FSE

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest chapter!

I return after the unscheduled break in my regular schedule with a slightly beefed up chapter, to give you a little bit of extra Rory for this Monday. The plot sure is thickening!

if you have any comments about the story as a whole or this particular chapter, don't hesitate with them! Also remember that all votes, faves and watches help others to find these stories to enjoy as well.

Have a fun read!

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Oh dear.

The more logical part of the Brain of Rory Gliese told me that I should just stand there, give a polite hello, ask whether the new customer needed something, and then stay there as stoic as ever.

The more feral and instinctual limbic system of Rory Gliese told me that I should hide under the service counter and pretend that I had dropped something and let Mason do the talking and working and greeting and pretending that he didn't know the gay bar bartender otter who has just entered into the heteronormative world of the Albrecht Brothers.

The combination of these parallel impulses caused me to simply freeze into place and stand there like a stupid fuck when the otter meandered towards us and stopped in front of the counter.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Mason didn't look any better than I did. His fluffy tail was lashing from side, and he was watching the otter intently. He obviously wasn't too happy about his surprise appearance here. I knew that the wolf had been to the Ramrod with Haakon, and it was more than logical to assume that this wasn't just Mason being uneasy about such a camp greeting on his person, but that he actually recognized the face, and now wondered whether the otter would embarrass him...

Did I ever knew what he was feeling...

The otter was now standing directly in front of me, and searching my eyes for that perfect customer service contact, not too deep, not too evasive, while a smile still lingered over his lips.

"Hello," he said, not sounding too bad on the gay-straight scale, no lisping or anything.

"Good day," I forced my throat to work again. "How can I help you?"

He didn't look too bad, I mean...he wasn't wearing a black net mesh shirt or leather pants or anything made out of PVC, just ordinary jeans and a coat and a bag slung casually over his shoulder. Only the fact that I could imagine him wearing those very same non-heterosexual garments could tell me that this fellow here was actually one of the gayest furs around who even worked in the gayest place in town, except maybe for the drama studies reading circle, but that was just a personal prejudice coming from me.

He was also looking at me, well...in a gay way, to be honest about it, because a gay knows a gay, and he was giving me some gay, watching me in a way that men usually didn't look at each other. Sizing me up in the "how well does he do in the bedroom" way, perhaps, flirting with my body with his eyes, perhaps, without actually trying to make a move on me. I don't know if he liked what he was seeing, but at least he wasn't too obvious about it. I usually didn't mind dudes looking at me but damn if it wasn't bad now, with Mason standing there and all...the mysterious wolf who already probably thought that I was gay and wouldn't really need the extra suspicion of a gay bar otter acting all too friendly with the seemingly heterosexual lion. Hmmm...

"I was wondering if you have any books about ethnic cuisine, I've been thinking about trying out making some Indian food and I'd really prefer a book over the internet," the otter spoke to me in that same almost-normal voice, still smiling.

Why was he smiling????

"Yeah, right over there, past the romance section," it was Mason speaking now, probably because I had spent all too many seconds processing everything that the otter was saying and had zoned out, leaving me standing there like an idiot and the otter without any service.

Demetrius the Otter turned his head in the direction where Mason's raised paw was pointing, and gave a little nod.

"Ohhh, right, well...thanks a lot!" the otter smiled to both of us in turn and made his swaying way towards the indicated section, leaving us again to stand on our own behind the counter.

My tail flicked tensely now, coiled energy starting to dissipate now that the initial shock was over. The otter hadn't in any way blatantly indicated that he knew me, nor Mason, which was a good thing. I really didn't need him to know that I had been to the Ramrod too, because...well...I don't know, it just wasn't anyone's business where I might hang out after work on those rare occasions that I did. Not to mention the whole gay business in general. Maybe I was a coward and lived a lie but it was my life and I didn't need everyone to nitpick on it publically.

Then again, maybe the wolf knew my secret, and simply desperately wanted someone to talk to about his own feelings...or maybe he wanted to blackmail me about it and threaten to expose my secret to...who? Marge? She'd laugh it off, probably...or want to go to shop with me.

I still didn't want to go to shop with Marge, though, so I'd prefer not to.

Damn...when did life become this complicated? I used to have a job and a calm existence that consisted of work, TV watching, friends, masturbation, work...just plain old lion life. Now I had relationship drama with a Dobie I picked up from a gay bar, drama with THE SAME DOBIE'S BROTHER THAT'S COBB BY THE WAY, one-sided erotic tension with my co-worker's best friend, (said co-worker who asked me out and might or might not have a crush on me), drama with Mason asking me out, drama with Marge, drama...well...drama about drama, it started to sound like, as I stood there behind the counter feeling like a fool. If I could just sort some part of this out...

Okay...maybe this wasn't the time for it, but I had to do something.

"Hey, Mason, could we maybe have a quick chat at some point today?" I spoke to the wolf standing next to me, trying to sound positive and open about it, and smiled too, and flicked my ears a bit.

The wolf seemed to almost avoid my gaze as I spoke to him, but he gave me a quick nod.

"Okay," he said.

"That's great," I said, smiling a bit more broadly, even though my heart was beating all too rapidly, and I didn't feel too comfortable in my furs as I contemplated my situation.

I was brought out of my misery by the arrival of new customers, prompting more happyhappy Rory smiles and distracted hello's from me as I greeted them into the wonderful world of book shopping. I kept taking glances towards the far section, too, where I could occasionally see a glimpse of a lutrine head as the Ramrod otter kept browsing the cookery book shelf. Not that I had anything against the guy, but I still kept hoping that he'd be off with it soon, so that I had at least one less thing to worry about.

One of the things to worry about of course was Marge, whom smoothly re-appeared after a couple of minutes and pushed herself behind the counter so that she was between me and Mason, leaning against the table behind us that held the packaging materials we used for making gift wraps out of books. She seemed to be her usual self, relaxed, voluptuous, swingy-tailed and smiling at the two of us in the manner that told me that she was going to say something outrageous very soon.

"So you got yourself a girlfriend yet, Mason?"

Ohhhhh shiiiiiit!

I felt my cheeks go wildly hot as I tried not to look at Mason too much, instead concentrating on staring at Marge's cleavage while she leered at the frat wolf standing on the opposite side. I could see that his ears were flat, briefly, before they popped back up to their usual perky posture.

"Who said I want to go steady with anyone yet?" the wolf answered.

Marge snickered and batted the wolf's ankles with the tip of her tail.

"Uuhhhh, studmuffin in the making, are we now?" the cougar purred openly. "Running a little pack of your own, wolfy?"

I cringed mentally at her terrible brand of humor and kept watching the spectacle, remembering to put a mildly amused expression over my muzzle.

"Yeah, why not?" the wolf's tail flicked as he spoke, not really look Marge in the eye when he did. "Have to keep my options open."

Damn, he looked at me, briefly, after he said that!

Marge snickered in her low, purring way.

"Why of course...a virile young man like you, Mason...all kinds of urges..."

I'm not sure if what her tail was doing against Mason's ankle was especially appropriate workplace behavior, but at least he wasn't jumping away from it.

"Yeah, why settle for one?" Mason tried to smirk confidently, or at least it looked like he had to try, or maybe that was just me.

"Monogamy rules," Marge chuckled, "you should try it out...same goes for you, Rory!"

She had suddenly turned her attentive gaze to me, the innocent lion, and I gave her some flicky ears for good measure.

"You think I'm a manwhore?" I tried to sound wounded.

At least she wasn't saying I'm a man's whore.

"Mason, no, you...well...I still haven't quite decided on you yet, muffin," she smirked.

I almost called her "sweets" for response, but then reminded myself that the otter had made his larger-than-life presence known to us with that same word, and I couldn't take the risk of Mason adding up a one plus one in his brain, whatever else he was thinking about me now anyway.

"I think I like the aura of mystery around me, then," I chuckled and added a little bit of a manly rumble to it, too, because that's what big straight lions do.

"Uhhh, mystery..." Marge purred outrageously.

I was about to facepaw myself, but the otter cut off short any further theatrical behavior from my part, as he planted himself in front of my cash register and put down a glossy book over the counter with the title: "One hundred most delicious tikka masala recipes".

"You've got a nice selection, that's great," the otter leered at me, and I again saw a flash of that piercing between his teeth as he spoke.

"We try to have a bit of everything," I revved up the small talk engine as I displayed remarkable efficiency in running the book over the barcode reader and tapping the cash register.

"Good mentality that, really, it's still nice to visit these shops, even with Amazon and all that," the otter seemed to be keen for small talk, too, so, basically, I had pretty much trapped myself with this one.

Shiiiiiiiit...

"That'll be 24.95 including tax," I declared the price and held out my paw out of habit.

"Sure do," the otter handed over a credit card which I promptly swiped and made sure that the transaction was confirmed before I packed the cookery book into its pretty little red carrier bag and handed it over along with the receipt and the card.

"Here you go, hopefully you'll visit us again soon," my happyhappy smile could've melted ice cream, I assure you.

"Thanks," the otter spoke, and licked his lower lip, just quickly, as he took the bag into his paw from me. "I'll see you around."

What kind of a walking double entendre was this guy?

I watched how the otter disappeared through the door out to the curb, glad that he had left without managing to even further complicate my life. Damn coincidences...of course my regular gay bar gay bartender just happened to come to MY bookstore...what a day. I shook my head quickly, out of my personal misery.

"Well that was a well smooth gentleman," Marge snickered from behind me, making my ears flick.

Both me and Mason turned to face the leering cougar, whom gave us a look.

"Huh?" Mason snuffled.

"He was kinda cute," Marge replied, "but he failed the Boobdar test...damn it...all the cute ones."

She tugged the hem of her shirt, as if to make sure that we would pass her Boobdar investigation. I remembered to gave her rack a good glimpse, of course I did, I did that on a daily basis, it was no good in coming back with a negative result from the Boobdar, Marge Pitt's larger-than-life personal sexual orientation detector.

"Too bad for you, Goggy can't have a worked-up Marge back at home in the evening now," I suggested, knowing that I was treading onto dangerous territory, but it was worth the risk to see her face.

Marge chuckled.

"Who ever said I need otters to look at when I've got you guys here to worship me with your eyes all day long?" our resident Marge smirked and winked.

I decided that this could be the time to make a break for it, and instead of inciting further comments from Marge, I took a more serious stance.

"Marge, do you mind holding up the fort for a while if me and Mason go to unpack the new books that arrived today?" I asked her with a little smile.

The cougar gave me a quick nod.

"Yeah sure, I definitely won't mind you two doing it instead of me," she spoke as she moved in to take Mason's place behind the cash register while the wolf and I made our way past her and into the shop floor.

We moved wordlessly across the two flights of stairs until it was just the two of us standing there, amidst the piles of cardboard boxes and the metal shelves containing our merchandise.

I leaned against one of the shelves and smiled, trying to appear as relaxed as possible.

"So, Mason...," damn I sounded old. "I think we should have a little talk."

I tried my best not to sound too nervous, either, or even worse, authoritative, as I held his gaze, softly.

Mason's tail flicked sharply behind him as he stood there and tried his best not to look me directly in the eye.

"Yeah, I guess so...I mean..."

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Yeah."

We stood there in silence for a little while, neither of us seemingly wanting to continue talking in circles for now.

"So, maybe...," I began, again, "maybe you could tell me what you had in mind about a...date?"

The frat wolf visibly flinched, but at least he didn't start shouting at me, or, even worse, bolting out of the room.

"Like I said, uhh..well...," his tail kept flicking unusually broadly, "I just thought it'd be cool to go out with you, Rory, like...like a date."

"Yeah, I got that part already," I nodded, though hoped it didn't seem dismissive of the idea or the like, as I carried on, "But I...uh, hope you don't mind me saying, but I didn't quite get what kind of a date you meant, Mason...friendly...manly...romantic...?"

The wolf's head hung down as he avoided my gaze, and I felt a sudden urge to hug him, simply because he looked so much like a puppy who had fallen off his bicycle, or something like that. He let out a deep breath, a sigh, and his ears flattened, before he spoke again, avoiding my eyes and looking at his footpaws instead.

"You'll think I'm such a stupid fur, man..." he rumbled.

"Of course not," I spoke, quickly, hoping that I wasn't about to cause some sort of a confidence crisis in the young male standing in front of me. "I mean ,if you want to ask me out...I mean...it's not stupid...I don't think it's stupid if you want to...maybe get to know me better but..."

"Yeah," he snuffled. "But it's not...all that...oh man..."

I simply stood there, as steady fast as possible.

"Take your time, we're in no rush here," I assured him.

"Well, uh...I just...well...like I said, I just thought..." he made his slow way along his words, and I gave him all the time he needed, because that was the best I could do. "Well I just thought that since you might be a bit more experienced and...know about this kind of stuff..."

I didn't really want to ask him what kind of stuff, but I just said: "Okay?" and let him continue.

"So I thought...well, maybe if I'd ask Rory for some tips, I'd...maybe I'd do a better job if..uhh...when I...when I might ask someone I like out."

Another bout of silence filled the room, and I just stood there, processing this new piece of information.

I almost felt relieved, too.

So he wasn't...

So he just...

Ohhh...

Well...

Right...

I cleared my throat quickly.

"So you want to...ahem...practice dating...with me?" I postulated my understanding of his suggestion.

Mason gave me a quick glance, his eyes serious and all too shy for someone of his stature and age and fratwolfness.

"Yeah don't get me wrong or anything like that, Rory, just...well, I don't know anyone else to ask, I mean...all the other guys they...they just want pussy, you know...and...I just want to give a nice date, okay?"

I couldn't help but smile a little as he explained his thoughts about what he wanted to do...even if I was still damn puzzled about this whole thing.

"That's how college tends to be, yeah," I added helpfully.

"Yeah," he said.

Now the silence only lasted for a little while, thankfully.

"So...," he was looking at me now, seemingly comforted that I still hadn't laughed him off. "You...think you could...we could...do something like a date? If you have the time of course and I'll pay for everything and..."

My tail flicked quickly, making a rattling sound as it collided with the steel shelf.

"I really am not sure if I am really the best role model when it comes to dating, but...uhh..."

What a dilemma. In a way I was relieved that he didn't have a crush on me, or made any indicates of that at least, unless this all was a ruse that would end...interestingly, at the end of the theoretical practice date we would have. Instead it seemed that the wolf genuinely wanted some...paws-on instruction on how to woo someone, and by the sound of it, he already had someone in mind...a boy or a girl, that I didn't know, because frankly, I didn't want to go there, but...that's Mason's right, maybe he was such a happy individual that it didn't mattered, as long as it felt alright. I didn't want to mortify him to embarrassment with any further inquiries.

"...but if you really don't mind going out with a dude...," I smirked toothily, hoping that a bit of "hehehe, isn't that funny, almost like y'know but we aren't , so it's a joke and that's why it's funny because it's not real" kind of humor might just help him out a little bit.

The wolf didn't seem too amused by my joke, and I was already starting to feel nervous about the whole business, before he gave a nod.

"Yeah, I think that's the purpose of it, to see you in action and learn from that," he said.

That gave me all the wrong ideas, surely, but I gave him a nod as well, and a slightly less cheeky smile.

"Well, if that's your noble purpose and you insist on it, I guess it's okay..." I mused, wondering what kind of trouble I was getting myself into again.

"Well that's cool," Mason said, and he even smiled a bit.

"Yeah, heheh," I tried to sound cool, too, but I was all too mindboggled by this whole prospect that I really didn't know how to react properly to anything anymore.

"So uhh..." he was rubbing the back of his neck now in that cute manner of his, "Think you...think we could do it soon then?"

I wanted to joke about him being really eager about his dude date, but I decided against it. Can't go too far with this...

"Well, I think I don't have anything much planned for next week..." I opened the negotiations.

Unless Victor comes up with a romantic getaway of his own and I can go on a date with him and not with Mason...

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IN YOUR DREAMS RORY UNLESS I COME WITH YOU DO YOU LIKE INDIAN COOKING I KNOW A RESTAURANT WELL I LOOKED IT UP NEVER BEEN THERE BUT WE CAN GO THERE I'LL BUY YOU SOME GOOD FOOD AND THEN WE CAN GO TO THE PARK DID YOU KNOW VICTOR LIKES PARKS.

*mental sigh*

Yeah.

"That'd be cool, yeah," Mason answered me.

"Well, we'll look into it and maybe set it...tomorrow?" I offered my best to him.

"Yeah, sure," Mason nodded energetically now, and he didn't seem so gloomy anymore, which was a good thing, too.

I smiled, too, and clapped my paws together.

"Right!" I grinned, trying to put some energy to own lazy ass, too. "Now that we're settled, we've got some boxes to move, so that Marge won't get suspicious."

Mason snuffled.

"Yeah...and uh..Rory, about that...thanks for not telling her about...y'know..."

"Of course not," I smiled sincerely. "She doesn't need to know anything at all about our...arrangement."

"Yeah, too true," Mason shook his head at the idea of the cougar going on about declaring the secret love tryst between him and the friendly Rory.

I was such a sneaky lion, I thought as I moved to pick up one of the boxes from the messy pile which we were supposed to rearrange now that we had rearranged out personal business.

I only managed to get one box hauled over to the storage shelf when I felt my phone vibrate with a message. I pushed the box to its place and dug for my phone, to find the always so pleasant "VICTOR HOLDEN" written across the small screen. Then I opened the message.

Hi Rory can I

call u tnight

around 4.30?

Important

business about

date. seeyou

Victor

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*CUE FREEZE FRAME EFFECT*

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And here we go! What do you think about the latest Gruffhanger? Are there even more mysterious about now at the Albrecht Brothers? What's going to happen? Stay tuned for the next chapter!

If you have any comments, don't hesitate! They always cheer me up, and are an important tool in developing this story. Also remember that votes, faves and watches help others to find these stories as well.

Cheerio!