FSE

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Grocery shopping, a necessary evil. At least as far as Jake was concerned.

Sure, he wasn't ever going to do it any other way - some people did delivery, but he never felt comfortable with that, he wanted to see his food before he bought it. And he certainly liked eating, which required some participation on his part. He just wished he didn't have to spend the time it took to actually DO it. All the walking through the aisles, all the carrying around of fairly heavy loads, minutes ticking off his life that he would have rather used towards other things. Not to mention he was starting to shop for two people, himself and Lyle - the fox still got plenty of his food delivered but he was starting to feel like there were some things better acquired in person, mainly perishables. It would be nice to get Lyle more confident so they could split the work on this...he did help carry things in at least.

The wolf was in the produce section, looking at fruits and vegetables, and taking a rather long time to pore over them. Shopping took a lot of time, but he had to admit that a bit of that was self-inflicted, especially when it came to produce. He just couldn't pick up anything and be happy with it, he had to inspect each item to make sure it passed muster. Jake didn't demand a perfect look, but it had to be good enough that he didn't lose his appetite. A couple of bad experiences with rotten fruit when he was younger had sort of gotten him a wee bit obsessive over it. Better safe than sorry.

"Hey, can you help me?" Jake's ears twitched, and he looked over to his right to see an otter looking at him and holding a plastic bag which was currently empty. "I'm, uh...I'm supposed to buy apples for someone's pie, and they said to get a specific kind, but I can't quite remember and there's like a billion different apples here..."

"Oh, uh...I think 'Russet Royal' was supposed to be the apple of choice for pies, that's what I think I remember hearing. Uh..." Jake looked around a bit, and then spied them at the end of the section. "Right over there, it looks like."

The otter looked enormously relieved. "Thank you! I was worried I'd have to go wandering or ask one of the employees..."

"There aren't any around?"

"Maybe, but I'm...nervous about approaching people. Not you, though, I've heard about you, you're safe."

Safe. That was a word he was starting to hear a lot recently. This was the third time in the past week...the first was a cute arctic fox who had approached him in the park asking for directions, which got a few people looking at him quite strangely, and the second was just two days ago when he was in the parking lot and a rabbit asked him for a jump for his vehicle. Things that sounded like a setup for a cheap porno, complete with the requisite phenos that were oh-so-popular in those productions...which might have been why it was extremely unusual for those kinds to ever actually approach anyone with questions or requests, unless they were another of the so-labeled 'slut' phenos. In fact, they seemed to have some kind of mutual support network, a lot of them seemed to cluster together.

And word spread fast - there was a 'safe' wolf in town. One that wouldn't demand they bend over for him or try to force himself on them, and would speak up if someone else was trying to. And that meant that suddenly he was the go-to person for any one of those individuals to seek help from if one of the network wasn't around, no matter how simple or complex. It was at once flattering and disturbing - the latter from realizing just how isolated from other people those phenos were when sex wasn't involved. That they would have to be so scared of being taken advantage of...it really wasn't right. And so Jake had made a promise to himself to do whatever he reasonably could for them.

"Happy to help. By the by, if you're ever looking for apples just to eat straight up, Golden Bloom tend to be the best choice. They're not as hard and have a bit more taste to them than the varieties that get more attention."??"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you!" The otter headed over to the Russet Royal apples and began bagging. Jake remained where he was, still examining his pears but also keeping an eye on the otter until he moved on, thankfully no one passing by to give him trouble. Sometimes a watchful eye was the best thing he could do for someone, you never knew when you were going to get a nasty person who took a pulse as an invitation.

Too bad he knew people like that...things had cooled off since the blow-up with Jerome and Cayden, but calling it resolved would have been a huge overstatement. Cayden especially was aghast when he'd somehow gotten wind of Jake's 'status,' in total disbelief that he was getting approached and not taking advantage. That had led to a rather loud phone argument before the wolverine had finally backed down, though Jake doubted he really bought into what he said. At least he had given up, he was pretty sure Jerome would have yelled until he passed out. The good news was, Benji seemed to sort of be coming around to his side, or at least was toning down any suggestion otherwise...it was hard to tell where he would ultimately go, though, since Jake knew he had to be getting pressure from the other two.

But they weren't around right now, so he didn't have to worry about them. Truthfully, he didn't want to period, but he still had to keep in mind their responses to things he told them and things they heard. But when he was on his own, he was free to do things the way he wanted. And all this insight he was getting from the ones who approached him were giving him thoughts, thoughts on how he could get Lyle out of the house more. The fearful fox was a lot more comfortable with him than he used to be, but it was clear that Jake couldn't be his only source of support.

But perhaps he didn't have to be...

---

The last time Jake had had friends visiting, it hadn't exactly gone so well in Lyle's eyes. Jake had eventually confessed that they'd had a hidden agenda, though it had flamed out into nothing, but Lyle hadn't really expected anything less. So when Jake told him he was having a couple friends over, that put him way more on edge than he liked. True, Jake had been better lately, but the fox still didn't trust his friends one bit...well, except for that lizard, Xander, he was fine, but he was just one.?

It was pretty quickly apparent, though, that Rowan and Gylles were recent pick-ups. For one thing, the fact that they were an otter and a rabbit was a pretty dead giveaway.

"This is Rowan, and this is Gylles. I just met them in the last couple months, but I think you'll like them." Jake was speaking in a very measured way, the way that Lyle had noticed he'd gotten to talking when trying to put him at ease. On the one hand, it made him feel a bit talked down to...on the other, with as anxious as he was about so many things, he couldn't help but feel that he was inviting it. The best way to stop it from happening would be to get a little more comfortable with everything.

"Well, uh...hi, to both of you." Baby steps.

"You've got an awesome place!" gushed Rowan, the otter's eyes eagerly and enviously dancing around the spacious home. "Man, this makes me wonder how I can even live in that tiny little studio..."

"I've heard a bit about you from Jake, and I've been looking forward to actually meeting you," Gylles said warmly as he shook Lyle's hand. "It's really refreshing to be going into someone else's home without having certain 'expectations' laid on me."

"Er...yeah, I, uh, I'm glad I can help with that." It wasn't often that Lyle heard others considering him a safe space. Sure, it was to him, but it was to HIM, his own little private paradise, not meant for the eyes of others. "So, uh, I'm not really familiar with entertaining people, but...is there anything you want to do?"

Gylles' eyes darted past Lyle. "Well, if that huge honking TV you have has a game system hooked up to it, I wouldn't mind thrashing you in a few online matches."

"Oh, jeez..." Rowan rubbed his head. "I'm never any good at that stuff..."

"You don't need to be good, you just need to have fun! Come on, let's see what you got, otter boy!"

That was another point in Lyle's favor - one of his comfort zones, games were something he enjoyed and was good at. It was easy when you had a lot of free time and not a lot of desire to go outside, plus it helped him foster some of his online connections that constituted his social life. Easier than awkwardly talking with them about things he didn't really have a clue about, at least...

They had a great couple hours playing together, the four of them going head-to-head or sometimes pairing off in teams. It quickly became apparent that Gylles was every bit as good as his eagerness suggested, putting Lyle through his paces regardless of what he played. Rowen also was at a level that matched his confidence level - that was, not very high, closer to Jake than anyone else. Often the team split ended up having one high and low skill player matched up to keep things fair - the one time Rowan and Jake were on the same team was about as brutal a drubbing as could be, so that decision ended up being an easy one that helped keep things fun for everyone. And although Rowan wasn't exactly a gaming master, the way his face lit up whenever he was on the winning side and the enthusiasm he had for his teammates made up for that.

Things took a different tenor for Lyle when evening started to settle in and Gylles suggested that they go to a restaurant that had recently opened not too far away. At least, not too far away if you weren't a shut-in who could barely handle walking around the block...a 25-minute walk sounded like the most absolutely daunting thing Lyle could imagine. But everyone else was on board, and he'd been having such a good time, it seemed like it would be such a downer to everything to say no...he agreed to it, tried to put on a brave face as he joined them, the others talking rather animatedly around him and him trying to keep up here and there.

But as they walked, he noticed a strange thing...he wasn't feeling as nervous. And he wasn't getting as much side-eye from people around. He remembered on his rare excursions that sometimes people would go out of their way to get close to him and leer at him a bit, like they were about to start hunting him...but right now, whatever glances they got were from a distance and not all laden with predatory undertones. The feeling of threat was startlingly reduced, more than he ever would have expected.

When it was just Jake, I thought they were just...leaving me alone because I was with a wolf. But...maybe Jake was right...just being with people helps. I'm...not as much of a target if there are people around to support me. And...if I make friends with Rowan and Gylles...maybe they'll be able to help me out as well...I love my online friends, but they can't do things like this.

It was another bizarre feeling, wanting to make friends with people who were right in front of him. This one, though, Lyle was pretty sure he liked...and by the end of the night, with a full belly and more outdoors than he'd had in weeks, there was no doubt that he had two new friends who were eager to give him more chances to enjoy days like this again.

---

Driving around was also not Jake's favorite thing to do - he always wanted to know where he was going so he could spend as little time in his car as possible. Some days, though, things didn't go quite according to plan...he found himself needing to pick up a new pair of work pants after a coworker spilled ink on his, and his phone battery had died and he'd forgotten to leave a charging cord inside the glove box. So now he was muddling around the city, trying to find the place he liked to go to get his clothes - they were fairly nice and inexpensive, and he really didn't want to end up paying double for something that wouldn't last, like the last time he shopped at one of the big outlet stores.

If I didn't have such a goddamn bad sense of direction, I'd be home by now...ugh. Why'd I have to go and take that cord out of here anyway? Stupid, it's supposed to be for the car and only for the car, that's why I own like four of them...

He was trying to remain calm, anger didn't make for good drivers, but it was tough. He was still annoyed about the incident itself - the coworker was not the brightest bulb in the tree when it came to common sense, and there were rules about carrying stuff that could spill without it being closed off. Of course, he had said he was just going a little ways, any why should he have to bother covering the bottle, and he'd blamed Jake for being in the way, as if the wolf should have been psychic and known he was coming around the corner. At least Daimon had offered to pay to replace them...

As he stopped at a sign, he caught sight of something in the alley next to his car, and he had to do a double take. There were two figures, locked in an argument, one aggressive and the other protesting. The latter was clearly a prostitute, and not shy about it - not that he had to be, there were no laws against it - but what had struck Jake was that, outside of the way he dressed and slightly gussied himself up, he could have been Lyle. The aggressive anthro, a lion, looked about ready to throw some punches...Jake cut the engine and stepped out, hurrying over. Maybe not the smartest move, but he doubted he could get the police there before things got really ugly with a cell phone that didn't work. And no one else seemed to be around.

"What's going on here?" He tried to sound and look authoritative, and keep that up even as the lion glowered at him.

"This slut won't put out for me!"

"And?"

"'And?' Whaddaya mean 'and'? He's a tart, that's what he's supposed to do!"

Jake turned towards the fox. "Did he pay you?"

"No. And he didn't pay me last time, either, that's why I said I wasn't going to do anything today," huffed the fox; even his voice had a similarity to Lyle's, though a bit higher and more effeminate. "I'm not running a charity here, this pays the bills."

"Fuck your bills! You're a fox, just fuck your landlord. You shouldn't have to be paid to do what a fox does anyway!"

"The world doesn't revolve around your dick, sweetheart. Not that it's big enough to have the gravity, anyway."

"Why you-!"

"Enough!" barked Jake, with enough volume to make the lion step back. Fortunately for Jake, he wasn't exactly a massive guy, he was a bit bigger than Jake but not enough that it was an obvious outclass, and he didn't look to be in the best of shape. It might have gone a lot worse if he was confronting a Jerome-sized john. "If you don't want to pay for a service, you're not getting the service. Go bitch about it online like the rest of the pathetic losers who think the world owes them free sex because they're too dickish to get a date. You wanna find someone to blame for that, try looking in the mirror. Might do you some good anyway."

"Fucking asshole...you just wanna take him for yourself," groused the lion.

"If I did, I'd at least pay him what he's worth. You gonna do that?"

The lion snorted once more, but stomped off grouchily rather than persist. With the situation defused, Jake let out a relieved sigh; a violent confrontation might have helped him blow off some of that steam, but he could very easily have ended up on the wrong side of the end of that.

"Man...you're a lifesaver." The fox was also letting out a relieved breath. "Though, I guess maybe it was just my ass you saved, but you never know with some of these guys...I'd be happy to give you a discount for that, if you really were inclined..."

Not too long ago he might have been, but the impression here was too close to Lyle for Jake's comfort - even if his groin disagreed, he felt he had to turn this one down. "Thanks, but I'm good. I just stepped in to keep him from giving you trouble."

"You sure? I want to thank you somehow."

"It's...uhm. Actually, there is a way you can thank me...do you think you can direct me to Haverly's? I'm so fucking lost it's driving me crazy, and if you have any better sense of the city than I do..."

The fox grinned widely. "You might be the only guy I've ever met who would turn down sex for directions. I like you already. I know the way, and I need to get over to that area anyway. Mind if I ride shotgun?"

"No problem. Thanks a ton."

"That should be my line, hun. I didn't know how I was going to get out of that." Jake unlocked the door and let the fox get inside on the passenger's side. Once buckled up, he started the car again, and started on their way.

"So, I didn't catch your name at all," Jake said.

"Nathan. Take a right on seventh, about four blocks up."

"Got it. I hope you don't get trouble like that a lot."

"Oh, you know, there's entitled assholes all over the place, it comes with any business. I may get a few more than others, people who think foxes just live for sex and that's reward enough. Idiot's mindset - can't eat sex, can't live in sex, things like that - but it's not like I'm the only one who gets stiffed, either. Thankfully, I've had more good than bad."

"Shame about the bad, but at least you get good."

"Enough to keep me in good shape. You gotta give me YOUR name, hun, this ain't a one-way street. Seventh is, though, so make sure you get over, you'll take a left about two blocks after you get on."

"Ah, right, thanks..." Jake did know that, but he was a touch distracted, the reminder was helpful. "My name's Jake."

"Jake...huh. Would that by any chance be the Jake that I've heard rumors about?"

"Depends on the rumors."

"I have a feeling you are...they've been talking about a wolf that's guaranteed safe. Goodness, I'm lucky you decided to drive by today, I've rarely needed safety so badly."

"I've heard I've got that reputation...well, I'm glad to be someone they can feel comfortable around. Haven't always been that way, and I regret how I've acted in the past...especially to my roommate. He's a fox, too, and I was kind of a dick to him at first. I'm trying to make it up to him, help him feel safe again...he's worried about something happening to him like what you were facing."

Nathan was quiet for a moment. "...Would this fox's name happen to be Lyle?"

"Huh? Yeah, it is...you know him?"

"Very well. He's my brother."

Well, that explained the resemblance...but Jake was still a bit stunned. If only because Lyle was so straightlaced and fiercely defensive of his body, a sharp contrast to Nathan willingly renting his out. "You do look a lot like him. Though you definitely act a bit different in one regard..."

Nathan chuckled, but it wasn't really an amused sound. "No surprise there...I'm glad for that, but I do worry about him sometimes. He's so shut in...living in fear isn't good for his health either. But I guess I understand it..."

"You know why he is that way?"

"All too well. Keep going to fifteenth, you can go farther but it's not as easy to get through the later intersection, so take another right there."

"Got it. It doesn't sound like a pleasant story."

"It's not, not in the slightest. But I'd rather you knew...it would explain a lot. Growing up, we faced some struggles because we were foxes...the usual, you know. Attitudes weren't any better back then than they are now...maybe even worse. But our parents always told us to stick up for ourselves, that no matter how society acted we decided what to do with our own lives, and we didn't have to put out for anybody. No matter how many leers we got, the only ones who could tell us what to do were ourselves."

"It was...gosh, eighteen years ago now. We had moved I think the summer before because Dad got a new job. Everything seemed fine except for one of his coworkers, who starting harassing my parents for sex. At first it was just lewd comments, then it got more suggestive, then it got pretty overt...and, well, it wasn't long before it became aggressive. He was insistent that they put out for him, and he started to threaten them that he'd just take it when he wanted. My dad eventually put in a complaint to the company, and the guy was fired. He hoped that would be the end of it, but he was always looking over his shoulder coming home from work."

"But it didn't happen on a work day...we were getting ready to go out on an errand when the door was busted in. Mom barely had enough time to shove Lyle under the bed...I was big enough that I didn't fit. There were half a dozen guys, all bigger and stronger than any of us. Of course, one of them was the co-worker...two of the others were neighbors, though, people we thought we knew at least a little. The other three, I think they were friends of that co-worker, but I don't really know."

"You can probably guess what happened. Those men stripped us bare and used us. Every hole, but they only made us blow them sparingly...because they were making us watch each other. Making sure we saw each other get defiled time and time again. That former co-worker was ruthless, taunting Dad about how much bigger the other guys were than him, how Mom must have been feeling it much more. And the guys telling him how tight I was...I was ten, I'd just started getting erections, and they were pounding me like I'd been taking cock for that entire decade. And the worst part is, they were making SURE we came, not letting us go without having more orgasms than we really should have been having, and then taunting us about how much we enjoyed it. We didn't, but it wasn't like anything we said would have changed what they said anyway..."

Jake felt his gut churn. Nathan wasn't giving directions anymore, but he knew where he was now...and he couldn't say a word to interrupt that horror story. He'd started to realize things were bad, but he never knew it could be THAT bad...

"They spent hours on us...I don't think they left until evening, until we were all a revolting mess, cum leaking out of every orifice. I think they were especially eager to use me, maybe because I was refusing to cry, not wanting to give them that satisfaction...but I think they took that as a challenge, or maybe they just thought that I liked it, I don't know. And Lyle...eight years old, under the bed, heard every word, every sound, and I know he knew what was happening. And I thank whoever was watching over him that he was able to stay quiet and those guys never knew he was there, because they never found him, never broke him like they broke the rest of us...oh, he was broken, in a different way, but not how we were."

"Fuck...that's horrible. I can't even imagine what that must have been like..." It didn't sound like enough to say, but what more could Jake possibly say to that? Words weren't sufficient to capture his inner reaction.

"I hope you never have to. Everything changed after that...Mom and Dad still tried to tell us that we were masters of our own bodies, but you could tell they didn't really believe it anymore. And it ruined them fundamentally...Dad can't stay aroused in Mom anymore, he can't cum unless he's getting it up the tail, and it humiliates him that it is that way, but he's never been able to fix it...there's a couple co-workers that make him service them regularly, and he's never been able to say no to them. Mom can't really fight anyone either, she sort of gave up trying to keep herself from other guys and they even come home with her sometimes...Dad always watches, if there's more than one he'll get it at the same time, and I can always tell they're crushed by it."

"Me...well, you see where I am now. I guess it's slightly better, because...well, I still kind of gave up on thinking I really had the last say over my body, I guess I embraced the lifestyle they said I should have. But I at least have some defiance left in me...the bastards ruined my body but they didn't totally break my spirit, I may have been ridden like the village bike at school but I did it willingly, and I still can say no. It's not great...but I don't feel as lost as Mom and Dad. Lyle, he doubled down on not wanting anything like that...made himself totally hostile to sex, lashed out at anyone who tried. He got labeled as psycho by a lot of students and I don't think he minded...he dropped out to start taking care of Aunt Shiela when he was 16, when he started to really get scared of some of the larger students. I know he still has that protectiveness of himself that we all lost, but he cuts himself off from so much...I don't know if I'm more worried that he'll become a hermit or that someone will get him and break him. He doesn't really spend much time around any of us...I don't know if he's ashamed of us, or scared that he sees his fate in us. We talk on the phone sometimes...but not as much as I'd like."

"...I'm sorry..."

Nathan shook his head. "Nothing that can be done about it now...the past is the past. I'm just glad he has someone looking out for him...I know it's too much to ask one person, but...if you can help him...I want him to live, not hide away in fear of turning out like us. And I think he wants to live, too, he never seemed like the kind who'd be happy shutting out the rest of the world. Right now he can't be happy either way...I want him to be happy, for one of us to have salvaged actual happiness out of our lives."

Jake nodded. "I'll try...he deserves better than what some people want for him. You do, too...I know there's not much I can do to change the past, but...you can come to me if you need anything, too. Someone should be helping you out as well."

"I appreciate that, hun. But that might be too much weight for you."

"Then I'll find others to help share the load. I know I'm not the only one who thinks foxes are being treated unfairly. You deserve more than just one ally."

A slightly sad smile arose on Nathan's muzzle. "You really are a prince. I hope you don't bite off more than you can chew...some people might not like that you'd take up that kind of cause."

"I know that too well...that only makes me want to drive it harder."

"Then I won't stop you. Speaking of stops..." Jake had pulled into the parking lot of Haverly's, and had shut off the engine. "I guess I should be going. But I suppose I know where to find you..."

"Hang on." Jake fumbled for his wallet, and pulled out a card and some cash. "My cell's on there. You don't have to call for anything...but if you feel like you need someone to talk to, my ears are open."

Nathan hesitated a moment, looking like he wanted to turn it down, but instead he took the offered card and money, smiling more genuinely. "Thank you. Maybe I will...I guess it might be nice to talk to someone who doesn't have sex on the mind from time to time. So...until then, I guess...thanks for watching over Lyle." The fox stepped out and then headed off down the road, his destination a mystery to Jake.

Sighing, the wolf exited the vehicle and headed for Haverly's. His irritation had been effectively quelled - there were people with far worse situations than some ink-stained pants. Instead of griping about his trivial problems, his intensity could be focused at fixing the real ones, even if he could only do a little bit.

---

"Oh, fuck...tell me you're not serious..."

"Sorry...I wasn't sure if I should say anything, but I felt like you'd probably be able to tell..."

"No, I don't blame...it's just..." Lyle covered his face, he was flushed so hard he was sure his fur did nothing to cover it. "He told you...didn't he?"

Jake nodded. "I'm so sorry about what happened...it sounded just awful. And everything that came after it..."

"Augh...the last thing I wanted was for anyone else to know about this." The fox slumped into a chair, groaning. "What happened back then ruined all our lives...but I wasn't even touched and I feel like I just make it worse."

"What?"

"It's not that I don't care about them...it's not that I don't want to have a relationship with them. It's...I love them, I care about them, and seeing them breaks my heart. And I...I just...get afraid that...that's where my future lies. That one day I'm going to cross the wrong person, and get...broken. And it's just...too much. I can't be around them and see what I might become. And I know that whenever I saw them, they could see that in my face...it hurts them worse if I'm with them."

Jake hadn't really been prepared for this outpouring; Lyle looked and sounded shaky by the end, like he was just holding back tears. "Lyle...I'm not gonna judge you for that. I...I've never been there, I don't know what it would be like, and I don't have that kind of family to think about anyway. What your relationship with them is isn't my business. I just...I don't want you to have to face any of that, either. You're a great guy, and you don't deserve to be treated like that by anyone, to have to be afraid that they're going to ruin your life. Whatever I can do, I'll try to do. And...you're a strong person. You put up with me at my worst, I know you can weather more than you think...but whatever I can do to keep you from having to prove it, I will."

"...Thanks." It was genuine, even if heavy-hearted. The prospect was never one Lyle liked to think about. But...maybe that was all the more reason to have more people around him. Jake could only do so much...maybe with others, he could be safer, and he'd never have to suffer like that. And maybe...once he wasn't afraid anymore...maybe he'd be able to look at them again and not see a hopeless fate rather than the family that did their best for him.