FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

---

There are two kinds of beasts in this world: those who are true to themselves, and those who only think that they are.

It was this thought that occupied Riz's mind in the last few hours of that lazy spring afternoon, as he and his friend sat together upon the soft, sun-warmed grasses outside of Cherryton Academy's central courtyard. Although it was quite late in the evening, the sun had not yet set in the sky, and a thousand warm, vibrant colors splashed out across the clouds as the sunset played its final notes upon the horizon. The stately brick structures of the old academy were colored in the rosy hues of that fading light, and chattering clusters of students passed in and out of the dusky halls as they made their way back from their classes and clubs, heading towards their dorms for the night.

Riz's dark, sunken eyes lingered upon these groups of passing students as they walked along the shadowy paths of the courtyard, moving slowly from one unfamiliar face to the next. No emotions played out upon the bear's soft features, but his long, black claws dug anxious furrows in the grass at his side, providing enough clues for an astute observer to guess at his anxieties. He'd been struggling with rather uncomfortable thoughts more and more frequently as of late, and he was doing his best to keep the resulting emotions - troublesome things that they were - from showing on his face.

It's not so easy for me, he thought to himself, absently pulling away at the greenery near his feet while he watched the crowds pass. To lie to myself like the rest of them, or to pretend that I am not what I was born to be.

Something in the dirt suddenly caught upon his burrowing claws, wet and wriggling. With a start, he pulled his paws free from the dirt to examine them. A glistening earthworm had been neatly bisected into two squirming lines upon his middle claw, and the bear's shiny, black nose pad wiggled as he took in the myriad scents. Soil, freshly cut grass, and blood.

Frightening.

He turned his sullied paws this way and that to shake off the detritus, and grim imagery wandered through his mind as he watched the flecks of dirt and worm spatter off from his claws. For a moment he considered wiping them clean on the striped slacks of his uniform, but he quickly thought better of the idea. It'd be smarter to just clean them off in the bathroom later, and save himself the stains. Freeing himself from the worst of the mess, he then held his paws up in the sunlight to examine them. The dark, curved lines of his claws gleamed in the rosy sunlight.

Frightening. There's just no other way to see them. They were made for tearing things apart.

It was a sobering thought, and Riz took one last, thoughtful glance at the passing flocks of students before lowering his paws to the ground. How many others among them were like himself? Carnivores, just guilty of being born?

Even now, sitting here in such a peaceful place, with Tem beside me, I feel an overwhelming sense of pain and frustration when I look at myself...

"But I'm not sad," the bear said aloud at last, doing his best to force a wide grin across his blunt muzzle. He glanced at the young alpaca seated next to him on the grass, who'd fixed him with a worried look as the silence between them had dragged on. Riz had allowed himself to be too indulgent with his own thoughts, and he'd been inconsiderate to his friend's company in the process. Tem deserved better, especially considering that he'd only sat there to listen to Riz's problems in the first place.

"Really," he continued, addressing the look of wary disbelief on the alpaca's face. "I'm not. Despite it all, I think that I've been much happier with myself lately... I think that it's due to these conversations of ours. They've done wonders for my headaches, and my anxiety attacks have been much less frequent, too."

Tem did his best to smile back at him, but it was an awkward and halting sort of expression, and Riz realized all too late why his friend was uncomfortable. His own grin, which he normally hid for the benefit of his smaller, herbivorous friends, demonstrated to full effect the extent of his forty-two gleaming teeth, and even then he couldn't help but notice how Tem's wide, fearful eyes affixed themselves to his large incisors. Riz quickly closed his mouth.

"Ah... I'm terribly sorry," he said quietly. Even restrained, his voice was a low, deep rumble, so different from Tem's soft, melodious tenor. "I was just happy. Couldn't help myself."

To his surprise, Tem quickly composed himself, waving away the bear's concern with a wooly hand.

"Nonsense," he said with a genuine smile, pushing past his obvious discomfort. "You _are_a carnivore, after all. It's only to be expected that you have fangs. I mean, it's not like anyone can pretend otherwise."

Seeing that his friend wasn't overtly offended by his indiscretion, the bear allowed himself a slight smile in return, this time making sure to keep his teeth carefully hidden behind his lips. It was considered tactless for a predator to show his fangs to an herbivore so carelessly, but he'd forgotten his manners in the midst of his earlier thoughts. Fortunately, Tem had never been a judgmental sort of creature.

"I suppose not. You know, I like that I never have to hide myself around you."

"Hide?" Tem said, tossing him an incredulous look from beneath locks of wavy, vanilla-colored wool. "You can't really hide from anyone, Riz. You're just too big."

Their easy laughter rolled out over the courtyard, and Riz contented himself then to simply relax and look out over the sunset-stricken scenery in an amicable silence with his companion. It'd become their custom lately to sit amongst the gentle slopes of the courtyard, basking in the warmth of the afternoon sun and watching the crowds of students go by as they discussed all of the dramas and difficulties of life in the academy. Riz had never been close friends with an herbivore before, and he'd grown to depend upon the kindly alpaca's advice and support as the semester had progressed. Unlike so many of the other students here, Tem saw him for who he truly was. To Tem, he wasn't a monster, or a brute, or even a carnivore. He was just a friend.

Riz didn't have a lot of those.

"Thank you, Tem," he said after a moment or two of silence, drawing a surprised look from the other student.

"Hmm? For what?"

"For this... for listening to me. I appreciate it."

The alpaca smiled again, moving his hand to gently pat the bear's massive shoulders. It was only for a moment, but that touch was so soft upon his shirt, so fine, that Riz felt the fur on the back of his neck stand up on end from just that brief contact alone. Other animals were so often afraid of him; he couldn't remember the last time someone had touched him.

His hand is so light, he thought. So delicate.

"No need for thanks," Tem said, oblivious to his friend's reaction. "I mean, we're friends, aren't we? I'll always be here to support you, no matter what."

Withdrawing his hand, Tem rose from the comfort of the grasses to stand and stretch himself. The dappled colors of the sunset played briefly against his pale fleece, coloring him in the warm shades of spring as he pulled the weariness from his lithe, wooly limbs, one at a time. Riz watched him silently, discretely admiring the alpaca's body, until with a gusty sigh Tem reached down to grab his backpack from the grass. Shouldering it, he nodded towards the soaring buildings of the main campus.

"Well, it's getting late. Wanna walk with me back to my dorm?"

Riz managed to contain that toothy smile this time around, merely spreading his lips wide and nodding to his friend's request. He rose as well, standing to his full height, and in the process reminded himself once more of the vast differences between Tem and himself. He stood at nearly twice Tem's own height, and his towering, heavy bulk easily eclipsed the sun which had been warming the alpaca's narrow form. As he rose, looming over the other male, Riz was sure that he'd only imagined the brief look of wariness that crossed over his friend's face.

"Heheh," Tem said, his grin faltering slightly. "Sometimes... I forget just how big ya are, Riz. You really should try out for football sometime."

"Can't do that," the bear said mildly, crossing his shaggy arms over his broad chest. His gravelly voice still rumbled darkly, no matter how much he tried to restrain himself.

"I wouldn't want to hurt someone. Now, let's get you back before it gets too dark."

Gesturing back towards the halls of the academy, Riz fell into step behind his friend as they both left the comforts of the courtyard behind, returning to the school's spacious interior as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. While he was sad to leave, walking behind Tem provided him with a welcome opportunity to further examine his smaller friend, and indeed Riz wasn't even aware that he was doing so. His eyes lingered over the soft wool of the alpaca's snowy coat, and he happily observed the gentle grace of his friend's long limbs as Tem walked ahead of him.

There is nothing wrong with admiring a friend, he told himself, even as unbidden thoughts began to form in his head that weren't entirely appropriate for friends. It wasn't until Tem turned back to look at him that he realized he was staring, and he dumbly forced himself to look away, instead busying himself with observing his surroundings.

"Something on your mind?" Tem asked as they wove their way through the hallways, passing by clumps of gossiping felines and gangs of cavorting canines. "You still seem occupied. Was there something else that you wanted to tell me?"

There was indeed, but upon consideration, the bear decided that it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss such things in public. Instead, he fixated himself on another issue, one that had only just occurred to him as he watched groups of passing students go by.

"Tem," he said. "I just realized that there aren't any others... like us."

"What do you mean by that?"

Riz gestured to the other students, pointing to pairs here and there that walked alongside them. "I mean, like us. A carnivore and an herbivore. All of these students are walking with members of their own type... herbivores with herbivores, and carnivores with carnivores. I've been looking, and I can't say that I've seen another pair like us. Is it that strange?"

Tem looked around as well, shrugging. He led the bear out of the main hallways and towards the serene, greenery-shrouded buildings which served as the dorms for many species of herbivores. Cherryton Academy was, like most older institutions of learning, still somewhat segregated, and the dorms were separated according to the two distinct classes of consumers among its students. The dorms where Tem lived were quiet and neatly maintained, unlike many of the living quarters for the carnivores. Riz liked how it smelled: like clean fur, and cut grass. It made his nose wiggle and his mouth water.

"I suppose we are a bit odd," Tem said. "But it's to be expected, I guess. Carnivores can be really intimidating to a lot of us herbivores, especially the small ones, and it's hard to get over that feeling."

Riz stopped respectfully at the base of the dorm's stairs as Tem climbed up towards the door. The sun had just begun to fall out of sight by that point, and automatic lights across the campus began to flick on as darkness settled upon the academy. A lamp on the door's frame flickered into life as Tem worked his keys into the lock, and then from the safety of the doorway, he looked back upon his larger friend. Riz's dark, sunken eyes watched him from the growing darkness, unblinking.

"Am _I_intimidating, Tem?"

The alpaca smiled disarmingly, removing his keys from the lock before stashing them in the pockets of his uniform. He chuckled lightheartedly, but Riz could still hear that quavering tint of unease in the back of Tem's throat. Why was it always unease with these herbivores? What were they so afraid of?

"Riz... you're a bear," he said.

Riz stared at him.

"What does that mean?"

Tem's smile wavered, and then dropped. Like most herbivores, he had poor vision in the darkness, and Riz could see how his wide eyes wandered in the shadows beyond the door's light, as if trying to see him more clearly.

"C'mon, you know what I mean. I don't want to be rude. It's just... it can be a little scary at times-"

"Do _I_scare you?"

Tem opened his mouth to speak, but then suddenly faltered. He swallowed, smiled again as he composed himself, and then opened the door at his back. Warm light flooded onto the base of the steps, illuminating the towering bulk of Riz's body. In proper light at last, Tem seemed noticeably more comfortable.

"Yeah, Riz... I'll admit it, because you're always honest with me. You scare me, sometimes."

Whatever face it was that Riz made at that confession brought a softening to Tem's own expression, and to the bear's surprise he left the light of the doorway to take a step back down towards him.

"But I know that's not your fault. You can't help but be what you are, same as me. It doesn't mean that we can't be friends. I want to be your friend, Riz, and I won't let fear stop me from being there for you. You know that, right?"

At those words, Riz felt a hollow sort of emotion begin to play itself out in his barreled chest. It thumped nervously alongside his heart for a moment, before sinking down slowly to roil around in his guts, twisting and turning like the worm that he'd impaled in the courtyard. Butterflies. He felt the sensation bring an anxious smile to his muzzle, realized his mistake too late, and watched as the flash of restrained horror fell across Tem's face as those fangs of his glinted in the dim light. The alpaca hurried his way up the stairs then, returning to his dorm with only a faltering "goodnight" before the door was shut, leaving Riz alone.

"Goodnight, Tem..."

The soft click of the door's lock echoed out over the quietude of the dorm's courtyard, and Riz's ears flicked as he listened intently to the sound of Tem's fading footsteps within the building. Then, conversation, as the alpaca spoke to another resident of the dorm. His voice was light and cheerful; so quick to get over his scare. Riz lingered there yet, listening, until that conversation faded, and one by one lights across the dorm went out. His eyes remained upon the light from Tem's window until it too went dark, and then for some time after. It took him quite a while to even realize that he was still standing there, so transfixed as he was with tracking Tem's progress through the dorms.

I can still smell him, he thought dully. I've been standing here for at least a few minutes now... but I can still smell him.

Looking down at his uniform, Riz saw the cause. A bit of Tem's wool had caught on the material of his shirt when he'd patted his shoulder earlier, back in the courtyard. Reaching down, he pulled the wool from his shirt, and without a second thought, brought it up to his nose to inhale its scent. He stood there for some time, huffing at the soft piece of wool in his claws, before wiping the drool from his lips.

If Tem could have seen him there, inhaling his scent like an addict, surely he wouldn't have judged him.

Tucking the bit of wool into his pocket, Riz turned and left the herbivore dorms behind him. It was only a short walk back across the campus to the _Ursidae_dorms where he and the other ursine students lived. Cherryton Academy was a very different place at night; the halls were dim and quiet, and there were few other students present to disturb his thoughts as he made his way across the dark spaces of the campus. Those he did see were carnivores like himself, and for good reason. It simply wasn't safe for an herbivore to linger about in dark places after night fell, where their presence might encourage any number of incidents.

His own dorm was located across the grounds - a solid, old brick building that was hunched over very much like the stalking form of a carnivore itself - and as he approached, he could see that most of the lights within were turned off. His dormmates were likely already asleep, or soon to be. Climbing up the stairs and unlocking the entrance door, he slipped inside and proceeded as quietly as he could to the bathroom, doing his best not to wake the others along the way. There, the flick of a long, black claw set the lights on, and he stared at the hulking form of the creature looking back at him through the mirror.

This is what Tem sees when he looks at me.

Moving over to the container unit beside the sink, he picked up a broad, bristled brush and took his time cleaning his fangs. This was an important nighttime ritual for any carnivore, and one that Riz had increasingly relished over the last few weeks. He polished and flossed every tooth enthusiastically, observing the way that they gleamed in the muted light of the bathroom's fluorescent bulbs.

They'd made quite the impression on Tem, he thought, reflecting on the terrified face that the alpaca had made earlier as he flossed. He replayed the scene over and over again in his mind, seeing Tem's face flash in fear again and again, as if digesting the memory.

Afterwards, and with all of the stealth that he could muster despite his size, he deposited himself into his room, where he made quick work of stripping out of his uniform. Usually, he'd put his clothes in the hamper to be washed, but this outfit was special now. It might still have had some of Tem's wool upon the sleeves somewhere, and he couldn't very well wash away a piece of his friend, now could he? He set it on the table beside his bed; he'd wear it tomorrow as well.

With his clothes neatly set aside for the following day, he then took a moment to observe his naked form in the nearby wall-mirror. He combed his claws through the dense fur of his hide, dispassionately observing the thick cords of muscle that lined his chest, abdomen, and arms. His paw roamed across the vast span of his pectorals, trailed down the wide, muscled path of his gut, and down below, where he idly scratched at the ponderous girth of his thick sheath and full, healthy testicles.

He both admired and loathed his body. He knew that he would only get larger and more powerful as he grew older, and that while this was natural, it would also make him appear as more of a monster to Tem and his other friends.

Putting aside such thoughts, he let himself fall wearily onto his bed, hearing it groan beneath his weight as he settled into the sheets. Nearby, he could hear the familiar sounds of the other bears snoring. Carnivores had the luxury of snoring because they had nothing to fear in the night. He listened to their sounds for a time, wondering what noises Tem might make in his sleep, before exhaustion finally took him.

---

"Hey Tem, do you remember what you said to me the other day?"

It was sunset in Cherryton Academy's central courtyard once again, and another dazzling display of color and warmth had spread across the skies as the evening hours fell to their last. This time however, there were no students crowding the outdoor walkways, no unfamiliar faces moving along the paths, and no stray words of conversation to distract them from their time together. The gardens were completely abandoned, as though the school itself had been emptied just for the benefit of their privacy. The sunset was there for them alone.

The alpaca turned to look at him with a quizzical expression. "I say a lot of things. You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"About me... not being able to help what I am."

"Oh, yeah. What about it?"

"What'd you mean by that?"

Tem smiled at the question. Reaching over, he gently graced the bear's cheek with the touch of his hand, stroking across the soft fur of his jawline. Riz nuzzled back into his friend's palm, closing his eyes to feel the soft contour of Tem's slender fingers. They were nothing at all like his own; no rough pads, no talons meant for tearing and shredding.

"I guess I meant that you don't have to be afraid," he said, scratching at the bear's fuzzy chin. "Afraid of being what you truly are. Just like I don't have to be afraid of what I am. You can feel free to just be yourself around me."

At that, Riz opened his eyes and regarded the smaller herbivore. The sunset was a lovely color in that late hour of the evening, rich with shades of violet and crimson. It splashed its colors across the campus in a slow, measured pace as the sun dipped below the line of the nearby buildings. Even now, tinges of brilliant red and orange had started to dye Tem's flawless wool. He was beautiful in that light.

"Be myself?"

"Yeah..."

Tem's hands started to drift down innocuously towards the bear's thick neck, and with a soft pop, he undid the top button of Riz's stiffly-ironed collar. Keeping his eyes lowered, demure, the alpaca continued from there, gently undoing the buttons down the line of his shirt. One by one, each button was released, revealing more of the dense thickets of furry hide along Riz's chest.

"Well... I mean, you can't really be yourself with all of this covering you up, now can you?"

The alpaca smiled cheerily as he worked, looking up with a bashful expression at the carnivore seated next to him. By now Riz's shirt was fully undone, and Tem ran his slender hands up and down the rough fur of the bear's broad pectorals and belly. His touch was ghostly, ethereal, but it brought grateful shudders up and down Riz's body all the same. A part of him was already believing that this was too good to be true.

"I suppose not," Riz managed to reply. With a shrug, he discarded what was left of his shirt, loosening his tie and letting it all fall onto the lawn of the courtyard. Tem didn't wait for any sort of approval before proceeding further, and with a wild-eyed grin he began unbuckling the bear's pants as well.

Things are going so well, Riz thought to himself as he helped his friend out and shucked his trousers away. He didn't think for even a moment that any of these circumstances were at all that strange; after all, there were no students in the courtyard to judge them that evening, and the darkening sunset was just for them. Tem's eyes widened in admiration as Riz finally removed the last pieces of his clothing, tossing his briefs into the underbrush as he stood before Tem in nothing but his fur.

"Is this better?" he asked. The alpaca nodded happily.

"Getting there," he said, beaming. "Don't stop now!"

Riz felt so caught up in his friend's admiration that he couldn't just stop there. Reaching up with his claws, he grasped at the shaggy fur on his biceps and upper chest, and pulled. Of course it hurt, as things always would when coming face to face with the truth within, but the look on Tem's smiling face made it worth the pain. Fur, skin, and flesh were rent off in messy tatters as each stroke of his claws cleaved through, spattering the pristine grasses of the lawn and Tem's peerless wool with little droplets of red. The sunset's color shifted, melted into the color of blood, and seeped into every stone and feature of the old school as the last glimpses of the sunset painted their surroundings.

"There you are," Tem said at last, standing up to fully admire his friend in the fading light. He himself was covered head to toe in the bear's blood, but he seemed not the least bit concerned for his own appearances.

"There's the real you!"

There was no mirror available for Riz to regard himself, except for the ones found in Tem's eyes. He saw himself there for the first time, fleshless, a beast made of muscle, bone, and pain, covered in blood. There was no part of him that didn't suffer, but Tem smiled at him all the same.

Tem _smiled_at him, and no amount of blood could steal away the beauty of that expression.

---

Morning came to him as it often had of late - slowly, bringing with it no refreshment or sense of new beginnings - and Riz found himself staring blankly at the ceiling of his room as the piercing sound of his dormmates' alarms reached his ears. A hollow, restless look lingered upon his face. He couldn't recall when he'd woken up, and as far as he knew, he'd been lying there like that since the nightmare had ended sometime earlier in the night.

His thick, brown fur was still soaked through with a cold sweat, and by the feeling of it, his sheets were drenched as well. Or, what was left of them, that is. His claws had torn the poor linens to tatters at some point during the nightmare, as was usual when such dreams came upon him. He thumbed through the slick fabric at his side, feeling his handiwork and noting how easily his claws could tear through the sheets. Once again, he was reminded of just what his claws were made for.

Sighing, Riz rose from his bed and gathered up the sheets from his mattress, ignoring the large, damp stains of sweat and semen that covered its breadth. Some parts of the dream had been pleasurable, after all, so perhaps the latter addition wasn't so strange. These things just came with puberty, he told himself.

Rolling the ruined remains of his sheets up into a tight bundle, Riz stashed them into his closet, where they joined the growing pile of similarly-destroyed bedding that had been accumulating there lately. He made a mental note to dispose of the rags sooner rather than later. He really had no desire to explain such matters to his dormmates, and should the pile ever be discovered, it would have been mortifyingly embarrassing for him.

After closing the closet door and carefully latching it shut, Riz pulled a robe on over his massive frame and walked out to the bathroom. Several of his dormmates were already there getting ready for their day. Frampton, a polar bear who stood nearly a foot taller than even Riz himself, was currently in the process of brushing his colossal fangs by the sink. Grant, a spectacled bear, was busy raking through the knots in his thick fur with a small, ill-suited comb. His third dormmate, another brown bear named Bisson, was nowhere to be seen. Riz had the suspicion that he was probably in the kitchen, sating his immense appetite with whatever leftover scraps they might have had lying around in the fridge.

"Mornin' Riz," Grant called out, gritting his teeth as he yanked out a knot in his shaggy fur. "You sleep well?"

Riz did his best to smile. "Of course," he lied. "Yourself?"

"Eh, I've had better. I'm still nervous about that test coming up."

Frampton gargled something between mouthfuls of mouthwash, and after realizing that no one could understand him, spat it out to repeat himself.

"Shit, we have a test coming up?"

Riz left them to their discussion, shucking his robe and climbing into one of the showers. The benefit of having dorms designed specifically for your species was the appropriateness of their construction; his dorm was one of the few places in the school where he never felt cramped, and it was nice to be able to shower in the comfort of a stall that was made to accommodate his height. He lathered himself in honey-scented soap - it wasn't terribly cliché, he told himself - while he listened to Grant and Frampton discuss various desperate strategies of note taking and study. Riz himself had other thoughts to occupy his mind.

I wonder what kind of soap Tem uses, he thought. Images of what Tem might have looked like in the shower filled his imagination, and he smiled at the thought of all that wool, sullen and heavy as it dripped with water. His wool smells so nice. I think I can still smell him, if I try hard enough to remember the scent.

After cleaning himself, Riz wrapped a fresh towel around his broad waist and made his way back to the sink, where Grant was now standing beside Frampton. The spectacled bear had an apprehensive look on his face, and it didn't take long for Riz to see the cause. He held a large box of neatly-labeled pills in his paws.

"It's just a thing," Riz said consolingly, coming up to put a gentle paw on his friend's shoulder. "You'll get used to it. The symptoms aren't so bad, after a while." The three bears looked at each other, and then back at the box.

Bears were among the largest of terrestrial predator species present at Cherryton Academy, and their size and strength made them a threat to almost every other living thing around them. Riz had heard plenty of stories about bears such as himself accidentally hurting other animals with their monstrous strength... and other stories about incidents that perhaps weren't so accidental. Fortunately, a solution existed that was intended to benefit everyone, and Grant held it in his paws.

The pills that Grant held were government mandated for every bear that grew to over two meters in height, as each of them had over the course of their adolescence. They restricted their growth, decayed muscle development, and supposedly even hampered their aggression. They also came with a number of unpleasant side effects, including crippling headaches, lethargy, forgetfulness, and throat pains, among other things. Riz could sympathize with Grant; he'd already been taking the pills for several months.

"C'mon," Riz said, taking the box from Grant and setting it on the counter. "Let's eat first. I'm sure that we all have a busy day ahead of us."

Leading the other bears back out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, Riz then busied himself with preparing breakfast for his dormmates. Carnivores such as themselves required large amounts of protein to remain healthy, and in their society, this could only be ethically provided through foods such as eggs, beans, and cheese. Coincidentally, these things also made for a nice omelet, and Riz settled into the work of preparing food while his dormmates talked at the table. He hummed to himself while he worked, occasionally reaching a paw down to make sure that his towel wouldn't slip from his waist.

"You seem like you're in a good mood today," Bisson called out from the table. The other brown bear was already on his second bowl of cereal, clearly having been too impatient to wait for Riz's cooking. "Normally, you're not nearly so kipper this early in the morning."

Bisson was, naturally, referring to the side effects of the pills, which were always worse in the mornings. Riz cracked open an egg and spilled its contents into the skillet, smiling happily as he stirred around the delicious-smelling yolk. "I suppose I've just been feeling better recently," he said.

Bisson shrugged, returning to his cereal and leaving Riz to his work. What Riz hadn't told Bisson, however, was that he hadn't been feeling the side effects of the pill for some time now. Weeks, in fact.

Normally, bears such as themselves worked through the side effects of the pills in their own varied ways. Bisson took solace in over-eating, Frampton meditated, and Grant carried around a bottle of honey to use as a balm for his sore throat. Riz carried around a bottle himself, but that was mostly for pleasure. Recently, he'd found his own coping mechanism, and it was far more effective than honey.

It was his conversations with Tem.

Cracking open another egg, he spilled it onto the skillet, watching it sizzle as he stirred in pepper and salt. He couldn't explain why or how it helped, but talking with Tem, having someone else to share his pains with, had done wonders to relieve him of his side effects. On top of that, his time with Tem had helped him to see himself in a better light; he never felt like a monster around that herbivore, regardless of what his instincts told him.

Finishing up with his omelets, Riz fed his dormmates before dressing himself, choosing to wear the same shirt and tie as he had the day before. He slipped the fabric on over his rough fur, watching as his young muscles stretched it out. He flexed just for the pleasure of seeing it, and in doing so, reminded himself of his dream from the night before. With a smile, he put his tie down, instead popping open the top button of his collar to let some of his chest fur show. He wanted the world to see more of him.

He finished dressing as quickly as he could and quickly left the dorm, eager to get his classes out of the way so that he could see his friend sooner. He grabbed the bottle of honey left behind on his dresser, but didn't even look twice at the box of pills on his nightstand.

It would be there for him when he came back. Tem wouldn't judge him if he missed a dosage.

---

Like most students at Cherryton Academy, Riz had been encouraged as a first-year to associate himself with one of the school's various clubs. It was supposed to be an easy way to make friends, build character, and to give himself something else to focus on other than academics. Or rather, that was what he'd been told by the school's carnivore-advisor.

Perhaps the drama club might not have been the best choice for someone of his reserved nature, but that was a thought that'd come two years too late.

Fortunately, most of the drama club's activities were performed later in the evenings, long after the stress of his classes had been concluded, and the theatre space where they practiced was a large setting that made a bigger animal like himself feel quite comfortable. Riz had found a surprising amount of enjoyment from the club, and not least of all because of Tem's presence there. It was a fun group to be in, full of eccentric individuals, and over the years he'd found that he liked making himself of use to them.

His official role in the club was that of a senior member of the sound design team. In essence, his job was to find music to accompany the actors' performances, to make sure that the sound equipment was working properly, and to coordinate music and sound effects alongside whatever was happening on stage. Although he had few hopes of pursuing any sort of career in acting, it was still nice to be able to see his work help out those lucky few in the limelight.

That particular evening, Riz had chosen a spot behind the main stage to do his assigned work. Sitting with his broad back up against the warm folds of the main curtains, he'd pulled open his laptop and put on his headphones to look for music that would work in the current production. It certainly wasn't the most difficult of tasks, but it came with its own fair share of distractions; even as he searched for a proper track, he couldn't help but take in the myriad scents of the actors busy practicing on the other side of the curtains.

His trained nose could easily pick up on the pungent smells of sweat, leather polish, and makeup as the performers pushed their way through the rigorous choreography, and there, his sharp senses easily identified Tem's unique scent among the others. Tem was only a few feet away, separated from him by a few inches of fabric and the common decency that Riz had not to interrupt the actor's practice.

Delicious.

Still, as much as Riz would have liked to simply sit back and enjoy the fruits of his own senses, he realized that he needed to focus on finding music for the play. Tem's scent wasn't going anywhere, and he promised himself that he would take breaks to partake in that particular indulgence, so long as he got at least some of his work done. No one would need to know.

Think of the scenes, he told himself. Every scene in the play has lines, movement, and actions. Every scene has a mood, and for every mood there's a sound that compliments it.

He pulled up his track lists and set about typing up a musical catalog for the scenes that he needed to find an accompaniment for. One by one, he took note of the circumstances, the characters, and what they were doing in each scene. The play this time around was Adler, a famous love story set between the Grim Reaper and his hapless victim. As with any story where death was centerpiece, it was full of drama and suspense. There were even a few scenes where mock combat was enacted by the performers.

What music would go well with that, Riz asked himself, scrolling through his various playlists. He imagined the actors dancing across the stage and played one of the videos in his collection that best matched the imagery, listening to the sounds and looking for connections between what he saw on the screen and what played out in his own mind. Adler was a play filled with death and violence, and he sorted through his playlists, looking for something to set that mood.

Riz sat in his hidden corner of the theater for some time, daydreaming of violence and listening to the audio feeding into him from his headphones. He could still smell the scent of the actors behind the curtain, could still smell Tem, and he suddenly recalled his friend's role in the performance. Tem was playing the role of Odie, one of the nature spirits pitted against Death who opposed the reaper's forbidden tryst. He was also present in one of the more violent scenes, if Riz recalled correctly.

Unbidden, the imagery of the fight flashed before his eyes. Tem in his costume, cut down by the reaper. It was a stage performance, so of course there wouldn't be any real injury... no real blood. But death was what it represented, all the same. This brought a question to his mind.

What music would go best with Tem's death?

He sorted through his playlists, watching and listening, and the world beyond his screen might as well not have even existed. It wasn't until the curtain was pulled up that he recalled himself. A tall, lean figure stooped beneath the shroud and approached him, and Riz politely took off his headphones as he was addressed. He made sure to pause the video as well.

"Oh, were you busy?" the figure said shyly as it approached through the shadows of the backstage. "I didn't mean to interrupt you."

Riz recognized the individual as Legosi, a grey wolf and a fellow carnivore in the club. As far as Riz knew, Legosi was an awkward, sheepish sort of beast who worked in the lighting department with the stagehands. He was exactly the opposite of what one might have expected from a wolf, docile and dutiful, and prone to apologizing for things that didn't matter. Riz smiled at him with all of the patience he could muster despite the interruption, but the wolf returned the gesture with a bewildered expression.

"Oh, uh... Riz, you have a little something... uh..."

The wolf gestured to his lip, and Riz raised a paw to check himself. To his surprise, he pulled his paw away to find that it was covered in drool. He quickly hid his surprise behind his smile, looking back up at Legosi with an innocent expression as he wiped his jaws clean.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about dinner. What can I do for you, Legosi?"

Riz suspected that he was the type of individual who wouldn't press an awkward situation further by prying, and to the wolf's credit, he merely blinked away his perturbance and got to the point.

"I was wondering if you had the music ready for the first act," Legosi said, scratching the back of his head apprehensively. "There's some ideas that I wanted to run by you, but I needed to make sure that the lighting would work with whatever you had in mind." He didn't look directly at Riz when he spoke, and the bear wondered at that. It wasn't in the nature of a carnivore to be so timid, least of all for a social species such as a wolf.

Is he shy of himself, or of me? We're both carnivores, Legosi. What have you to be shy about?

The wolf stammered on, continuing about his ideas for coordinating the lighting of the performance with Riz's music, but the bear wasn't listening anymore. Instead, he watched Legosi, eyeing those sharp, lupine claws and comparing them to his own, and catching eager glimpses of Legosi's fangs when he spoke. How similar they were, but how very different all the same. He imagined what sort of music would go well with this wolf.

It's funny, he thought. Neither of us are on the acting team, but we've been acting our whole lives, haven't we Legosi?

"So, what do you think of that idea?"

Riz awoke from his thoughts, realizing that the wolf had just asked him a question. He tapped his keyboard idly, blushing as he realized that he hadn't done his job at all. He'd been too busy daydreaming.

"I'm sorry," he said, blushing and doing his best to appear flustered. "But I don't quite have a track list prepared. Could we maybe discuss this at the next meeting? I'm sure that I'll have something by then."

Legosi merely nodded, the polite beast that he was, before retreating back to whatever dark corner of the theatre he always hid away in. It wasn't until that long, bushy tale disappeared behind the curtains that Riz relaxed once again. He was very glad to have the computer covering his lap; getting such a view of the other carnivore's fangs and claws had made him quite excited.

Without further interruptions, Riz returned his headphones to his ears and resumed his work. Of course, had Legosi actually seen the contents of Riz's computer screen, he would have known right away why the bear had failed to procure the music needed for the performance. Upon the surface of the screen, a video played, one that was saved to a playlist called 'Music for Adler'. The video hadn't been selected for any musical qualities however, as much as Riz liked to tell himself otherwise.

The soft sounds of moans and cries of pain were muted beneath his earphones, and even then, Riz made sure to further lower the volume of the video, just in case. Many animals had exceptionally sharp senses of hearing, after all. Then, without anyone there to judge him, he continued watching, taking inspiration from the violence and carnality of the pornography playing on his screen.

It's research, he told himself, licking the drool from his lips as he watched a video featuring a large, hulking bear and a sheep play out on the screen. The herbivore had been beaten so severely that he was unable to even resist the bear's advances, and he could only bleat out softly as the carnivore heaved and thrusted atop him. Riz happily watched the bear indulge himself with the sheep's body, letting a paw slip below the base of his laptop to gently touch his thickening sheath through the material of his pants.

Tem wouldn't judge me for it.

---

The sunset that afternoon was breathtaking, and although Riz never did find the music that he'd been looking for, he certainly wouldn't let such a small concern stop him from enjoying the view.

As usual, he and Tem had found a nice, quiet spot in a shaded corner of the courtyard to watch the arrival of the sunset together, and they'd settled into the grasses just as the best of the sky's colors exploded upon the horizon. They didn't speak at first; Tem was exhausted after practicing through the rigorous choreography of Adler. He'd even loosened up his tie against the oppressive heat of the setting, springtime sun, letting it fall to his side as he lay panting in the shade. Riz had followed suit out of politeness, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt to better cool himself off. It was acceptable to be more casual with one's attire once classes were over.

"Something's different about you," Tem finally said after a while, surprising Riz. His eyes - which Riz had thought to have been closed in rest - were settled upon the bulging muscles of the bear's arms, exposed now that the sleeves had been pulled back. "Have you... are you working out lately or something?"

Riz withheld a grin at the compliment. He considered flexing for the benefit of the herbivore's view, but then decided against it. He'd always been told that modesty was one of his more attractive features, after all.

"No. Do you think I have time for that sort of thing? This is just how bears get."

"Well," Tem said, shrugging and looking away. "I mean, I'm just surprised that you're still getting bigger. Even with, you know..."

Riz nodded civilly. Tem was referring to the side-effects of the pills. His dormmates might have considered it shameful to discuss such matters with an herbivore, but Riz was sure that he'd made the right decision by sharing his woes with his friend. After all, it was Tem who'd helped him with his symptoms. He'd comforted Riz when his headaches had grown intolerable, and hell, had even _thanked_him for what he was going through. It was for the safety of herbivores like Tem that bears even had to subject themselves to such painful treatments in the first place, and the alpaca had long ago made certain that Riz knew he was grateful. To Riz's memory, Tem was the only herbivore to ever express such sympathies to him.

"What can I say," Riz said, looking out over the sunset. "This is me."

For a time, the pair sat in silence, watching the world grow into deeper shades of red. Groups of students passed by occasionally along the path beside their spot, but otherwise they were alone. As the sun sank further and further, even these intruders narrowed down to a trickle, with only a few passing students or staff to interrupt their viewing. The afforded silence was only broken after several minutes, as Tem turned to speak to him.

"You know," he said. "I'm glad that you're starting to accept yourself. When we first started talking, you acted like you were ashamed of being a carnivore. You beat yourself up over it so much... it really hurt to watch, as your friend."

He reached over, touching the bear's shoulder like he had the day before, and suddenly Riz was seized by that strange, roiling emotion that bloomed out from his belly. He wanted to touch Tem back, to make the alpaca feel the same as he did, but he wasn't sure how to even go about doing such a thing. For the moment, he simply concentrated on keeping still - very still - so as not to scare away the smaller male with any undue actions.

"But I think that it's done you a lot of good," Tem continued, clearly unaware of the effect that he had on his companion. "Embracing that pain, and then learning to put it aside. You're strong, stronger than a lot of other carnivores."

He was referring to the pills again, of course. Referring to the idea of restraint, and to the acceptance of a world order where carnivores like himself were relegated to a diet of vegetables and eggs, to pills which crippled their strength and disfigured their growing youths with pain. Riz felt something dark and angry lurch within him as he considered his friend's words. He wanted to touch Tem.

He wanted to taste him.

Tem smiled at him, and suddenly reality became so very much like the dream that he'd endured the night before. Tem's pale, creamy wool was dyed red from the sunset, red like blood, and he looked back at Riz with an expression filled with adoration. Riz could fool himself into thinking that it might have even been love.

"I want you to know, Riz," he said, his hand gripping the bear's shoulder lightly. "That I'm here for you, whether you choose to keep embracing it, or not."

Riz felt it then: the soft touch of Tem's breath on his own. The taste. Then the bloody, monstrous thing within him snapped. Before he could stop himself, before he could reason with it or find some excuse to halt it, he jerked forward, growling-

Tem!

Upon later reflection, Riz was quite certain that the intention behind that lurching movement had its origins in some unspeakable desire for violence, but mercifully, he averted it at the last moment. Turning his head aside, he instead pressed his larger muzzle up against Tem's, mashing his dark lips against the softness of the alpaca's.

Tem's eyes shot open as Riz kissed him, his expression torn between shock, fear, and disgust. He made weak, terrified noises against Riz's mouth as the bear's lips caressed his own. Pushing hopelessly against the bear's solid chest, he tried to pull away, only to find Riz's paw wrapped around his torso. His paw was so immense, he held Tem's slender torso with one hand, gripping him tight. The bear's claws clutched at the fabric of his shirt so closely that they looked ready to shear straight through.

Taste him, the thing inside Riz said, and he obliged. Opening his jaws, he pushed his tongue deep inside of the alpaca's resisting mouth, swallowing all of the protesting sounds that Tem could utter in the grip of his fear. Tem's teeth were so much smaller than his own, so blunt and harmless, and Riz allowed himself to probe every corner of them, feeling their dull hardness and enjoying the slick, feeble resistance of his friend's tongue. But it wasn't resistance, was it? Surely Tem was enjoying himself too.

Riz looked into his friend's wide, fearful eyes, and he decided that they weren't fearful after all. Just surprised. Maybe he'd been wanting this as well? Groaning in satisfaction, the bear turned his head to get better purchase against Tem's muzzle, pulling the struggling herbivore closer to himself.

Suddenly Riz's ear flicked as it caught upon an approaching sound, and realizing where he was and what he was doing, he released the alpaca. Tem instantly pulled away from him, and just as he did, a passing student turned the corner of the path towards them. A second passed, and then another. Three seconds. Tem stared at him from only a few feet away, panting. His chest shuddered as he took in silent gasps of air. Then the student turned around the curve of the trees - oblivious to what he had just averted - and passed beyond sight.

"What... was that?" Tem finally managed to say between breaths.

Riz smiled. This time, he had no intention of hiding his teeth. His fangs glinted in the light of the setting sun, covered in the slick sheen of what they'd shared together. "Like you said, Tem... I decided to embrace it. I feel... genuine right now. I-"

But he had no time to continue his sentence. Tem had already picked up his backpack and fled, and Riz watched as his friend ran out of the courtyard, looking so much like any other student who might just have been late for some study group. The bear watched as he fled, but didn't feel at all inclined to pursue him; he felt sorry for Tem. Clearly, he'd just been overwhelmed by this display of his honesty. Riz wasn't worried, however. He was sure that Tem would forgive him. He always had.

Riz licked his lips as Tem disappeared from beyond sight of the courtyard. He tried to concentrate on the memory of his friend's taste. This is what friendship tastes like, he told himself. A sound for every scene, and a taste.

Smiling to himself, he stood up and began the long walk back to his dorm. There was no point in watching the sunset without Tem around. All was normal back at the _Ursidae_building, and he found his dormmates laughing and playing video games in the main den. He excused himself from their revelries, still feeling somewhat giddy after his first kiss, and returned to his room, where he sat upon his bed with his phone-in-paw. Opening up the messenger application, he shot a text to the alpaca, wondering if he too was thinking about what they'd just shared as friends.

[Hey Tem? Are you okay? You ran off on me back there.]

Several minutes passed before the alpaca finally responded, and Riz busied himself with homework while he waited. When the gentle ping of his phone finally alerted him to a new message, he snatched the phone off of his bed and read the response eagerly.

[Yeah. I didn't know what to say.]

[Be honest. That's what you always tell me.]

[You kinda scared me. I thought you were going to hurt me.]

[You know I'd never hurt you.]

[Yeah. You just freaked me out. That's all. I'm sorry that I ran off. I thought about it, but I should have told you there.]

[Told me what?]

[That you didn't hurt my feelings. Sure, it scared me a little, but I'm not mad at you. I still consider you my friend.]

Riz looked at that text for some time before daring to respond. His heart hammered in his chest as he typed out the words.

[I was hoping that we could be more than just friends.]

Tem's next response took some time getting back to him, and Riz discovered that he had difficulty focusing on his homework. Minutes passed, slowly, dreadfully, without any sort of answer. By the ten-minute mark, Riz wanted to tear his homework to pieces. Finally, the phone pinged again.

[Riz, I'm an alpaca. And even if I wasn't, I'm NOT into guys. Like, I actually have this thing for Els... you know, the Angora sheep in our club? I haven't worked up the courage to say anything to her yet. You're the first person I've told, actually.]

Riz read through that last text several times over, as though reading it would somehow change the outcome of Tem's response or undo the feelings of rejection that slowly boiled in his stomach. He told himself that the feeling was rejection - that he was just sad because his feelings were unrequited - but that wasn't quite true. He read over the message again and again, staring at the screen in his paw, and telling himself things to keep calm. He kept staring, even though his paws had already crushed the phone into bits of glass and plastic. At some point, he'd clenched his jaw, biting into his lip, and little droplets of blood dripped down onto the broken remains of his phone from his torn gums.

He tasted blood. It was pungent, bold and iron. Already, it was overpowering his memory of Tem's taste. He didn't want to forget what Tem tasted like. He _refused_to forget.

---

Back in the safety of his own dorm room, surrounded by roommates who were already asleep in their bunks, Tem took the liberty of sending a few more messages to Riz before he went to bed. Worryingly, the bear had stopped responding to him after he'd confessed about his interest in Els. After the fourth message was sent with no answer, Tem began to feel concerned.

It's not like Riz to just shut down like that, he thought, setting his phone aside on the dresser near his bed. But then again, this whole situation was bizarre to begin with. How did I not see this coming? He's been so clingy over the last few weeks... I should have figured out that he had some feelings for me or something. Maybe I could have been easier on him... I guess I panicked.

Sighing, the alpaca climbed into bed and laid his head down against the soft material of his pillow. Of course, he hadn't told anyone else about what'd happened, and for good reason. If the school authorities learned that Riz had made advancements like that upon an herbivore, he might have gotten into some serious trouble. There were strict guidelines on the boundaries between carnivore and herbivore interactions; what Riz had done broke nearly every rule in the book. But Tem was sure that it hadn't been done out of bad intentions. It'd just been a horrible, awkward misunderstanding. That's all.

Still, there was nothing he could do if Riz was just going to shut him out. He'd give the big guy some space, and maybe talk to him tomorrow before the club meeting. He didn't want this to ruin their friendship, after all.

Euck... I still can't believe that he just kissed me like that though. I don't think I'll ever be able to get that taste out of my mouth. I didn't know bears had such long tongues...

Doing his best to put aside such thoughts, Tem curled up into the comfort of his bed and allowed himself to drift off into some semblance of slumber. He was already pretty tired after that long rehearsal - not to mention the unsolicited drama that Riz had thrusted upon him - and so sleep came easily enough. All the same, he couldn't help but pass in and out of wakefulness as the long hours of the night dragged on, with worries about upcoming tests, his lines for Adler, and anxious thoughts about Riz and Els drifting through his head.

It must have been several hours before the first hints of the sound intruded upon his sensitive ears. He blinked sluggishly, still half asleep. The sound - a subtle sort of scratching noise - was coming from the dormroom's window.

A vague sense of unease suddenly washed over him, and Tem turned aside in his bed to look towards that direction. Herbivores had poor eyesight in the darkness, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see anything other than the dim outlines of furniture. He squinted, scanning the shadows for the source of the sound. It was no use. Giving up on his own senses, he at last relented, reaching for his phone so that he could use the light. He flicked it on, froze at the sight that it revealed, and then fell backwards with a muffled scream as Riz's massive paw clamped down over his mouth.

The dim light from Tem's phone only illuminated the bear's emotionless face, and that colossal paw which was currently pressed hard over his own lips. Riz's expression was unreadable, alien, but his sunken, black eyes shone like they always did in the darkness. He smiled, and a helpless shudder rolled across Tem's body as he looked upon the vast, horrible spread of those fangs.

"Shhh," the bear whispered, pushing Tem back across his bed and sliding in atop him. He was so heavy and dense, Tem could hardly breathe as Riz's weight dropped upon his scrawny chest. The bear's other paw came down across his own, gently flicking off the phone's light. Now left alone in the darkness, Tem could only hear and feel the carnivore as he moved atop him.

Somehow his roommates hadn't woken up; their light, easy breathing could still be heard in the shadows nearby, undisturbed by the sounds of Tem's creaking bed and his helpless, muffled whimpers. Why wouldn't they wake up? How deep could their sleep have been?

"I'm still your friend, right Tem?" Riz asked, his voice a low rumble that shook the alpaca down to his bones. He slowly moved his paw away from the herbivore's mouth. Tem wanted to make a sound, but as much as he tried, no words formed upon his trembling lips. If he screamed, would Riz hurt him? He opened his mouth, only to find Riz's lips pressed hard against his own, and that thick, ursine tongue slide down his throat. Riz's broad arms scooped around his narrow frame, his weight settling against him as he kissed the alpaca and held him close. He tasted like blood and honey.

No. No, this can't be happening.

It was though, and Tem was forced to understand in intimate terms the horrifying strength of a carnivore's body. His arms pushed at Riz's chest, felt his thick, coarse fur and the rigid muscles underneath. He'd expected to touch clothes though, not fur, and he gasped in surprise, a sound that was quickly swallowed up by the bear.

He doesn't have any clothes on...

The reality of Riz's body was forced upon him as that long, thick tongue delved deeper past his teeth, flicking across his gums and wetting his throat with drool. The stuff was viscous and runny, and he struggled not to choke as the bear's tongue pushed globs of it down his throat. Riz's thick arms clutched eagerly at his nightshirt, until at last, the soft sound of rending fabric separated that frail barrier which stood between them. With a tug and a pull, Riz tore the fabric from Tem's body, running his claws up and down the smooth wool of his torso.

Tem could feel the satisfaction that the bear drew from his body, from _touching_him. He could feel it in the shudders which arced down the bear's spine, in the thickness of his drool, and in the soft, growling moans which were uttered down his own throat. Riz was enjoying him. With a wet sound, the bear pulled free from his friend's mouth, looking back at him from the darkness. Tem could just barely see the glint in his eyes; their mouths were still connected by a wet line of saliva, and his lips and muzzle were damp from Riz's desperate affections.

"Do I scare you now?" the bear asked. His voice was so rough now, so animal; he didn't sound like Riz anymore. Tem nodded, knowing that the bear could see him just fine. He felt Riz shift his weight over him, and suddenly that fierce muzzle was on his chest, sniffing and huffing. Tem tried to withhold a moan, but failed, his form curling over Riz's snout as the bear began licking up and down his sensitive body.

There was no corner of him that wasn't given over to the bear's taste. Riz licked up and down his arms, chest, and toned belly, huffed and suckled gently upon his pits, and kissed him in places that he'd never thought of in a sexual manner. He was Riz's own personal banquet, a private midnight snack.

"Please," he whispered as Riz's head went lower, past his navel. "Please, Riz... don't hurt me."

He was too afraid to be aroused, but that didn't stop the bear from doing to Tem's underwear what he'd done to his nightshirt. The soft tearing sound of claws against fabric, and then they were discarded, leaving the rest of Tem's sensitive, virgin body exposed to Riz's hot breath and eager mouth. His hands gripped the carnivore's heavy head, clasping his round, fluffy ears, unsure of what to do.

Do I just... lay here and let him do this? I can't move.

Riz didn't do the deed immediately. He took his time, first bringing the cold pad of his nose down to huff gently at his friend's body. Tem had shorn the wool of his crotch down to a smooth inch or two; it was unbearable in the warm months to let it grow out there, and it chaffed like nobody's business. Now however, he was regretting the decision, as Riz's nose snuffled and puffed along the line of his inner thigh without any sort of barrier to stop it. Suddenly, it pressed against his balls, icy cold, and he cried out softly.

The black points of Riz's eyes shot up to meet his own, and a low, warning rumble reverberated through the bear's chest. Tem glanced about, panicked, but none of his roommates had woken. He clamped a hand over his mouth as Riz returned to his work. The carnivore sniffed about for a bit longer, familiarizing himself with the alpaca's balls, his fuzzy sheath, and the soft wool of his pubic fur. Then there was the subtle glint of those fangs in the darkness as Riz bared his fangs.

It wasn't those dreaded teeth which touched his body next, though. It was that tongue: long, warm, and smooth, arcing up in a line that dragged from the base of his balls to the tip of his holstered cock. He wasn't attracted to Riz in the slightest, and yet he still couldn't help but moan softly into his hand as that tongue rolled along the supple skin of his sheath. No one had ever touched him down there before. He had no idea that it could feel like that. Riz rumbled in approval, and licked him again.

Tem couldn't help but writhe in pleasure as these new, wonderful sensations arced up his length, over and over again. He squirmed helplessly, lost, and completely powerless to do anything other than submit to that wet, flickering touch. Eventually Riz's strong, calloused paw came up to steady his hips. The carnivore took his time savoring him, and the vibrations from his pleased rumbles rolled through his muzzle and tongue as he gave long, languid licks. For all of his shame, Tem couldn't help when his cock started to harden beneath the bear's slick touch, and Riz made sure to include it in his sweeps, letting his long tongue curl around the thin, pink length, coating it in his drool.

Is this you, Tem thought, feeling the bear's tongue lather his cock in slow, teasing circles, tasting him. Is this what I've been encouraging?

Then there was no more room for thought, as the bear leaned forward and sucked the smaller male's leaking cock into his muzzle. Tem moaned hard into one hand as his shaft was surrounded by that warm, wet heat, while his other hand clenched desperately at Riz's ears, wringing the fur and cartilage.

Riz gave him no time to get comfortable with these strange, new sensations, suckling needily and bobbing his head in slow movements. The wet noises sounded softly in the dorm room, and in a sane world, Tem was sure that his roomates couldn't help but hear. They didn't. Riz flicked his tongue across Tem's tip, making the alpaca curve his spine. Without meaning to, he thrusted into Riz's muzzle, earning a growl of approval and causing that paw around his waste to pull him closer.

He wants me, Tem thought, dizzy from the pleasure. Riz was slobbering over him now, moving from eager sucking to licking, lapping up and down along his balls, gently pulling at the wrinkled base of his sheath with his lips and fangs, and slurping noisily. Tem's slender legs kicked helplessly against the bear's ribs, shuddering with restless pleasure. He wasn't so naïve that he didn't know what was happening to his body. He knew what was coming, what Riz wanted from him.

Not with him... not my first.

But it would be, and he knew it. Already he could feel himself getting closer. His balls drew up close to his body, smothered in heat and saliva, and his cock was buried deep in bear muzzle, surrounded by a roiling tongue and warm wetness that gripped at him. Riz's lips sealed neatly around the base of his sheath, and he suckled.

A soft, pitiful bleat was all that escaped from the confines of his hand as Riz drew his climax out from him. He writhed, but Riz's body might as well have been made of iron. He remained resolute, his massive paw pinning the alpaca's body in place as he sucked the cum from the smaller male's body. Tem could feel himself throbbing, and the gentle roll of the bear's tongue as he pushed spurt after spurt from his shaft, his young, sensitive balls working to produce as much as they could.

With his prey's cum collected neatly at the base of his tongue, Riz swallowed, and Tem could feel the bulge of the bear's throat upon his balls as the load was worked down into his gullet. Left panting in the aftermath, he felt the bear give him a few appreciative licks, cleaning his already-softening cock with loving strokes. In the complete darkness, all he could feel was the weight of the bear atop him, and the slick warmth of that tongue as he was cleaned. Then the weight shifted, and suddenly he felt Riz's cum-scented breath upon his muzzle.

"Riz," he whispered. Above him, he could just make out the shine of the bear's teeth in the shadows. Then, as Riz opened his mouth and descended upon him, it was all that he could see. Tem knew that this wasn't going to be a kiss.

He screamed as the jaws came down upon his throat, and kept screaming, until at last he thrashed himself into the dim light of morning.

---

Morning.

Jolting upright from his bed, Tem hastily scanned the room. The window was closed, and faint sunlight had begun to creep its way in to illuminate his surroundings. His roommates were all still fast asleep in their beds, completely oblivious to what had happened to him. Panicking, Tem looked down at himself.

His clothes were still there - somewhat ruffled - but still intact. In fact, other than the tangled mess of his blankets, everything seemed as it should.

Was it just a dream?It felt so real, he thought. I could have sworn... could have sworn...

Lying back in his bed, Tem took a minute to calm himself down, closing his eyes and reaffirming to himself that it had to have been a dream. There was no way that Riz could have snuck into his dorm and done such things without waking the others, no way he could have fixed those torn clothes, or... put a new set on him. No, it was ridiculous.

Opening his eyes and looking out at the foggy light filtering in through his window, Tem forced himself to believe that it was all a dream. It had to have been, for his own sanity's sake.

I know Riz better than anyone. He would never hurt me... never.

Shivering from the memories - still so fresh in his mind - Tem resolved that he needed to speak to Riz that very day. He needed to resolve the issues that lingered between them, or he swore, it might very well be the death of him.