{"sf1_id":1349871,"sf2_id":"AnKakG5e","title":"You Wouldn't Dare","author":"DecoFox","words":2157,"posted_at":"2018-07-10T00:37:16.000Z","tags":["Bonding","Camping","Coyote","Cuddling","Female","Fire","Forest","Greentext","Hiking","Human","Love","Male","Modern","Realistic","Science","Soulmates","Straight","Summer","Sunset"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1349871-you-wouldn-t-dare","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/AnKakG5e","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/f9/90/f9902da0-93d8-45fd-8c2e-03549d08ff91","description":"Greentext   \nsecond person present  \nYou've known your coyote friend since you were kids, but nobody's ever made a move. This weekend you'll be back in each other's lives for the first time in years.","content":"\\\u003eIt's late in the evening, and the first of the fireflies have started to dance in the shade of the reeds on the far side of the lake.  \n\\\u003eThe last rays of the setting sun paint the sky in brilliant shades of pink and tangerine, and all about you shadows spread like wildfire, crowding you further and further into the pale glow of your propane lantern.  \n\\\u003eThe afternoon murmurs of the forest die one by one until there's nothing left to hear but the sigh of the wind in the trees and the soft, steady rush of gas on the burner.  \n\\\u003eYou do your best not to make it obvious, but you can tell she's edging closer to you.  \n\\\u003eNow and again the branches rustle just so, and you can feel her tail switch and her grip tighten on the old buck knife you'd gotten back when you were in the scouts.  \n\\\u003eThat was so long ago now, but when you remember, it never feels like it.\u0026nbsp;  \n\\\u003eBut none of the rustles send you reaching for your gun, and each time you don't she settles slowly, turning the blade over in her paw and pretending she was only studying the inscriptions.\u0026nbsp;  \n\\\u003eBut you don't mention that.  \n\\\u003eShe's a coyote. A wild scavenger, and she's proud of it.  \n\\\u003eShe'd said so ever since you were kids.  \n\\\u003eYou'd lived on the same block, and had built yourself a fort in the woods behind the houses there.  \n\\\u003eAnd she'd loved the idea, because she was wild and free.  \n\\\u003eEven if she had insisted on building it a little closer to her house than you'd been thinking.  \n\\\u003eShe'd dared you to spend the night there, and been sure you wouldn't. You were a soft, squishy human, after all, and not tough like her.  \n\\\u003eYou'd run scared as soon as the sun set, and freeze to death if you didn't. She was sure of it.  \n\\\u003eBut you had stayed there, and another night after, and then more than you could remember.  \n\\\u003eShe'd add something to the dare every time, to \"make things interesting\", she said.  \n\\\u003eBut she'd never gone with you.  \n\\\u003eIt hadn't taken you long to catch on, and you guessed she knew you knew, but you let her have it.  \n  \n\\\u003eIt had gone on years like that, even when the old fort in the woods gave way to the scouts, and then camping whatever sites your old jeep could drag you to.  \n\\\u003eEven when you signed up at the local recruitment office, and when the time came to ship off to basic, she'd \"dared\" you to get on the bus.  \n\\\u003eAnd she'd gone off to college in California, but you kept contact, and when they ordered you to Afghanistan, she dared you to get on the airplane. Then seized you in the tightest embrace of your life, and dared you to come back to her safely.  \n\\\u003eBut yesterday she'd come home from college with a degree in Astronomy, and you weren't on active service anymore.  \n\\\u003eYou'd met for coffee.  \n\\\u003eAnd all these years later, you'd finally dared her back.  \n\\\u003eThat had brought the two of you here, tucked side by side in the glow of a lantern as the first stars of Friday evening come alight overhead.  \n\\\u003eOf course she'd been nervous all day.  \n\\\u003eTo date you weren't sure if she was actually trying to hide it. Maybe she pretended to for old times' sake, or maybe she just didn't know how to end the long con, no matter how well either of you knew the truth.  \n\\\u003eShe'd even started to make out like she was getting sick, you should delay.  \n\\\u003eThat had been the final straw.  \n\\\u003eYou'd said it would be okay, and that you'd protect her.  \n\\\u003eYou'd said it like you were teasing her, and she'd responded with a bit of banter all her own.  \n\\\u003eBut her tail didn't switch so much afterword,  \n\\\u003eAnd when the time came to leave, she wasn't \"sick\" anymore.  \n\\\u003eOf course, the tail-switching had gotten worse the further you'd driven from civilization, but you'd put on an old favorite song the two of you had listened to way back then, and pretended it had just come on by accident.  \n\\\u003eAnd with the memories it brought, you'd reminded her of all the nights in the fort, and the camping, and all the dares you held your end on, and how you were just fine, weren't you?  \n\\\u003eAnd this time you would finally be together, and wouldn't that be fun?  \n\\\u003eYou suppose she thought so too, because you can feel the heat of her breath on your neck, and the brush of her paw as she works it under your palm.  \n  \n\\\u003eYou ease a little of your weight off that hand and let her slip it under, and the both of you pretend none of that happened on purpose.  \n\\\u003eBut it's warm, soft, and earnest in its grasp, and just like you'd always imagined it would be.  \n\\\u003eJust like you pretended it was on the longer trips when you couldn't help getting a little lonely with only your old SKS for company.  \n\\\u003eJust like you'd pretended when you'd watched the sun set over the desert from the Humvee turret.  \n\\\u003eEvery time you went out, you'd wished she was there, but you'd never told her that in any way you didn't dress up as a tease.  \n\\\u003eYou suppose it's just another thing you probably both knew all along, and it was better late than never.  \n\\\u003eThere's no light left at all now, and the temperature's started falling.  \n\\\u003eEach degree brings her another inch closer, and finally she sets her head on your shoulder. Then her tail wraps around behind you and finds its way into your lap.  \n\\\u003e\"What's that about?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Just keeping you warm,\" she says, suppressing a shiver.  \n\\\u003eYou thank her and pull her into your jacket.  \n\\\u003eBut the lantern's getting low, and the hiss quiet.  \n\\\u003eShe glances nervously along the boarder of the retreating light, ears swiveling and eyes snapping to every rabbit or owl call.\u0026nbsp;  \n\\\u003e\"Probably ought to start a fire, huh?\"  \n\\\u003eShe nods eagerly, making sure to keep hold of your hand as you stand and work your way up the bank.  \n\\\u003e\"Too bad we didn't catch anything,\" she whispers, but you can tell she's glad you won't be cleaning any fish.  \n\\\u003e\"It happens.\"  \n\\\u003e\"I don't know why I couldn't get the damn hook baited, those worms were fucking slippery.\"  \n\\\u003eThey probably wouldn't have been if she'd touch them with anything more than her nails.  \n  \n\\\u003eShe does her best to help, gathering what kindling she can within a few feet of you, and stacking the logs as best she knows how.\u0026nbsp;  \n\\\u003eYou do your best to rearrange them without drawing too much attention to her mistakes and hand her your flint to start things off, adding a dash of kerosene while her back is turned.  \n\\\u003e\"Like this?\"  \n\\\u003eYou take her paw and correct the motion a little.  \n\\\u003e\"Like that.\"  \n\\\u003e\"Gotcha.\"  \n\\\u003eThe striker chirps, and the dash of kerosene flashes the tinder into a healthy, smoky flame.  \n\\\u003e\"I did it!\"  \n\\\u003eShe throws her arms around you and squeezes a second, pretense burning away with the first of the yellow flame.  \n\\\u003e\"I started a fire all by myself! I told you so, Anon!\"  \n\\\u003e\"Yep.\"  \n\\\u003eThe two of you sit side by side for some time, watching the flames and picking at bits of snack food.  \n\\\u003eShe huddles close to you again and locks her arm with yours, keeping an ear on the snapping of the fire, and another on the quiet rustles from the forest.  \n\\\u003eShe's not glancing around so much anymore though, and you can't help noticing a shallow smile spreading down the length of her muzzle.  \n\\\u003e\"It's a beautiful night,\" she says, staring up at the broad stain of the Milky Way.  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah, the stars are great out here. Bet it doesn't have anything on those big-ass telescopes though, huh?\"  \n\\\u003eShe smirks a little and shakes her head.  \n\\\u003e\"Nah, we just look at graphs all day. Stare at emission spectrums long enough and its easy to forget what you're really looking at, and sometimes that means its really easy to forget why you're looking at all.\"  \n\\\u003eShe points up at the sky, and you follow her nail to the Cygnus constellation.  \n\\\u003e\"You see that one off the Northern wing, Anon?\"  \n\\\u003eIt takes you a second, but you do.  \n\\\u003e\"I see it.\"  \n\\\u003e\"You remember that star being there?\"  \n\\\u003eYou'd learned a little about the constellations back in the scouts. You never looked that closely, but it does look off to you.  \n\\\u003e\"Don't think so.\"  \n\\\u003e\"That's because it wasn't. It's a supernova, and in a few months, it'll be gone.\"  \n\\\u003e\"That so?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah,\" she says, burrowing her muzzle into your shoulder.  \n\\\u003e\"Of course, it was there all along,\" she adds, voice muffled by your jacket, \"Two stars, actually. Orbiting about each other and never quite meeting. We just couldn't see them when they were stars. They weren't bright enough until they came together and... exploded.\"  \n\\\u003eShe squeezes you a little harder and gets quiet awhile, eyes shifting to the embers as the fire burns low in the pit. The shadows draw in again and play across her face like marionettes. Before long the light's all but gone, and you can feel her muscles tensing as the darkness envelops you.  \n\\\u003eYou sit in silence awhile longer, watching the last of the glow die. You can feel her getting nervous again, but you hold her close. She holds on awhile longer, but then a twig snaps somewhere on the edge of your camp, and her tail twitches violently.  \n\\\u003e\"Anon?\"  \n\\\u003eHer voice is a little shaky.  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah?\"  \n\\\u003e\"I'm glad you took me out here, but..., well, it's probably too late for us to go home, isn't it?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Home?\"  \n\\\u003eShe squirms a little.  \n\\\u003e\"We're just so far from everything and there's so much out there we can't see....\"  \n\\\u003eYou point back up toward the Milky Way.  \n\\\u003e\"It's like that up there, too. You seem to like it well enough.\"  \n\\\u003e\"That's different,\" she whines, but she can't seem to find the words to say how.  \n\\\u003e\"We'll be fine. You can do it. Come on, I dare you.\"  \n\\\u003eShe can't help cracking a bit of a smile, and the two of you stand and turn for your tent.  \n\\\u003eYou zip the flap shut behind you and settle onto your bed roll. She turns to face you, muzzle lit dimly in the beam of your old flashlight as if she's telling a scary story.  \n\\\u003e\"Anon?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Can we leave the light on?\"  \n\\\u003eYou stifle a bit of a laugh, and she scrunches her muzzle scornfully.  \n\\\u003e\"C'mon, please don't make this any more embarrassing.\"  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah, yeah, alright.\"  \n\\\u003eShe nods, then cocks her head.  \n\\\u003e\"Anon?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Can I sleep with you?\"  \n  \n\\\u003eYou've wanted to hear those words for a very long time. This wasn't quite the context you had in mind for them, but now that you're here, you couldn't have asked for better.  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah. Sure.\"  \n\\\u003eIt probably sounds a lot more eager than you mean it to, and you'll be damned if your heart doesn't start beating a little faster when she sheds her shirt and jacket, and faster yet when her pants come off.  \n\\\u003eYou've known each other an awfully long time, and you called each other friends before anything else, but the both of you knew it wasn't quite that simple.  \n\\\u003eA thousand reasons had kept you apart, most of them stupid. Fear, mostly, and a appropriate synonyms.  \n\\\u003eWhat if you did try it, and something happened?  \n\\\u003eYou could date and break up with anyone,\u0026nbsp;  \n\\\u003eBut her?  \n\\\u003eSo you'd gone back and forth like that keeping in touch and enjoying each other's company, even when you were seeing other people.  \n\\\u003eBut you never really found anyone else like her, and you waited.  \n\\\u003eYou suppose you were waiting for her to dare you.  \n\\\u003eBut she never had.  \n\\\u003eShe slips in beside you though, and as the zipper locks the two of you together, suddenly the fears seem even dumber than usual.  \n\\\u003eYou're pinned against her, staring into her deep, brown eyes.  \n\\\u003eThe most honest, loyal eyes you'd ever seen, brilliant in the pale glow of the flashlight.  \n\\\u003eA few seconds you wrestle with yourself, but the matter was settled before it began.  \n\\\u003eThe braver, more optimistic part of you had hoped something would come of this trip, and if you could join the army, you could take the chance.  \n  \n\\\u003e\"Annie?\"  \n\\\u003e\"Yeah?\"  \n\\\u003eHer breath is soft and smells faintly of teriyaki jerky.  \n\\\u003e\"That thing you said, about the stars dancing around each other--\"  \n\\\u003eSomething clicks behind her eyes, and all about you her fur seems to electrify.  \n\\\u003e\"Shut up. We both know why I said it.  \n\\\u003eShe grabs your collar and pulls your lips to hers.  \n\\\u003eAnd it's probably a stupid metaphor, but you know what she meant when she said \"explode\"."}