C.C.S.
"C.C.S."
by Tagenar
Copyright 2010
Grov was convinced that malls were exclusively indoor outlets for clothing stores. Overpriced, overhyped clothing stores-the kind where the founders obviously put more thought into the logo than the inventory.
How do they stay in business? thought the saurian as he walked with the crowd. Where he came from, there were no such frivolous businesses. A business existed to provide a useful product or service, not to deceive people into buying an inferior brand that is perceived as superior only by its image. On Grov's world, your product was either good, or it wasn't. But on this world, it seemed to be the way to do business, which fascinated Grov.
His girlfriend, Stace, walked by his side, and her friends and their boyfriends surrounded them. They moved through the mall as one, walked into stores as one, and left as one. A mixed group of fur with him being the only scale, and the only foreigner. Stace was a wolf, probably attracted to him only because he was different and not very much for him personally. He didn't mind. Sex with a canine was even better than his friends back home had joked about. Grov felt lucky to be accepted as an exchange student; the education after school was worth leaving everything a thousand light years behind.
The mall was actually a boring place to be. It hadn't always been. A few short years ago it had been full of toy stores, electronics stores, novelty shops, cool little science-themed stores he always loved. All gone. The lack of anything interesting meant he wandered around for hours lost in thought and nothing would distract him. He got the feeling that the other boyfriends felt more or less the same way. Just tagging along with their girlfriends to clothing store after clothing store after fragrance shop after scarf outlet.
Yes, they were in a scarf outlet. Scarf. Outlet. Grov never thought he'd use those two words together, but here was the pinnacle of triviality. Stace pulled nearly invisible pieces of fabric off hooks and shelves, flailed them around, threw them around her neck and looked at herself in the mirror. The other girls compared scarves, tried them on each other, laughed, tried scarves on their boyfriends for wags.
Grov shook his head as he looked at himself in the mirror wearing a black scarf made of cotton mesh. His girlfriend insisted the black went well with his rusty scales. Grov didn't see the point in clothing period. He wore a shirt and shorts to fit in with the locals, but in his case it was needless. He had no visible parts to cover up, and the climate around here was so warm he wondered why anyone bothered. Grov looked at the price tag attached to the nearly invisible piece of fabric. He could book a trip back to his homeworld for about the same cost.
Grov just now realized that the entire clothing business was frivolous. The only way it could survive was to convince everyone that it was socially unacceptable not to cover the body, even though it was already covered. Now the big question: conspiracy, or stupidity? He'd have to write his college thesis on that topic next year.
Grov side glanced at one of the other boyfriends, a spotted rat, also wearing a black scarf and looking at himself in the mirror. He didn't know his name, but his girl was named Holly. The rat glanced at Grov, and shook his head imperceptibly at the saurian. Grov nodded. Another thing that absolutely fascinated him was how much other species had in common. Some things were universally felt, and none was more universal than the gender gap.
After another twenty minutes they left the scarf outlet and wandered around the mall as a group. Who was leading them? None of the girls were, and their boyfriends were just following. Was it instinct? Impulse? Radio waves?
They stopped in three shops that carried nothing but hats, two that carried nothing but underwear, one that specialized in high-priced vests. "inVesTment." This last store was geared at males, but it was the girls that dragged their boyfriends inside.
Inside inVesTment, Stace tried several vests on Grov. He thought he looked ridiculous. What was the point of a vest? It failed in every possible function of a coat, yet an entire store was devoted to them.
After an hour of it, Grov wanted to go home. The longer Grov was in this mall the more he wondered if there was a such thing as a useful store these days. Why had he come here in the first place? He'd done this a dozen times and it was always the same, especially at this mall. Then Grov looked away from the mirror and found Stace. She was helping a female skunk try a vest on her semi-willing boyfriend.
Girls always complained that their boyfriends never showed them how much they care. They never noticed that their boyfriends went with them to places they'd rather not go, doing things they couldn't care less about, all just to spend time with them. His species didn't smile per se, but he'd gotten better at imitating the expression since he arrived at the start of high school. He smiled now in his own way.
They finally left inVesTment and wandered around to various other specialty shops. The group meandered into the food court, and they sat together, boyfriends clinging to girlfriends as they pretended to participate in conversation. Pair by pair they broke away for a bite to eat. Grov was hungry, but first...
"Be back," he told Stace. "Bathroom."
"You want me to order your usual?"
"Yeah, sure." He reached into his pocket and handed her a few bills. Paper currency was also a novelty for him, but over the years he'd come to take it for granted. "Thanks, Stace."
She nodded, tail swaying, and turned around and followed two of her friends. Grov flash-fantasized about all the things he would do to that ass tonight, then walked out of the food court to the bathroom.
He quickly relieved himself, then stepped back out into the murmur and clicking footsteps of shoppers. Directly in front of him was an unfamiliar storefront. C.C.S. read the small sign over its door. No even a proper sign; it looked like the letters had been salvaged from the signs of other failed shops that left the mall recently. Grov recognized the C from Cinder (a failed underwear store), and the S from Lumens (a candle store that left the mall last year).
The store was deserted, and a lone fox was standing behind the counter, discreetly reading a magazine. Other than the counter, and a curtain behind him, the store was completely empty.
Puzzled, Grov glanced at the food court. Stace was not back at the table, so she was in line still. Grov walked across the floor, dodging traffic in both directions and stepped inside the store.
The store had no decorations on the walls, no music playing, no shelves, nothing on the countertop except the magazine; and yet the fox was wearing a dress shirt and slacks with a tie. The kind of getup you'd expect to see store employees wear in establishments that still called them "clerks."
"Afternoon, sir," said the fox.
"Uh, afternoon," Grov said, looking around for something to look at. There was only the fox. "What is this place?"
The fox smiled and his tail wagged. "This is the C.C.S. Custom Condom Shop."
Grov blinked.
"Excuse the sparse setup," said the fox. "I only just opened up last week and I haven't had time to decorate or anything."
Grov blinked again. He was still a mile behind the fox's train of thought. "Custom Condom Shop?"
"That's right," said the fox. "My name is Paul, what's your name?"
"Grov..."
The fox nodded. "Let me guess. That's not your real name."
"No, nobody on this planet can pronounce my real name, so I go by..." Grov realized he'd been caught off guard, and he was spitting out anything he was asked to say. "Wait- Are you serious?"
Paul leaned on the counter. "I hear that a lot. Let me explain. I've always been taught find a niche and fill it. And I saw there was a need for a personalized product."
Grov laughed.
The fox only smiled.
"You are serious!" Grov said.
"You ever try to use a condom, Grov?"
"Yeah, a couple times... And... You're right. It wasn't comfortable... And... Stace wants to use 'em, says it'll be cleaner. I don't understand why, I mean she don't have to worry about me getting her pregnant so... Why am I telling you this?"
The fox gestured broadly. "The standard condom was designed to be one-style-fits-all, and it's just a tube. Are you shaped like a tube?"
The air in here felt strange. Grov panted a little. "No."
"Exactly! Who is? Who designed these things? The idea actually came to us from another planet. Some species who is shaped like that brought the idea to this world, and it didn't change at all. A lot of their ideas came to this world unchanged, but why? Look at all those clothes stores out there. There's an infinite number of sizes and styles and fabrics of everything. They exist for one reason: to try to reach that tiny group of people who will happen to like that size, that style, that color, that pattern, and then get 'em hooked on it. It's mass-produced individualism. We can have an entire store devoted to scarves of all shapes and sizes. Condoms should be just as personal."
Grov blinked. "I'm... I actually follow that logic. And that scares me."
Paul smiled and opened a waist-high door in the counter. He gestured to the curtain behind him. "Would you care for a free sample?"
Grov stared at the fox for a moment. The fox smelled strange, this place made him feel weird, and his head said he should leave, but he figured Stace was probably still ordering. Eh, it was free, and it was the most interesting thing he'd seen all day.
"Sure, let's see what you got."
The fox closed the little door behind Grov, then pulled the curtain slightly aside. Grov crouched under it and stood upright on the other side. The curtain closed. There was nothing here except a door, which led to a storeroom generic to all stores in the mall. No shelves, no tables. The carpet and walls were just as bare as the storefront. Only a chair was against the left wall, with a towel neatly folded in its seat.
"Well, where are they?" Grov said.
"Where are what?"
"I thought you said you had as many varieties as the scarf outlet." He figured the fox had to keep them behind the curtain because families walked the mall.
The fox stepped in front of him and smiled. "I said there should be as many varieties. If they already existed I wouldn't be here."
"Come again?"
"This is a custom fit. I need to take your measurements."
"You... You want me to...?"
"I'll get you a perfect fit." Paul smiled warmly and reached out with a hand and placed it on Grov's chest.
Grov froze. This place wasn't what he expected...but for some reason it didn't feel unusual. The air in here. It must be the air in here. He was sure it was doing something to him. Now that he was behind a curtain and alone with the fox he was sure it was Paul's scent.
Paul felt Grov's chest through his shirt. His hand wandered down to his stomach. He was smiling. The scent in the store was getting stronger. It made thinking difficult.
"I've never met a saurian before," said the fox. "I always wondered... What race are you? Forgive me, but I can't tell."
"I'm a... I'm a... uh..."
Paul was pulling his shorts down.
"I'm ... You'd call me a... a Trex... I think."
"Mmmm," moaned the fox as he reached under Grov's shirt and felt the bare scales. "T-rex. And the word is borrowed from another language. We don't' have a word for your kind here. I've never met one before, and I am dying to know your dimensions."
Paul was feeling his slit at the same time he felt his chest.
"Yeah... uh, sure..."
Grov poked out of his slit. At first sight of it the fox held it and rubbed the tip. It slid out even further.
"You exercise?" said the fox as he rubbed. "You look like you do."
"Uh... No...actually, no. My kind is just...just like this."
"Ah, so it's not just a rumor."
The fox had his whole hand over it, stroking it gently back and forth. His other hand had wandered from the chest down to the stomach, and was now reaching around and feeling his rear.
"And this is beautiful," said the fox. He gave Grov's member a few squeezes, making sure it was completely hard. "I can tell you need what I'm selling. Condoms aren't designed to fit over ridges like this."
Grov barely understood what the fox was talking about his scent was so strong by now. Paul knelt down, opened his muzzle and took the whole thing in one long gulp. Grov gasped and his hips thrust a little. The fox smiled with a full muzzle, closed his eyes and suckled like a puppy.
Paul turned his head clockwise, counterclockwise, working his tongue over and around the whole length and girth. He purposefully slipped it between every ridge, every nook, felt every vein. Grov couldn't help it; he held the fox by the back of the head and stroked his ears. The fox felt Grov's rear, even giving his tail a feel and a squeeze.
A few minutes later, the fox opened his mouth, unhooked himself from Grov and stood up. Grov stood there, panting and moaning, looking at the fox in total surprise.
"I have your measurements," said Paul. "And I gotta say, you're my most interesting client yet! Everything about saurians is rock solid. Your body, your tail. No fluff, no give, just RR" Paul smacked his fists together, grinning.
Grov stood there, hard on still sticking out. "What did you...?"
"There's a chair over there, and a towel. Wait there, I'll only be a few minutes."
The fox turned around, opened the door and disappeared. He shut the door and locked it behind him. Grov remained standing, hard on raging to the open air.
A minute later the air in the room cleared a little, and his brain could string two thoughts together in a row. He looked where Paul had gestured and took a step. His legs caught, and he remembered his shorts were down by his ankles. He pulled them up over his hard on. The shorts did not cover it, just held it in place against his stomach. His legs now free, he walked to the chair, picked up the towel and sat down.
He wiped his member of the saliva. He was tempted to finish, but the air was clearing fast and the hard on was fading with it. He had time to think. Time to question whether or not that just happened.
It reminded him of when doctors gave little children shots. They talked to the kids while they're doing it to distract them from the pain. Paul had done that to him. Gotten him talking to get his mind off what he was doing... Which was...
Was he just raped? In the mall? With families and little kids walking by?
His head was still a little fuzzy, and the only thought that would stick in his mind right now was that was the best blowjob I've ever had...and I didn't even finish!
Time passed. Various sounds came from the storeroom. Small machines whirring, computers clicking. Meanwhile his member retreated back into his slit. He didn't quite know what he was waiting for. Something kept him here. Perhaps hope that Paul would do that again. He felt only vaguely guilty getting a blowjob from someone besides Stace, but what the hell, that was worth the tantrum she'd throw. Maybe if he got these two together Paul could teach her how to suck a dick like that.
His mind was cleared up enough for him to consider that his food was getting cold and Stace and the others were probably wondering where he was. Then the door unlocked and swung inward.
Paul walked in, carrying a single rolled up ring in a paw. He was grinning ear to ear. Grov's head started to fog up again. Suddenly all he could think about throwing his shorts aside and letting the fox work him again.
"Your design is ready," Paul said. "If you like you can take it home, try it with your girlfriend and if you like it you can come back. I have your pattern on file now so making a box's worth will take less than fifteen minutes."
Grov snarled and launched himself out of the chair. His member was back out of his slit and already three-quarters hard. He crossed the distance to the door in three strides, snatched the fox up and slammed him against the wall, sprawled out. He panted and growled in Paul's face.
"How did I know?" Paul said, snickering. "Put this on first. Blue line up."
Grov had just barely the presence of mind to understand that. He snatched the thing from Paul's hand, dropped his shorts and placed the ring on his prominent tip. There was a thick, blue line on one side of the rolled ring. Subconsciously he lined it up with the top middle of his shaft and rolled it down.
The condom was warm, and it slid on easier than anything he'd ever tried before. Just the act of wrapping it up was like having sex, and Grov moaned and panted. He waved it around, testing it. It wasn't tight and didn't feel like his ridges were going to poke through it and split the whole thing apart. Grov almost came right then just feeling it. Instead of being stretched taut over his ridges, the condom conformed to them, and to each vein, every crevice, every bump in the flesh. Normal condoms saran-wrapped it. This was a vacuum seal!
He looked up at the fox. Paul had removed his pants, turned around and was braced against the wall. Grov's hard on carried him forward. He held Paul tight around the shoulders and pushed himself under Paul's tail.
Paul moaned lightly, trying to keep the noise down. Grov kept going, sinking deeper and deeper until he was hilted. When he was in, the fog in his head took over, and Grov plowed him harder than he ever did Stace. He wrapped his arms around the fox and used that as leverage as he thrust long and deep.
Paul felt the arms that held him. Reached up and felt the neck and back of the body holding him down.
"Damn..." Paul gasped.
Grov thrusted a few dozen times. Then his fingers unwrapped, and he moved a hand down to Paul's maleness. Grov stroked it up and down, up and down while he thrust the fox fast and hard.
Grov felt a knot swell. He squeezed it, fascinated. He'd never felt a knot before, and always wanted to ask what it was like, but none of his canine friends would talk about it. The fox reached down, grabbed his pants and held them over his member. He finished in them.
The musk of fox scent now overwhelmed Grov's already fogged mind, and he thrust hard and deep. His body roared and released. Paul held onto Grov's arm as the saurian finished.
The fog faded. Grov slowly realized where he was, and what he'd just done, but he was too exhausted to be surprised. He pulled out. The condom was full. It hadn't broken. It was still firmly in place. Paul straightened up, reached into the room beyond the door and took out a trash can. He held it up to Grov. Grov took the hint, slipped the condom off and plopped it in. Paul placed the can behind the door. He tossed the soiled pair of "clerk" slacks into the room, pulled a new pair out and closed the door.
Both stood there for a moment, panting. Paul still had that professional retail clerk composure, even while his softening hard on dripped on the carpet. He pulled his clean slacks up, straightened his shirt.
Grov had the presence of mind to pull his shorts up. He looked at Paul.
"I'm not gay..." It was the only thing he could think to say.
"I know," said Paul. "It's happened with every one of my clients. I'm told my scent is very strong. Makes people do things they wouldn't normally do. And you know how customer service is. People wanna try before they buy."
"How the...? How did you do that?"
Paul laughed. "My muzzle has a better memory than my brain. I used to blow my friends, and afterwards I'd be able to draw their things in detail. I thought of a way to use the skill. Made a machine, hooked it up to computer art tools. Any design I can draw, I can make."
Grov stood panting, his head was clearing, but not fast enough to take in all this new information.
Paul leaned back against the wall, smiling warmly. "So what'd you think?"
Grov swayed a little. He felt off balance. "How much?"
The fox smiled.
Ten minutes later he walked into the food court carrying a small, unmarked plastic bag. He found the group and sat down next to Stace.
"Where the hell have you been?" she said. "We've been looking for you for an hour!"
Everyone in their group joined in on the question.
"I was shopping," said Grov, gesturing to the bag.
"Your food's cold," said Stace.
"Still edible." He immediately began eating. "I found this great store we should go to."
"What store?" said the white rat sitting across from him.
Grov eyed him and winked. "A store for the boys."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. I think you and Holly should go there first. C.C.S. just around the corner." Grov pointed.
"What do they sell? Will I like it?"
"You'll see."
Grov took a bite of his food. It was cold, and the appeal was lost on the taste buds, but he was so hungry he didn't care.
"Go now," he said to the rat.
"Now?"
"Just you and her. Go. The store only services one customer at a time." Grov thought about that fox taking the rat's measurements. It made him laugh through his nose while he chewed.
"I don't get it."
"We can't all go there as a group, just one couple at a time."
"Why?"
"'Cause that's the only way to do customer service right."
The rat shrugged, and he got up. He walked a couple seats over and tapped Holly on the shoulder.
Grov chewed and swallowed. Too quick, he knew, but he couldn't slow down. After he swallowed, he smiled. A genuine, local smile. Finally a shop in a mall that deserved to be in business.