Bond of Brothers - Part 3

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#3 of Bond of Brothers

I always felt like Part 3 was when I really started to get the hang of these characters and their relationships to each other. The astute reader will also begin to notice crossovers between this and my other, older story arc, New Kid in Town. All of my characters inhabit the same town, after all, just at different times.

Part 3 is a direct continuation from Part 2, there's no time lapsed between them. Bruno has a hot date; Dieter and Kristian have pizza, a hot shower, and lotion.


After breakfast - and after all three stags had the chance to cool off and calm down a little, the time came to head across town to the bike shop, to get more inner tubes and a new tyre for Dieter. Stillwater Cove was a small enough town that virtually everything was within walking distance, a feature which lent the town a unique sensation of safety and community, notably absent from the big city and its satellite towns a few hours' train ride inland.

As Dieter washed the breakfast dishes, Bruno headed back upstairs to get properly dressed for the day. He returned as Dieter was finishing up, the older buck wearing his typical flannel shirt, jeans and suspenders.

"Alrighty. Now uh... do you two want to come with me while I go and get tubes and stuff? If you want to stay here and...masturbate, that's totally fine too," Bruno's voice cracked just the tiniest bit - never in his lifetime would he ever have thought he'd be talking to his twins quite this openly.

Kristian gave his father a broad grin, and rested his chin in his hand, elbow on the kitchen counter. "Hmmmmmmm. Tempting. Whatcha reckon, Deets?"

"Nah, we can do the other thing any time, right dad? I definitely want a pastry while we're out!"

"Ooh yeah, I'd forgotten about that..."

Bruno chuckled. "Alrighty. You'd better put some clothes on then, hmm?" he winked to the twins. Both were shirtless, just wearing their sleep shorts and boxer briefs beneath.

Dieter rolled his eyes, and the twins bustled upstairs as well, leaving Bruno to finish tidying the kitchen. While he waited, the stag also took a moment to sweep the sawdust and bits of bark out of the carrier box of his cargo trike, and install the seat cushions he used when carrying passengers. With a satchel over his shoulder, he finally ushered the twins out of the front door of the house, and waited for them to settle themselves a little awkwardly in the carrier box, Dieter's legs spread around Kristian's hips, before setting off.

Their route took the three stags away from the coast, a little way inland towards the base of the promontory on which the Market Square was built. This was the oldest quarter of the new town, with buildings ranging in age from a few decades to half a millennium. The streets were narrow and cobbled, a veritable rabbit warren of alleys and promenades, all gently sloping uphill away from the bay. At a particularly large junction of streets lay a public square with something of a dark past - unofficially it was called The Harrows, and it was the place where until surprisingly recently, public executions had taken place. On this morning, though, it was a vibrant and eclectic open space, with a small monument surrounded by benches in its centre. The junction of no fewer than seven streets, the buildings surrounding The Harrows were a remarkable collection of oddly-shaped, medieval and half-timbered three-storey row houses, interspersed with a few newer, brick buildings here and there.

Bruno's trike squealed and juddered to a halt a short distance from The Harrows, and Bruno hopped off, and tied it securely to a lamp post. Kristian heaved himself out of the carrier box first, stretching his legs, and Dieter followed, shoving a hand down the front of his jeans to vigorously adjust himself. "GUH! Feels like my nuts are behind my kidneys!" he groaned, making Bruno snort with laughter.

Their destination was like something out of a fairy tale. Jammed in between two newer, red brick row houses stood a crooked, overhanging, three-storey medieval building. It seemed impossibly narrow and looked for all the world as though it had melted a little at some stage of its many centuries of history. The heavy oak beams comprising the bulk of the structure were warped and twisted, and had probably been that way since the day it was built. A small, hand-painted wooden sign hung from a post beside the heavy timber door, creaking slightly on rusty hinges in the gentle breeze.

'Cog & Cup,' it read.

A patisserie, a coffee house and a bike shop all rolled into one, the range of scents which assaulted the three stags' noses as they entered - Bruno ducking his head beneath the low lintel - was at once strange and familiar. The combination of fresh pastries, specialty coffee and the rubber and grease smell of the bike shop formed a fragrant and heady mix that was unique to the Cog & Cup.

A familiar face popped up suddenly from below a counter, a dragon's face framed by wild and untamable auburn curls, and Bruno laughed, the stag stepping forward to greet Kattalin. She was Alessandro's wife, the coffee roaster who shared Bruno's workshop space up in the artisan district. He'd purchased the building many years ago when, for some reason, it had been briefly discussed that it should be demolished and the space filled with another brick row house like those adjacent to it. Alessandro seized the opportunity to secure some prime real estate at a pittance, and he and Kattalin spent the next few years painstakingly renovating it, even remortgaging their own house to finance the repair work. What had initially been an abandoned building, gutted and structurally unsound, was transformed into a glittering beacon of the town's rich past. And finally, their efforts were paying off. The bike shop was a roaring success, and the patisserie seemingly always had a queue of patrons lining up either at the counter or at the service window beside the door. The fact that it gave Alessandro a flagship store through which to sell his coffee in Stillwater Cove only sweetened the deal, and the coffee was in just as much demand as any other part of the business. With living quarters on the top two floors for their kids, Zahame and Nahia, the kuvrahk family had most definitely set themselves up well here. Kattalin, in the meantime, was more than happy to run the little shop day to day alongside her husband; in her earlier life she'd been an archaeologist of some note and an avid historian. It was her research and contributions to the Stillwater Cove Historical Society that had preserved much more of the town's medieval history than the original Preservation Charter had demanded.

Shortly before the birth of Nahia, though, something had happened to Kattalin. No one knew precisely what it had been, since she herself had returned from a dig site somewhere in the desert to Stillwater Cove with only the barest memories of who she was. Alessandro was beside himself with fear, but there was little he could do. Kattalin remained the same woman she'd always been, on some level, it just seemed to those around her that she was starting over. Like someone had hit the reset button. Archaeology, history, all her knowledge and past achievements were wiped clean, and she now looked at the books she'd written and papers she'd published with not a flicker of familiarity.

Still, she seemed happy, and Alessandro, along with Bruno and a few other close friends, stood by her side throughout. The following year, Nahia had been born, and Kattalin had a new focus.

"Kattalin! Good to see you! How's the family?"

"Bruno, thank you! Same to you! My goodness, your boys are taller every time I see them," the kuvrahk's voice was heavily lilted with her Spanish accent, and she brushed flour off her hands onto her white apron before stepping out around the counter to greet the three stags.

Dieter and Kristian exchanged a glance, and smiled dutifully to Kattalin, before quickly getting distracted by the arrays of golden, flaky pastries on display behind glass cabinets, and by the rows of gleaming bikes against the far wall.

"I don't doubt it! I daresay the first growth spurts will begin quite soon," Bruno chuckled, watching his twins as they darted about the shop floor. "Oh! Speaking of growth spurts, is Zahame working here yet? I happened to chat with him a little while ago up at the workshop and he seemed excited to get started here."

"Yes, yes! He's almost fifteen, so we can legally employ him now!" Kattalin laughed, "He's picking it up so quickly, I think he'll enjoy managing the place with his sister in a few years' time, once he's finished school and Nahia's back from college. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, I'm just after a few inner tubes, a tyre and... I daresay coffee and pastries won't go amiss either!"

"Sure won't! Can I have a chocolate croissant?" Dieter interjected, the fawn bouncing across to insert himself between Bruno and Kattalin. Bruno placed his enormous hands on his son's shoulders, shaking him affectionately and making the fawn giggle and stare up at Kattalin as his head rocked back and forth.

"Ooh! Apple turnover for me!" Kris piped.

"Huh. And I guess I'll have to have one of those blueberry cinnamon... square things!" Bruno gesticulated vaguely at a glistening, sugary pile of utter deliciousness on the top shelf of the cabinet.

Kattalin rolled her eyes, and having furnished Bruno and the boys with pastries, coffee, inner tubes and a tyre for Dieter's bike, she returned to the bank of proving cases and pastry ovens at the back of the shop. Bruno would normally have been somewhat hesitant to give the boys coffee, but he figured there was no harm in it - his only stipulation was that they didn't load it up with sugar. There was a small, rustic wooden bench - Bruno's creation, along with most of the furniture inside the shop - out the front of the Cog & Cup, and the three stags sat together to eat and drink before heading back home to repair Dieter's bike.

"So you mentioned last night that you're going over to Archie's when I go out tonight, is that right?" Bruno queried his boys.

Dieter glanced across Bruno's lap at Kristian. "Well... we were hoping to. I think he said he was grounded or something though, so I dunno..."

"Really? Do you want me to message his mother and ask? I'm sure I've got her number in here somewhere, given they're our neighbours and all... Don't look at me like that Kris, it's not like that!" Bruno laughed, aiming a playful swat at the back of Kris's head as the fawn grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at his father.

Dieter cackled, and finished off his chocolate croissant, showering his lap with crumbs. The pastries here were divine. Bruno tapped out a quick message to Archie's mother, and received an almost instant response.

"Huh. You're right. Archie's... oh my gosh. Hah! He's grounded for looking up porn on the home computer!" Bruno laughed softly to himself, speaking without thinking.

"Uh... What's porn?" Dieter tilted his head, standing up to brush the crumbs off the front of his shorts.

Bruno's face turned bright red and he flattened his ears. Time for another of those conversations, he supposed. Damage control! With a grunt, he rose to his feet, and bustled the boys back to the cargo trike for the ride home.

***

The usual banter persisted for the entirety of the ride back down to the coast, and as soon as they arrived home, Dieter bounced up out of the carrier box of Bruno's trike to rush to fetch his own bicycle. The back tyre was shredded, from having been wheeled all the way to school on the rim after the puncture the previous morning. And it was well overdue for a change anyway, given the regularity of the boys' habit of locking their wheels and skidding around corners at every given opportunity.

While Dieter and Kristian watched on, squatting nearby and handing their father tools as he requested them, Bruno expertly loosened the rear wheel of the small, fixed-gear bicycle, unhooking the chain with a finger and slipping the wheel out of its dropout. Handing the wheel unceremoniously to Dieter, Bruno slipped a rag between the chain and the chainstay to keep oil off of the bike frame.

"Therrrrrre we go, easy. Okay, here you go Deets. Just press the tyre levers in below the bead about four inches apart and lever them up and over the rim together," Bruno handed Dieter the little steel tyre levers, while Kristian watched on, absent-mindedly stuffing a hand down his shorts to scratch himself.

"Dad?"

"Yeah Kris?"

"What's porn?"

"Oh for fff... I was kinda hoping you'd have forgotten about that."

"Nope! Archie got grounded for looking it up? Is it about... ya know... Ess Ee Ecks?" Kris perked one ear, then the other.

"Ah HAH!" With a 'twang,' the tyre suddenly popped over the lip of the bicycle rim, and Dieter grinned.

Bruno sighed softly, and slumped a little. Another little grain of innocence was going to be swept aside.

"Yes, Kris, porn is short for pornography. Which means photographs, and videos, of naked people, usually in sexual situations. It's... quite common, on the internet, and that's why I'm careful with how much internet access I give you two. It's almost inevitable you'll come across it eventually."

Kris giggled, and wrinkled his snout, sitting up straight and making a lewd gesture, inserting one finger through a ring made of the finger and thumb of his other hand. "Gosh, eww! Who'd want to look at random strangers doing sex on the internet?"

"Archie got in trouble for looking at THAT?" Dieter poked his tongue out, as he worked the tyre levers around the edge of his bicycle rim, unseating the ruined tyre and pulling it free, along with the shredded inner tube.

Bruno laughed at the boys' reactions. He was somewhat heartened by that, even if he knew their first impressions most likely wouldn't last.

"Well I gotta agree with you, guys. Porn is actually a huge industry, there's big money in it and a lot of people will happily pay for access. But there's all different types, too. Sometimes it's just a photo of someone's bits, which they share themselves. Right up to professional actors who get paid to have full-on sex in front of cameras. I really dislike that kind of material, it's really vulgar and honestly quite gross when it's scripted."

As he spoke, Bruno was inserting the new inner tube into Dieter's new tyre, and he reached for the wheel, locating the valve stem and using his heavily callused thumbs to quickly and easily seat the new tyre on the rim.

Dieter and Kristian exchanged a glance. It sounded...quite unappealing, the way their father had described it. But at the same time a spark of curiosity had ignited between the twins, and Kristian's mind was working through this new concept as obviously as if he had a neon sign emblazoned across his forehead.

"So... wh-what's the point of it?" he ventured after a moment.

"I uh... Ah hah! There ya go Dieter. Pump it up slowly, just up to 20 pounds at first," Bruno handed Dieter his newly-shod wheel, "Well, Kris... uh... most people look at porn because it um... arouses them. Gives them a boner. Lots of people, when they masturbate, like to picture things in their mind to help them out. I do it, all the time! Porn to most people is like a replacement for imagination. I guess maybe that's probably why I don't like it all that much. Sex, and masturbation for that matter, can be really loving, gentle, intimate things, that you do by yourself or with someone you love a whole bunch. Porn... well... porn kinda turns that into something really shallow and meaningless, only intended to cause arousal and to get you off without any of the other nice feelings that can go along with it."

"Oh right... so people look at other people masturbating or having sex so that they get a stiffy so they can masturbate too...?" Kris snorted quietly and shook his head, finally pulling his hand out of his shorts and surreptitiously sniffing his hand, disguising it as scratching his nose. "That's weird!"

Dieter coughed a little. "B-but... we watch each other do it," he said quietly, his cheeks flushed bright pink under his downy fur, pumping up his tyre slowly and distractedly, the wheel balanced against his knees.

"Hmm, that's a little different though, lads," Bruno thought about that for a moment. "Most brothers don't get along as well as you two do, and aren't as...close, either. I think it's amazing that you two are so open and curious. I was really worried that once puberty started you two would grow apart and not want to be around each other as much... most people masturbate on their own, after all, and a lot of the time siblings do grow apart and stuff when they reach your age. I can't see that happening with you two though, am I right?"

Dieter and Kristian shared a glance, and both burst out laughing, although it was still awkward laughter - this wasn't an easy topic to discuss, although the twins were mostly reading and reflecting Bruno's awkwardness. Dieter finished pumping up his tyre, and handed the wheel back to his father, who slipped it back into the dropout and hung the chain back around the tiny cog at its centre.

"So it's... it's not bad that we do it together?" Kris asked, tilting his head and squirming a little, his hands shoved firmly into his pockets now.

"Nah, not at all kiddo! Just remember what we talked about earlier, it's not something that most people talk about much, even though just about everyone does it!" Bruno grinned, and ruffled Kristian's hair with a slightly oily hand, before tightening up the wheel nuts of Dieter's bike and flipping it easily upright. "Alrighty! Wanna take it for a test ride, Deets? Make sure I did it right?"

Dieter flattened his ears, giving his father and twin brother a sheepish grin, sitting on the porch steps a little hunched over himself. "I... in a minute dad! Um... Yeah..."

"Ahaha! Yeah me too," Kris giggled, jutting his hips forward a little and pulling the fabric of his shorts taut over the little ridge of firmness hiding within.

Bruno cleared his throat noisily, and cocked an eyebrow. "Nice that you're not shy about it, Kris," he chuckled, packing away the bike tools and leaning Dieter's bike against the front of the house for him to test ride once he was able.

***

Later that day, as the sun began to dip towards the glittering waters of the Cove, the stag was upstairs getting ready for his night out. The boys were out for a bike ride, although Bruno had told them to be home by six. He checked the time with a grunt, then returned to grooming. Five fifty. Wax in the hair. Oil on the antlers and hooves. A nice shirt, and nicer pants. Bruno hardly recognised himself once he was done. He was so used to his usual scruffy work attire; overalls or jeans and dusty flannel shirts, that it had become the norm. That, or sweatpants and a zip-up hoodie for around the house. But tonight was different. An old friend, a girl he'd gone to school with, had found herself back in Stillwater Cove, and had taken the time to look Bruno up.

Bruno's friendship with Victoria had always been remarkably open and trusting; She'd been his friend since they could barely walk, and often Bruno found himself thinking of the pretty doe more than anyone else he shared his childhood with, wondering where she'd gone, how she'd grown in the time they'd been apart, in the time she'd been away from Stillwater Cove. She was just a year his junior, and since reconnecting they'd been sharing innumerable texts. But communicating in text could never replace a proper face to face meeting, and in spite of his best efforts the thought of seeing her again made Bruno's heart jump in his chest.

Five fifty eight.

Bruno peered out of his bedroom window to the street below, glancing either way for a sight of his twins returning from their ride. And right on cue, there they were, evidently returning from... the east side of town? Had they been to their treehouse? Bruno had, some years beforehand, purchased a tract of woodland on the eastern slope of the hills on which the artisan district sat, mostly to protect it from housing development. And now, with Bruno's help, the boys were slowly building a treehouse in the broad boughs of an old oak.

As the twins clattered inside, all excited giggles and chattering, Bruno thumped his way slowly downstairs, and groaned at the sight of them. They were covered in dirt, both of them, head to hoof.

"Holy... uh... have fun, did you?" he laughed.

"Oh! Hey dad! Yeah! We were..."

"At the treehouse, right?" Bruno finished for Dieter.

"Yeeeeeeah. It's super cool. We can't wait for it to be done," Dieter grinned a little sheepishly.

"Can we like, sleep out there sometimes when it's finished? PLEASE?" Kristian begged.

"Well... Hey hey hey! Mind the pants! Look at you, you're covered in dirt! Hahah! I... we'll talk about you sleeping in the treehouse when it's finished, okay? I have to go, my Uber will be here any minute and I don't want to keep Victoria waiting!"

"Oooooh, dad's got a daaaaate!" Dieter crowed, poking out his tongue.

"What's her name? Victoria? That's cool! What's she like?"

"She's... she's lovely, I'm sure you two will like her if you meet her. We went to school together. NOW. No, hush Dieter. There's money in the tin by the fruit bowl in the kitchen, okay? I'll be home probably quite late, so I'm trusting you two to take care of each other and get to bed at a reasonable time, okay?" Bruno's voice was stern, but he tempered it with a warm smile. "Keep the doors locked. The money can cover pizza if you want to order, just get Antonio to deliver it. He knows us well enough. There's also something for you both in your bedroom, on the dresser. For later on."

Bruno's face flushed a little at the last, and he cleared his throat, and flashed Dieter a wink just as a car horn sounded briefly outside.

"Okay, here's my ride. You be good, okay? I know I don't hafta tell you."

"S-sure, dad! Um... have a good night?"

"Thanks Kris. I will."

With one more grin, Bruno backed out the front door, locking it behind him as he headed out, leaving his twins staring after him in bemusement, and excitement at having the house all to themselves for a whole night for the first time in... ever! It was weird that Bruno hadn't hired a sitter, but it left both of the twins with a feeling of real accomplishment, like they were grown up and able to be trusted like adults. And about time too!

Several minutes passed, the twins mooching around in the kitchen and the downstairs lounge, until their eyes locked over the kitchen counter and both burst out giggling.

"Soooo... what're we gonna do? This is weird!" Dieter chuckled.

"Right? I mean... it's almost dinner time and I'm hungry... should we call Antonio's?"

Dieter turned, and opened the tin beside the fruit bowl, fishing out a couple of $20 bills. "Whoa. That's a lotta money. Forty bucks?! How hungry does dad think we are?"

Kristian laughed, already on the phone to the local pizzeria.

"Hey! Antonio! It's Kristian Hirschkoff. From number 23? Yeah! Hey can we get a lar..."

Dieter bleated obnoxiously.

"A FAMILY size vegetarian please? Extra mushrooms! A...and olives! Mmhm. Oh and garlic bread? Yes! A...and could you deliver, please? Awesome! Thanks!"

Hanging up the phone, Kristian grinned. "Oh man, we're gonna be sick if we eat all that..."

"Naaaah, we'll be fine! C'mon, I want to take a shower before it gets here."

"Yeah me too. Together? Quicker that way," Kristian nodded sharply.

Pure pragmatism, these twins were.

With a shared grin, the two boys bounded upstairs. Their filthy clothes were hurriedly deposited in the laundry hamper, and Dieter rushed ahead to turn the shower on while Kris grabbed fresh towels from the linen cupboard on the landing.

Dieter let out a surprised bleat as Kris came barreling into the large shower enclave just as he was washing his face, eyes shut, his brother knocking him right out of the stream of water and against the wall.

"Hey! Haha! Dude, chill, we got ages!" Dieter spluttered, rubbing water out of his eyes and bending to pick up the shampoo bottle.

"I know! You always take ages when you wash though."

"Oh and you don't?!"

"Nope!"

"Bullshit!"

Kristian poked his tongue out and wriggled his butt at his brother, and spun around a few times under the warm water to wet his fur, scrubbing the worst of the dirt from himself in the process and turning the water running down the drain a dark, gritty brown for several long moments.

Taking the shampoo from his brother once he was done, Kris stepped out of the water to let Dieter rinse off, soaping himself up thoroughly. Having a twin was interesting, to say the least. For Kris, in that moment, it was kinda weird to know exactly what he must look like while showering, and he huffed gently.

"Hey, you missed a bit..." he muttered, spotting a patch of mud thoroughly ingrained in Dieter's tail. "Lemme just..."

Dieter bleated in surprise, as his brother's hand scrubbed soap thoroughly into his tail, and he laughed, perking his hips backward. "Aw yeah, get it, thanks! AAH! That tickles!"

Kristian laughed, scrubbing playfully at Dieter's tail before smacking his butt sharply and turning away to finish soaping himself up, his hoof-tipped fingers lathering his downy, speckled fur thoroughly. And like clockwork, there it was. Kris giggled more quietly, standing still and just watching as he stiffened.

"Ahaha! You too, huh? Happens every time!" Dieter cackled, having turned back around. He was sporting his own erection, which glistened and bobbed cleanly as the hot water cascaded down his body, washing the last of the soap from him. He bent forward, parting his buttocks with a blush to rinse the soap from between them, before stepping aside and playfully shoving Kris under the water.

"Chyeah, of course! Hey, when're we gonna ya know... do the thing again?" Kris murmured, moving a loosely clenched fist up and down his soapy penis as he swayed back and forth beneath the water, rinsing himself down.

"Right now?" Dieter grinned, a cocky look on his face as he leaned one hand on the wall over Kris's shoulder. Dieter grabbed himself with two fingers and a thumb, roughly yanking the tight skin of his shaft up against the back of his glans, a soft "Aw yeah..." passing his lips.

"Whoa, whoa! Haha! Yeah okay, that's kinda hot. Hey I've never seen you do it like that, doesn't it hurt?" Kris wrinkled his snout, looking at his own hard, hoof-tipped fingers, and at the way Dieter was using them to rub himself.

"Nah, not really... don't think I could make it squirt like that though. Feels good, but not THAT good..."

"Yeaaaah, rubbin' the head's way better..." Kristian giggled, gripping his identical shaft in one hand and rubbing his open palm in a slow, firm circle around the firm, purple head of his erect member.

"Uh huh! I wo... fuck. Was that the doorbell?" Dieter's ears perked sharply, and he quickly shut off the water to listen.

*ding dong*

The twins' eyes widened, and Kristian burst into giggles.

"Wow that was really quick! Antonio's is usually real busy this time of night!" Dieter muttered, stepping out of the shower and vigorously scrubbing his wet fur with his towel, after shaking the worst of the water from himself. "S'ok, I got it!"

Tucking his erection up under the edge of his towel and keeping a hand over it, Dieter waddled and dripped his way downstairs, grabbing the money from the bench and giggling as he opened the door.

"Hiiiii! Sorry, I was in the shower!"

"Ciao Kristiano!" Antonio laughed heartily, the portly porcine pizza chef just as unable to tell the twins apart as anyone. "Issa alright, we're quiet tonight, so we made your pizza nice and quickly. Twenty will be fine, my friend!"

"Twenty? You sure? Thanks Tony!" Dieter swung the door wider open, holding his towel up awkwardly with one hand, feeling the back of it slipping down as soon as it was released. How was he going to do this?!

Sheepishly, Dieter held out one of the twenties, and Antonio quirked an eyebrow, taking it in his free paw and balancing the pizza and garlic bread on Dieter's hand. "You got it, my friend? Issa okay, I'ma not looking!" Antonio laughed again, making a show of averting his eyes, and just in time, as Dieter's towel fell to his hooves.

"Aw shit! Um! Th-thanks, Antonio! Wouldya mind shutting the door?" Dieter mumbled, spinning around.

"No problemmo! You two have a good night, huh? Ciao!"

The door shut with a heavy thunk, and Dieter could hear Antonio chuckling to himself as he walked back out to his car.

Kicking his towel along with him, Dieter managed to get the pizza into the kitchen and up onto the bench, the young fawn scowling down at his towel, at the very least thankful that his stiffy had gone down in the rush to get downstairs! Once he was composed, he tossed his towel over his shoulder, and carried the pizza and a bottle of soda upstairs, to where Kristian was already out of the bathroom, on the mezzanine lounge. Naked. Still with a stiffy. And still rubbing it.

"Oh damn! Haha!" Dieter snorted, playfully averting his eyes as Kris grinned up at him.

"Whaaaaaat? Feels nice..."

"I know, you dork. Here, dinner's up."

Dieter dumped the pizza box heavily into Kristian's lap, making him bleat in surprise and instinctively protect his balls. With a grin, Dieter threw himself onto the sofa too, and opened the box, licking his lips hungrily as tendrils of steam rose around their faces.

***

Across town, in a popular little night spot filled with restaurants and cafes and bars on a lively, cobbled street, Bruno waited to greet Victoria. The stag shuffled nervously and checked his phone compulsively for messages from her, almost like he was waiting for a cancellation message. So when he finally caught sight of her, his ears must've nearly perked off the sides of his head, the way she suddenly burst out laughing at him.

"BRUNO! Holy shit dude, look at you!" Victoria stepped right in, grabbing Bruno by his shoulders and looking him up and down. Her eyes sparkled in the evening light, highlighted with tasteful black eyeliner. Her dark blonde hair was loose and flowed in caramel waves around her shoulders, and faded to a pale sky blue at its tips, over the narrow straps of a dark indigo draped dress.

"Victoria!" Bruno breathed, his voice husky, eyebrows raised in astonishment. "It's really you! Ye gods, I've missed you!"

Once over the initial shock, Bruno enveloped his old schoolfriend in a huge bearhug, lifting the doe clear off her hooves and swinging her around, making her bleat and laugh.

"Shit, I missed you too! What's been happenin? I can't believe it's been so damn long, we have SO much to catch up on!"

"I know, I'm so sorry we fell out of contact. I didn't mean for that to happen... My younger brother turned up on my doorstep one day with two fawns in his arms, without the means or the ability to raise them, so I adopted them. Life got pretty busy after that."

"Kids?! Wait, so you...adopted your brother's kids?" Victoria's eyes widened.

"Yup. Dieter and Kristian. They're twelve now. Pure trouble on legs, I swear!"

"Oh man, that's... that's amazing, Bruno! I always figured you'd be a great father, but...you never mentioned them before? How come?"

Looping his arm through Victoria's, Bruno began to walk with her through the bustling street towards the restaurant he'd booked a table at.

"Well...Frankly, I wasn't sure what you'd think of it, and I didn't want to scare you off," he admitted sheepishly.

"So you make it the first thing you've said to my face in thirteen years? That's SO typical of you, Bruno..." Victoria rolled her eyes. Her sass was still there, strong as it had ever been in their teenage years. "So. I want to hear everything. All about it. My story can wait, for now. I'll talk your ears off afterward!"

Bruno, for his part, was at a loss for words. A moth to Victoria's flame, even only moments after meeting her for what felt like the first time in a lifetime. But as their evening progressed, the conversation between them was easy and natural, as though they'd never been apart. Those were the best friendships, after all, and Bruno's heart warmed in the knowledge that Victoria was still Victoria, although perhaps with less propensity for grass-stained elbows and muddy knees these days as she'd had through middle school. His mind inevitably flitted to the brief, intense romance that had blossomed between them towards the end of their senior year, a time when - briefly - muddy knees and grass-stained elbows had become a common accoutrement for them both once again.

The stag and the doe ate heartily together, drank far too much, and shared their lives. Victoria was single still, a fact which astonished Bruno. She was so beautiful, her personality bubbling from her with a vitality and strength of character that was utterly captivating to his every sense. Telling her as much earned him a playful swat and a heavy blush, and he found himself feeling woozy from more than just the wine.

"So... I've accepted a job here in Stillwater Cove, now," Victoria murmured, her eyes glittering in the warm lights of the restaurant, her fingers idly spinning her empty wine glass on the tabletop. "The firm I was working for in the city made me redundant, and I happened across an opening down here, working for the Mayor's office."

As if Bruno's smile couldn't get any wider, the thought of seeing more of Victoria in his life once more made his cheeks hurt.

"That is amazing, Victoria. I'm really happy to see you back here... I mean... not in an obligatory 'this is your place' kinda way, just...this town gets into your blood, doesn't it?"

Victoria cocked an eyebrow. "You might say that, I suppose. The city gets tiring after a while. I just hope there's enough work here to keep me employed long term - I am looking at moving here permanently, after all. Not like I'm about to commute three hours each way from the city!"

"No that makes sense... Have you got a place lined up?"

"Few rentals, yeah. The apartments here are all really old and full of character, I love them, but they are expensive. Honestly I'm thinking of buying, in the longer term."

So she really was serious. Bruno cleared his throat, and refilled their glasses.

"Well you know there's always a bed at my place for you if you find yourself between rentals or anything... I MEAN... um... not MY bed, necessarily, although...like...spare room..." Bruno trailed off, mumbling into his wine glass.

Victoria, for her part, just laughed at Bruno's awkwardness. He never changed! Flashing him a sultry look, she smirked.

"Hey, I got your number now...I'll look you up," she murmured.

***

Dieter groaned heavily, the fawn's belly distended with pizza and garlic bread and soda. Kristian wasn't in much better a state, their family sized pizza reduced to a few slices in the grease-stained box.

"Urgh, whose idea was it to get a family pizza?" Dieter moaned.

"YOURS, you doofus!"

"W...was not..." Dieter belched.

"Yeah it was!"

"Urgh. Dumb idea..."

"Well you didn't have to eat it ALL," Kris poked out his tongue.

"Neither did you!"

Kristian bleated quietly, and stood up a little shakily to carry the box downstairs, leaving Dieter sprawled naked across the couch. The way Dieter had been in the shower earlier kept replaying through Kris's mind, and he felt his cheeks burning as he remembered the sound of his brother's hand hitting the wall right by his head, the sight of Dieter roughly tugging and stroking himself bare inches away from his own...

Wrapping the remaining pizza in cling film and tossing it into the fridge, Kris wandered through the front storage room into the garage, to put the pizza box in the recycling. The garage was a far newer addition to the house, and housed one of Bruno's most prized, and most rarely seen, possessions. The swooping curves and the scent of vintage metal, oil and vinyl were only barely concealed by the dusty, fleece-lined protector over Bruno's car, and Kris paused to lift one corner, just high enough to caress the edge of a chrome bumper and the pitted fiberglass under-spoiler of the car. One day, Bruno had promised, he'd have it back on the road, and would drive them to the city in it. Kris pulled the cover back down, brushing dust from his fingers onto his thigh, and wandered - still naked - back into the house.

Trudging back upstairs with a yawn, Kris emerged onto the mezzanine to the soft sounds of snoring, and stifled a giggle as he saw Dieter fast asleep on the couch in a very compromising position, his stomach rising and falling with his regular, shallow breaths. Kris sank back into the sofa, lifting his brother's legs out of the way to a grunt of protest from Dieter.

"Hey, when're we gonna ya know... do the thing again?"

"Right now?"

Kris squirmed a little. He'd seen something in Dieter in that moment he'd never witnessed before, and he lowered a hand to his groin, idly cupping his small, velvety balls in his hand as, in his mind, Dieter turned into a much larger, older version of himself...pressing him up against the wall like that and rubbing his rigid penis for Kris' view...

The fawn huffed, watching himself stiffen rapidly once more, each beat of his heart causing his penis to swell and twitch a little more upward, until it jutted like a little mushroom-headed spire from his crotch. It was a persistent erection, this time. It took no further effort to keep it hard, and it felt... heavy, in a way. Demanding of attention. Kristian curled his right hand around it gently, moving his loose grip up and down and letting out a little huff of pleasure as his downward stroke pulled his shaft skin taut. His hips ground upwards, stretching his skin downward still further to pull at the edges of his glans, making it smooth and shiny. That felt so good... that pressure, the little stretch. Tugging upwards again, he repeated it, his legs quivering slightly.

So lost in his arousal was Kristian that he didn't notice Dieter awake again beside him, or his brother's grin as he watched on...or his own gently twitching erection.

"Getting started without me?" Dieter murmured.

"GAH! Fuck. S-sorry..." Kris stammered.

"Don't be. C'mon, let's go to the bedroom! More comfy. And plenty of tissues in case we squirt."

Dieter rolled to his feet, giggling as his penis jutted stiffly upward out of his crotch, curved up towards his belly. Both twins anatomy was such that when they were erect, their members pointed almost straight up at their chins. Kris followed behind Dieter, and the pair of them walked the few short paces into their bedroom. There was no need to close the door, for once. The whole house was theirs.

As they entered their room, both of their gazes fell at the same moment on Bruno's 'gift' for them, on the nightstand beside their messy, unmade bed. There was a post-it note from Bruno stuck to a big pump-pack bottle of... moisturiser?

I'm sure you'll figure out what this is for, the note read.

"Wh...what's he mean?" Kris asked.

"I dunno! C'mon, I'm all hard still, I wanna do it!" Dieter fidgeted, kneeling on the bed and shuffling across to make room for Kris.

Kristian snorted softly, and leapt - gently - onto the bed beside his twin brother, the two boys on their knees facing each other. Dieter shuffled forward, his knee nudging up between Kris', and he pushed his erect member outward, until the head bumped against his twin's, his cheeks flushed pink under his fur.

Kris' heart hammered in his chest. They'd done this a few times already, but this felt different. More naughty, perhaps? Or less so? Now that Bruno had filled them in on this being a normal and natural activity, it seemed as though a curtain of mild inhibition had been pulled aside. Wrapping his hand around his own, Kristian pushed his right up against Dieter's, the twins' shiny, purple heads sliding drily against each other, eliciting a little huff from Dieter.

"Aw yeah... they're so hard..." Dieter murmured.

"Uh huh..." Pulling his back a little, Kris gripped its base between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand, and rubbed the soft palm of his left over his glans, a slow, gentle motion.

Dieter copied, and after a moment, he lifted his hand, licking his palm wetly and returning it, the new sensation of slickness eliciting a happy little bleat from the fawn as his hips rocked into his grip, the twins resting their heads on the other's shoulders to balance themselves.

"Ohhh...I think I know..." Kris murmured. Reaching behind him, he picked up the bottle of lotion, and grinned.

Pump pump pump.

The thick, white lotion filling his palm, Kristian smeared it thickly over his penis. It was cold and wet, and he wrinkled his nose at first, immediately thinking he'd gotten it wrong and the lotion was for something else entirely!

But as he used his other hand to wipe it off again... fireworks.

A loud bleat passed his lips, and Kris perked his ears in shock. "Ohh yep... try this!"

Dieter, idly rubbing his dry shaft side to side through his belly fur as he watched, filled his own palm with significantly less lotion than Kris had used, setting the bottle back on the nightstand. Smearing it along his own shaft, he immediately felt that incredible sensation, and bucked forcefully through his grip.

"Aw fuck... yeah..."

Awkward, erratic wet sounds filled the twins' bedroom then, as the pair of them began to work out their rhythms and techniques for using this new method. They learned as they went, their hands moving in firm, rhythmic movements up and down, massaging the slick lotion thoroughly into their twitching shafts.

"Nnnngh... It f-feels like... like when it squirts, but all the time!" Dieter moaned out, fumbling for the words to describe his sensation.

"Y-yuh! S-so much better than soap!"

"Oooh... Yeah this is good!"

Kristian could only bleat softly in response, his eyes fluttering as the slick friction overtook his young mind. Rubbing firmly up and down over his glans, inner foreskin and the little scar behind it, his breathing deepened and quickened, and Dieter's not long after it.

"Fuck, I'm...!"

Kris suddenly grit his teeth, bucking his hips forward and stroking himself frantically for a second, before letting go of himself to watch it throb and pulse... his penis bucked and twitched wildly, sending a little squirt of clear ejaculate arcing up to splatter on Dieter's forearm.

"Oh yeah...nnnngh!" Dieter groaned, pumping his own faster and harder in that moment, so that only seconds after his twin brother, he ejaculated too, the sensation of his inner muscles clenching and spasming stealing his breath for a moment as he too, let himself go, gripping onto Kristian's shoulders roughly and bucking his hips to rub and slide his throbbing boyhood against his twin's. The same little jet of clear seed erupted from him into Kristian's belly fur, and as their eyes met, the twins burst into fits of giggles, collapsing back onto their bed and staring up to the ceiling, their faces split by broad grins as the afterglow set in.

***

Bruno's evening with Victoria was one of those occasions the stag hoped would never end. The easy friendship between them seemed to have never paused, and beyond the sheer quantity of stories each had to tell the other, to an onlooker it would never have seemed like there'd been a thirteen year gap in their acquaintance.

As the pair of them were walking along the beachfront well after midnight, their steps a little uneasy and faltering on account of the wine, Brno found himself staring at Victoria more and more. The way her hair fell about her face when she tilted her face downward, the mischievous sparkle in her eyes, everything about her was captivating.

She flashed him a cheeky grin when she caught him staring, and Bruno's ears flattened outward.

"Dude, are you okay?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Me? Of course... never better," Bruno grinned right back. "It's just been so damn long since I've seen you, I'm just making up for lost time or something... you're just too beautiful for words."

Victoria stopped walking, and turned to lean against the guardrail on the edge of the promenade overlooking the bay.

"I...Do you remember when we used to come down here at night to swim, Bruno?"

Silently, the stag moved beside her, gently resting an arm around the doe's slender waist. "Of course I do. How could I possibly forget?"

Victoria turned into Bruno's arms, hugging around his waist tightly and resting her head against his chest. Bruno grunted in surprise, and hugged her back affectionately, lifting one hand to brush his fingers through her hair.

"It's been so long since anyone called me beautiful," she murmured.

"You're kidding right?"

"No. I'm never usually this dressed up. It's always either gym clothes or work clothes, and I never wear makeup usually..."

"Victoria, you've always been beautiful and you always will be. It's not makeup, or clothes, that make you beautiful. It's you. Everything about you. Your smile, your eyes, just...who you are, that makes you beautiful."

"Bullshit," she mumbled into his chest, before grinning broadly up at him.

The moment was too perfect.

His hand moved up to cup her cheek, and with soap-opera style perfection, Bruno leaned down just a little to press his lips to Victoria's. Her hands tightened, gripping the back of his shirt, and she tilted her head to kiss him back. Time simply stopped for Bruno then, as he held her in his arms, their breath mingling in the warm night air to the soundtrack of gentle waves lapping at the sand behind Victoria. No one else mattered in that moment. Only her.

"Where are you staying tonight?" Bruno asked breathlessly after several long minutes.

Victoria giggled, and nuzzled firmly up against Bruno's neck. "Was that a proposition, Bruno, father of twins?"

Bruno just smirked. "It might've been..."

"Well, for what it's worth, I have a rule. I never go there on the first date," she winked teasingly, repeating exactly what she'd said to him at the end of their very first official date, way back in high school.

"Ohh, you remembered..." Bruno chuckled, clearing his throat as memories resurfaced of his own embarrassment from that evening so long ago. "So this was a date, was it?"

"Well we got plenty drunk and made out on the promenade, I'd call that a date, wouldn't you?"

"Fair enough, fair enough. Can I at least walk you home?"

Victoria grinned, and stepped back from him, holding out her hand to lace her fingers with his.

"Ye gods, your fingers have gotten thick," she observed.

Bruno snorted, and spluttered with laughter, earning him a playful swat from Victoria.

"Hey, working with wood as long as I have will do that, ya know!" he grinned.

"Oh, so I can tell... you'll have to tell me all about how good you are with wood, won't you?"

The innuendo was shameless, and as they walked through the rabbit warren of narrow streets in the old quarter of town towards where Victoria was bunking with friends for a few nights, it only escalated, to the point where both of them were flustered, blushing messes on Victoria's doorstep. Bruno slipped his arms easily around her once again, hugging her tightly and lifting her off her feet to swing her around, delighting in her laughter.

"It's SO good to see you again, it really is. I can't even tell you," he murmured, peppering her face with kisses, which were readily reciprocated.

"You too, you big dork... And I can't wait to meet your kids someday too, hopefully soon! Thankyou for such a perfect night, it was just what I needed to get settled in here again."

Their lips met once more, and Bruno and Victoria both fought their instincts to allow their hands to wander, breaking the kiss with a shared sigh.

"Sleep well, Victoria."

"You too, Bruno. Don't be a stranger, huh?"

He turned and waved as she stepped inside, and as he began his walk back down to the coast, hands in his pockets, Bruno's hoofsteps were light and easy, like he was walking on a cloud.

***

When he eventually got home, it was well and truly late. Almost four in the morning. Bruno unlocked the front door and slipped as quietly as he could into the house. His nostrils flared briefly to the musty, stale aroma of pizza and male cervine that filled his home, and he moved as silently as he could up the stairs and into the bathroom.

He groaned in pleasure as he stood over the toilet, pants around his ankles, and released. There was always something about those turbo-leaks after a few drinks that seemed extra-nice, somehow.

Shake shake. Flush.

Toothpaste on the brush, like so... his vision swam a little with drunkenness as he brushed, and he yawned hugely as he stepped out of the bathroom and shuffled the few steps to his bedroom, pausing to peer into Dieter and Kristian's room on his way past, pulling their door closed. The twins were fast asleep, of course, but he couldn't make out any detail in the darkness. The smell was pretty unmistakable though; clearly they'd worked out what the lotion was for, and Bruno chuckled.

The stag's clothes were dumped unceremoniously on the wooden chest at the foot of his bed as he closed his own bedroom door, navigating to his bed by the light of his phone screen.

Victoria... Gods, but she knew how to tease him properly, even if only with her words... The memory of her fur against his own, her lips all over his body and his all over hers, her touch. Her taste. Her vocal orgasms... it was as though their high school fling had only ended a week ago.

Rolling to his side, Bruno pulled open the drawer of his bedside cabinet, and rummaged around within it for the thick, towel-wrapped cylinder concealed inside. His eyes flew open when he found it unwrapped. Lifting the fleshlight from the drawer, Bruno raised it to his muzzle and sniffed. It was slippery and stank of lotion. Bruno was always careful to wash it out after every use, so that only left one option... Dieter and Kristian had found it. And used it.

The thought should've probably repulsed him, but Bruno in his drunken, aroused state couldn't find it within himself to be turned off by that. Pumping a generous amount of lotion into his hand, the stag gripped his rigidly erect penis, and used the floral moisturiser to lubricate himself.

The fleshlight made a lewd squelch as Bruno positioned it and pushed it down around his member, the familiar cold wetness of the toy sending a shiver up his spine and eliciting a soft grunt. He ground hard and deep into it, biting his lip. A vision of Victoria's naked body swam through his mind as he slowly and firmly pumped the toy into his groin, and in a rush of heated lust the stag turned over onto his knees, arranging his pillows one on top of the other, with the fleshlight sandwiched between them.

Settling his weight on top of the pillows, he slipped his hands down below them, in his mind's eye gripping and firmly kneading Victoria's buttocks as he slowly and firmly plowed into her with a deep, heavy rhythm, just like he remembered she liked it. Had that changed? He hoped he'd have the chance to find out someday soon...

Lost in his fantasy, Bruno bit down on his pillow, his back shuddering as he humped into the lotion-slick fleshlight. It was barely three minutes before with a lewd moan, stifled by his own arm, he convulsed, his balls tightening as he pumped his fleshlight full of seed, possibly to mix with that of his twin nephews...

His head spun as he finally collapsed onto his back, sweaty and spread-eagled across his bed. Carefully, Bruno removed the very full fleshlight from himself, quickly turning it over and standing it on his bedside cabinet. He'd wash it out in the morning, he sleepily promised.

Sleep took him within moments, and his dreams were full of her. And all the sweeter for it.