{"sf1_id":1111874,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Untouchable: Chapter 41: What could have been: Xander","author":"Dars","words":1553,"posted_at":"2016-12-24T20:43:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Border Collie","Cat","City","Family","Gay","Interspecies","Male","Novel","Plot Development","Relationships","Romance","Story Series","Tiger","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1111874-untouchable-chapter-41-what-could-have-been-xander","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/1111874","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=1111874\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"When Xander reached Sean's hospital hallway Neal was\nstanding off to the side. Xander broke away from everyone to talk with him.\"Hey is Fred going to make it?\" Xander asked.\"No, Ashley, and Rachel's pretrial hearing is\ntomorrow,\" Neal said with a yawn.\"You look like you need a coffee, so do I, want to\nget one with me, my treat?\" Xander asked.\"If you're trying to seduce me, you may have found\nmy weakness,\" Neal said.Xander thought, \"What should I say to get him to\nopen up?\"The gentle giant followed him to the cafeteria, Xander asked,\n\"Neal did you ever get over it?\"Neal missed a step, and asked, \"Over what?\"\"That camp,\" Xander said, \"I am worried\nabout Sean, and you.\"Neal walked beside him not speaking till they reached the\nempty cafeteria, \"Well there's avoiding the issue and going on with your\nlife and getting over it.\"\"Oliver said the same thing about getting shunned\nand having things like what happened to Sean,\" Xander said.\"He was sent to a camp too?\" Neal said as they\nwent to an automatic coffee dispenser.Xander swiped his debit card then said, \"no the\nother thing.\"\"Oh shit, so you want my perspective on the camp\nbecause you have Oliver's on the other?\" Neal asked.\"Yeah Sean said a few things and did a few things,\nthat I've never seen before, while he was having the meds interaction,\" Xander\nsaid.\"It could just be the meds,\" Neal said and took\nhis cup.\"And if it isn't, he was acting like he had done\nthings he hadn't,\" Xander said.\"Fine, for you and for Sean, I'll talk about it,\nFred's been demanding I open up to someone else if I can't with him,\" Neal\nsaid.\"Why don't you guys talk about it?\" Xander asked\nthen grabbed his coffee as well.\"Because the camp was an aversion therapy camp, they\nspent months fucking with our minds,\" Neal said while walking to a nearby\ntable.\"I don't know anything about what happened Sean's said\nnothing, but apparently it's why he rarely has sex and can't be with\ncanids,\" Xander said.\"Well aversion therapies are mostly bullshit and\ncan't get you averse to much of anything, but the director, he was a\nbehavioralist and religious nut case,\" Neal said.\"So it works or it doesn't?\" Xander asked.\"Sorta, their treatment doesn't change what you want\nor make you want women,\" Neal said.\"If it doesn't make you straight what's the\npoint?\" Xander asked then sipped his coffee.\"Like I said a religious nut, you don't need to be\nstraight, they just want you to stop acting out those sinful behaviors,\"\nNeal said then drained half of his coffee.\"And he could do that?\" Xander asked.\"Yeah they trained my brain to go soft... I can now\nkeep a boner even if an Otter or Canid comes to mind but I have been\npracticing, but it's just easier because I fell in love with a ram,\" Neal said.\"What happens if it comes to mind?\" Xander asked.\"Just an anxiety response, but Sean also bought into\nthe religious side of it all. I'm not Pack, I grew up with my parents talking\nabout the Ever Present Tide, you know the energy of the universe, but then\nthere marriage fell apart and dad married a controlling religious wing nut and\nI got sent to the camp,\" Neal said, now he only sipped at the coffee.\"So Sean bought into it?\" Xander asked.\"For the first couple weeks, we were roomies for the\ncamp because neither had a history of interest in each other's species,\"\nNeal said.\"Your sharing a lot thank you Neal,\" Xander said,\n\"need any more coffee?\"\"I'm compartmentalizing right now I might need to\nvent on you when I stop, and another coffee would be great,\" Neal said\nthen sucked down the rest of his coffee.\"Vent how?\" Xander asked while he walked to the\ncoffee dispenser.\"I'll just need to yell in an angry rage for a\nwhile,\" Neal said.Xander froze, he had never heard Neal raise his voice,\nthe thought of him yelling in a rage was too alien to him, he smiled over at\nNeal thinking it was a joke, but Neal's dower muzzle disturbed Xander more then\nhe wanted to let on.\"So Sean believed they could help, what changed his\nmind?\" Xander said.\"Just a hug,\" Neal said staring woodenly at a\nwall.Xander brought over the refills and asked, \"So it\nwas seen and it was not allowed?\" \"Yes we were seen and, No! It wasn't allowed, I had\nbeen there a couple weeks and had kinda mentally checked out, you know I'm a\nhugger and physical guy, so is Sean,\" Neal said.Xander said, \"Well your both guys, but it was just\na-\"\"It is an abomination, you are making yourself an\nabomination, you know where the Alpha said that, and what it means! I know you\ndo my boys,\" Neal said affecting the voice of a fire and brimstone\npreacher but with a quaver in it.\"So you gave him a hug or he gave you one?\" Xander\nasked.\"He gave me a hug, he was their mindless little pet\nand was just taking sympathy on my Litterday. I'm so much taller than him he\nwas reaching up and I had to bend down, we were accused of kissing,\" Neal said\nwhile damp fur grew on each side of his maw.\"So what did they do? Neal I need to know?\" Xander\nasked.\"You remember that psych class the three of us took\ntogether?\" Neal asked.\"Yeah but what does that have to do with it?\" Xander\nasked.\"Do you remember the one time Sean and I\nskipped?\" Neal asked intermittent tremors were coursing through him.Xander was confused but Neal wasn't being more\nforthcoming, \"...the Milgram prison experiment?\" Xander said when he realized.Neal sat paws tightly clasped as if he could compress the\ntremors out of his body.\"That was psychological and physical torture,\" Xander\nhissed as an anger Xander had never known before writhed in his belly.Neal still wasn't responding.\"What did they do to you?... Neal can you hear\nme?... Shit,\" Xander said he got up and paced the cafeteria.On his third circuit Neal said behind him from the table,\n\"after they thought we kissed they put us in sensory deprivation tanks, it\nwas the first time I ever hated the water.\"\"Then what...Neal?\" Xander asked while he\nrushed back to the table.\"It was like they forgot about us till a speaker said,\n'Thou shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an\nabomination.' Then more silence. It went on I don't know how long I got hungry,\nand I started looking forward to the message because then they couldn't have\nforgot about me... but they wouldn't let me out no matter how much I scratched\nor pounded on the tank. But they had to be watching. When I took in a lungful\nthey pulled me out and I got sent home,\" Neal said uncontrollably shaking.\"You tried to kill yourself,\" Xander said\nthrowing away his crumpled coffee cup, and rinsed his paws off in the sink.\"Yeah... 'abomination begets abomination you are\nbeyond our help, may the Alpha have mercy on you,'\" Neal said in that same\nquaver, then rose and stood by the wall in a kind of half corner by the\ncounter, then he continued, \"I didn't see or hear from Sean till that\nsummer, I memorized his address and wrote him a letter.\"\"Neal other than the isolation tanks what did they\ndo?\" Xander asked and stood in front of Neal trapping him in the corner.\"Xander they hurt me... they hurt us,\" Neal\nstammered clenching and unclenching his fists.\"Neal how did they hurt you?\" Xander asked.\"I... I can't say,\" Neal stammered.\"Neal tell me, I need to know,\" Xander said.\"They made us feel pain if we got horny,\" Neal said\nand covered his whole muzzle.\"Neal how did they hurt you?\" Xander asked and\nstepped even closer placing a reassuring paw on Neal's arm.\"You want to know?\" Neal snapped grabbing Xander\nby the throat and slamming him against the wall, legs dangling off the ground.\"You'd like that, knowing, you little bitch,\"\nNeal said, Xander was too stunned and barely flailed at Neal's powerful arms.\"What the fuck Neal get off him!\" Pence yelled\nacross the empty cafeteria.Neal's ears fell back in realization and he dropped Xander,\nslumping in a hyperventilation back into his corner.Xander was raggedly gulping down air, from the wind being\nknocked out of him, when Pence came and checked Xander's throat.\"You're lucky your larynx wasn't crushed... what the\nfuck was that?... I'll get security.\" Pence said.\"No don't its fine now, it's my fault,\" Xander\nwheezed.\"Like hell it's your fault,\" Pence snapped\nglaring at Neal.Neal wept in his corner tail wrapped around his knees,\n\"I'm sorry Xander, I... I'm so sorry.\"In Neal's words Xander only heard Sean, \"I won't do\nit again, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me? Thank you, you\ndon't know how much that means to me.\"Xander wanted to run back to Sean and make him know he\nwas loved and forgiven, but he was too light headed to move and Neal needed him\nnow too.\"No Pence, Neal didn't mean too,\" Xander said.\"I didn't, I'm sorry... this is why I can't talk\nabout it,\" Neal sobbed.\nXander scooted next to Neal taking his paw, Neal\nbroke into sobs his full weight collapsing on Xander as Pence watched confused\nand dubious.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1111604-untouchable-chapter-40-echoes-oliver.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1112734-untouchable-chapter-42-shattered-but-unbroken-sean.json"}