The Return of Autumn (remastered)
#30 of Patreon stories
Two years ago, I wrote a short story to commemorate the Fall Equinox. After a long time of wanting to polish some sentences and add further character, I decided to remaster this. It also helped that I was listening to "October & April" while working on this remastering.
If you enjoy it, please be sure to like/favorite this & leave a comment below. Happy Autumn!
We were kindred souls to Hades and Persephone. Much like ancient gods of Greek mythology, an academic subject I passionately taught until my recent retirement, we were separated by the seasons.
Every year, when the leaves began to bleed from the tree branches, I spent godless hours waiting in anticipation. If my errands and pawful of chores around the lonely lake house were finished, and I didn't have any promised engagements with the few remaining family members I had, my mornings, afternoons and evening throughout September were spent watching the backyard from my back porch. Waiting for his lithe and younger yet mystical form to emerge from the fallen leaves like a majestic whale breaching the ocean surface. Only, he'd be an unageing vulpine with the appearance of twenty-five years.
Daphnis described himself as the only male nymph in existence, a handsome spirit of the rural Midwest trees who dutifully guarded the woodlands until the leaves began to fall. His father and mother remained in Greece while he ventured west to the New World once word of it spread across the rest of the continents. After the perilous journey, Daphnis forged his way through the unknown forests until settling down on the farthest lakeshores of what ultimately became known as Lake Superior. He then spent hundreds of years watching in awe as more settlers made his forests into a home for themselves.
We encountered each other when I was an explorative teenaged wolf, born and raised all my life up north, as I explored the woods of my family home. Much like today, the sun shined overhead behind a thin layer of clouds, reflecting off the bright colors signifying the end of summertime. I still remembered the taste of pecan pie, a delicious treat I loved eating come Fall.
The day we met would always be the happiest time of my life, second only to our honeymoon. Against all odds, our fiery love for each other only hardened into strong obsidian as years rolled by.
This autumn, the fox nymph surprised me by arriving two weeks into the month, tapping a single paw on my window in the early hours of the morning, dressed in nothing but his leaf-patterned fur composed of multiple shades of yellow and red. The same color as those piercing ruby eyes that swayed me since my youth. I'd nearly fallen out of bed, until I saw him through the frosty windowpane and mirrored the exact same expression that he wore each year: adoring glee in its most potent form of love.
I stumbled from my bedroom and opened the door, only for the immortal leaf spirit to press himself into my bathrobes and make me stagger backwards a few meters. Blissful laughter filled our lungs until the lad's multicolor muzzle kissed mine, our lips smashing together in wafting paradise.
The fox's taste did not change a single day or decade. His breath still smelled of fresh pine, tongue drifting in lavender smells as his fur felt softer than silky grass. Though seemingly fragile like a leaf, his remaining youth and toned stature seemed strong enough to move an entire tree trunk from the ground. We kissed again and again as doubt returned to my mind; sometimes, I silently wondered how he could tolerate being in a long-distance relationship with an old, middle-aged, and graying canine like me. Then, I recalled our long-ago conversations, and remembered why. He loved me. He greatly loved me. He loved me more than any mortal man who ever had the chance to come across him by accident in those dense trees.
"Did you miss me, Michael?" he whispered after our lips parted. His scent reminded me of pumpkin spice. "I know that I have."
"Always missing you, dear," my throat trembled in synchrony with my happy paws. "I have always missed you...each and every time I wake up." Clearing my throat, I said, "There is...something I must tell you, Daphnis."
"Can we later?" He sniffled, kissing me once more, igniting a fire in my chest.
It could wait. For now, I just wanted to hold him again. Be inside him again.
Without another word, happy tears forming in our eyes, I led Daphnis into my spacious bedroom, the need for sleep already forgotten. Instead, my kneading paws owned a mind of their own. They caressed and pulled my husband close to my bare chest, and his leaf-patterned paws pulled my bathrobe aside as he in turn marveled at my body. He particularly enjoyed kissing each centimeter he missed over the previous six months spent physically apart. First my neck, then my bobbing Adam's apple, the defenseless napes, followed by the shoulders and eventually the nipples hidden underneath grey furs. His cold nose and sensual tongue warmed each nipple, leaving my legs to buckle back onto the bed and cause me to pull him atop my torso.
We giggled like carefree schoolboys exploring each other for the very first time.
"You did that on purpose, Michael." Daphnis' blanketing, beautifully colorful tail swayed over my legs. "You tease."
I couldn't resist a playful grin. "So, what if I did? What will you do about it?"
The youthful lad responded to my question by shifting upward and pecking me on the lips, his form resting a top mine as his pert rear brushed against the red shaft emerging from my bulbous and ashen-dyed sheath. He loved teasing me, as evidenced by the sly expression in his eyes, the suppressed moan I felt rumbling in his warm abdomen, his lower lip quivering down at me. Having been married for close to thirty years, we enjoyed a diverse range of hobbies. However, in that moment, all I cared for was showing the fox nymph how much I missed him; emotionally, physically, spiritually, and sexually.
There was no time for further foreplay. We had more than enough time to slowly warm each other once winter arrived in late November. For now, we fucked.
No, not fucked; made passionate and fierce love without looking away from the other's hypnotic gaze. We always shivered in delight as my lubed member entered my mate, like we were virgins again. That beautiful morning became no different than any other.
No matter how much I aged, no matter how much he remained in his prime, we never tired of our favorite hobby. I never grew bored of feeling my husband and I become one. He never asked for another lover to make him feel like the luckiest immortal living amongst nature. Most of all though, neither of us preferred one to be more dominant over the other. That night though, Daphnis let me hold him down on his back, lift his limber, athletic legs and stretch him wide in a calculated thrust.
"Ahhh!" He cried out to Olympus itself. "By the gods!"
"Oooooh, Daphnis!" I growled, leaning down to huff in his folded ears. "Nnugh!"
My age didn't prevent me from enjoying our union. If anything, I did well with resisting the symptoms of being past my prime. Yet the muscles in my lower legs couldn't stop groaning as they kneeled into the mattress, and the old knot in my back popped during one of my rapid thrusts. Thankfully, my fox's velvet tightness did well to keep me from slipping out by accident, while my fingers roamed through his red silk-like fur. I could literally smell maple syrup and freshly fallen leaves waft into my nose.
"You are the most beautiful lad," I huskily murmured. "You're so perfect..."
"And you're the most beautiful mortal I'll ever know," he whispered back. "I love you, Michael."
I flashed my fangs in a beaming smile. "I love you too."
Caressing Daphnis again with my muzzle, our wet tongues panting as we parted for air, I blushed staring into those beautiful ruby eyes. They gazed at me with ethereal love I planned to see for the rest of my life (and hopefully, forever). Rather than prolong the welcoming inevitable, I thrusted faster. My tongued kisses grew hungrier. Our digits shook in clasping grips. Toes curling into the blanket, I pounded harder against his tailhole, our jubilant sighs and moans chorusing together. During which, the sensual aromas of maple, oak, timber, pine needles, and pumpkin spice flooded the room like a powerful musk.
Daphnis was my tree. The mighty wooden trunk I held onto for support and found refuge beneath during chaotic storms. A life without him would never be living.
With trembling limbs and a sheen of sweat drenching my entire back, my snarl began to grow. I felt my husband's body stiffen below me, clinging close to me, then arching as we felt our love bubble to the surface and burst into a hot release.
I cried out in ecstatic joy, "D-D-Daphnis!"
"M- Michael!" he moaned to the same tune as my climax. "Oh, M-Mich--ahhhhh!"
We collapsed together into a heap. We hugged each other and sniffled in the warmth of our rosy afterglow. Sweat and satisfied grime covered our bodies, staining our fur and the bed, but the thought of cleaning it later remained at the back of my mind. Not when my husband lay beside me, sweetly united with me as one. As exhaustion took hold of us, I decided to ultimately tell him my ultimate decision.
"Daphnis?" I murmured.
He yawned, nuzzling into my chin. "Yes, Michael."
"I want to do it," I said, then giggled before adding clarity. "I want to become a nymph."
My fox mentioned the possibility, once. How he could share his immortality with eternal youth with me, if we performed the correct ritual. To do so would mean saying farewell to the mundanities of mortal life, but it hardly mattered compared to being with my love. Still, Daphnis at the time made me promise to consider it over. He wanted me to think over the choice, however long it required me to prepare.
"Are you sure?" He kissed my closed eye, tail curling and uncurling alongside his whispering voice. "Once we do it, it cannot be undone, Michael."
"I know it is what I want," I said. "But, can we at least have one more winter together? As mortal and nymph? I feel it is time to truly introduce you to the extended family."
Daphnis stared into my eyes, smiling softly. "Of course, we can, love."
We leaned in for yet another one of an eternity of sweet kisses. He smelled like a rare male nymph ought to smell, being held and sleeping in my burly arms. As dawn further broke over the tree line, I felt the exhaustion of an interrupted sleep pull me back to dreamland.
I did not complain. After all, Daphnis and I had the rest of the upcoming day to spend together, following a nice, warm shower. Then, a planned brunch between the two of us once again to commemorate the return of autumn.