar was.

I guess everyone is out drinking on the town.

Wayne settled in on a stool near the end of the bar and ordered a beer.

He sipped his beer and wondered, what to do tonight...

***

Ash's arm was almost sore from all the hand shaking she had done, and there were still two more days to the conference. She slipped the latest vendor's business card into her folder to sort out later. The wolf looked around at the gathering and it seemed to be breaking up for the evening. Checking her schedule, Ash saw the only thing left for today was a social function in the main ballroom. She sighed and slipped her folder into a tote bag she had gotten at the start of the conference.

Well, if I have to pay for my own drinks anyway, I might as well head down to the bar and take a break from all this.

She stopped to chat with a friend for a moment before making her way to the hotel bar. Ash noticed a human sitting by himself near the end of the bar. She could tell by the way he was dressed that he wasn't attending the regional conference. He wasn't sloppy, but was far more casual than any other male she had been with that day. Ash walked up to the bar and approached the male.

“Excuse me,” she asked with a smile, “do you mind if I sit here?”

“Ah, no, go ahead.” He smiled back, shifting his stool to the side slightly.

“Thank you,” she climbed up on the stool and smoothed out her skirt, “I hate drinking alone.”

“So you’re not a lone wolf then?”

The long look she gave him down her muzzle let him know exactly how funny she found his joke.

“I'm sorry,” he smiled, “I just can't let an obvious joke or pun go unsaid. I'm Wayne Bates, by the way,” he offered her hand.

She smiled in spite of herself and shook his hand lightly, “I'm Ash, Ash Gibbous” she glanced at his lanyard, “I see you are here for the other conference.”

Wayne nodded, “well, it's more of a workshop and networking event for writers.”

“Oh, are you a writer then?” her head tilted slightly to the side and her ears perked up.

Gods that's cute... He thought before answering her question, “Trying to be,” Wayne laughed, “I've done a lot of spec-writing and ghostwriting, but I haven't published an original work yet.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but what can I get you?” the bartender asked.

“A bay breeze please,” Ash replied before turning back to Wayne, “what exactly is ghostwriting anyway, I've heard the term and all the silly jokes about it of course.”

“There are several variations. The one that I've worked the most in is kid series.”

“Like what?”

“I can't name names, but you know those chapter books aimed at grade schoolers? The ones that seem to have ridiculous numbers of entries in the series?”

“Sounds like what I used to read as a cub,” she admitted, “I made my way through whole shelves of them at my local library.”

“Yeah, most of those are ghostwritten, the name on the front is often just made up by the publisher. They tend to have a couple of volumes being written simultaneously by several different authors.”

“I never thought of it before, but that makes sense when you spell it out.” Her drink arrived and she thanked the bartender, “do you enjoy doing it?”

“I enjoy having food to eat,” he laughed before taking a drink, “I admit, they aren't works I would ever brag about, but they are good practice. Not to mention it helps build a good reputation as someone publishers can work with,” he paused to take another drink, “and honestly, having to write a high school drama series for young females now and then actually does stretch me creatively.”

“So wait, those books I read back then as a cub...males could have written them?”

Wayne just smiled as an answer. Ash shook her head and sipped her drink.

“Does that leave you time to work on your own projects though?”

“Yes. Honestly, I spend more time on my own projects.”

“I'm guessing your own projects aren't high school dramas then,” Ash smirked.

“More fantasy and science fiction.”

“Hmm, I'd have expected you in a geekier shirt than that,” she teased.

“I dress a little differently at the office,” Wayne joked back.

“Can you tell me anything about your own projects then?”

“I've got a fantasy story that I am currently serializing online. Starting to develop a bit of a following; more followers with every chapter. My plan is to try and sell the future two volumes of the trilogy after I have a built-in audience.”

“First taste is free huh?” She said holding out her drink and shaking it slightly.

Wayne smiled broadly, “pretty much. I'm also working on a few short sci-fi stories. Kind of experimenting with the setting.”

“How so?” her ears canted forward again.

“I'm using the stories to flesh out the setting, more so for me than any future readers. After I get a good handle on it I will either expand one of the stories into a novel, or start a fresh one from scratch. The short stories can always be collected into an anthology or put online as bonus content.”

“You put a lot of thought into this beyond just writing the stories.”

“You have to if you want to really make it as a writer. You gotta look at it as a business as much as art. The last major project I'm working on is kind of a passion project and more than just writing.”

Ash smiled and she could see the excitement in Wayne's eyes, “go on, tell me.”

“Do you know what tabletop role playing games are?”

She paused to think, “is that thing where you roll those weird dice around and pretend to be elves?”

“Yeah, that,” Wayne could tell by her tone she wasn't trying to insult him, “I've been playing since high school, but I've been running games with my current crew for the last two years. I'm trying to put together a full campaign setting, complete with novels set in the world.”

“I admit I don't know anything about this, but that sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is, but that's why it's my passion project. If I didn't love it as much as I do I would have abandoned it years ago.”

“I'm surprised you have time to step away from your keyboard.”

“Sometimes, I don't,” he smiled before taking a drink, “what about you, I see you're here for the...regional supplier diversity conference,” he read off her badge, “that sounds...interesting.”

“Really, want to swap badges for tomorrow?” Ash laughed, “it's important, but not interesting. There are some good talks and networking, but a lot of it is vendors just trying to sell their companies to us.”

“So what do you do?”

“My sarcastic answer is my job,” she chuckled, “but really it's hard to put into words. I work in supply chain, but I am the coordinator for this, the contact for that, the person they call when shit hits the fan and needs to be fixed.” Ash shook her head, “I just wear a lot of hats at work. ”

“Sounds like an important series of semi-related jobs.”

“Leave it to a writer to describe what I do better than I can,” she tipped her glass towards him.

“I try,” he clinked his glass against hers.

“I'm here today because I am the supplier diversity coordinator. Which means I have all these companies trying to explain to me why we should use their products and/or services. I shook so many hands I was afraid my arm was going to fall off.”

“You must get a lot of business cards.”

Ash laughed, “enough to shingle a house.”

“Do you at least get some good-”

“Ash, Ash Gibbous!” a vixen in a slate gray power suit called out as she rushed over to the bar.

Wayne saw Ash's face scrunch up in annoyance before she glanced over at her colleague.

“I was looking all over for you at the meet and greet before I heard you were out here.” she pushed herself directly between Ash and Wayne.

“Uh, excuse me?” Wayne said more surprised than angry at her actions.

“Oh, sorry hun,” she said without even turning to face him, “Ash, I just had to come and talk with you some more, especially after that speech you gave.”

I'll bet you want to talk... “Janice, I’m glad you liked my presentation, but I am just trying to unwind a bit. I was in the middle of a conversation.”

“I'm sure, but I'm here now,” she turned to Wayne, “why don't you move down a seat so I can sit next to my friend.”

“How about you take a hint?” Wayne narrowed his eyes, “Ash isn't interested in talking to you. You want a seat? Have them both, Come on Ash, there's a table over there.” he said, getting to his feet and grabbing his bag.

“Sounds good to me,” Ash turned her back and followed Wayne to the open high table.

Janice stared at them both, but they ignored her. Eventually she practically stomped out of the bar.

“I'm sorry about that,” she said, her ears folding back slightly, “thank you for the help though.”

“It's not a problem. I can't stand it when people don't get the hint.”

Ash sighed, “tell me about it.”

“Does it happen to you a lot, I mean you are obviously attractive...” he stopped right there blushing deeply.

She giggled. “Well, now that we are both embarrassed, how about I buy you a drink?”

“Sure, I need to wash out the taste of my foot from my mouth.”

After the next round of drinks was dropped off, Ash sighed and decided to open up a bit.

“It does happen much more often than I would like, and it's not because of my wolfish good looks,” she took a sip of her drink, “you see, I'm not a female, I'm a herm.”

“Oh, ok, um...why does that matter?”

Her ears snapped forward and she smiled slightly, “It shouldn't matter, I mean nobody likes getting continually hit on after saying no thanks. But well, here's the thing. I like males, it's what I am attracted to.”

“So you're straight then?”

“I'm a dual-reproductive herm, you could just as easily say I'm gay. But since I use female pronouns I suppose you can call me straight.”

Wane nodded.

“You know how a lot of females have bisexual leanings? Well it seems like they think the best way to scratch that itch is with a herm. And you know what, if that herm is into girls, go ahead. They just don't seem to believe that we can have preferences just like males and females do.”

“Man that sucks,” he shook his head, “So the females never get the hint? What about males?”

“The biggest assholes are usually scared off by my cock.”

Wane chuckled a bit.

“You were about to make an ass-fucking joke, weren't you?” Ash crossed her arms

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “but I couldn't come up with a clever enough one.”

“Hmm, some writer you are,” she smirked.

“It's been a long day.”

They both shared a laugh.

“Hey, if it's not too weird, you're the first herm I've ever spoken to. Can I ask you a few questions? If I step out of line you can let me know.”

“You already had to save me from getting hit on by a sex-starved vixen, things are already weird, Wayne, ask away.”

“Ok, so are you the only herm in your family?”

“Oh no, my mom and her mom are both herms, and my Uncle Jack is too. I have a younger brother and sister but they are male and female respectively,” she tilted her head slightly, “Do you have any siblings?”

“I have an older brother, Mike. So, what did you call yourself before, dual-something?”

“Dual-reproductive, it means all my male and female parts work. I can both mother and father a cub, as long as it's with a wolf, of course.”

“Of course.”

“My mom and my Uncle Jack are both half-reproductive. Obviously, my mom had cubs, and my uncle could have been a dad, if he had ever settled down with a mate.”

“Thanks for explaining it to me.”

“Not a problem, mind if I ask you a question?”

“You just did,” he smiled broadly.

“Ok, that is the only one of those you get,” she held up her finger in warning, “but seriously, when I said I was a herm your reaction was different than I expected. You didn't even flinch.”

“Is there a question in that?”

“Why were you so cool with it, especially if I'm the first herm you've actually talked to.”

“It's time for my awkward reveal then,” he shrugged his shoulders, “no point in dancing around it, I'm bisexual.”

“Ah, so my cock isn't going to scare you away then.”

“I can't speak for every bi male out there, but to me the idea of you being , um, fully equipped is kind of exciting.”

Ash chuckled, “So, now that we have embarrassed ourselves with all of this, want to order some food and make it an official date?” She smiled.

“We might as well at this point,” he smiled back.

Ash flagged down a waitress and got a pair of menus. Wane looked over the food. He knew what his budget was for the convention and a full meal at the hotel would probably blow a large portion of it. His date noticed the look on his face as he read over the menu.

“You ok, Wayne?”

“Oh ah, yeah just, heh, hotel prices are crazy.”

“Don't worry about it,” Ash said, reaching out to touch his hand, “I'm technically the one who asked you out, dinner is on me.”

“But-”

“Don't argue with a hungry wolf,” she gave his hand a small squeeze, “it never ends well.”

Wayne raised an eyebrow, “is that a proverb?”

“If it isn't it should be,” she smiled letting just a bit of her front teeth show

“Thank you,” he said softly, looking back at his menu.

“I'm thinking of the strip steak, how about you?”

“That sounds good, but I think I'll just have the cheeseburger.”

Ash closed her menu, “get what you want otherwise you'll just be looking at my plate with eyes of envy while we eat.”

“I just don't want to take advantage of you.”

“It's sweet that you are worried about that, but really, it isn't an issue.”

“It has been a long time since I had a steak...”

The waitress came over to take the order.

“We will both have the strip steak.”

“How would you like it?”

“Rare for me,” Ash said, handing the waitress her menu.

“Medium rare for me please,” Wayne said doing the same.

“I'll be back with some water for you,” she said before going to put the order in.

“I'm glad to see you aren't one of those humans who ruins good steak,” Ash said with a smile as she let her leg brush against Wayne's.

He smiled, shaking his head, “I don't even get my burgers well done.”

Ash giggled and continued to rub her leg against his. Wayne placed a hand on her knee in response.

“I know you said you're bi, but have you been with both males and females before?”

Wayne nodded, “my first real partner was a male.”

“Was he cute?” Ash asked, very curious.

“I thought so,” he gave her knee a slight squeeze, “he was the high school quarterback.”

“Really?” Ash canted her ears forward and leaned in, “that must have been a scandal.”

“We kept it on the down-low, neither of us were ready to come out. We left on good terms when high school was over. He came out in college. He ended up meeting a tiger and they have been married for a year now.”

“He stayed in touch?”

“Yeah, not hard with email. They even sent me a winter solstice card. They run a bed and breakfast up in Vermont.”

“Any regrets with that relationship?”

Wayne shook his head, “nah, we were kids, it wasn't meant to last. I'm glad he's happy and doing well,” Wayne finished off his beer, “It's nice to have someone to talk about it with, some people just don't get the being bi part of my love life.”

“You're kidding.”

“No, I'm not. If you're gay people generally accept it these days. You say you like males and females and some people don't believe you. You're either gay pretending you like females or straight and just confused.”

“Meanwhile over here as a herm I attract every bi or curious female like a bug zapper.”

“But since you're not zapping me, I guess you're ok with a bi male.”

Ash took his hand into hers and smiled, “I am so far.”

“So, since you asked about my love life, can I enquire about your first boyfriend?”

“Nothing quite as spectacular as a secret gay romance with the quarterback I'm afraid.”

Wayne laughed and was about to say something when the waitress returned with their waters.

“Anyway,” Ash continued once they were alone again, “he was pretty much the first male that didn't run away from my cock. Well, that's not fair, I had male friends, but I'm talking from a purely dating level.”

“Got you.”

“We dated our last two years of high school,” she sighed, “He wasn't a bad wolf but as much as he wasn't scared off by my cock he was never willing to, well, do anything with it.”

“Not even a hand job?”

Ash shook her head with a sad smile.

“And you dated him for two years?”

“I hoped he would loosen up. Hey, I admit it, I was a dumb cub back then.”

Their food arrived. Ash sniffed her steak and smiled.

“This is just what I need after today.”

“Yeah, me too,” he gave her knee one last squeeze before going for his silverware.

They both took a few bites of their meal. Ash forced herself to eat slowly. She knew how humans would react to her eating at a wolf's pace, and she didn't want to ruin it. Figuring conversation would help slow herself down so she decided to ask another question.

“So, if a male was your first lover, when did you date a female?”

“Mmm.” Wayne paused to take a drink, “She was my next relationship. We met at a house party during my second semester at college.”

“A party girl huh?”

“Sort of. We hit it off pretty well and dated through the spring. We even stayed together over the summer. I thought I had found something really good.”

“So what happened next semester?”

“We were just past midterms. My roommate was away that weekend so she came over to spend it with me. Friday night was a fun night of underage drinking and sex.”

“Ahh, the good old days,” Ash smiled across the table.

“Yeah, anyway we got up late on Saturday and were just sitting on the couch watching TV. We had a good night and the topic of sex came up and she told me about her first time. Then I told her my first time. Next thing I know she jumps off the couch and is glaring at me.”

“She didn't know you were bi?”

“Oh no, I told her before it got serious between us. A fact I reminded her of. She thought I just said that so she would think I was a sensitive guy. She went on about how I had tricked her and was just using her to pretend to be straight.”

“Gods, what a bitch!”

“Yeah, now I can see that, but back then I was just sitting on the couch having my heart torn in half,” Wayne sighed, “she grabbed her things and left. By the time class started up on Monday she had spread it everywhere that I was gay and had just used her.”

Ash shook her head as she chewed.

“So yeah, that not only broke my heart but made the rest of sophomore year a pain in the ass.”

“I know that it was years ago, but I'm sorry. I can sympathize with you, I mean it was a different set of challenges but I know what it's like not being fully understood.”

“Thanks,” Wayne smiled back, “things got better, but It did ram home the fact that I hate having to justify my preferences in anything, art, food, or sexual partners.”

“How's your steak?”

Wayne looked down at his mostly eaten steak, “Oh, it's great, almost forgot what steak tasted like,” he smiled back at Ash.

They ate in silence for a bit, but kept their legs touching under the table.

“You know,” Wayne spoke up, “this is the first date I’ve been on since I got out of college.”

“Really, why's that?”

“Well, first of all I have no partner, but secondly I've been busy. When I first got out I worked at an auto parts store while writing during my time off work.”

“No offense, but I can't see you working in an auto parts store.”

“I come from a family of gear-heads. My granddad ran a garage, and my dad and brother run a body shop. It's not my profession, but I know my way around cars.”

“So, you can drive a stick then?”

“Of course.”

“Good, I hate automatic transmissions.”

Wayne chuckled.

“When did you leave the store?”

“Once I was making enough in writing gigs that it paid me more to sit at my computer than at the counter,” he paused to think, “I left about a year and a half ago. I left on good terms and can fall back on that if I need to.”

“Well, I'm happy I could be your first real adult date,” she put the last piece of steak in her mouth and smiled.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Hey Wayne, do you have any plans for the rest of tonight?”

“Nothing special, probably just checking my emails and maybe doing some writing, how about you?”

“I was just going to sit back with a bottle of wine and watch some TV,” she placed her silverware down on her empty plate, “but now I'm wondering if you'd like to come up and share the bottle with me?”

“Is the wine the only thing we'd be sharing?”

“Gods, I hope not,” she smiled and he could hear her tail hitting the seat as it wagged.

Wayne reached out and took her gray furred hand into his, “I'd love to.”

They flagged down the waitress for the bill. Ash paid the tab, but Wayne insisted on leaving the tip. They walked out of the bar holding hands. The pair saw Janice in the lobby, staring at them; her golden eyes burning and her tail twitching with agitation. Wayne slipped his hand around Ash's waist as they walked towards the elevator. Ash suppressed a giggle and turned slightly towards the vixen.

“Good night, Janice,” she said softly as they summoned the elevator.

As soon as the doors closed, Ash leaned down to kiss Wayne. He was surprised but quickly returned the kiss, his right hand gently touching the side of her muzzle. They held the kiss until the elevator dinged. As Ash smoothed out her skirt, Wayne could see the bulge that had formed underneath it. That sight only turned him on more. Holding hands again they walked down the hall to Ash's room.

___________________________________________________

Original story and setting by Syntaxerror37

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