James & The Jock

Chapter 3

Taken for a Ride

Text Message [From: Horns]

_ Team Captains' Meeting - Raincheck Friday. Meet Sat 0800, Martha Square. Greenhouse 5, Loading Dock_

James glanced at the brief text and grumbled; that grumble turning into a weary sigh as he finally gave up pacing. Flicking his long, striped tail upwards, he hopped up on the edge of the loading ramp that led up to one of the dozen greenhouses arrayed along the back perimeter of the square named after the Horticulture department's founder, Martha Rachael. Many of the greenhouses had shut down for the weekend and the parking lot was empty. Though the sky was clear and blue but for a few clouds, the day had dawned breezy and cool, but James did not mind that. All he needed was his own fur to feel comfortable in the chill morning air though he wore his standard age softened denim jeans and a flannel shirt as well.

The greenhouses were on almost the opposite end of campus from his usual engineering digs and he'd been waiting behind them for a good ten minutes for Erol to show up. Not only was this a ways off his beaten track, it was a ways off anyone's; the general access was from the square. Only trucks would need to come around to the back.

That's probably why Erol had chosen it.

It was supposed to have been another study session with the gemsbok buck, Erol, in his private fraternity house loft. The other week Erol had worked with the Scholastic Committee to have James assigned as his tutor and their first study session had gone amazingly well, despite James' initial reservations. In the end, they had shared some intense extracurricular activities that gave the young raccoon a taste of Erol the likes of which he had never before expected. Not only had he enjoyed it beyond his wildest imaginings he had gone back for seconds. Just the memory of it all made his whiskers fold back and a smile cross his face.

That day had ended with a long, casual shower and a cab ride home late. James remembered trying to ignore the smell of stale take-out in the cab as he fired off a quick text to his online paramour, Ebonshadow, saying all was well and that they would talk later.

The classes since went as he expected; Erol was there, but wouldn't break the social conventions of his clique and acknowledge that James even existed. James sighed again; it was all annoying but expected when dealing with love in the closet. Still, Friday's tutoring session was what they had agreed on as the time for their next liaison, and it has been puzzling him since the morning when he had received the text telling him the session at the frat house was off and to meet him here, Saturday morning.

James looked down again at his phone and frowned upon seeing that the power bar was already at half despite having been on the charger all night. There were no signal bars, either, so if Erol was trying to get in touch it was a lost cause. He sighed again and slipped the antique into his breast pocket when a spine-chilling shriek and growl echoed from the vicinity of the furthest greenhouse. James hopped down and prepared to meet whatever had caused such an unholy racket. While he could probably bolt for the vine trellises across delivery road from the dock, they were season-withered and would afford him no place to hide, though in a panic he figured he could scramble up them well enough. The greenhouse door, recessed over a deep awing that covered the entire dock, was secured with a heavy chain and lock and provided no exit either.

A moment later he saw a massive Jeep cruise into sight, its soft-top stowed away and Erol at the wheel. Gravel crunched under the lugs of the heavy off-road tires while the engine growled at a low, easy idle. James held up a hand tentatively as the vehicle approached and Erol, beaming at him through the windshield, returned the wave merrily. He swung the Jeep around and into the loading bay and killed the engine, swinging out smoothly while James circled around the rear of the massive machine.

As ever Erol was clad with impeccable taste and according to the thickness of his wallet. He was dressed in deep blue slacks and smoky blue silk shirt over which he wore a black suede leather jacket without any school decoration. James realized only then that he had never seen Erol in a letterman's jacket, even in class during rally days. The gemsbok was captain of three different athletic divisions that were currently active or in spring season preparations, and a member of two others as well.

"Sorry I'm late, J" Erol offered gently as he stepped close to James and caught him in his strong arms. James smiled brightly and returned the hug, melting into the much taller athlete's embrace. He considered Erol's physique was quite attractive; neither too heavily muscled nor massive like some of the football types, nor given to any sort of flab. As most of his athletic endeavors favored endurance over brute force he was delightfully well toned, and James himself could attest to the buck's stamina. "Vick, the coyote you saw in the lounge last Friday, wanted to ask me about some details on the frat Halloween party." He shrugged and slipped an arm around James, walking over to the stairs at the back of the sunken loading bay. "Then I got turned around trying to find my way here!" The gemsbok laughed warmly.

James chuckled as well, "It's okay." He stepped up onto the first step of the stairs and stopped short when Erol dropped a hand to his elbow and drew him around to face him.

"I was feeling bad last night for dodging our..." he twitched his lips in a sheepish grin and emphasized the words, "tutoring session." And winked, "Dean Amscombe had to ask me three times what was so important I wasn't paying attention to his rather dry, pedantic 'team ethics' lecture." He caught both of James' elbows gently, prompting the raccoon to bring his hands up along his strong forearms, "And I wanted to apologize for it."

"No apolo-" James started, ending with a startled chirrup as Erol dropped easily to his knees on the dirty concrete of the loading bay in front of James and bowed forward to brush his broad nose across the crotch of the young engineering student's denim jeans. " Erol!" James gasped in surprise and tried to take a step back but the gemsbok simply moved his hands from the raccoon's elbows to his hips and stayed him in place gently. James shuddered at the warm flicking of Erol's strong, dexterous lips across the fly of his jeans. Erol's hands slid inward along the waist of his jeans as the buck rested his weight back on his powerful hocks and looked up with a lecherous grin. James gaped in surprised shock and, for a moment, simply could not speak.

Deftly, Erol's thick fingers flicked loose the brass button of his fly and drew down the zipper with a quiet buzz before slipping his hand into James' jeans, causing the startled young raccoon to suck in his gut as those fingers found fur and the swift firmness of his response. "Oh, ah, going commando?" Erol chided with a soft whicker of humor as he stroked James' exposed sheath with his fingertips.

"I - aiee! I almost always do." James protested, grasping at Erol's broad shoulders spastically with his hands, digging his blunt fingerclaws into the smoky blue silk of his shirt. "Erol, someone might see us!" His voice trailed away in a stuttering growl at the gentle but firm pressure of Erol's palm cupping his sheath and then sliding deeper into his loosened pants to cup his velvet furred balls. Using the back of his wrist to draw the denim down further Erol leaned in and brushed James' sheath with his lips, chortling to himself as he inhaled the young raccoon's clean, heady musk of masculine arousal.

"No one comes here on weekends," he pointed out, touching his lips to the short, dense fur of James' sheath as he spoke, letting his words play those lips along the firming ridge as he spoke. "And if anyone does, we'll hear the gate." He flicked one broad, tall ear toward the furthest greenhouse. "Mmmhh, so, I wanted to apologize." As he spoke Erol worked his lips slowly upward along the young raccoon's sheath, steadying his swaying balance with strong, gentle hands. Reaching the tip of the sheath he brushed the warm tuft of fur ringing it with his lips and let the tip of his wide tongue slip between them to press downward upon it, easing it back until flesh touched flesh.

James cried out a hissing gasp of sudden aching pleasure as he felt the warmth of Erol's tongue slowly sliding downward along his fully aroused shaft. "Oh, dear, if this is how you - apologize, then you need to - AH!" he choked on his words as Erol leaned his body forward to angle his head and push his strong muzzle downward upon him fully. The silver-capped horns brushed James' chest as the raccoon's hips bucked uncontrollably at that wonderful, all encompassing heat. With a deeply pleased whikker Erol sent the vibration of his voice directly into the core of James' sensory focus, sending waves of fire blossoming outward from his loins in muscle-clenching waves.

Oh, but he had skills, James had to admit in those scarce moments where he could think enough to consider the fact. The gemsbok's tongue was easily three times as wide and twice again as thick as the raccoon's own, and his square edged herbivorous teeth were considerably different as well. Even with his cock buried fully to the hilt within the athletic jock's muzzle he felt not even the slightest touch upon his over-sensitive flesh. He shakily drew his hands upward along either side of the thick neck supporting that skillful head and traced the powerful jaw as Erol drew back with teasing slowness to swirl his tongue about the tip. "Mmmhhh," he murmured around the girth upon his lips, "lovely." He tilted his head to one side to look up, meeting James' gaze and smiling as he pushed downward once more.

The buck's starkly patterned black and cream colored muzzle swam out of focus as James felt his knees shudder, held upright only by the gentle grasp of Erol's strong hands. Pushing upward with the root of his long tongue, Erol pressed it downward along the underside of his cock as he pressed his muzzle fully down upon James' length; far shorter than the buck's own but not by any means small for his specie. The raccoon's hips twitched and jerked, rolling forward into that muzzle while Erol tilted his head over in the opposite direction, rotating his muzzle about the raccoon's shaft. As he bottomed out in the dense, warm fur of James' groin he let his tongue roll from root to tip and then draw back into his muzzle, drawing its slightly coarse surface along the raccoon's flesh. Tall ears rocked forward at the churring, gasping cry his muzzle forced from his paramour's breast.

Slowly Erol let his hands slide downward and toward the back of James' hips, pushing his jeans down a little further as his fingers combed through the constrained fur of his rump, his hands moving to cup the raccoon's cheeks as he drew his head back again slowly. James swayed in place, his hands drifting up to caress the gemsbok's tall, broad scalloped ears. Reaching their tips he turned his hands to let their tips brush his palms and let his head rock back, eyes closed, tail held out behind him as he felt the buck's thick fingers grasp his rump. Abruptly Erol tightened that grasp, firmly but not roughly, and pulled him forward as he dropped his head again, curling his broad tongue upward around James' erection as his muzzle came to rest against his groin with a firm thump. Strong fingers drifted along the cleft of James' rump prompting his tail to raise higher still.

James was not entirely conscious of that touch as he felt himself rising all too swiftly toward the limits of his control, of which he was exerting none at all, letting himself fall fully and weightlessly into the hot, encompassing pressure of Erol's hunger. Oh, this is an apology I could get used to! His chaotic thoughts rattled about in the blessed confusion of his brain. The muscles of his stomach and thighs tightened inexorably as he churred and trilled with loud, lustful abandon, heedless of how far his voice might carry. "Erol," he hissed throatily, dropping his hands back to the buck's solid shoulders. His fingers grasped desperately at the muscles under the smoke-blue silk shirt and short, smooth pelt.

"Erol -" he whined again as the buck drew his head back slowly. Letting his hands relax upon the raccoon's ass, then pressing his head downward once more with another firm upward press of his rippling tongue, the gemsbok teased him to his limit."Erol, I - uhn! Erol!" he hissed through clenched teeth. The sensation that was finally too much for James was when he felt the blunt, hoof-like tip of the buck's finger tease lightly across the clenching ring of his ass a brief moment before everything went white-hot in his mind. The supernova stemmed from his loins as the buck's skillful tongue took him to the cliff's edge of passion and cast him unfettered into the abyss of release. His cock jerked mightily and he felt the rush of his orgasm surge upward from his balls and pour, swift and hot, across Erol's tongue. The buck whickered a deep, throaty sigh of pleasure as the raccoon's orgasm spilled into his muzzle and rested his nose in the velvety softness of his partner's groin to let the orgasm play out.

Gasping breathlessly, James leaned his weight upon Erol's shoulders and shuddered, his hips jerking with each spastic twitch of his cock. His orgasm peaked with delightful slowness and twitched to completion a few moments later, letting him sag back, his legs rubbery from the delightful release. He tried to speak, rasping senseless sounds for several long, breathless moments before he could find his voice, "Ohhh, yes, apology accepted!"

Erol continued to nurse with a delicately light touch of his tongue until James' erection faltered and gently suckled upon that smooth length until it slipped back into his sheath. He gave James' anal ring another light circling touch with his fingertips before sliding his hands back up to the raccoon's hips and settled back on his hocks. "I'm glad." He smiled warmly and licked his lips, still tasting the potency of James' orgasm upon his tongue. "I could not wait to apologize later, J, sorry." He winked impishly and tugged James' jeans back up.

"Apologies like that are going to spoil me rotten." James laughed breathlessly as he secured his pants and gave himself a mighty shake. As Erol stood, James leaned forward against his broad chest and hugged tightly with one arm, while he dropped his other to give the athlete's crotch a slow, firm rub. Erol snorted happily and laughed, rocking his hips into the raccoon's touch.

"Then I shall have to act the cad and create more situations where an apology is necessary," he joked. Stepping back, he helped James down from the step chivalrously due to James' still shaky legs. "And if we don't get back in my Jeep we'll probably be here all day." The buck grinned at him and winked as he circled around the front of his vehicle. James laughed with him and could only nod as he walked toward the passenger side door.

The thing was a monster, built to the needs of larger species like Erol, which meant it completely dwarfed the raccoon. What made its size all the more apparent were the outsize off-road tires, massive brush guard complete with low-slung fog lamps and winch, giving it the presence of a brute. It was painted a triple toned blue that shimmered in the dawning light of the late autumn morning and offset with silvery appliqués. As he crossed around to the passenger side he leaned down to check the wheel wells, noting the suspension travel with a critical eye, before climbing up onto the running board to open the heavy passenger door.

James was still feeling the giddiness of Erol's unique manner of apology as he settled into the seat, pleased just to be alone with the Jock again. He looked aside to the gemsbok as he navigated out of the loading bay and around to the very squeaky traffic gate. It opened automatically as the Jeep approached. James blinked in surprise as he found himself staring across not at Erol's face, but considerably further down; at his dark-blue clad crotch. With a start he jerked his gaze back up and forward, but could not suppress the broad, self-effacing grin as he ran his paw along his muzzle and contemplated what was hidden within those overpriced slacks.

Or when he would be able to enjoy it for himself as he had just been enjoyed by the buck.

"Mmmh, yes, well... I liked that." Erol favored him with a brief smile as he navigated out of the lot and back into the light traffic heading off the campus. James quirked a brow as they passed between the pillars of the campus' perimeter. "I hope I didn't surprise you too much. I stumbled across that place in my second year; the girl I was with at the time worked in one of the horticultural greenhouses down here and we met for a late-night quickie now and again." He shrugged and accelerated into the flow of traffic toward the main road that would, if he took a right turn, take them back to the front entrance of the campus. Erol paused at the stop and turned left. "It's somewhat out of the way and campus parking never checks, so no problems leaving the Jeep parked during off hours." His ears twitched at a shrieking engine and a motorcycle blasted past them on a double-line. He only shook his head as James stared after the fast dwindling tail light. "Speaking of, what were you looking for in the wheel well?"

"Hmm?" said James after the motorcycle passed around a corner some distance ahead. "Oh, that." He chuckled and shifted in his seat, "Well, this monster's a pretty shiny; big huge macho status thing, you know? I was looking for mud." Even with the hard-top stowed, the wind noise at speed was a dull throbbing growl and not the roar James would have expected; the greatest source of noise was the steady hum of the oversized off-road tires.

Erol glanced at him from the corner of his eye, rotating his nearest ear curiously, "Mud?"

James nodded, "Well, pretty much every 'off-road' vehicle I see around campus looks like they came off a show-room floor." He shrugged as they came to a stop at a traffic light. "You seem to actually do something with yours; there's dirt all over your wheel wells."

Erol laughed and reached over to give James' thigh a pat with one large hand and smiled toward him while they waited for the light to change, "Maybe I'll show you just what I do with it."

James patted the gemsbok's hand and snickered. "Show me another place where you've entertained the girls you mean?" he asked with a smile quirking one corner of his muzzle.

"Oh! Touché, stripes, touché!" Erol guffawed as the light changed to green and he moved forward with traffic. "But no; no girls have gone there."

"I have to admit, it's really surprising to see you driving something like this," James commented as he leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes and letting the wind wash through his fur.

"Oh? What did you think I would drive?"

"I always pictured something sporty and European; fast and low."

Erol snorted a laugh. "And sardine myself into it to go anywhere? No thanks." He shook his head with a smile and moved his hand back to James' thigh after shifting into a comfortable driving gear. He spared a quick glance down at the well worn denim. "I hate to ask, but are these the only clothes you got?" he inquired gently.

James frowned, whiskers twitching at the oblique insult toward his wardrobe, "Hmmm? Well, no, of course not, why?"

"I just mean... I've never seen you in really anything better, just more like these."

"Nice clothes?" he chuffed lightly, affronted. "We're not all sitting on a wallet thick enough to dent our asses, Erol." He looked again at the passenger side mirror, his ears backed. "My scholarship keeps me here. My family's money goes towards the books I need and other little things, like food."

Erol laid a hand gently on his shoulder and squeezed it, "I'm sorry, J, I didn't mean any insult. I know you come from a big family and clothes tend to be pass-around. Yours are at least comfortable; they're for wearing, not preening. I was just curious, is all." He eased off the accelerator as they came around a corner and spied the flashing blue lights of a police car on the shoulder ahead. "I didn't think what I was asking." As they maneuvered around the squad car they saw the motorcycle and its irate cheetah rider being cited. Erol let out an sardonic chuckle at the sight.

James sighed and glanced at the cheetah as they passed and sped back up. "Yeah, you didn't. My parents do well enough, but I've got nine brothers and sisters, money gets spread pretty thin even at the best of times." He sighed and plucked at the soft, age worn material of his blue and black plaid shirt. "Four are older than I am, so I get hand-me-downs, just like these would end up being worn by my younger brothers or sisters."

"When's the last time you ever had new clothes?"

"New? Hell..." James actually had to stop and think about that one for a few minutes. He hooked his arm over the lip of the door and leaned against it to let the wind tug at the fur of his cheek-ruff and neck. "My uncle's wedding, I think. Six years ago." He snapped his fingers. "No, wait. I got a shirt last Christmas."

Erol looked sidelong at him with a frown and an upraised brow, "You'll need some when you get to interviewing for summer internships next spring."

"I'll pick up my brother Max's suits when I visit during winter break, they haven't been used much as he's following dad into the forestry side of things. So is my brother Mike, but he's too small for me to wear his clothes."

Another sidelong, curious glance. "Your family is amazing." Erol chuckled softly. "Care to tell me about them?"

James rolled his eyes but smiled with a shake of his head. "We driving to California? I might be able to scratch the surface by the time we get there," the young raccoon pointed out, glancing over at his companion. "And what's your family like?"

Erol's lips twitched in a reflective moue and his ears flicked as he considered the question. "Smaller, I've got an older brother and a younger sister. And no, we're only going to Temple." Mapleville, the small college town that it was, sprawled outside the main entrance. Shade Hollow was another six miles down the road the other direction. Temple was forty miles from the back gate and was the only true city, with a population of a half million, within a hundred miles. He shrugged his broad shoulders slowly. "So, tell me about your family while I drive?"

For the next hour as they navigated the two lane back roads winding through the low mountains of the northern Appalachians James talked about the chaos of his oversized family interjected with considerable laughter as he related some of the more notorious exploits a mob of raccoon siblings could get into.

Seven Corners mall was a huge, sprawling affair that James had only heard of. He had never seen its like and found himself staring down at it in awe as Erol navigated into the huge parking lot. The entirety of it, parking included, was easily as large as the entire town he grew up in and he said as much.

Erol simply chuckled and promised to show him the Mall of the Americas sometime.

They found an open spot just out front of one of the huge mall department stores and Erol cheerfully held the door for his shorter companion. "Let's wander around and see what we can find to blow some good ol' greenbacks on."

"Like what?" James asked as he walked along with Erol at his side. He found himself glancing idly at the labyrinth of clothing racks, currently segregated by gender and shorter species. Most of the mannequins were feline or canine in general build but further away he could see larger equine and bovine mannequins with their distinctive height and breadth.

Erol laid an arm around his shoulders and waved his arm at the cornucopia of clothing, "Whatever catches our fancy. I don't shop at this store, it's just got the best parking on weekends." James said nothing and smiled inwardly at the companionable embrace resting weightily on his shoulders. He spared a few lingering looks at random displays, quietly dismayed at the rather astounding prices he saw on a few tags. While Erol may have been quite comfortable with the easiness of his financial situation, but James just felt self conscious in his old, worn clothing and wallet more populated with moths than money.

Leisurely they wandered toward the front of the huge store and out into the main avenue of the mall. James gawked at the vast open space with his jaw hanging. He backed his ears from the cacophony of weekend shoppers going to and fro on whatever shopping desires brought them to the mall.

"Impressive?" Erol asked as they wove their way through the throngs at an easy pace. Laughing children gamboled past them in an unruly mob.

"Frighteningly so." James chuffed as he took a brief glance into a store packed tight with dark gothic clothing. Music rumbled from within with a throbbing base beat that he could feel within his chest. Many of the shoppers within were festooned with similar wardrobes and sported all manner of fur dyes and piercings. Many had patterns shaved into their fur that lent them a rather horrific look.

"Variety is spice, J, variety is spice." Erol lengthened his stride and angled across between a kiosk of Earth themed fur scents and another offering terribly kitsch glasswork. "Over here." What he lead James to was a small, sedate looking clothing store attuned more for Erol's personal style of clothing than the gothic store across the way. There was only one other person shopping there; a white fox dressed impeccably in a black blazer, slacks, and tie with a deep olive green shirt. Erol paid him not a second glance but James started when he realized that the fox was considerably younger than both of them. A willowy white-tailed doe deer lounged behind the check-out counter working over a ledger of some kind. She favored them with a brief glance and smile before returning to her work.

"Erol, dearie, welcome back!" boomed a thunderous feminine voice that brought James' gaze around with a snap. Weaving effortlessly through the racks, and looming over them like a bull in a china shop, was a startlingly large grizzly bear. She was wearing a simple but elegant wrap reminiscent of traditional Native American mixed with modern professional cut. For once James found someone who made Erol look as small as he was, himself, in comparison to his taller friend. The gemsbok beamed at the mountainous proprietress without the slightest caution in the face of her predatory bulk. As dwarfed as he was by both of them James quietly came to stop in Erol's confident shadow. "Come back to update yourself?" She extended a huge hand warmly.

Erol clasped her hand, his own disappearing in the massive gray-brown grip, and shook his head, "No, Madame Strong. I came to update my friend, here." Erol reached back effortlessly and slipped his free arm around James' shoulders, drawing him forward. The grizzly lowered her muzzle to look down at James' appraisingly, those dark brown orbs quickly sizing him up.

James swallowed, his tail tucking between his legs and wrapping about one of them. He distinctly felt like an impending snack. "Miss Strong, this is James."

Her hand came forward toward James, "Well, handsome, a friend of Erol's is a friend of mine. Welcome to my little dusty corner of chaos." Timorously James placed his diminutive hand within her own and felt her immense strength gently pump his hand thrice before releasing it. "Nice to meet you." She smiled, showing a slight hint of deadly ursine teeth. "Come on in the back so we can size you up. Erol?" Turning easily, her broad bulk not so much as disturbing a single garment on the close clustered racks, she swept a thick arm toward the shadowed door at the rear of the shop. A simple plaque on it read 'Sizing Room. Private." With his hands upon James' shoulders Erol guided him toward the door with the bear named Strong ambling along in their wake. "Arrow, we'll be in the back," the ursine clothier rumbled toward the doe minding the counter.

The room beyond was surprisingly large, mostly in that its degree of clutter was diametrically opposed to the store itself. The room was positively austere in décor; a quartet of large chairs arrayed around a slightly raised platform that was, itself, posed before a trio of mirrors. Strong closed the door softly and the throbbing background noise of the mall vanished entirely. "Well, let's see what we can do for you, James." She said warmly while Erol settled himself into one of the chairs. "If you could hang your shirt and pants on the rack there, I'll get your measure."

James' jaw dropped in shock, his eyes going wide as he looked from bear to gemsbok and back. Erol only laughed softly and winked. Strong merely quirked one eyebrow for a moment, then tittered a most un-ursine roll of laughter as well. "Dear, if you're going commando..." she trailed off with a broad toothy smile and looked toward the seated Jock. "Erol, dearie, you didn't tell him you were bringing him here, did you?"

Erol gave the bruin a playful wink, "No, ma'am." He whikkered humorously. "Didn't tell him to go commando, either."

James could only groan in embarrassment, covering his eyes with a paw as he felt his ears flush hot and his tail tucked itself against the back of his legs.

Strong giggled merrily and clucked her tongue against the roof of her broad muzzle remonstratively, "You do." She rumbled with a flick of her short round ears. "Do be a kind soul and go fetch him some boxers from the store, would you?"

Levering himself up from the chair Erol crossed toward the door, touching the grizzly's arm lightly with his fingers. "Not that you ever seemed to mind," he commented blandly with a lazy sweeping flick of his tail. With a brief throb of distant mall cacophony he slipped out of the fitting room. James, tail still tucked in profound embarrassment, tried to look anywhere but at the hulking mass of fur, fat, and muscle gathering up her measuring tape and note pad.

"No need to fret, James." She said back over her shoulder, "I know what Erol's about, and you can't go wrong by him." Ambling back she dipped her muzzle to look down at him. "Take your shirt off, dearie, while we wait for Erol to make just the right selection."

Swallowing the lump in his throat James did as the mountainous tailor bid. "You know what he's about?" She took the shirt from him and hung it lightly on a nearby clothes tree.

"He's gay." The bear rumbled good naturedly while she held up one of his arms and took four measurements, "I take it you're the same, from the way he's acting around you. It's much closer to how he behaves when he's trying to impress a lady than if he's here with one of the frat brothers. I figured you're not the latter either, as you have none of their colors."

James frowned while she jotted notes in her pad deftly despite those thick, claw tipped fingers. He saw that each claw was carefully polished but not painted, the tips manicured to a clean bluntness. "I know he is. Me, I'm... not so sure yet."

"Mmmh?" She quirked a furry brow curiously as she measured his other arm similarly, "Not sure you are?" Again she made notes.

"Well, no." He lifted his chin while she measured his neck and shoulders, then raised his arms while she measured his chest and waist, "Until a month ago it was just a thought I never entertained much. Now I'm..." He trailed off and then shrugged while she jotted notes. "Well, I'm just confused."

One huge paw touched his shoulder gently. "Dear child, life is one great confusion from the day we first taste it." She smiled down at his upturned gaze. "If it weren't it'd be awful damn boring. Don't let it fret you." The noise of the mall intruded on their conversation as Erol slipped back in and, with a flourish, held up a pair of boxers.

No simple affair of sedate hues that James would have expected however; they were a deep burgundy hue with small black bats and stylized vampire teeth printed on them. Prominently on the front were printed the words; "Suck this!" James gaped in shock and Strong bellowed a rolling laugh while Erol grinned impishly, his tall ears pinned forward gleefully.

"Errrollll!" James quailed in shock while the bear could not cap her merry giggling.

"I'll leave you two for a min." She tittered and slipped past Erol. One huge hand came down to deliver a playful swat on Erol's rump with such weight that he staggered forward a pace. "Erol, I question your sanity sometimes." Another momentary blast of sound later and she was gone. Still grinning like a fool, Erol crossed the room and presented James with the garish boxers.

"You don't seriously expect me to wear these?" James churred with furrowed brows and backed whiskers as he read the quote on the front again. They could only have come from the gothic shop across the avenue. He chuffed again at the feel of Erol's large, blunt fingers worrying loose the button of his jeans and then drew down the zipper in a reprise of their earlier liaison at the loading dock. When Erol's hands slipped into his jeans James let out a churring trill of surprise. "Hey, she's going to be back!" he squeaked.

Leaning close the athlete smiled warmly and brushed his broad muzzle alongside James' own, "She'll knock." Slowly he eased the jeans down, kneeling as he did, to lean down and brush the pad of his nose sideways across James' exposed sheath one direction and then another. The young raccoon churred a heavy, pleased growl and scratched lightly between his horns. Without any further torture Erol eased his paws from the pile of his jeans and then helped slip the garish boxers on. "Can't a randy young buck enjoy a little eye candy?"

James chuffed and tapped him lightly on the nose with one finger. "As much as a randy young buck wants, but not when seven hundred pounds of playful she-bear is just outside the door." He cupped his hands along either side of Erol's strong, starkly patterned head and caught his gaze. "Why are you doing this, Erol?"

The gemsbok's ears swiveled forward and then back while he raised one eyebrow, "Because I like how you look?" he smiled and traced his blunt fingertips across the front of James' shorts teasingly.

James studiously ignored the touch and shook his head. "No, this." He nodded toward the fitting room without taking his eyes off of Erol's own.

The young buck tilted his head slightly and frowned, "Because I want to?" he asked softly, almost timidly. "Because you're my - my friend." With a slow breath he rose and rested his hands upon James' shoulders. "I have money, J. I have more than I need, and more than I want. I've got this silver spoon shoved so far up my ass I fear I wouldn't feel you back there." Turning he wandered back to one of the chairs and settled himself into it. James' cocked an eyebrow at the strange comment. "Money can be spent on few things worthy of it that makes spending it even feel right. Investments and business are well and good, but they're cold and empty, putting money there has little use but to make more of it. You can give it to charity, and my family does a good bit of that, but it's just as empty and feels kind of hollow. That leaves a more personal touch; loved ones, friends, and strangers you can do a good turn for with it. That's what makes it feel good to have; to help others who can actually benefit from it." Resting his folded hands in his lap he met James' gaze earnestly. "For you, James, because I want to. Not because you lack it, but because I like you. I don't have many real friends, only sycophants who want what I have, not because of Me. I'm not doing this in recompense for what you've given me. I'm doing this... because I feel you'll appreciate it for the gift that it is."

James listened quietly, self-consciously wrapping his tail about the flamboyant red boxers about his waist. "I don't want your money, Erol." He almost said 'charity' but felt that would be too harsh. "Just you."

"And that, J, is why I do this." The gemsbok said with a warm, gentle smile while a light knock thumped at the door. "It's safe, Madame Strong!" he called out more loudly. The door opened and the proprietress ducked her muzzle in to see if it was, indeed, safe before slipping her bulk in deftly. She snorted back a giggle at the sight of James' new wardrobe enwrapped with his tail.

"Strong... that's a good name, ma'am." James hazarded as he forced himself to regain control of his tail and let it drape back behind him once more.

"Isn't it, tho?" she rumbled good naturedly as she approached the pedestal and settled ponderously on her knees in front of James. On her knees her head was on eye level with James', even while he stood upon the pedestal. "Amilee Strongpaw Singing Bear of the Navajo Nation." She plucked the notepad and tape from a craftily concealed pocket of her garment, "I just use Strong because Singing Bear sounds so pretentious. Now, hon, this is going to be pretty forward, so bear with me."

With gentle hands she grasped James' hips and turned him around. Taking up his tail in one huge, gentle hand she lifted it slightly and slid her other hand upward along its underside. James shuddered slightly at the touch across rather sensitive areas Erol had yet to discover while she tucked the tip of the measuring tape uncomfortably far beneath his tail and drew it downward along the entire length. "It's okay, James, I do this every day. Everyone twitches a bit, especially those stuffed shirts like Erol over there." The bear joked disarmingly before switching the tape to wrap it about the root of his tail. Releasing it to take notes she then ran those nimble hands upward between his legs. He widened his stance and his tail tried once more to tuck itself safely over his vulnerable anatomy but it succeeded only in wrapping itself about the bear's thick neck like a shawl. From his crotch she measured his inseam with a single deft draw of the tape.

"Lookin' good!" Erol commented drily from the sidelines.

"Peanut gallery comments always welcome," Strong offered with a jocular laugh. "I could've measured just as easily without the boxers, but stuffed shirts and business ethics, you know, all that legal sewage."

"Hmmm, I wasn't talking about James."

The bear laughed warmly and shot a glance back over her shoulder, playfully shaking her broad ursine posterior, "Shush, you, or I'll sic my old man on you."

Erol snickered, "I'd just choke on him, mistress." Leaning forward he rested his elbows on his knees and grinned mischievously. "Care for some lessons?"

"Erol!" James hissed in mortified embarrassment. Both bear and gemsbok laughed heartily.

Strong shifted back and rose to her full towering height over them. "How many today, o' master of the impeccable fashion sense?" she asked of Erol who was still giggling softly to himself and pointedly admiring James' burgundy clad rump.

"Mhh? Oh! Let's start with three, shall we?" he said at length, "Two casual, one for interviews. Add a pair of matching ties and a jacket as well."

"Be a week for each, shall I call you when they're done, or have them delivered?" She tore off the notebook page after jotting a few notes and put both pad and tape back in their place.

While James looked on in self-conscious surprise Erol rubbed his jaw, "I'm sure we can find an excuse to entertain ourselves with your largesse, mistress Strong, when they're ready. We'll pick them up."

"Good, let me get the color swatches. Anything for today?"

"Certainly! I love a good dress-up show." He caught James' gaze and winked. The raccoon snorted through his nose and rolled his eyes.

"Charmer." She winked and slipped out again.

Two hours, and much ribald banter later, James left the store wearing a handsome casual ensemble of smoky gray with subtle brown highlights that set off the natural hues of his fur to amazing affect. Erol had even gone so far as to sit James between his legs while they were selecting color swatches and groomed the raccoon's thick, somewhat haphazard pelt. It felt good and by that time James was comfortable enough in their company to allow it. Erol's charm was spectacular and James felt callow in comparison.

The mall itself was well, the mall. It was more noise and hustle and bustle, the furs around them each seemingly in their own consumerism-obsessed bubble. ** ** For now, though, he was content to just follow Erol. They wandered aimlessly about the mall for a bit of time, admiring the sheer variety of goods available. Erol even pointed out a few nice asses, both male and female, to admire, much to James' mirth.

The surprising thing was that he could see what Erol saw in them, and admired them all the same. The gender of the body attached to each ass did not seem to be as important as it was not so long ago. He let Erol lead the way from store to store, not knowing exactly where they were going but willing to go along, happy to be sharing the buck's comfortable, garrulous company.

"Ohh, shiny!" Erol exclaimed, peeling away from the raccoon and heading into a cell phone shop. Unlike the tiny kiosks offering the same fare that they had passed half a dozen times already the store was huge, offering a greater selection of the newest technology and accessories.

James quickly reversed course, coming up behind the gemsbok and seeing him fingering and admiring one of the newest devices, a huge grin plastered on his muzzle. "Okay, you're just as a bad as a ferret," he scoffed as he peered across at the flat-screened new release. It was, indeed, a handsome looking hunk of technology. James had held out hope that, if he was miserly with his finances, he could buy one of them eventually. Despite being pretty far off the beaten track his home had commendable cellular service considering there was a tower planted less than a quarter mile from the family stead. As his father worked for the government they also had high-speed internet connectivity supplied through the very trunk lines that fed the tower.

"Hey, don't knock ferrets. I can tell you some wonderful stories about ferrets. Though not here, of course," Erol added, shooting James a wink.

The cell phone store was almost a repeat of the clothing boutique; Erol was all charm and gregariousness, parlaying the rat at the sales desk with ease by showing he knew just as much about the phones as the rodent did. Having seen it before, James drifted off amongst the other offerings, admiring the latest technological offerings and wishing again he could afford any of them. Maybe with a few more actual tutoring assignments he could replace the old brick in his pocket.

Erol made him jump as he gemsbok slapped him on the shoulder on his way out of the store. "Come on, let's find a seat so I can get this puppy open."

Naturally, they settled on the food court; it was the only area in the mall with freely available tables, after all. James could only smirk and shake his head as he watched Erol tear into the packaging and extract his new phone. The gemsbok was surprisingly quick at getting the phone out of the box, stripping the labels and getting the back opened up. He was equally quick in the dissection of his own phone and had the SIM card installed in the new one in really no time at all.

"Alright, and there... we... go," said Erol, pressing the power button and watching the phone light up. "Excellent, it's all working! Uh - James, can I see your phone for a moment?"

"Why?" asked James, one brow cocked as he handed his phone over anyway.

But Erol didn't answer him and instead set about tearing into the old phone with the same efficiency he had dispatched his own with. Almost before James could voice protest, Erol had the SIM card transferred to his old phone and was putting the back once more on the device. Erol made sure it turned on and handed it back to the raccoon with a smile. "Here."

"What... what's this?"

Erol shrugged. "Hey, I have no use for it now." He smiled disarmingly, "Better than tossing it in that recycling box at the store. Besides, I think it's safe to say we could both use an upgrade," he said, giving James' old phone a spin on the table with one finger. With one sweep of his arm he shoveled everything back into his bag and stood up. "Now, let's go. I need something to eat after all this."

James stood as well, slipping the buck's old phone into his pocket. Not that the phone was actually old by any sense of the word; the model had only hit the market five months previously. "Go?" he asked as he trotted alongside Erol whose strides were two of James' own.

"Food! What do you feel like? And nothing from here, I want real food," he added quickly when he saw James surveying the eateries surrounding them.

James quirked a brow and shrugged, "I'm pretty open." And then he grinned toothily, "I'm a raccoon, and as you know we'll eat pretty much anything we can get our hands on. What would you suggest then? You seem to have done a good job so far today."

The buck cast him a sideways glance and smiled down at him. "You." He winked and gave James' shoulder a good natured punch, "In any case... when was the last time you had sushi?"

"Never."

"Never? What do you mean never? How can you have made it to third year university and still never had sushi?" Erol waved off James' protests as he led them swiftly back to their parking space. "Doesn't matter; you're having it now. There is a perfect little place near here, you'll love it."

The restaurant was indeed as unassuming as Erol had described; there was not even an English translation for the vertical sign in Japanese characters along one side of the door. It was nestled into the corner of a strip-mall between a religious books store and a grooming parlor. It certainly didn't seem on par with the rest of what Erol had shown him, but he trusted the gemsbok's taste.

And flavor, for that matter, but he quashed the thought with a momentary lift at one corner of his muzzle.

Inside, the place was just as unassuming. A long, glass-fronted sushi bar ran the length of one side wall behind which a single chef was delicately carving up one of the fish displayed in ice along the front of the bar. There were perhaps ten tables in the main dining area, only three of which were occupied by quiet patrons, and rooms with sliding screen doors running along the opposite wall from the bar. There was an expected smattering of ethnic decorations, but nothing that struck James as particularly kitsch. The tinkling of water from the fountain near the entrance reached his ears and subtle traditional music just below the level of conscious observation were the only real sounds to the place. Other than those two quiet background noises, and the hushed conversations of the patrons, it was the quietest restaurant James had ever visited.

Indeed, the quiet elegance to the whole place which was mirrored in the server that came out of the back to greet them. A slender young vixen greeted them demurely at the door with a polite bow. Erol matched it while James looked on, taking in the savory aromas that drifted out from the kitchen.

"Will that be two today?" she asked softly but without looking down as James had expected was traditional for women in the culture. How little he understood it, he realized, or how little he understood its Westernized representatives.

"Yes. And a room, please," Erol replied.

With a nod she took a pair of menus from the podium and lead them to one of the half dozen tatami rooms. The room was quite austere, a single picture on the wall and a table in the center, with pillow-strewn seating all around. What James first took to be a typical low table turned out to be an illusion. It was a typical western style table with bench seating around a sunken recess beneath that allowed patrons to sit as they were accustomed to while maintaining the Japanese ambiance. As he was arranging himself, and his tail amongst the pillows another vixen dressed similarly to the hostess drew the screen back to enter.

She resembled any other vixen but she a much different pelt than James had ever seen. Her face held the typical shape and markings, only instead of a russet red, silvered black or charcoal grey her fur was vibrant yellow, golden hay being the best he could describe it as. Her eyes, while carrying the typical fox-like slit, were a deep jade green and she had a speckling of black dots along her muzzle just a few inches past her nose and at her chest ruff just before it disappeared into the collar of her kimono.

"Greetings today, sirs." she said with a slight Japanese lilt to otherwise flawless English as she knelt on the pillows to one side of the table and settled back on her hocks. Her tails flicked lightly and arranged themselves to either side of her crossed paw-feet. "I am Aimi. How may I serve you today?" James caught himself staring at her tails, for there was not one but three of them, and failed to catch her question. Like the rest of their server, the tails were a straw-gold coloring with vibrant white tips and the dusting of black dots. Their fullness made the two on the outside clearly visible from even the front, and James' eyes were drawn to their slow sweep across the pillows behind her. He blinked as he overheard Erol asking her for water, tea, and a bottle of plum wine before they ordered. With a polite affirmation, the kitsune slid closed the screen, sealing them in.

"Plum wine?"

"Another first I know you'll like," Erol said with a glint in his eye. He folded his hands beneath his chin, elbows resting on the table. "Staring at our server's ass, were you, James?" he asked lightly with mock approbation while smiling at one corner of his muzzle.

James' ears backed in momentary embarrassment. "No, her tails! Did you see that she had three of them?"

"More than a few times." The gemsbok mused with a soft smile, "Very cute."

"I just find it fascinating," James admitted. "All those tails on one person. And the mechanics of the anatomy to have that all working. Very fascinating."

"You see the red four-tailed one around campus?" asked Erol. James nodded vigorously. "He's first-year, frosh I'm pretty sure."

"Yeah, I've seen him here and there... hard to miss all of those tails. Not taking engineering classes, though, so I've just caught glimpses."

"That guy is cute."

"Because he's a guy? Or because he's got more tails to hang onto?"

"Oh, is that what they're there for?" Erol smiled with a wink. "You've got just the one, and the thought of it draped over my muzzle is a thought I always find fascinating, too." James blinked, ears backing self-consciously, and could only smile with a flourish of his own lush tail.

"So how did you ever find this place?" James asked a few moments later while they pored over the menu. James gave up after a brief initial scan told him nothing he could understand about the dishes other than the type of fish or mollusk it was comprised of. He decided to leave it up to Erol to order for them.

Erol stroked his lip with one thumb in a gesture James found both quaint and oddly rather noble as he perused the menu. "First year," he said after a moment of thought without looking up from his menu. "This girl I was dating - a civet - she brought me here on a date; wanted to be all nice and secluded and all. In the end, she was really quite a bitch, so I don't regret dumping her ass." He raised his eyes to look at James over the top of his menu, "That's me, James, you'll hear it eventually. I burn through females like a chain smoker does cigarettes. It's all appearances, and most of them don't even get in my pants. I play pretty hard and cold. Most get a clue and break it off unless they really, really want something from me. They're just hoping to mooch after my money, usually, or status as the latest pussy warming The Team Captain." He shrugged and looked back down at his menu with a slight frown, "I don't do it because I enjoy it; either running rough shod over them or bedding the few who damn near rape me to get me in bed." Chewing his lower lip he raised his eyes to meet James' gaze again. "I hate it, really. I don't want to be shoved into the back of the closet, but it's what I have to do. My family doesn't know, and if it came out I was gay at the college they'd have tongues wagging in their ears within hours."

James nodded slowly, understanding the wisdom behind the words. The moose couple, the closest neighbors his family had, were gay, and open about their relationship, but they still said it was often hard. Even secluded away in the backwoods of the northeast the bigots and homophobes somehow found them and tried to make their lives unpleasant. Not a wise choice when the targets of their hate were both stout, woods wise moose capable of standing on their own in a scrap.

"Why not tell them?" he asked after a moment.

"What would your parents, or that gaggle of siblings you have, think if you went home and said you were gay?" Erol challenged gently without rancor.

"Our neighbors are gay, I grew up knowing that. My parents accept them, even call them friends."

Erol chuffed softly and shook his head. "I envy your family by the day, J. I don't think mine would be so accepting," he said, turning his gaze downwards to the menu once more.

James decided that the subject was a painful one for his athletic friend and let it drop. "You talk a lot about the girls you went out with. Why not about the guys? "

"Why do you want to know?" Erol asked, happy to set the subject aside for the moment.

About to reply, James was cut off by the soft whisper of the rice-paper screen being drawn open and the golden hued kitsune slipping back in with a tray of drinks. Two tall glasses of water, a pot of tea with a pair of small cups, and a tall cylindrical bottle of wine with its own pair of glasses. Fat plums rolled lazily about the bottom of the wine bottle. Two shallow bowls of salad completed the rather ungainly looking array on the tray but the slender multi-tailed vixen handled it easily.

Kneeling on the pillows she deftly placed their drinks, poured the tea delicately, and broke the seal on the wine but did not pour it. "Shall I return shortly, or are you ready to order?"

"If we could get an order of potstickers, barbeque pork steamed buns and spring rolls to start, please. My friend here has not enjoyed sushi before and I would like a little more time to discuss it with him," Erol explained. With a bow she rose smoothly to her paws and slid quietly out once more.

James took up his chopsticks and dug quickly into his salad. He only stopped a few moments later when he saw that Erol was staring at him in marvel, his own chopsticks held prone in the air. "What?"

"Sorry, it's just that I'm a bit surprised at you using those when you said you'd never been to a sushi restaurant."

James frowned and shrugged. "What? They put the instructions with a pair of these things in Chinese takeout; I leaned this back in high-school." For a few quiet moments they picked at their salads in companionable silence before either spoke again.

"Curiosity." James said at last, returning to their earlier conversation. "And comparison."

The gemsbok snorted loudly over his salad and grinned over at his gray striped and fashionably clad companion. "Comparisons, hmm? Well, trust me, an inflatable blowup doll would almost be preferable to the last guy I was with." He dug his chopsticks into the salad before him and took a bite; a sizable one, considering the volume of his muzzle. He chewed upon it for a few moments while he considered what he was going to say.

"That was... the end of last school year, around exam times. I had a few days between two of them, and so took a night off to go with the brothers to a sorority party. And there was dancing and drinking about what you'd expect. But around the middle of the night I run into this cute fennec. He was cute, I'll give him that; the ears especially. Anyway, I've had a few drinks, and I can tell so has he; I didn't know quite how much though. And he starts subtly hitting on me out of the blue, as if I wasn't three times his size." Erol frowned a bit and shrugged. "As I said, he was cute. So I end up getting him out of the party and back to my place to see if he's serious about some of the hints he's been dropping at me. So we fooled around a bit and boy, was he ever quick on the uptake when he realized I was up for it.

"Actually, it was very much like our first time, with me doing most of the work. Oh, he tried to reciprocate, but things didn't work out terribly well. He was a more than a bit harsh with his teeth." Erol chuckled at the memory and shook his head while he sipped his tea. "In the end we both managed to get off and then crash." Erol gave a dramatic pause and rolled his eyes. "And then the next morning happened. Turns out this fox fancies himself straight, despite how much he was slobbering my cock the night before. I can tell this guy is in almost pure panic mode as he's realizing what happened, so I try and keep my mouth shut throughout. He eventually gets his clothes together and scurries off. Just from what he was babbling, I'm guessing that's not the first time something like that has happened to him. In the end I think I've seen him around campus once. I don't know what faculty he's with; hell I don't even know his last name!" Reaching over the table, he put his paw on James'. "Believe me, J, you would have had to work hard to be as big a disappointment as that last guy."

"Oh, wow, that is crazy! Have, uh, you ever done anything else with anyone around campus?"

Erol just shook his head. "Nah. I always felt it too risky. The first guy I was with was actually a high school crush, believe it or not. He was a rival athlete from another school; a deer named Lamar. The second one, he was that ferret that I mentioned, Dustin. Him I met online, on this MUCK called Ungroomed." Erol was engrossed in his recollections and missed James' flinch at the name. "We were together for just over a year and did a lot of playing around online. We got together during first year spring break, met up down south on the coast." Grinning at the rather vivid memory Erol laughed softly, "That was an insane nine days we had. He did not call himself a fuckable slinky for nothing! I don't think we spent more than an hour in the hotel room together with clothes on."

Blinking, James picked his jaw off the table. "Ohh... damn. That sounds like a hell of a spicy relationship Erol. What happened to it? Distance get in the way?"

"No, wasn't anything like that," Erol said with a shake of his head, his mane rustling quietly. "I just found that beyond the sex, there wasn't much we had in common. He was a trust-fund baby, so money was never an issue for him. He just didn't have any motivation in his life. For him it was all parties and music, trying to play in these little local indie-bands. But he never thought beyond that. Sure, he was dynamite in bed, when we bothered to use it, and was an amazingly fun person to be with when we went clubbing, but it was the down-time when we weren't out being social magnets that did it for me. It was during the day that I found wanting. Beyond music and anime, there wasn't much to his life; he was simple and dull." Erol ran his hoof slowly up along James' leg and smiled. "You, though, I don't think have that problem. As for Dustin and me, well, after spring break I just kind of let the relationship drift and die. I started going less and less online, throwing myself into my studies. I haven't seen really anything from him in over a year now." His broad shoulders rose and fell slowly. "I don't think he even noticed."

Throughout the conversation James listened, sometimes with shock, sometimes with pure envy. The idea of spending a week on a beach with someone like Erol made his heart quicken. Somewhere neither of them would have to hide behind their social clichés. He felt his paws touch something under the table and, for a moment, thought it was merely the center support, until he realized that the table was supported at each corner. It was Erol's leg, and James grinned at the realization.

"Are sirs well? Have you chosen your menu for the evening?" The voice of the vixen came through the thin rice paper screen. James glanced over and smiled at the alluring silhouette her shadow cast upon the thin barrier from the light of the dining room beyond. In the body hugging kimono she cast a very, very nice profile. Not that she was any less winsome in person, James had to admit. Were he not caught in this odd relationship with the gemsbok across from him, he would've been beside himself trying to garner her attention.

"Yes, we are," confirmed Erol. The screen slid open and the vixen drifted in smoothly, her tree tails swaying alluringly in her wake. Kneeling once more she began gathering up their empty salad plates and set down the appetizers Erol had ordered earlier. Taking out an order pad she looked to Erol, as he had already demonstrated it was his show. As he began reciting the litany of pieces that they had settled on, James began running his foot-paw up and along Erol's leg. At first the gemsbok didn't show any real reaction beyond a twitch or two of his ears. That only made James go higher, and he managed to get his foot up between Erol's thighs before the athlete got them clamped shut. James tried his hardest to stifle his grin at Erol's obviously growing discomfort.

"And, um, yes, I think that will be all," Erol eventually muttered. He shot James a hard look, his lips twitching with a suppressed smile, as Aimi slipped out.

"You are terrible!" He snorted as he relaxed his legs and released James' trapped foot. "Dessert is after dinner, cub. We wouldn't want to spoil your appetite.

James snickered and winked, licking his whiskers. "Promise, old timer?" Erol laughed and winked back with a nod. Reaching over, he began pouring out the plum wine into their glasses. When filled, he passed James his glass of the thick, dark amber liquid and then raised his own in a toast. "To good food, and better company."

"To us," James returned and clicked glasses before taking a tentative slip. That quickly turned into a much longer swallow. "Oh, my. Now that is good."

"And that's just the beginning," replied Erol with a pleased smirk. They began nibbling their way through the appetizers. James found them all truly wonderful examples of salty and savory, with just the right underlying level of sweetness. He often found his attention drawn to what he had just put in his muzzle, not wholly paying attention as Erol regaled him with more of his adventurous conquests. The rest of them dealt with his misadventures of the female sort but invariably they left James laughing behind his hand lest his mirth disturb other diners.

~~

Eventually their main course arrived; a single huge platter crowded with more fish and rice-wrapped bundles than James believed that both of them could eat. Erol talked him through the arrangement and refilled their wine glasses. The raccoon, a great fan of anything containing fish, crab, or mollusk, could hardly figure out which one he wanted to try first. Finally he settled on something made of fresh red snapper and deftly plucked it up with his chopsticks.

"How about some reciprocity here," James said as he enjoyed the chilled savory fish, causing Erol to briefly favor him with a quizzical look. "I've told me about your family, how about you tell me about yours."

"Well, there's not much to tell," Erol admitted with a shrug. "As I said, I'm the middle child." He threw his head back in a bit of a laugh. "Actually, I'm what the medical community refers to, as an accident. My brother is fourteen years older than me," he explained. "It's... odd, when one of my earliest memories of him is his high school graduation. After I came along, though, my folks decided having kids again wasn't so bad, and had my sister six years later."

"Wow, I don't think I could ever imagine a gap like that between me and my brothers," James said.

"Hey, like I said; accident. He was there during vacations and a summer or two that he didn't get a co-op, but really, I practically never knew him growing up. I was almost ten when he came home after getting his degree and started working with Dad. We got tight really fast then, but that lasted only a couple years before he got married and moved out."

"And your sister?"

Over their dinner of fish and rice and excellent rice wine they continued to share more stories of their families. Where James' gaggle of siblings was a gregarious mob of tightly knit family closeness Erol panted a much more sedate, almost depressing, picture of a family more distant. To James it was more like a collection of passing associations with little true closeness. Everyone had their individual lives and directions; his elder brother was closest to their father, following his path into the family agri-business. Erol's sister was still young and close to their mother but had yet to choose a life path though, in keeping with their mother, would likely turn toward corporate law which supported the family business as well.

Erol was the odd gemsbok out. His attraction to sports was a distinct departure from the business side of their family circle, though his parents supported it gamely enough. Both parents were the type to be often far too busy to attend his meets or games, reading about them afterward in the local paper and complimenting him on his prowess only witnessed third hand. Erol's similar bent toward engineering was likewise a departure from the family business leanings, being civil in scope rather than corporate or even residential.

Like a quiet ghost their comely young hostess would drift in to inquire to their needs, delicately balancing attentiveness without the weight of hurriedness to free the room up for other patrons. The two spent an easy couple of hours delicately sampling the savory repast and talked. While Erol dealt with the bill James retired to the restroom feeling amazingly full. Though each individual portion was rather small the sheer quantity of it left him stuffed. By the time he came out of the bathroom Erol had finished with their tab and waited for him by the door chatting quietly with the golden furred vixen. James raised an eyebrow slightly when she saw him and her ears flicked rearward with a lay of her whiskers along her muzzle; an acutely self-conscious vulpine moue of embarrassment.

"What was that all about?" the raccoon asked as they crossed the parking lot toward the Jeep. The sky was beginning to deepen toward an evening blue with the sun just touching the western hilltops.

Erol chuckled while he secured his belt and cranked the Jeep with a throaty rumble. "She was complimenting how handsome you were and inquired about your relationship status." While James blinked, slack jawed, he navigated out of the lot.

"She what?" he chirped in surprise, "What did you say??"

"She did." Erol shot him a sidelong glance and a wink. "And ' Mine.'"

They shared small talk as Erol made his way out of the city and back onto the twisting back roads that would take them back to the college. The evening air, cool and crisp, felt good against James' muzzle and he leaned back into the seat, folding his tail across his lap. By habit he reached into the breast pocket of his new shirt for his phone and blinked when he took out the one Erol had given him, still not used to not having the antique in his pocket. "Right, this."

"Hmm?" Erol cocked one ear toward him without taking his eyes off the road.

James looked at his spiffy new phone admiringly for a moment before nodding, "Oh, sorry, was just admiring this phone you gave me. It just feels so different not having that old brick in my pocket. I had it three years, you know." James tapped the screen to life and slid his finger up and down, watching the icons flow smoothly across the display, before noticing that it had a camera function. Curiously he activated it.

"And someone else probably had it before you, given how long it's been since those were popular from what I remember."

Holding up the phone James moved it until Erol's profile was centered on the display and tried to figure out where the shutter controls were. "Yeah, the state gave it to my dad something like five or six years ago. Then my older brother, then me." Eventually he figured out that he needed only tap the screen to take a photograph. "This is nice." He took a few seconds to admire the picture quality before noticing the gallery function. "Hey, you've still got some pics on this thing,"

The first few that he paged through were normal enough; Erol in various places about the campus, often alone or with some of his team mates. James' eyes went wide at the one after and he quickly clicked to the next only to find it just as surprising. He left his sheath stirring to life a bit as he continued to look, his ears burning with a rush of excitement.

"You're either terribly narcissistic, or you were planning this all along," the raccoon churred after clearing his throat. He shifted on his seat a bit to ease the pleasantly aroused pressure in his slacks. His ears were still hot with the initial flush as he gazed at a rather detailed close up of Erol's erect length resting on the short, pale fur of his hard stomach.

"Caught me," Erol admitted with a lopsided grin. He tapped the phone in his own breast pocket, "I've been wanting one of these little beauties ever since they hit the market, I just couldn't quite justify it to myself. But, I figured if I was giving my old one to you... well it would all work out." He laughed. "And, honestly, I figured it would take you a bit longer to find my little gift there."

James huffed a breath and leaned across the center console of the Jeep to trace the fingertips of his hand across the gemsbok's crotch, "Did you, eh?" he asked with a chuckle when Erol twitched from the touch. "It never takes me long to find big gifts," he said, emphasizing the last two words. Flattening his hand he rubbed at the firm ridge under Erol's fly. Teasingly he worked lower, watching Erol's muzzle while the gemsbok studiously kept his eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel.

"Huh, yeah." Erol said slowly and smacked his thick lips, "That gift is still wrapped, though."

Without removing his hand James slid as close as the center console would let him and smiled up at Erol. "For now," he pointed out, tracing his fingers up and down once more. His dexterous fingertips caught at the pull tab of those slacks. "Unwrapping gifts is always fun." Erol looked sidelong at him from the corner of one eye and James favored him with a lecherous, toothy grin before the gemsbok's eyes darted back to the road ahead. The metal tab, designed for the large, blunt fingers of the gemsbok, gave easily under the nimble touch of James' fingertips. A huff of surprised breath whickered from Erol's nose as the waist of his slacks loosened at the release, followed by a deep rolling sigh as the raccoon's gentle hand eased into his slacks to cup his sheath.

"H - hey now, J." Erol gasped at the touch and splayed his legs slightly, the Jeep surging ahead a bit as he accidently pressed the accelerator. "Careful with that teasing!"

James leaned over the center console a bit, an awkward posture considering the size of the Jeep but not uncomfortable, and slid his hand further into the gemsbok's slacks. "Who said I'm teasing?" Turning his hand slightly he hooked his thumb against the top of Erol's zipper and tugged it down bit by bit, smiling all the while at Erol's pleased twitching. "And besides, you did say that dessert would come after dinner," he pointed out as he drew his hand upward until he found the longer pelt at the tip of his sheath and toyed with it lightly between two fingers.

Erol's eyes rolled and his ears backed while he bit his lower lip and shifted in his seat. "I did say that, mmhmm." He grunted with a broad grin. "I also said I'd show you what this beast could do." Abruptly the Jeep began to slow and James glanced over the dash only to see nothing ahead but more road; no vehicles or intersections that would necessitate such a precipitous loss of speed. To one side of the road was a muddy swath of churned earth and Erol steered to it bumpily. Wherever they were, it was some kind of parking lot, but James could only see a pair of parked trailers. He hastily moved back into his own seat as Erol fumbled one-handed with re-securing his slacks.

"As much fun as that was, Stripes, I've got one more place to show you," said Erol, shooting James a rakish grin. He popped the Jeep into four-wheel drive. "Buckle up, because it's going to be a bumpy ride."

James just had time to get himself settled as the gemsbok took them onto the nearest trail, the forest trees closing on them rapidly. This was no simple back road but a dedicated off-road trail, with all the bumps, pot-holes and ruts that it would imply. Not that Erol really drove it any slower than smooth highway. James braced himself against the dash with one hand, and hung on to the roll bar with the other. Despite the deep wheel travel and heavy suspension the trail was rough on the Jeep.

"What?" The gemsbok leered across at James as the bumps threw him against his seat belt, "Can't keep your hand on the stick?" he laughed heartily as the Jeep pitched to one side alarmingly and crept over a boulder. James hissed in surprise as tree branches thrashed into the cab forcing him to duck a bit. On the other side of the boulder Erol turned sharply to the left and surged up a steep hill on a course that took him from the well used, if abused, trail onto a second far less used one. Lacking regular traffic the new trail lacked the deep muddy wallows that had already left the side of the Jeep coated in mud but that hardly meant it was any less dramatic a drive.

Erol eased the Jeep over trees and across chaotic jumbles of rock. James continued to bounce around in his seat but was kept in place more by the secure strap across his shoulder and lap than his desperate grip on the dash and roll bar. He let out a whoop as the Jeep surged up over a small ridge, nothing but sky seen over the front, and pitched forward into a chaotic charge down a slope of broken shale. The thin slabs of gray stone shattered under the weight of the jeep like glass, a small avalanche cascading downhill ahead of them to splash into a broad, shallow creek. The Jeep plowed into the water in a white fountain a moment after the rock.

Laughing gleefully Erol gunned the engine across the creek bed, utterly ignoring the water and mud spattering his expensive clothes, and up the opposite bank. James hung on for dear life and cackled merrily as well, finally getting used to the ride and allowing himself to move more easily with the massive vehicle. Finally breaking from the tree cover, he took a few moments to admire the breathtaking scenery this far up the mountain, and the buck bouncing in the seat opposite him. An evil grin crossed his muzzle as his thoughts returned to where they were before, out on the roadway.

As the sun dipped deeper toward the horizon and cast the valleys into shadow, Erol directed the Jeep deeper and deeper into the Appalachian back-woods, leaving behind any trail that James could have identified as such. "You know, Erol, it's a shame we're no longer on the highway," he commented before asking, "You have heard of Road Head, right?" then launching into a long and detailed recounting of every instance he could remember of his old high school friends regaling him with sordid tales of what they did with their girlfriends out on the empty back-roads of his hometown. He did his best to embellish the stories of moving blow-jobs, even going so far as to mime the guy's hand on the back of the girl's head, bobbing up and down. It was not a difficult task as the Jeep pitched and rocked. The squirming Erol was doing in his seat was exactly what James was looking for.

"And as wonderful a concept as that may be, J, this isn't exactly the place for it," Erol admonished in a tight and strained voice, clearly showing his distraction between what the raccoon was saying and what the trail was doing. "Another time, maybe..."

"Oh, I figured that," said James with a bit of a grunt as he leaned back in the seat. "Guess that means this will have to wait for later as all this talk has gotten me me all... up and such."

Erol spared him a glance to see what he meant, quickly turning that into a double take and a braying round of laughter. "You are an insufferable tease, has anyone ever told you that, Stripes?"

With a bravado that had surprised even himself, James had undone the fly of his slacks and pushed down the elastic waistband of his garishly colored boxers still worn beneath. He drew his sheath down with one hand, exposing himself in the passenger seat of the Jock's expensive Jeep.

James only smiled wickedly and gave his sheath another wiggle in the Erol's direction, pleasuring himself with one hand just out of reach of the gemsbok. Switching from recounting to fantasizing, he continued to slowly stroke himself as he recounted what he would have done to Erol had they not gotten off the road and silently wondered how long it would be before Erol would finally give in and pull over so they could live out some of it.

Ascending along the flank of a ridge Erol came out on a saddle between higher hills and bounced over a tangled mass of fallen trees, plunged across a small beaver pond, and then clambered muddily up a short rise into a space left clear by wild native beavers and slid it to a halt gazing out across a broad valley.

Stretched out before them was a broad shallow valley left in long evening shadows. On the opposite side of the valley James could see the sprawling College compound and panted to catch his breath while he admired the view. Erol wrung the hard wood and plastic wheel between his hands as he slumped back into his seat with a huff. "Finally, we're here."

Broken out of his own revere by the final stop, James gazed out the window at the magnificent panorama below them. "Erol, this is fantastic! You can see everything from up here," he exclaimed before quickly hopping out of the Jeep. Fastening the button of his pants he walked around to the front to gaze out more at the outstanding view.

It was a short lived gazing, though, as Erol was out of the Jeep right after James, coming up quickly behind and wrapping his strong arms around the raccoon, pulling him against his chest and nuzzling along his head. "James, James, James, you are such a horrible, horrible tease," he said, his paws dropping down and pulling James' shirt out of his pants. He started working at the button on the waist, fumbling in his excitement. "How is it we've only been together for a few days and you know exactly how to push all my buttons?" The shirt and pants finally out of the way, Erol plunged in with both hands, one sweeping upwards against James' chest, burying itself in the thick chest fur and pulling the raccoon in close; the other plunged into James' pants, pushing down the waist of his boxers and cupping his genitals, squeezing his balls gently between thick fingers.

James' muzzle popped open with a loud moan as he was pressed up against the athletic body of the jock, Erol's hip pushing his tail to one side and grinding his crotch into his backside while lipping lightly but hungrily at the edge of his rounded ears. What had gone down when he had gotten out of the Jeep and was distracted by the picturesque scene was immediately back at full hardness. The tip of his cock sent shivers down his body as it was coaxed from his sheath and rubbed against the short hair's of Erol's wrist, driving another loud moan from him. He writhed in pleasure as the larger buck ravished him intently.

Erol's hand slipped from his chest and he worried lightly at the buttons of his new shirt, flicking them loose with practiced ease without ever taking his other hand from its nested warmth upon the raccoon's loins. James' tail curled lightly around his hip, the tip dipping and sliding under the gemsbok's slightly upraised tail. With his shirt hanging loose upon his shoulders James let himself lean back against the buck, more than willing to let the muscular athlete have his way with him. James dropped his hands to his own hips and shimmied his pants and boxers down, letting them tumble about his paws on the grass.

"We're going to ruin these wonderful new clothes," he lamented jokingly as he pushed his unclothed rump back against the light material covering Erol's noticeably firm crotch. Whuffing warmly at his ears Erol only chuckled and traced his blunt fingertips upward along James' sheath and let the exposed flesh of the raccoon's erection slide between his digits. The raccoon pressed his head back against his taller companion's chest and let out a shuddering sigh.

"They're only clothes, handsome. We can get more." The gemsbok breathed into his ear. James shrugged his shoulders, letting his shirt fall back, while he reached back behind himself with one hand and going by feel, located the waist of Erol's slacks. He easily worked loose the metal tab once more and drew down the zipper while the athlete sucked in his tightly muscular stomach. James writhed a bit to turn around and face the buck, tilting his head back and looking up to meet his gaze.

"Well, they're new so... let's not ruin them quite so soon." He winked as he slid one hand into the open fly of Erol's slacks, repeating the same warm fondling the gemsbok had favored him with. With his free hand he worried loose the buttons of Erol's shirt until it fell open to expose the pale cream pelt of his breast. The jock's eyes fluttered and his ears laid to either side as he leaned his hips into James' gentle stroke along the length of his thick sheath.

Mirroring James' own motions he shimmied out of his slacks and let them fall as well while he rolled his shoulders and let his shirt fall to the grass with his slacks. Catching the raccoon's head lightly between his hands he bowed his head to touch the broad pad of his nose to the black tip of James' own, gazing into the raccoon's dark eyes. "You're just like that kitsune said, J; handsome, with or without your clothes." At that he paused a moment and leaned back to look James up and down, "No, correction." He dropped one hand and rubbed the pad of his thumb along the glistening pink flesh of James' exposed cock, "You're far more handsome without them." Brushing his nose along James' whiskers he touched his thick, dexterous lips to the side of the raccoon's muzzle, tracing light kisses from the thick silvered gray and black cheek ruff toward the tip of his muzzle.

James met his kiss; tentative at first, as he always was, but with more acceptance within seconds. Kissing another male had, initially, put James into something of a conflicted inner fit but he had learned that he enjoyed it. Social upbringing aside, kissing was kissing, whether the recipient have been female or male. Yet where his previous girlfriends had a degree of intensity that James had never really been able to find pleasant, Erol's lips were slow and gentle; facile without forcefulness. And when the gemsbok's broad tongue teased his lips, his own was there to meet it.

Standing in the clearing atop the ridge overlooking the valley they stood muzzle to muzzle, each with one arm about the other and one hand upon the other's loins, gently stroking with the hot urgency underlying each touch. Yet for all of that urgency the kiss was a slow one; somehow romantic and incredibly carnal at the same moment. The setting sun cast their shadows toward the forest beyond the Jeep, its own multihued blue paint gleaming in the evening light.

After several long breaths James shifted his paws for balance but found quite the opposite; his paw tangled in the rumpled heap of his new slacks and he staggered slightly, held upright by a subtle tightening of Erol's arm around him. "Mmph!" he snorted, breaking the kiss and the moment. Taking a step back he bent to retrieve his slacks and shirt. Before rising, however, he grinned and touched the tuft of longer hair upon the tip of Erol's sheath with a firm but slow kiss, teasing his tongue across the tip as a gust of hot breath escaped the gemsbok's nose. Erol then stepped back as well, letting James recover his clothes also.

Crossing back to the Jeep on the cool grass he draped the clothes over the hood, then let out a gasp as Erol came up behind him once more and leaned his weight against the raccoon's back. Unfettered by the barriers of fabric the gemsbok's long, thick sheath rested heavy and warm in the cleft of James' rump while the smaller student grasped at the muddied front rail of the brush guard. Erol bowed his head and lipped at the nape of the raccoon's neck while his hands slipped down to his hips, pulling him back more firmly against his sheath while he rolled his hips. The slow rubbing friction of the short-haired sheath against his rump left James breathless and all he could bring himself to do was push back all the more.

One strong hand slipped around to his front and cupped the raccoon's sheath once more, the tips of Erol's fingers teasing at the velvet softness of his balls while he drew his other hand back to hook his thumb under James' tail, drawing it upward and to one side. "You have a handsome ass, too." Erol whikkered hungrily into the fur of James' nape, pulling at the soft fur with his lips while he stroked James fully from his sheath and nestled the slender raccoon cock across his palm.

"Mmmh!" James churred throatily. He rocked his head back against the pad of Erol's nose as he pressed his body back, flexing his rump against the buck's thick sheath. Were it not for his deathgrip on the brush guard of the Jeep, James would have been pushed over onto his knees; not that he would have argued with that. He wanted that, despite never having been in such a situation ever before in reality. Oh, sure, Ebonshadow had a lust for him to be on his hands and knees while the black wolf ravished him, but that was purely a digital experience, and one that James found delightfully arousing.

What, though, was the real thing? James did not know, but he wanted to. Ebon, fully cogent of James' interactions with the gemsbok, was both a gently patient tutor and a humorous commentator on their relationship. He had discussed what the raccoon could do to ready himself for that eventual encounter, and James had followed a few of his suggestions when he could. Unfortunately while his was suite style with individual bedrooms, the washrooms and showers were communal, two large ones per floor. They were not exactly the place to be practicing Ebonshadow's suggestions.

Erol's sheath drew away from James' rump as the buck stepped back slightly, holding James in place with his hands. "Mmh!" the buck chortled warmly as he stroked the broad pad of his nose down the raccoon's spine. "But I can find it, even so." James let out a chirp of surprise as he felt a warm breath caress the underside of his tail and cleft of his rump. His tail plumed upward at the touch of heat and he turned his head back over his shoulder. All he could see of the gemsbok beneath the gray and black plume of his tail were ears and silver capped horns. Clenching his hands upon the brush bar he shifted his legs a little wider and dropped his head forward, eyes half closed while he panted for breath.

Erol's broad nose brushed up and down along the cleft of the raccoon's rump, his breath momentarily cool as he inhaled and then hot as he let out a heavy whikker of breath. Continuing to hold James' twitching erection, but no longer stroking it, the gemsbok luxuriated in the soft density of James' fur, something that seemed to be an endless fascination for him. James was in no mood to argue his fetish for fur and when the buck's long tongue lifted his balls with a slow lick he very nearly jumped onto the hood of the Jeep. It felt so good he groaned loudly and pushed back against the strong muzzle under his tail. Erol exhaled a pleased breath through his nose as his long, broad tongue lifted the raccoon's velvet balls, drawing slowly backward and upward as it folded neatly into the cleft of James' ass.

Slowly upward, that broad damp heat drew, and James lifted onto the pads of his paws. His claws flexed into the earth, digging at the cool dirt while his entire body shuddered at the sensation. The carnality of it was shocking, he found; arousing beyond his expectations. Nothing Ebonshadow could have done or said had ever warned him that it would feel as it did. That passionate warmth only intensified when the buck's tongue transitioned from fur to flesh; stroking across his tightly clenched anal ring slowly before continuing upward along the underside of his tail a few inches. "Mmmmhhh." Erol whikkered heavily as his hand slipped from James' leaking cock and grasped his hip. His other hand released the raccoon's tail and shifted to his hip, both grasping tightly, the thumbs moving to spread the cheeks apart, and pulling the young student's hips back as he dipped his muzzle for another warm lift of those weighty balls. His nose brushed against the underside of James' tail as he drew his muzzle upward, his tongue following the path of the raccoon's ass as he pushed his head forward.

When it crossed James' anal ring again it did not merely sweep past; it lingered, warm and firm against the raccoon's furless heat. James writhed, his entire body shuddering as he leaned his rump back against the touch of that tongue under his tail. The short, velvet pelt of Erol's nose rubbed at the underside of the raccoon's tail where James felt it like lightening through his loins. He had never let slip where his most sensitive erogenous areas were, but the last few inches beneath his tail was one of them, and Erol's nose was brushing against it warmly. The swirling, probing attentions of his tongue only added to that, and considerably so. James felt his erection as an almost painful intensity, pre leaking down to soak into the fur of his sheath or, when Erol's tongue probed his tight anal ring firmly, spattering the front of the brush guard with a powerful spasm of his cock.

Erol's tongue was at his ass, James could not believe how arousing it was. He never would have expected it. His past sexual encounters had never dealt with that area of the body; either his own or his friend-with-benefits, Lilly. She wanted his tongue elsewhere and had no desire for him to go further back under her tail than that. Likewise her muzzle upon him; her focus was ever on his front, never on his back.

"W - wow!" he chirped in surprise as his muscles clenched and rippled through his abdomen.

Erol's tongue drew away and he turned his head slightly to lip lightly along the very root of James' tail along the underside where the fur was shortest. That direct stimulation of such a sensitive area was almost blindingly intense. "You like?" Erol asked softly as he dipped his head to lip and lick lightly at the back of James' balls. Slowly he worked his way upward along the cleft of James' ass, muscular lips teasing at his twitching anal ring before his tongue once more stroked, circled, and probed against him.

"Gods... yes! Wow." James gasped huskily. He wanted to reach back to stroke the jock's strong, gentle muzzle with one hand but he did not dare release the front of the Jeep for fear of falling face first into the unyielding, muddy steel.

"Good." The buck whikkered warmly, circling around and around with the tip of his tongue; its touch was warm, the saliva cool in the evening air. "Enjoy, I like it too. Relax a little."

James swallowed, his chin bowed to his heaving chest, "If I relax... I'll fall down."

Erol's tongue circled inward and then prodded at his twitching anal ring, "Then I'll hold you up, hon." Closing his eyes James did as much as he could to relax, steeling himself against that unexpectedly delightful carnal kiss. It was difficult to focus on what he wanted his body to do with the buck's facile tongue doing its devilish teasing against just that area of the body he wanted to control. It took James several very long, but very pleasant, minutes to gain control of his resisting body and begin the slow, careful work of relaxing.

Bit by bit he felt his anal muscles relaxing under the gentle insistence of Erol's tongue; each coaxing stroke and pressing touch against him yielded just a little more. James was glad that he had taken a few minutes back in the restroom at the sushi restaurant to prepare and clean himself, as Ebonshadow had suggested he should do; just in case. The black wolf's wisdom was amazingly acute. At another time James would find himself wondering at the player's age behind that wolf, and of his experiences. But not here; more important things were occupying his mind.

Now what he wanted was more of the buck ravishing his backside. He thrust his rump back against the insistent probing of Erol's thick tongue, hissing with pleasure. The gemsbok's breath huffed heatedly from his nose as the firm pressure of his tongue redoubled in its hungry, questing force. A chirp escaped James' breast as he felt the tip of that muscular appendage ease slightly into his relaxing entry and stayed the reflexive tightening by clenching the muscles of his stomach and gritting his teeth. Erol's tongue twisted dexterously in that shallow penetration for several seconds before drawing back. "Mmh, my pants!" Erol gasped, his voice husky and deep as he brushed his nose up and down James' cleft and lipped at his taut orbs. James blinked and huffed out a breath he had not known he was holding and cast his glance at to the heap of clothing on the hood. "J, now, please... my pants?"

Clawing desperately at the pile of clothes while the buck did amazingly wonderful things with his lips against his balls James shoved the clothing until he sorted the buck's slacks from the heap and hastily thrust them back to Erol. Taking his hands from James' hips, but not his lips from the raccoon's orbs, the buck fumbled about with them. James glanced back and blinked in surprise as a mylar wrapped condom was thrust up to him. "Open this," Erol said, offering a brief smile. The buck's eyes were as wild as James felt. Taking the packet James quickly set his claws to it and tearing it open along one side. He grinned as he handed it back, sweeping his tail across the buck's strong muzzle only to be favored with that muzzle dipping under the root of his tail again to give him a firm kiss upon his twitching muscular ring.

Once again Erol's tongue plied against him, probing and circling, drawing across it in long strokes before circling inward to the center and teasingly pressing against him. James found it easier to relax with each moment, steeling his muscles against reflex and easing the resistant tension of them. After a few minutes Erol's hands and muzzle moved away from James' backside. Looking back briefly over his shoulders, he could see nothing but heard a small plastic click just before the gemsbok's hands returned to their place on his body.

Erol's hands came up to massage his rump, thumbs sliding upward along his cleft to pry apart the cheeks once more only this time his muzzle did not return. Instead, the thick, blunt tips of his thumbs rubbed gently at the raccoon's anal ring, the other pushing James' tail up and forward, the thumb there rubbing along the highly sensitive underside. Slowly he eased that thick digit into the young raccoon's rump, causing him to rise up onto the pads of his paws and churr throatily in pleasure as he clenched his stomach in an effort to keep his muscles from clamping down solidly on the invading digit.

In and out, slowly, a little deeper each time, the buck's thumb worried gently at his asshole. James quickly realized that the noise earlier must have been Erol using a small bottle of lubricant he had retrieved from a pocket of his pants. The knuckle felt surprisingly thick but not uncomfortable as it eased into him and then back out. It took several minutes of gentle work before Erol was able to press the palm of his hand to the raccoon's rump, his thumb buried fully within him. The sensation was ecstasy and James pushed back against the press of the hand against his rump when the buck drew his thumb back almost entirely and pushed it back in with a little more urgent, swift force. James rose up at the sudden thrust with a hissing grunt and pushed back as it was withdrawn and thrust into him again. The cool dampness from the lube made the smooth, firm motions easier. Erol added a bit more to his thumb, letting the thrusts of his thumb work it against James' hot flesh and into his body.

Then suddenly the thumb and the pressure of Erol's hand withdrew and James fell back slightly. "Relax, J." Erol breathed as he stood, letting his chest and stomach brush against his young lover's rump and back. James raised his tail further still and let it drape off to one side as the buck stood behind him, his eyes closed as he bowed his head, chin to chest, and clutched at the brush bar. He leaned his weight into the Jeep and gasped in surprise at the feel of Erol's sheath sliding slowly upward along the cleft of his rump. The thick tip of the buck's erection, already wrapped in the condom was readily apparent as he felt it sliding across his slickened fur and flesh. When it touched his anal ring James churred loudly and pushed back against the tapered flare.

"Ohhhh," Erol grunted heavily, his chest vibrating against James' upper back as his hands stroked the raccoon's side and flanks. "You're a wonder, J, such a lovely, handsome wonder." Rolling his hips slowly the Jock's tip slid away and then upward again to touch the ready heat of James' ring once more. The blunt tip of his erection pressed at the raccoon's anal ring gently but firmly and then withdrew again as the buck rolled his hips once more. "Tell me if it hurts, hon."

James could only nod his head jerkily, not trusting his throat to offer any sort of understandable response beyond a churring growl. As Erol's erection slid upward once more he forced his ass to relax anew. When Erol's latex encased tipcaressed him again his breath caught and his entire body shuddered as the tapered spade of his flare eased into James' body. Erol cried out in pleasure and shuddered as well, his tip nestling within the raccoon's heat and throbbing such that James felt it easily; it seemed to pulse through his entire body.

After a few heart racing moments Erol gave a slow shift of his hips, drawing back ever so slightly as he repositioned his muscular stance and then pressed forward. James gasped as several inches slid into him, the long tapered girth of the buck's shaft spreading him even further than the thumb had, driving a deep, guttural moan of passion from his lips. The raccoon was utterly unable to forestall the reflexive clenching of his anal ring, nor that of his entire rectal passage as the buck's erection invaded him. But Erol was in him.

Actually inside of him! James' mind was a fog of intense pleasure and chaotic half-thoughts. He was being mated by the buck, whom a few short weeks earlier had just been another Jock on campus best to be avoided. It struck him dumb to realize that a chance encounter in the forest while the raccoon was trying to get his rocks off would end up with the buck sliding a handful of inches of himself under James' tail. Erol drew back, slowly, until the flared contours of his tip caught against the tight clench of James' ring.

"You okay, J?" Erol gasped breathlessly, his entire body vibrating against James' back as he held himself there nested just within the raccoon. "You're..." he dropped his head to rest his brow against James' shoulders, the silver caps upon his shortened horns gleaming in the waning sunlight.

"Wonderful," James managed to churr somewhat intelligibly as he let his muscles flex and push at the invading thickness of Erol's tip. The girth of his shaft just behind his flared head was not much thicker than his thumb had been, but it felt altogether different; more smooth and hot, and it pulsed in time with the buck's swift heartbeat. "Mmmh, just... just amazing." Of the condom James was not even aware; it was a thin skin over the rigid spire of the buck's arousal that detracted not a whit from the sensation of it within his body.

Grasping the thick fur of James' hips with his strong hands Erol held him steady as his hips rolled forward slowly, sliding several ever thicker inches back into the raccoon's ass. James chirped and gasped, clenching the brush guard firmly as he pushed his chest against it and gave a rearward push of his hips. Erol grunted heavily and pushed his head against James' shoulder heavily. "OH!" he moaned as the heat of the raccoon slid further upon his length. "Ohhh, James." With a convulsive shudder he pulled his hips back once more but did not pause before rolling them forward again and returning himself to that welcome, tight embrace. "Doesn't hurt?" He could barely speak past the strain in his chest.

"A..." James had to actually stop and consider that for a moment. It did, indeed, have some degree of discomfort; a slight burning heat as his flesh was stretched, but nothing outright painful. "A little but - oh, but don't stop, don't stop." The sensation of the buck's thickness filling him was unlike anything he had ever felt before. That was hardly unusual; until Ebonshadow had suggested a few things he could do to prepare for this eventuality he had never taken anything under his tail of any sort. "Oh, gods, don't stop." He hissed as Erol's hips drew back and then rocked forward again. Wantonly he growled and pushed his hips back toward that slow but firm thrust. The buck's strength was considerably more than his own; he could have taken the raccoon fully and James would have been powerless to stop him.

But Erol was gentle; urgent in his lustful passion, but gentle nonetheless. Inch by inch he slid deeper into his gray and black striped lover, sliding back almost entirely before thrusting inward again. James grunted and gasped, hissing indrawn breaths through his teeth each time a bit more of the buck slid under his tail. Tapered smoothly as he was from tip to root the additional inches stretched James both wider and deeper; far deeper than he would have ever expected. Not that he could see exactly how much of the buck was being driven under his tail with steadily increasing urgency. He could feel the iron rigidity sliding against his anal ring twitching and pulsing as Erol strove against him.

Hissing through his nose and grunting heavily with each thrust Erol moved his hands from James' hips up to his chest, hugging him back as the slow roll of his hips became short, firm jerks. He panted breathlessly, his muzzle pressed against the side of the raccoon's neck, ears back and eyes closed in passion. James pushed back into each thrust as those muscular hips drove forward, brief flashes of searing heat burning through his ass as he forced himself to take more of the buck's girth. Sliding one hand downward from James' chest, Erol slipped his fingers around the raccoon's own erection, curling them about his sensitive flesh and eliciting a loud, surprised cry of pleasure from him.

Erol likewise let out a strained grunt as every muscle of James' body clenched at once about his erection. He shuddered muscularly and clutched James back against his chest with his other arm. Regaining his composure he huffed a soft chuckle into the thick ruff of James' neck. "Ohh, lovely, lovely." He groaned as his hand slowly began to stroke James in counterpoint to the increased urgency of his thrusts. "You're too good to be a virgin at this, J." His voice was strained with lust, his breath hot against the raccoon's jawline.

"I-" James gasped, his eyes rolling wildly at the twinned sensations of being well and fully fucked by the muscular athlete at his back and stroked by his gently coaxing hand. "I - uhmm, thought that this - OH!" he chirped as Erol drove especially deep, pleasure washing through him as his stretched anal ring strained against the girth of the buck's shaft. "Ebon never said it would feel like this, though... mmh!"

If Erol had it in mind to offer any sort of response he did not offer it as he moaned and panted heavily, drawing back slowly before driving swiftly and firmly back under James' tail. His thrust was not quite so deep as the previous one, mitigating another burning flash of overstretched flesh, before he slid back again with that same slow measure. James tried to relax but his body was completely beyond conscious control. His anal ring clenched and spasmed against the driving force shoving deep into the raccoon's body while his inner muscles ripped convulsively in a vain attempt to eject it. Each thrust was met by a tightening of Erol's hand upon his own erection which only caused his muscles to clench all the more firmly. Moaning slowly Erol held him almost crushingly close.

"Oh! J, J!" the buck moaned in ecstasy as he reached the limits of his own arousal, beginning to thrust with short, urgent jerks of his hips that shook James' entire body. Not that the raccoon was arguing about it; he was lost in his own growing peak under the paired sensation of being fucked and stroked at the same moment. He could feel his climax approaching with startling speed and tried to fight it back but there was no gainsaying the stimulation. With a loud, churring cry his climax exploded through him. With a cry of his own Erol bucked forward, almost lifting him from his paws, and James felt the powerful jerk of the length within him as the buck's climax came over him a moment after his own.

Surprisingly he could feel that climax flooding into him; a liquid heat filled the constraining confines of the condom buried deep within his depths as his own cock jerked and twitched, unloading his seed upon the mud spattered black steel of the Jeep's brush guard. He never realized that it would be so visceral, so powerful, and so mind numbingly arousing. Erol's cock jerked within him spastically, filling out the limits of the condom and unable to find escape past the tight clench of the raccoon's asshole. What small pains he had felt were nothing in comparison to that sensation; he would happily suffer such minor trifles to feel the buck's desire and completion filling him. His own orgasm was a spark before a bonfire, peaking and ebbing even as Erol's continued apace for several heartbeats more.

With an explosive huff Erol's body slumped against his back, the last twitches of his orgasm fading away slowly. He made no move to extricate himself as he shifted his hand from James' chest to grab the brush guard and push himself up off of the raccoon's back slightly. "Oh, damn, J," he grunted breathlessly, touching the side of the raccoon's muzzle with a twitching, light kiss. "You're wonderful... I've never done that before."

James chuffed, also not particularly willing to move. As much as he had enjoyed the energetic mating, he loved the feel of the buck's spent erection resting within him without the urgency of his thrusts. "Wh - what?" he croaked softly, turning his head to look sidelong at the buck. "Never done... this?"

"Slow, hon, slow." The athlete breathed softly, favoring him a more direct kiss as he turned his head. "Never slow, never gentle. Everyone in the past wanted strong and fast; powerful. They just wanted to rut." His fingers lightly caressed James' spent erection causing his muscles to tighten reflexively. Erol shuddered at the muscular shift of slick flesh along his length. "You've given me a gift... a true gift. I loved it."

Purposely James clenched his muscles, a reflex his body was more than willing to employ. Erol's eyes rolled and he huffed a breath through his nose. "Same, Horns, oh... oh, very much the same." He sighed, quite well pleased with how their day ended.

"Who's Ebon?" Erol asked some time later while they lounged, watching the sun go down. James was seated on the hood of the Jeep while Erol leaned against the brush guard. Neither had seen the need to clothe themselves after their impassioned tryst.

They were not yet sure if they wanted to try it again after sunset or not. James smiled to himself and swept his tail slowly back and forth across the hood behind him. He was sore, quite considerably so, but it was an ache he found not wholly uncomfortable, and considering its reason he felt rather proud of. He didn't know how much of the buck he had taken, but it had been quite enough for the both of them. "Ebon? Ahh, Ebonshadow. A friend of mine, online." He grinned over at the buck. "I've known him since... hmmm, early last year, we met on Ungroomed MUCK. We've talked quite a good deal about you and I."

Erol's muzzle was agape in surprise, "You have a coach?" He stared at James for a moment and then guffawed loudly.

"Mmh, yes." James grinned toothily, "I guess you could say that, yes. I have a coach. Hell of a sport, wouldn't you say?"

Erol, still snickering, shook his head, "Lovemaking isn't a sport, J." he admonished gently, but still smiled.

James nodded solemnly and reached out to stroke the side of Erol's muzzle. "No, it's no sport. It's a gift to be shared." Leaning over he curled his knuckles under Erol's chin and touched his lips to the buck's, "A gift I thank you for sharing with me."

Fin.