Untouchable: Chapter 7: Who we are
Xander woke up, but didn't remember when they moved to the bed. Paul slept on his side Facing away from Xander. He considered sneaking out of bed, not sure how he felt about everything after last night. He shifted to sneak away, but Paul snuggled back against him with a soft purr. Xander slumped back down into the bed and wrapped Paul in his arms.He thought, "Lets not fuck with things, he's a good cuddler."He held Paul tight and drifted back to sleep with tender whimsies that he wasn't just holding Paul but the pillows close behind him were Sean.When he woke again, it was to coffee, bacon, potatoes and eggs that wafted on the air currents of a lazy Saturday morning.He stumbled to the bathroom, and wondered if Sean was ok.Paul leaned on the door frame as he peed, and asked, "how did you sleep handsome?""Pretty good, Oliver has a nice setup here. How did you sleep," he said."Oh, I slept great. I enjoyed last night and if your not bored of me, I'd like to go to the park, its nice out, or we could check in with Sean?" Paul said. Xander couldn't tell if Paul was being shy or coy. "Yeah, I want to find out out about Sean if he is ok and everything, and did Oliver come back?" Xander asked."He came home at two or three, that's when we moved to the bed, but he went to his office, he seems out of it," Paul said."I don't remember heading to the bed, I was drained," Xander said."Can't imagine why," Paul said sarcastically, "Come lets have breakfast."Still naked Xander walked through a strangers house, the stranger Sean had gone home with."What are you thinking about captain contemplative?" Paul asked, and poured him some coffee.He joined Paul at the table in the dining area by the kitchen, sun shown on the mountains across water."Oh, lots of things, last night was kinda weird," Xander said, which got a reaction from Paul, "not with you, that was fun, I mean with Sean, I can't believe I poisoned him, and why didn't he ever tell me about his allergy.""Maybe he is sensitive about it, how many bacon strips would you like?" Paul asked."All of them," Xander teased, "he probably is sensitive, I know being a runt has always made him nervous.""It's weird that such a big strong guy like him gets nervous," Paul said as he started on the eggs."I know you don't intimidate much based on last night, but Sean's pretty small for a wolf," Xander said and took a pull from his coffee."How big of a fur you are shouldn't matter, those wolves assumed they could do as they willed because they were big and angry. I know they came to their senses but...." Paul said then stared off into the view."But what, you get they were just scared for Sean right." Xander said."-But, they shouldn't have thought it was ok to act that way regardless of how
they felt. The bigger the fur is, the more often they're like that." Paul said. To Xander Paul smelt angry, sad, and frustrated."Hey you ok," Xander asked."Oh yeah, I was just teased a lot growing up for being small. I hate being treated differently for my size." Paul said."I was the biggest in my family, but I grew up by a large wolf community. I was the little big guy." Xander said half way through his food. He grabbed Paul's hand, "thanks for breakfast.""Dude, you never answered about going to the park." Paul said and got back to his food."Yeah it's sunny, I'd like that, but I kinda wish I had a tooth brush though," Xander said."Good point you need one," Paul said and waved his paw in front of his nose."Do I? Crap.... morning breath?" Xander asked and breathed onto his paw to smell it."Worse, dog breath," Paul said and smirked."Oh, haw haw, I'm going to the store," Xander said.Oliver's faint voice called through the apartment, "I have tooth brushes, for guests in the bottom draw on the right in the bathroom.""I thought you said he was at the office?" Xander whispered."No, I said he went to his office, it's in the apartment," Paul said.Oliver came down the hall. Oliver and Xander's embarrassment filled the room as Xander tried to cover his nudity."Why are you both being so shy," Paul asked.Xander stood quickly and tucked his tail between his legs and up. He grabbed it and used it as a makeshift diaper as he bolted for his clothes strewn around the living room."Hello again Xander, how are you," Oliver said from down the hall."I'm well, but for.... my pride." Xander said and stepped into his shorts crushing his tail in his rush. "Looked to me like you had a few features to be proud of.... Paul that was mean," Oliver said."What! I needed someone to see the cutie I got," Paul said while he still ate.Better clothed Xander went back to the table to finish his food."I made you a plate, it's on the counter," Paul said to Oliver.Oliver came back down the hallway with a toothbrush, and said, "here you go Xander. And Sean's doing fine they released him. He is having breakfast with his sisters at the Pier.""Thank you for letting me know. So, do all cats show people off like that?" Xander asked."I never have but I'm from the country we have class," Oliver said and gave Paul a bemused stare."What he told me Sean waltzes around him naked all the time, I thought it was normal for him, plus it was funny." Paul said."Hilarious," Oliver said and joined them with his plate."So what park did you have in mind," Xander asked."I was thinking of the big one, Discovery, but if you don't want to drive we can hit up one within walking distance," Paul
said."I like Discovery, I'd love to go, Oliver are you coming too," Xander asked and took his plate to the sink."I would but I need to check in on my friends from back home, and I need to get work done having them visit hasn't let me get as much done as I'd like," Oliver said."You have friends visiting, why didn't they stay here," Xander asked after he put the rinsed dishes in the dishwasher."They didn't want to stay in a gays place, so they got hotels," Oliver said."Really, that's rude as hell," Paul said."Yeah there's a few reasons I moved, I wish I didn't have too, I love the country but for work and a chance at finding someone, I had too." Oliver said and cleared his plate as well."So Paul, Oliver, I was wondering when you two started chatting did you try dating?" Xander asked. Paul shifted in his seat his food probably cold by now, and said, "never thought of him that way, we have similar interests and all but I don't think we could be sexually compatible.""Yeah we are looking for guys closer to our size," Oliver said. Paul smelled annoyed again.Xander wondered if Paul had a thing for Oliver the way he did for Sean, he asked, "so did you guys ever try anything?""Trying implies we could have failed, but that's not how cats work," Paul said."I don't understand," Xander said."Ah, neither do I," Oliver said and shrugged."Really? Oliver you don't know the rules of a true hunter?" Paul asked and set his fork down."You mean, fight unless there's no chance of victory?" Oliver said, "I don't get how that applies to dating in the way your using it.""You can't fail at being in something you are planning to leave anyway." Paul said finally finished with his food.Xander stared for a moment, then said, "how can you have a relationship if you live by that rule.""That's only one of hundreds of laws of the true hunter," Oliver said."It's the first and most important," Paul argued."True but it's about deciding when to fight, not mate," Oliver said."The laws of the true hunters are only two in the Calicode," Paul said with a gleam of pride in his eyes, "A true hunter knows how to protect what's theirs but also knows when to run, and the second rule, if you can't win, change the game." "I have never heard the Calicode before, I kinda like that," Oliver said."Do Collies or dogs have a code?" Paul asked and clear the rest of the table."They do, my dad told me it, but it wasn't something we lived by. Like I said my family was in a community pack, my cultural heritage didn't really make sense growing up in the city, well suburbia," Xander said, "I kinda want to look into it now.""You should, I know understanding my historical culture helped me understand habits and behaviors of cats, all the
way up to lions, better," Paul said, "I got to know the way I wanted to respond to things better as well.""How can you only have two hunting rules, they couldn't fit every situation," Oliver said.While Oliver and Paul continued to argue the rules of a true hunter, Xander searched 'how to tell your a border collie.' The first few pages were first places to get genetically tested, the next pages were family tree and heritage services, finally there were pages about physical characteristics that hinted at a collie heritage, but this wasn't what he wanted.He then tried, 'what makes you culturally a border collie."This search pulled up pages that were mostly collections of memes."You might be a border collie if, you herd your friends but never listen to them." It had a picture of a barricaded crowd."You might be a border collie if, you love everyone unconditionally as long as they stay within sight and where you tell them to be." This had a picture of a teacher pointing at a classroom of half filled desks."You might be a border collie if, track is you sport." This one had a picture of collies doing a relay race on a track with super imposed sheep everywhere on the grass.The memes were stupid and offensive so he closed the page."The first rule doesn't answer everything, in the Calicode you are expected to be adaptable able to grow and change to the situation. Rather then being trapped by rules." Paul explained."Wolves have a phrase they use all the time crouch and roll that seems to be what your rule means," Xander said."Or choose your battles, true hunters rules for tigers forty-seven." Oliver said."Well that's why you don't need all those rules they generalize into the Calicode," Paul said."I don't think you can generalize who you are to a set of cultural rules like that, I'm a dog raise near wolfs, I have a blending of the two but I'm not really either," Xander said."I never new another Calico, other than my mom growing up, Xander, I never met my dad. I was raised with this culture to help me, and my best friends dad, that was it," Paul said, "I'm a cat even though a mouse was their to help guide me because of this code.""You didn't know your father? I can't imagine that, my dad was everywhere and always there," Oliver said."He died overseas, my mom and he were engaged and they had plans to get married during his next extended leave, but he never got to it," Paul said, "I don't know what it's like to have a father, to be able to have someone claim me as his son, but I was never alone, never abandoned.""I'm glad of that... and now I don't know what to say, so... let's go for that walk," Xander said."How about you shower and brush your teeth first," Paul said."Oliver are you coming?" Xander asked."No, I do have work to catch up on,
and I prefer being a third wheel when furs become official," Oliver said and headed back to the office.Xander got up for his shower. Paul read on his phone while Xander did his morning routine.Moments later Xander stood under the hot water while it wove into his fur."Even if I am a sheep dog, do I want to be that?" He thought as the water massaged his face, "the two cultures that make me, don't have great histories with treating prey well, slavery and murder. What does that make me?""I don't want to think about it but does that make it worse," Xander thought as shampoo ran off of him."Oliver and Paul seem to have come to terms with their heritage and even embraced it, and Paul had a mouse for a father figure," he thought and shut off the water to shake."He is so different from Sean but none of its bad," he thought and changed back into his clothes."Hurry up the suns not going to be out all day," Paul said to him outside the bathroom. "And in someways there the same," Xander thought and said, "almost done:""Good discovery is not a nudist colony," Paul said."You'd love it if it was," Xander said and brushed his teeth.They made there way to the car, and chatted about work as they drove to the park. Xander had texted Sean but not heard anything back from him."So you were an only child, I grew up with seven other siblings," Xander said.Paul pulled into the parking lot wide eyed, "seven Your Alphasday must be insane.""Alpha's eve is bigger for my family, I'm the second youngest so most of the others already have mates and pups," Xander said and climbed out onto the gravel walkway into the park.The park was edged with conifers, pines, maples and Birches, with blackberry, ivy and assorted other bushes and ferns for under growth."So, if we did date, would you want me to come to Alphasday eve with you?" Paul asked."It's months away but if we are dating you are welcome," Xander said, "well I assume you are, I've never brought anyone home.""Well, I'd show you off to my family," Paul said and took Xander's hand."Preferably clothed this time," Xander said with a squeeze of Paul's hand."Lame, that's no fun at all," Paul said.They moved off the gravel path onto a field of uneven ground filled with tall grass, between them and the trail, that led down hill through the woods to the lighthouse."So you have probably gathered that Sean's my best friend, who's yours?" Xander asked with the thick earthiness of inclosed trees surrounded him."My oldest friend is Jill Greyhouse her dad is the mouse I was telling you about," Paul said and swept his tail to play tag with Xander's."Does she live by here?" Xander asked."She lives in Portland, I grew up just outside of Portland in Beaverton," Paul said,
"and no it wasn't founded by Beavers."Xander's ears drooped, "I always thought it was.""A fox named it, because Foxerton didn't sound right," paul said."Really! wow," Xander said."No not really, that was a joke," Paul said."Oh, thats a shame," Xander said as the trees opened for a view of the water."What's a shame, that it wasn't named by a fox?" Paul asked."No not at all, I was just wishing you had a sense of humor, but I guess you win some and you lose some," Xander said with a wink.Paul said, "please, I have more humor in my right eye, than you do captain sarcasmos," then he picked up his pace."If you mean mucus then yes, but that might be a sinus infection," Xander retorted."Ha ha, so why are you single," Paul asked."Well I'm trying not to be hence this date... you did notice we are on one.... right?" Xander said as he played with a fern frond near the edge of the trail."Yeah, I kinda did, but I get the feeling like this is your first real date in a long time," Paul said."I don't know if you are calling me awkward and clumsy or refreshingly different." Xander said while he used a piece of the fern he picked to tickle at Paul's colorful patched neck."a little of both," Paul said playfully he batted at the fern, "but you seem so set on being and spending time with me.""Isn't that how you date?" Xander asked."I guess, but I think that is a rare trait, or the people that have it don't stay single long," Paul said."But I've been single for years," Xander said."You may have been single technically but I think you were emotionally committed to someone, or were being emotionally satisfied by someone," Paul said, "I was like that with Jill for a while, I love her, but I'm gay, I could never be the everything she deserves."Xander thought as they walked in silence for a while."Did she love you too," Xander asked."I think its does not did," Paul said, "One of the reasons I moved up here, to give her space to find someone.""I think I might be like Jill, but I haven't had the space, or its a sheepdog thing, we try and be there for everyone, even when they don't want it," Xander said."I think, I want it," Paul said. They left the woods and walked along the gravelly beach, the spray of the surf seasoned their fur with the smell of the ocean, while their hands grew happier held together.