FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This is a story with strong homoerotic, anthropomorphic content.

*

Hello everyone, and welcome to this monolithic 23,000-word epic that just wanted to come out of my fingers over a Sunday and a Monday. It's rough and raw, and it's long, so sit back and enjoy a long read, in sections, if you must, but I do hope that you will enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I may be a bit sore now, but I think that it was worth it.

I would love to hear your opinions as well, so please, don't hesitate to comment! All feedback is absolutely delicious to me!

Also remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!

Have a good read, this is for you guys as much as for me!

*

Mark had just came out of his post-jog shower, a drippy, happy lion he was, when the phone rang, and he rushed across the bedroom and then out to the kitchen to pick it up from the counter.

Jake is calling

_ _

The lion's ears flicked as he spotted the name on the screen, and then hit the green button to answer.

"Hi, buddy!"

"Hi," the tiger's voice rumbled from the other end of the line. "How're you doing?"

Mark used the towel slung around his shoulders to slowly dry his neck furs while he held the phone up to speaking distance.

"Just the usual Saturday, I guess, nothing much going on. Went for a run and was thinking of having something to eat maybe, and probably going to read a book for the evening and just have a quiet time, I think."

"That's...great, man," the tiger replied.

"What're you up to, Jake?" the lion asked, curious of his friend's activities.

"Just...well, hanging around, I guess, it's not like I've got that much to do at the moment, with Angela gone and all that shit."

"Yeah, I guess so," Mark rubbed his neck and hoped that the tiger had not been too heavy on beer recently.

There was a brief pause, before he heard the tiger speak again.

"So, I was wondering...you mind if I come around?"

The lion chuckled.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind someone to share these extra nice doughnuts I brought from my running trip," the lion glanced over at the brown paper bag standing on the kitchen counter.

"That sounds nice," Jake replied. "Say, can I be there around...twelve, maybe?"

Mark's eyes jumped over to the wall clock that told him that it was half past eleven now.

"Sure, you're welcome, buddy!" the lion enthused.

"Heh, well...see you soon, then."

"Seeyou!"

Mark put down the phone and purred a little at the thought of having his old college friend over. It'd been a couple of weeks since they had seen each other, and the last time, the tiger had been pretty drunk since he had just split from his girlfriend, Angela. It wasn't the best of times, they'd been drunk together often during the college years, but a crying drunk was never much fun, and Mark really didn't want to have a repeat of that performance. Jake didn't sound too bad, though, the lion decided, still drying his head furs, it'd probably be alright, they'd just have a bit of fun, drinking coffee and having the nice doughnuts.

The purring lion set to work to set the small table that could seat two furs comfortably, placed down napkins and spoons and plates and mugs, and took his time. Mark always liked having things nicely laid down, because it gave him things to do, and he liked arranging things. He liked putting colors into harmonious colors, and he liked to put books into size order, and he liked having a lit candle on his table when he was serving coffee to his friend. Everything seemed to be pretty much to his usual standard by the time he was finished, and he still had time to spare to give himself a quick blow with the hair dryer, and choose something nice and comfortable to wear.

Mark's preening was only interrupted by the doorbell, and his ears perked at the sound. The bushy-maned lion smiled to his own neat image on the mirror, and then headed out to answer on the door, to let his friend.

Jake was a tall, wiry tiger, he didn't look like a bodybuilder but he wasn't tiny either, and it was all in good proportion, or so the orderly mind of Mark liked to think. The tiger wore a t-shirt and some old jeans, and stood with his paws stuffed in his pocket.

"Hi, buddy!" Mark grinned, and patted the tiger's shoulder when he entered, after giving a nod for greeting.

"Hey," the tiger replied.

Mark closed the door and followed the tiger into the deeper confines of his comfortable, small apartment, and saw that Jake was already making for the kitchen.

"I'll just put the coffeemaker on," Mark smiled, and moved over to click the button before he lingered by the counter, watching how Jake abruptly sat onto the seat where he usually sat while visiting, and put his paws down over the table, with the pretty napkins in place.

Mark frowned a little, but decided not to make any pointed comments now, the tiger was still probably just a little touchy over the breakup and all that, and the lion didn't really want to pry too much.

The coffeemaker began to bubble cheerfully, making Mark's ears flick when he padded over to his side of the table and sat down with feline grace. His eyes lingered on the tall tiger sitting in front of him, leaning back on his chair.

"How's things, Jake?" Mark asked after a moment, when it seemed that the tiger wasn't about to be the one to open the conversation yet.

Jake rubbed the side of his muzzle and snuffled.

"Haven't changed too much, I guess," the tiger mused. "She's not coming back. She took her stuff out last week."

"Oh," Mark gave a small nod.

"Yeah," Jake snorted. "So that's for a year and a half of living together...now I'm missing most of the stuff. She took the coffeemaker and almost all of the dishes from the kitchen and she took the bed..."

Mark snorted.

"Where do you sleep, man?" the lion's ears flicked curiously.

"On the couch, she didn't take that," the tiger snuffled in reply. "And I still got the television, and the laptop, so I'm surviving. She didn't take the fridge, either, or the microwave, so at least I can heat microwave meals."

The culinary lion winched a little, mostly mentally, at the idea, but decided not to push the point further.

"At least you're not starving."

Jake shook his head while he breathed out, slowly, audibly.

"Yeah, guess that's one way to look at it."

"Yeah," Mark smiled.

For a while it was just the popping and hissing of the coffee maker, and nothing more, filling the air in the room with a sweet scent.

"All going well for you at work?" the tiger asked, suddenly.

Mark chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever talk about a recession, there's always need for accountants, if only to keep the numbers in check," the lion smiled.

The tiger flicked an ear, quickly.

"Guess that's how it is."

"How's the stuff in the office for you?"

"I got fired," the tiger grunted.

Mark's brow knit and his eyes widened a little at the abrupt statement. It also made him want to hug the tiger, if only to offer him whatever little comfort he could, since that was another big blow for him in a short time, after the breakup, now this.

"Uhh...what?" the lion asked, curiously.

Jake tapped the glass surface of the table with his claws.

"Yep, uhh...about three months ago. They didn't need me anymore so I was fired and...yeah."

Now Mark's muzzle almost fell open.

"You've been out of job for three months and didn't tell me?" the lion asked, incredulous at the sudden revelation.

They'd always been pretty close friends, he knew that much, he felt that much, but to hold something like that back was not something he would have expected from his friend. It almost felt like cheating, somehow, talking about something that big, and bottling it all up.

The tiger didn't seem too guilty, either, when he spoke.

"I...I didn't want to disappoint Angela," the tiger studied the mug on the table, and didn't look at the lion.

Mark frowned.

"And why couldn't you tell me?" the lion demanded, staring at the tiger across the table.

The tiger shook his head.

"I couldn't risk anyone knowing, in case Angela would hear about me getting fired."

Mark shook his head in disbelief.

"Is any girl worth that kind of foul play, Jake?" the lion spoke, pleading with his friend to see the problems behind his thinking.

It sounded completely ridiculous, sneaky and unnecessary. He could have helped out his friend, maybe see if he knew anyone who knew anyone, do something...anything to help the tiger with a high-maintenance girlfriend.

"I don't know anymore, to be honest," the tiger grunted.

Mark's ears flattened and he shook his head again, still having trouble comprehending this surprise reveal made by his friend. It was almost too weird for him, and he had seen weird in his time, and foul play, and cover-ups, but one happening right under his nose in his own personal life was a bit...strange.

Mark tried to keep his gaze resolute as he watched the tiger again.

"And did she leave because she found out you didn't have a job anymore? Did you keep pretending you went to work?" he asked, pointedly.

"Kind of both," the tiger replied with a shrug. "It's all still a bit of a fucking mess, though...shit..."

The tiger rubbed his face with his paw, and Mark couldn't do anything but watch him, and frown.

"So she left because you didn't have any money anymore?"

Jake snorted.

"Pretty much, I guess. It's not like it was very smooth sailing for the past years or so. You know she cheated on me once before, right?"

Mark clicked his tongue in distaste at the mention of that event and how much drunken tiger moments it had caused, but he decided to acknowledge it with a simple nod.

"Yeah, so...maybe it was coming, and this was the final straw. Just didn't really see it coming from far away."

"You rarely do," the lion replied, trying to smile empathically. "It's like me and Jared, it was just...good as long as it lasted, and then it just fell apart and that's it."

"Yeah," the tiger snuffled.

Mark leaned over and reached across the table, unhesitant to take a hold of his friend's paw and give it a gentle squeeze. They understood each other like that.

"It's all crap, man, you're better off without her, she wasn't worth it if she leaves when it got a bit rough," the lion tried to speak the best words he could think of, to make sure that the tiger understood that he was here for him, in any friendly capacity that he could offer.

Jake snuffled.

"Guess so," he grunted.

"You really should have told me, I could have helped you."

"I didn't want to be a bother."

Mark repeated the squeeze on his friend's wrist.

"You wouldn't have been, Jake! I could have helped you work something out, with or without Angela."

The tiger shook his head.

"I thought I had everything under control," Jake's face darkened.

Mark nodded, sharply, and the look he gave back to the tiger wasn't entire without disapproval in it.

"You shouldn't have tried to do it all on your own, Jake, seriously!"

The tiger hung his head and huffed, loudly.

"Tough shit, man."

Mark withdrew his hand and sat back on his chair, watching the tiger with worried eyes. The coffeemaker was no longer hissing, and that gave him the excuse to get up, to fetch the drink and the awaiting sugar-glazed treats. The lion moved without hurry, poured the coffee and put the doughnuts on the plates, and then took the coffee pot back to the hot plate.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot that you like milk with yours...let me get it for you."

"Thanks."

Mark went by the fridge to fetch the milk and placed the carton on the table, within easy reach of the tiger, who took it and poured some into his drink. Mark sat over to his own chair and sipped on his own hot coffee, black, and just the way he liked it. The hot tang washed over his tongue and made him purr automatically, briefly.

Mark watched Jake stir his coffee, slowly, eyes fixed on the mundane motion and the bubbles forming on the surface. It looked weird, that look, on the usually energetic big tiger's face. Mark frowned a little.

"You sure you wouldn't like to do something like...maybe come over and stay for a couple of days, Jake?" the lion asked, trying to smile as gently as possible.

The tiger gave him a look, and snorted.

"I do pay my rent for that apartment still, I don't think I have to become homeless quite yet, Mark, thanks."

The growling edge to the face caused a weird sensation in Mark's belly, and his smile melted away, but he remained resolute, and did not shy.

"Just a thought."

"Yeah, thanks for it, but I'm okay. I don't need your money, I've got a bit of my own now, I'm not exactly going to die of poverty immediately."

"Ohh...okay then."

Silence fell over then, and Mark took refuge in the doughnut, which stained his lips and his fingerpads with sugar, but it tasted great, especially once he washed it down with some more hot coffee. He purred a little, and licked his lips once he was done, and saw that the tiger hadn't touched his coffee or his doughnut yet.

In fact, he hadn't even moved from his earlier posture, he still sat there, slightly hunched over, with his paw clasping onto the small spoon.

Mark snuffled.

"You sure you're okay?"

The tiger barely met his eyes when he lifted his head and looked over to Mark. He didn't look too happy at all.

"I...kinda...well..." he huffed, and fell silent.

Mark wanted to reach over and hold his friend's paw again, but he stopped himself, and sat still.

"Take your time," he tried, hoping that it would encourage the tiger to speak.

"Oh, fuck," the tiger rubbed his chin with his paw, and his ears flattened. "Maybe I should just show you, ok?"

"Sure," Mark nodded.

"I...need to use your computer."

"Oh...okay. It's over there," he pointed at the laptop sitting on the small coffee table, by the couch.

"Okay."

Jake got up from his seat and went over to sit on the couch, and pulled the computer over so that he could type, while Mark, newly arrived, sat by the couch and watched the hunched tiger work. He opened the internet browser, and then clicked on the address bar, took a deep breath, and typed something in.

"Okay...well...here we go."

He hit "Enter," and within two seconds, Mark's eyes widened and his heart made some sort of a flip turn in his chest. The browser window was filled with images of furs, male furs, of all kinds, except that everyone was very fit, very smiling and very much only clad in underwear, and they all surrounded a logo of a blue pawprint on white background, and a text that said:

WELCOME TO THE HOME PAGE

OF

BLUE PAWS PRODUCTIONS

PREMIER QUALITY ADULT ENTERTAINMENT

BY CLICKING HERE TO ENTER

YOU

AGREE ON BEING

18 YEARS OF AGE OR MORE

"Jake..." Mark gasped.

The tiger operated the touchpad to hit on the "ENTER" text, and the page loaded, and now it was replaced with a much more hardcore selection of males, naked now, wrapped around one another, with hard cocks on display, kissing, fondling, looking cheekily at the camera, advertising 100% hardcore action.

"Just gimme a sec," the tiger grunted and clicked on a link that said "MEET THE GUYS."

Mark stared in disbelief as the tiger quickly scrolled down past a selection of guys posing only in their boxers or even less, until about halfway down he stopped, and leaned back on the couch, avoiding Mark's eyes.

"There. My new job."

Mark's eyes lingered on the computer screen that was showing the picture of a shirtless tiger, obviously the very same one who now sat next to him on the couch, looking at the camera with a sexy expression. He wasn't wearing anything, all modesty was based on his paw cupping over his sheath, and judging by the look on his face on the picture, he was liking the touch. The text next to the glossy image read:

CHASE BRIDGE, 31

10 INCH STRAIGHT STUD

GONE GAY FOR PAY!!

EXCLUSIVE TO BLUE PAWS PRODUCTIONS

CLICK HERE TO SEE:

GALLERIES

VIDEOS

PROFILE

FLIRT

Mark's muzzle had fallen open as he read over the text, the suggestive terms, the...strategic measurements, the facts that had been composed to make potential watchers want to click on that button that would bring in more naked pictures of the tiger posing in the big display picture. His head felt swimming, he couldn't really speak, it felt odd to breath, even, and the lion suspected that fainting wasn't far off. His paws clutched on the back rest of the couch, he felt like he was falling over, and he breathed out, deeply.

"Yeah, that's what I've been doing for the past three months and pretending to still go to the office."

An almost barking sound escaped from Mark's muzzle.

"You...you..."

"It's exactly what it says on the tin, Mark," the tiger spoke in a low rumble, not looking over at the lion. "I've been shooting porn for cash."

"I need to sit down."

Mark crashed down on the couch and leaned back, his head still felt heavy, and he wasn't still very sure that he wasn't imagining this whole thing. His best friend...the confirmed straight guy and just off a long relationship with a girl, had been...selling himself, in a way, on a gay porn site, had become gay guys' pawing off material...was now on sale on that sleazy site, probably for a reasonable monthly fee, or pay per view.

Mark hung his head against a palm and breathed deeply.

"Seriously, Jake, what the fuck?" the lion snorted.

"Guess it's a classic case of 'it felt like a good idea at the time', I guess."

Mark snorted.

"Fuck..."

"I only had to send them a couple of pictures and stuff and they said they want me to come and jack off on camera and they liked that so much that they told me I'd get 300 dollars for that vid, and more, if I did another one. I thought it was easy money."

Mark snorted.

"Porn is not easy money, it's..."

"It requires no talent except that I have a big dick, and gay guys get off on the idea that they're watching a straight dick getting sucked by another guy," the tiger spoke.

Mark's ears flattened and his eyes snapped to stare at the tiger who was speaking at such a strange, monotone voice.

"You...you've been on a porn video with another man?" the lion spoke, quietly.

The tiger gave a quick nod.

"Made a thousand bucks for the one where I got sucked off and fifteen hundred each for the vids where I fucked a guy up the ass and, then I got two thousand for the one where I sucked a tiger's dick and then fucked him. One day of work, a month's pay."

Mark couldn't do anything but stare at the side profile of the detached tiger, and not to look at the naked picture of the very same male, still on display on the computer. The tiger's eyes seemed to be fixed on it, that and the fake name next to it. Chase Bridge...good grief.

"You...Jake, you done all that just to get a few thousand bucks?"

The tiger gave him a dirty look.

"Well it's two thousand bucks in my pocket for a few hours in a stinking studio sticking my dick into some guy's ass, it beats the soup kitchen," the tiger growled, his tail lashing out and smacking against the side of the couch.

"But you're...you're...you've got education!"

"I'm still looking for a new job with my credentials, it's just not going anywhere at the moment, no real offers yet," the tiger replied.

"But you're straight!"

"So was Casey Longbone, the Doberman I fucked up the ass," the tiger huffed. "Just for the cash."

The lion shook his head with extreme slowness.

"This is...weird..."

"I know it's fucked up," the tiger snapped back. "But it's what I came up with back then and thought I could do it without Angela noticing and...could pretend that I was still working but really I was just looking for work and going a few times over to the studio to shoot more material for them. The rest of the time I just slacked around and waited for four pm so that I could go home."

Mark's eyes flicked over to the rudely smiling tiger on the screen, then back to the grimacing tiger, whose facial expression definitely wasn't a force done, unlike the one on the picture.

"Just how the hell did you get that idea in the first place?"

"I was watching porn one day when Angela was still at work and I'd gotten the boot already, so I could sneak back home once she had left" the tiger snuffled. "She hadn't been putting out for a while, claiming she had PMS or something, so I decided to paw off and watched some porn and there was this wolf on that video, ugly as fuck, pounding that vixen doggie style, but he had a huge dick."

Mark wasn't sure what to think about the description, but he just nodded, quickly.

"So, I thought, maybe I'm not exactly ripped, but I ain't too bad, and I've got ten inches, so...thought maybe they'd give me a shot."

Well at least he was honest.

"And how the hell did you think to do GAY porn, not straight?"

Jake shrugged again.

"I heard that you make better money in the all guys sides of things."

"And where the hell did you hear that?"

"On Wikipedia."

Mark winced.

"Fucking hell..."

The lion hung his head and tried to put his mind around all this the best he could. It was a bit much, especially coming from Jake, who had always been a reasonable guy, never jumping into things too fast or too hard, he gave thought to things and tried to sort them out the best he could, and he wouldn't just...he wasn't one to do weird stuff like that . Or so Mark thought, and he had been proven wrong, now, perhaps.

"It's not too bad, I guess," the tiger spoke again, in that same low rumble.

"Huh?"

Mark turned to look at the tiger, quietly.

"I can just close my eyes and think that I'm really fucking a girl when they're not shooting my face, and I don't really have to be really fucking when they shoot my face for my confused straight guy sex reactions, I can just hump and pretend and the other guy can pretend and moan."

The clinical tone was giving Mark the creeps, it was almost too much, the whole subject felt dirty, somehow, unnatural...unpleasant too. Of course he'd seen his share of porn, he was a single guy, of course and not unopposed to having some fun of his own, in his own time...but to think of his straight friend having to...abuse himself for that kind of purpose, to make more whacking of material for gay guys...it almost made Mark feel dirty.

"Uh...okay."

Jake snuffled.

"Sorry, friend, no offense, but I can't see the fun in it, all the gay sex business."

Mark snorted.

"That's because you're straight, and porn is just porn. It's just genitals being mashed into holes, it's got nothing to do with real lovemaking," Mark noted, dryly.

"I know," the tiger scratched the back of his neck and let his eyes wander, passing the neatly arranged bookshelves, the television, Mark, the computer...then back to his own knees, and he was unmoving again.

"You understand that I think that it's all pretty fucked up, Jake?" Mark added, watching the tiger carefully.

Jake growled.

"I do, yeah, you don't have to tell me what I'm whoring myself for money, I know that too well. Felt fucking dirty after that first vid I made with another guy. A wolf jerked me off and I did him."

Mark chuffed and made a face.

"I'm not really sure I need to know, Jake, please."

Jake snorted.

"Thought it doesn't matter much to you, being into dudes and all that."

"I may be into guys, yes, but thinking about you having to force yourself into doing that stuff is too weird, I'm sorry," the lion pleaded, as gently as he knew how to.

Jake gave him a quick nod, and then breathed out, deeply.

"You must think I'm fucked up."

"I think you're desperate, and I think you shouldn't have done it, and you should have come for me to ask for help, and you should have been honest with Angela, too, but I don't think you're fucked up," Mark made his case, carefully, and wanted to comfort his friend the best he could, without making him any more uneasy than he already was.

"Guilty as charged," the tiger grunted.

"Oh, man..."

"Sorry I spoiled your day, Mark, this must be too weird for you, to hear this shit coming from me all sudden..."

"It's a bit much, yeah," the lion grunted.

Jake seemed to be contemplating the picture on the screen again, the smiling, photoshopped tiger, his tones perfected for the display photo, standing there with that confidence look that told curious furs to approach him in search of a good time.

Mark found himself looking at it for a while as well, and then shook his head, and turned to look at the tiger, again.

"I didn't even know that there are straight guys who actually do it...I mean... I thought it was just something they said to try to get more furs to watch it."

The tiger snorted.

"There're a few like me around, yeah, just doing it for the money...the gay sex bit. I even already met some wolf with wife and a kid, but there he was...did a bull in the ass for a video."

"Okay," Mark spoke, hollowly, still hating the casual way his friend brought up gay sex acts with, like they were just...things, like...something you talked about, you didn't talk about sex, or porn, you talked about magazines you had read or TV programs you had watched, or an actor you liked, not about married guys having to sacrifice themselves for porn purposes.

The silence felt horrible this time, not comfortable at all, and Mark's skin felt itchy, he wasn't sure about this, the air was stale, the situation was weird and alien, the topic, unbelievable, and the mood...horrible. They sat there for quite some time, quietly, until the raspy voice of the tiger brought the shocked lion back into consciousness.

"So...now that you know...uhh...Mark..."

"Yeah?" he barely turned to look at the tiger.

"I...have to tell you something."

Mark wanted to make a hysterical joke about gay sex tips, but bit that back, and instead only nodded.

"Sure," he forced his voice to be calm.

The tiger took a deep breath, and didn't meet Mark's eyes when he spoke.

"Tuesday next week...I'm supposed to shoot another scene...on the bottom," he spat out the last words, quietly.

Mark shuddered, and didn't know what to say to such a declaration.

"I'm gonna get paid four grand for letting a fox do me in the ass, Mark...that's the story...gay for pay Chase loses ass virginity to Tom Rhodes, the top fox...the small guy with the small dick drilling the big guy with the big dick...for four grand. He only gets two grand, though. I'm special."

Mark snuffled, and it sounded like a big "oh, really," and he didn't say anything else, nor dared to look at the tiger, he feared that his eyes would turn pitiful in their gaze at Jake, he didn't think that his friend deserved that, not even under these conditions.

"Tough shit," Jake mused, his tail again batting the side of the couch, audibly.

"Yeah," Mark snorted.

"At least the money's okay."

Mark almost barked hearing that.

"It's more than I make in a month," the lion snuffled.

Jake harrumphed.

"I'd rather sit in your office than do that, though, honestly, Mark, I'm not looking forward to it, fuck no!" the tiger explained.

"Then don't do it," Mark suggested. "Quit."

"I got a thousand dollar advance, and I need the rest of that for my mortgage and the bills, and I'm trying to save up all I can, too. I can't exactly back down from it and get asked to pay it back, can I?"

Mark huffed.

"Yeah, tough shit, like you said."

The tiger grunted.

"What's it like?"

Mark's ears jumped.

"What?"

"Getting it up the ass. Sure you've done it."

An odd rush of color washed over Mark's cheeks, not exactly out of embarrassment, but with a hint of anger at the casual tone it was spoken at, like it was taken for granted that he liked that kind of stuff, or that he wanted to talk about it in the first place. The lion felt that he was on the edge, he was still reeling with the weird revelation, and the consequences of that...that his friend was now an adult performer, in the adult industry, and in the gay side of the fence in Porn Land. It was unimaginable.

The lion took a deep breath and faced his straight friend again, if grudgingly.

"What, you think I like it up the ass?" he asked, a bit pointedly, but not really seriously, he just felt the need to get it out of the system, so that there weren't any pretenses here, just...plain, hard...honest facts about anal sex, since that was that the friend seemed to be after.

Jake gave the lion a dark look and snorted.

"Yeah, that's what I'm asking."

Mark's tail coiled around his legs as he sat there, wondering how to best put it in words.

"Well...uhh..."

"Does it hurt? I know the guys I've done fake the moans and stuff."

Oh, Jesus Almighty...

Mark snuffled and scratched the side of his head that felt like it was itching, even though he knew it was just his nerves playing tricks on him, getting riled by this weird situation.

"No, it doesn't hurt when the...top...is of reasonable size, and you're in the mood and get lots of lube and stretch out a bit beforehand."

"I've seen some of the guys use those fake cocks for that, yeah," the tiger stated.

The blush creeping over Mark's face felt even hotter than before, but he swallowed, quickly, and decided that this had to be done quickly, or he'd simply be unable to continue this bizarre conversation with his straight best friend.

"Yes, some...dildos, or butt plugs are useful for that kind of a thing, when you want to prepare for..."

"Getting fucked," the tiger snorted. "What's a plug, though? Some kinda toy?"

Mark's tail twitched with barely contained terror.

"It's a small toy, yeah, for sticking it up the ass, and it's got a wide base so that it doesn't accidentally get lost there and you'd be up for an interesting visit to the ER," he snuffled.

"Feel any good, that? You ever used one?"

Mark wondered whether the tiger would have been this...open for answers to questions of this nature, if it had been he asking him all about the ins and outs of straight sex, or what Jake personally liked to do when he was getting down and dirty. He had to bite that question back, however, because riling up the tiger would get them nowhere, and Mark was genuinely concerned for him, and this...thing that Jake was forced to do for the sake of the money he desperately needed, simply to pay the bills.

"It's meant to feel good when your...uhh...tailhole squeezes down over something, like a toy, and then it rubs against your prostate and that feels good, too," the lion spoke, quietly.

"Yeah, I saw that mentioned in a description to one of my vids," Jake replied.

"Huh?" Mark frowned.

"Something weird like...dunno...Chase's big cock drives Alex Masterson crazy when it rubs against the bottom slut's prostate...something like that..."

Mark had an odd sensation in his belly after the tiger was done explaining, and he felt vaguely nauseous, and had to swallow down, quickly, and he couldn't really face the seated tiger for a few moments, as he tried to let that sink in.

"Uh....so what did you mean by that...mood bit?"

Mark cringed a little at the tiger's renewed curiosities, but he knew that he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He was the expert here, the tiger really seemed to be desperate to hear, to know...anything to get his nerves calmed down about the alien thing he had been asked to perform, in front of strange furs, with another fur.

Mark snuffled.

"Just that it doesn't really feel that special to get it up the ass if you're not into it. It's the whole experience...all...all that I mentioned before, the stretching bit and the prostate and then it's the...that you want to do it, with the fur you're doing it with...it's...many things, it's a bit hard to explain."

Jake nodded.

"And it'll hurt if you're not in the mood."

Mark shrugged.

"I've never had to do it when I really wasn't into it, but I guess it'd be harder, yeah, and doesn't feel too good, but dunno if the physical act itself would hurt. Probably it'd just feel weird."

Jake tugged on one of his tuff-tipped ears and then breathed out, deeply, looking reticent.

"Guess I have to deal with weird then."

"Yeah."

"Guess I can do it if it doesn't hurt...it's not like I have to pretend I'm into it, it's kinda the point of it all that I let them do it and just take it..."

"Nobody really wants to do if it hurts, unless they're some sort of masochists, Jake, as long as you remember that," Mark said, a little bit pointedly, as he wanted to make sure that his friend didn't have any false impressions about the realities of butt sex.

"Yeah, guess that's true for normal sex too."

"Straight sex," Mark corrected, automatically.

Jake frowned.

"Sorry, I didn't mean..."

"I know you didn't," Mark replied, quickly, and felt bad for having to say it.

"Sorry, though, Mark," the tiger's paw rose and gave a little knuckle rub against the lion's arm.

The normalness of the touch made Mark shiver, even in these strange circumstances. At least it reminded him of who he was talking with, this was his old friend of over ten years, not some random male, just...this was his friend, and he knew he would do everything he could to make things at least a bit easier for the tiger who had had hard times fall upon him.

"It's fine," Mark said, quietly.

"I'm sorry though, Mark. I know this is fucked up shit, but I didn't really want to ask any of those other guys over there, they creep me out."

"It's okay," Mark replied, in that same quiet, almost resigned voice.

"Uh...okay," the tiger spoke.

Mark snuffled, staring at his own knees, covered in his nice color-matched blue pants he had worn just to look smart when his friend came over.

"Anything else you want to ask about butt sex?"

Mark didn't like the strange feeling he got when talking about something that was natural to him, something that was part of his private world and private life, not Jake's, and now it was his friend talking about it, openly, if grudgingly, but he was doing it, and Mark was expected to provide the answers, and take part in this bizarre conversation.

Mark could hear Jake scratch himself again, and there was the familiar sound of the tail smacking against the side of the couch, and deep breaths, and quiet rumbles coming from the tiger. The silence prevailed for a while, before the tiger spoke again, his voice low and dry.

"I really only needed to know that you can do it without it hurting too badly...and that it's okay."

Mark chuckled, quietly.

"Yeah, it can be pretty damn fun if you're really into it," he rumbled, wryly.

Mark snuffled, but didn't seem to be put off by the statement, because he soon spoke again.

"You...really didn't tell me if you like it or not, though."

Mark rolled his eyes and shook his head, and his ears flicked, rapidly, as he regarded his friend.

"If you really wanna know, I'm really more of a top, but I've done it the other way too, and it's fun when the mood's right."

"Yeah, guess it really is about what feels right...I mean...the first thing they told me was to make it look good, the pleasure doesn't matter, as long as I'm good at faking it, though, and shoot plenty."

Mark flinched.

"Uhh...right."

Jake snorted.

"Fuck, sorry, man, I'll...shut up, yeah?"

"Anything you need, yeah," the lion shook his great head, quietly.

The tall tiger sighed.

"I'm sorry, I'm just...I'm scared, Mark, I'm really scared about it. It's the weirdest thing I had to do yet, I..."

"You could've just said no," Mark felt the need to point that out, just because it was the truth.

Maybe his friend could have taken the two thousand and just been on top...no...he wanted the double deal, four grand for one cock up the ass. What a world that was, adult entertainment. Mark couldn't see anything entertaining about it at the moment.

"They'd only give me a thousand bucks for another topping scene and I really needed the cash, I don't have a choice, Mark. It's either that or no cash, and no home."

Mark sighed.

"That's crap."

"I know it's crap, but it's my crappy life, and I gotta do it," the tiger replied, speaking quickly, rumbling, his tail lashing out with discomfort. "It's all fucked up, Mark."

"I know it is."

Jake grunted.

"But thanks, man, it's really...it really helps that I could finally tell someone," the tiger spoke, bashfully, looking over at Mark.

The lion reached with his nearest paw and patted his friend's knee, briefly, and didn't linger there, now that things were so touchy.

"You should've talked earlier, you know that I would've listened," Mark spoke, and then chuffed, "and maybe I could have talked you out of doing this all, Jesus, man!"

Jake snorted, inwards, and smiled a little.

"I know you would've done a good job in that," he said.

Mark smiled back, and repeated the pat over his old friend's knee, as gently as he knew how to do it, and he had a lot of gentle in him.

"I sure would have done that, yeah!" the lion growled.

Jake chuckled again.

"This must be the weirdest shit I ever came up with, yeah?" the tiger mused.

Mark snorted, but he was still smiling at the tiger.

"It pretty much even surpasses that road trip we made back in the summer of 2000."

Jake chuckled.

"Yeah...I think this does top that," the tiger mused, quietly. "Chase Bridge..."

"Ten inch stud...," Mark added.

The tiger's brow quirked, and he gave the lion a look.

"Yeah, what a slogan..." the tiger snuffled. "That's what I am to them, the viewers, the studio, everyone...a big fantasy dick to play with."

"You know you're much more than that for real," Mark smiled, fond of his friend, no matter the sour mood.

The tiger shook his head, his mane ruffled and messy from his nerves.

"Yeah, now they're going to stick a camera under my tail as well."

Mark grimaced, and got a low, sharp laugh from Jake.

"Well, that's one good thing about being broke, I can't really spend any of it on booze," he snuffled. "I've only got my sharp wit left for comfort."

"Good," Mark grunted, and elbowed his friend, trying to make it comfortable again, like they always were when they didn't have to talk about anal sex in great pornographic detail. "You stay off that stuff."

Jake returned the nudge, over Mark's ribs, and smiled a little.

"Yeah, I know...I haven't really drank any since...well, you remember how bad I was then, I guess...even I can't really remember..."

"You passed out on your couch, I tucked you in," Mark replied.

The tiger looked sufficiently guilty, and that was fine for now.

"Yeah, I know...the headache was killing me."

"Good."

Jake grimaced.

"Yeah, I know...wow..."

"It's not like I haven't complained and cried and acted like an old queen on occasion when things have been rough for me too, Jake," Mark noted, wryly, hoping that it would lighten things a little. "Like with Jared."

The tiger nodded.

"That ain't wrong, that, it makes you feel better. I know that much..."

"Are you feeling better now?" Mark knew that the look over his face was concerned, he felt concerned for his friend, he had been flung down a desperate road, because he was hopeless...and now he was clinging on, barely, Mark felt, and had done it all behind his friends' backs, just because he didn't want to seem weak.

Men.

_ _

"Yeah, really, really much better, thanks, Mark, really, you've helped me so much already," the tiger smiled, and it seemed like an earnest smile, it was the eyes, Mark knew those eyes, they always made him feel good, on the inside.

The lion smiled and patted his friend's leg again, just the way he always did.

"Well, anything to help you out, it's the least I can do, I guess...even if I do think you're a bit crazy for doing this all, but can understand why you did it...but still...Jesus..."

"I know," the tiger growled, his head hung low.

Mark's paw moved over to the tiger's shoulder now, and gave it a more substantial touch, a pat over it, a little circular stroke, really, but he didn't linger there, he knew how long it was meant to last when it was just a buddy stroke, and how much comfort could be drawn from it, too. He was well-versed with this, and respected their friendship a lot, because Jake was one of his oldest, most trusted friends, and he couldn't count many furs to belong to such a category.

"You want to get back to try your doughnut? You didn't even have a bite yet, though I guess the coffee has already gone cold, but I can make a new batch and we can enjoy it properly," Mark smiled now, hoping that he could use that as a diversion to make things at least seem a bit more normal, and not tense.

Jake gave him a nod.

"Yeah...yeah, okay."

"Okay."

Mark got up from his smart designer couch and stretched a little, pushed his arms back, flicked his tail, tilted his neck from side to side, and took a deep breath, comforting his body after sitting hunched for a while, and trying to get those lingering feelings of unease to pass from his tall form.

He got all the way to the doorframe into the hall and towards the kitchen before Jake's voice stopped him, coming behind him now.

"Hey, Mark..."

The lion froze in his track, and then, slowly, turned around, his ears half flat, his tail hanging limp between his legs, the bushy tip twitching against his ankles.

"Yeah?" he tried to keep his voice normal.

"Will you hate me if I ask...if you could...show me, Mark?"

*

Mark's paws clenched into nervous fists as he stood there, staring down at the sitting tiger, with a naked picture of the very same striped feline acting as the background to him, sitting there, turning around from his waist with his paws resting against the back of the couch, while he looked over to the lion friend, on the doorway.

Neither of them moved for a while, the staring match continued, while they looked at each other, eyes wide open, maws a little agape, tails flicking nervously, ears almost permanently flat, as the tiger's words hung in the air between them, the same lair that still smelled of coffee, and of the residue of a scented candle from last night. Mark had curled down with a book and had gay old time in candlelight and listening to his music and reading a book...nothing extraordinary about it. Now the lion was almost hysterical, with fear, nerves, mixed feelings, everything that he could think of was rushing through his well-organized, number-liking mind, the tiger had messed everything up, and he didn't know what to say now that the words were out there in the open.

The silence dragged on long enough that in the end, Jake simply got up from the couch, sighed, and avoided Mark's eyes, as he walked towards him.

"I better go...sorry, Mark."

Mark pressed his paw against the doorframe, blocking the way for now, and looked at the tiger, even if his whiskers shook with the shuddering breaths flowing from his lungs.

"Stop."

The tiger gave him a glare, and bared his teeth.

"I want to go, I shouldn't have asked what I did, I just have to go...sorry, man."

Mark's claws practically dug to the wood of the door frame as he stood fast.

"You...can't come up with stuff like that, Jake!" the lion hissed.

The tiger stopped, only a few feet away from the lion, and stood there, his tail twitching, his paws heavy on his sides, his eyes, heavier, staring at the lion blocking his pathway out of this apartment, where things only kept turning more and more dark as the day progressed.

He was quiet still, and Mark breathed out, deeply.

"Jake...you...do you have any idea what you're talking about?" the lion hissed.

"I do!" the tiger snapped, his tail moving like a whip, making odd noises, as the stand-off continued.

"You...you can't just..."

"I don't want the first time ever to happen there on that sleazy place, with that guy I've only met once," the tiger spoke in a very quiet, very tense, high-strung voice. "I don't...I can't trust my body to him, not like that..."

"So you are seriously saying..."

"I'm saying that I'd feel better about it if I knew how it feels and I trust you, Mark, and wouldn't ask it lightly," the tiger grunted.

His face was a mask of anger, confusion, fear, even, and the lion wasn't much different from it, mirroring that expression that was making his heart beat madly, his fingers curl, and his breath was ragged, not comfortable at all.

"Jake..."

"Only because I trust you, nothing more, Mark, that's why," the tiger hissed between tightly held lips, his eyes bewildered, and his breaths audible.

"But..."

"I'm not gonna say that it's just a fuck, Mark, I'm not gonna try to talk you into it...Jesus, that'd be fucking insane and wrong, you're my best friend and you already did more than anyone else could by listening to my crappy life story, and now I fucked things up even worse by asking you..."

"You wouldn't have asked ant of your straight friends, would you?" the lion snapped, from the edge of his nerves.

The tiger snorted.

"Of course not," he answered, sternly.

Mark bared his teeth.

"You can't just ask something like that, Jake, it's not..."

"What if I was gay?"

Mark's ears flattened.

"You're not!"

"I know!"

The two men glared at each other, breathless for now from the round of snaps at one another, now they were back to circling each other, looking for holes, ways of escape, openings, something to break the deadlock. Mark knew that Jake was well strong enough to simply push him off and flee the apartment, that he could do, but he hadn't done so yet, and maybe...even if he felt angry, and violated, even, for the words his friend has spoken, the suggestion, the ridiculous suggestion. He still wasn't willing to give everything over because of one dark time, one crisis that had unearthed Jake's life, and now he was involved, too involved, and he didn't know what to do about it all.

Jake's long tail lashed out behind him, as a clear sign of his extreme nervousness, and his chuffed breaths caused his teeth to bare, briefly, whenever he breathed out. The hissing, ragged noises were almost more unnerving, though.

"I confess, I came here to ask it, I didn't know how...I just...it just all started to happen and...fuck..."

The tiger sobbed, quietly at first, it broke his words, then his voice broke, and another, louder sob escaped from his lips, and his head hung down, just a moment after Mark saw the first tears appear. Then the tall male simply stood there, he seemed to sag, even, somehow, when his will was broken and he cried to himself. The pain was trying to break out and it was there, it was dark and it took over, and Mark could do nothing but stand there, watching his best friend cry.

"Fuck..."

The anger seemed to be gone from the lion, as he listened to his friend's broken sounds, and he couldn't take it, he couldn't see that much pain without reacting, he was soon on the move, holding the other male in his arms, pulling him close so that the taller tiger could rest his head against his broad shoulder, as he cried. Hot breath washed over his shoulder and back, the tiger's arms wound around his back and waist, his weight was upon Mark, he had to hold him up now, it seemed all his strength was gone and there was only sorrow, and fear. There were no words anymore, just the loud, pained sobs, and he held onto the lion, and the lion held onto his friend, wishing to comfort him in any way he could.

Mark held him, quietly, as long as he was needed, and he couldn't really tell how long it was, but after whatever time that passed, the tiger managed to husk a few words against his shoulder.

"I'm messed up...I've messed up..."

Mark stroked his paw gently over his friend's back.

"You'll be okay...you're okay..." he spoke, hoping that it was enough, that he could assure his friend that there was a lot of hope in this world, even at the bleakest hour.

"Angela...job...this...you..."

Mark kept his paw moving, slowly.

"Don't worry about me, Jake, I'm alright, I'm here..."

"How can I come up with something like that for you, fuck..." the tiger husked against the lion's shoulder, letting it all come out now.

"It felt like a good idea for the time, yeah?" Mark snuffled.

"Uh huh," the tiger snuffled, loudly, still almost like a sob. "All of it, even the...shit...asking..."

"Especially that," Mark grumbled.

"Shit..."

The lion patted his friend's back, gently, hoping to gentle him down with the soft touch.

"It's okay, Jake, everything's okay."

The lion wasn't sure whether he was telling the truth, whether things really were going to be true, but it was what he had to say, to make things at least feel better, at least for now. The tiger sobbed a few more times, against his shoulder, held close to him, and he breathed out, heavily, warming Mark's skin where the breath fell, and all he could feel was concern for his friend, and worry, he wanted him to be well, he wanted his best and most persistent college friend to be alright.

Still he wasn't moving.

"I...probably insulted you now in a few hundred ways, right, Mark?" the tiger snuffled over his shoulder.

"A hundred and one," Mark snorted.

The tiger looked up, now, and met Mark's eyes. Jake's eyes looked swollen from crying, and they glistened even now, from the tears that hang on, but he wasn't sobbing anymore, and while his breaths were ragged and hot, he seemed more calm.

"I know," the tiger grunted, mostly to himself, it seemed.

Mark gave the tall tiger a squeeze, across his back, with his paws.

"I think you really needed to cry, Jake," he spoke, softly.

"Won't lie that it didn't make me feel better," the tiger replied.

Mark smiled, carefully.

"Sorry I freaked out," he felt ashamed now, even if he was still plain pissed off about the whole notion, even if he could, on a deep level, to understand the thinking behind it, if only to a degree.

He remembered being scared when he first time fooled around with another male, he remembered the expectations and the almost-fear associated with his virginity, both giving and receiving acts, how much weight there was to it, social, psychological...how he would define himself from that point on. He could hardly even begin to think how it had to feel for Jake...who had to view it as a necessary evil...a chore, a job, even...something he had to do, in order to keep his life from slipping away into even deeper chaos. To give up some of his body for that..identity...integrity...that sounded terrifying to Mark. He wondered how his friend had done it so far, and managed to do it...perhaps that earlier detachment was a sign of resignation into it, a way to block it out of his consciousness and deal with it from afar, and not letting himself become more hurt than he already was. Maybe that was it.

"It's not like I can blame, you can I?" Jake chuffed, ashamed.

"No," Mark smiled, his little word full of honestly.

It truly was freaky.

Mark gave his friend's back another little rub, up and down, simply, like that, in a familiar, gentle way.

"I think we need that coffee more than ever now, Jake, what do you think?" the lion spoke, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

"Yeah, I think so too," Jake murmured.

Very slowly, carefully, Mark extracted himself from his friend's taller from, and took a step back, so that he could look at the miserable-looking tiger. It made his belly feel awful, to see him like that, the usually easy-going, smiling, gentle man that was Jake...now so hopeless, even if he tried to keep it hidden, and had almost succeeded so far.

Jake lifted his right paw and rubbed it over his face, and snorted into it.

"I think I need to use the bathroom...wash my face, yeah?"

"Please, I'll go make the coffee."

"Okay."

*

Ten minutes later, the two furs sat across from one another on the table once more, now with fresh coffee in front of them, steaming and cheerfully impregnating the air with its refreshing odor. Jake's face and mane glistened a little from the water he had splashed over it, but his eyes looked better, almost normal, and he had even taken a sip out of his coffee.

Mark chewed on a piece of his delicious doughnut and watched over the tiger, a small worried frown over his brow. He knew that even though they were civil now, things were still not normal, the words were still too raw in their minds, the earlier events, the emotion, the anger, the fear, all that , was hiding underneath the relatively composed surface they both presented for one another.

The lion brushed his lips with the neat white cloth napkin, and then put it down, and regarded his thoughtful friend.

"How do you feel now?"

Jake snuffled.

"About as bad as when Angela left for good, and then some, and add feeling like I'm going to shit my pants with fear to that, and you're there," the tiger explained.

Mark's frown deepened.

"What are you afraid of, Jake?"

The tiger waved his paw across the table.

"I kind of said something extremely stupid, didn't I?"

Mark gave a quick nod, trying to convey his understanding, for now, while he let his mind work on it. Of course he knew, the proposal, the question, the request...the plead...that bizarre, scary thing that made him feel uncomfortable under his own furs, and he knew that it was still only half of what Jake had to feel, or even worse.

"Figured as much," the tiger huffed.

Mark shook his head.

"No, Jake, sorry, I didn't mean that!" he said, quickly. "I'm just saying that I can see where you're going from with it all and that how bad it must be...so alien and scary and...and why you asked me."

"Yeah, that's how I feel," the tiger replied, curtly. "It sucks."

"I know it does," Mark replied.

"And I thought...if I could do it with someone I trust, someone familiar, it...it might not be so bad in the end when I have to do it for the cameras," the tiger amended his earlier thinking, looking shyly over to his friend across the neatly, almost lovingly arranged table that served as a safety zone between them.

"I...I guess I can understand that too," the lion said after a small pause.

It was Jake's turn to nod.

"So you do understand why I now feel like I violated our friendship, somehow, by asking you to do it, yeah?"

"Of course I do, I'm as freaked out as you are!" the lion spoke, his voice rising a little, enough that his friend's ears flattened, and his gaze darkened again.

"I know," Jake hissed.

Mark took a long sip out of his black coffee, swallowed, enjoyed the burn, and only then allowed himself to speak again.

"Sorry," he said.

"No, I'm sorry," the tiger hurried to speak, "I shouldn't have gotten you involved, it's my selfishness that got you here, nothing about you."

"I want to be involved! I'm your friend, I'm worried about you!"

"And I'm worried that I ruined us!" the tiger grunted. "I'm worried that this...thing I spoke about is now going to make us weird to one another and then...then slowly...or quickly...that it's all gone."

Mark tensed, but wouldn't budge, he wouldn't let this go down the drain again.

"I may be freaked out but I'm not stupid, Jake," he spoke. "I know how you feel and that...that it felt...acceptable for you to ask that from me, since I'm gay and...and all that, and that we're friends, but still...really...it's just...so huge...but, and let me say this clear to you, I'm here in this with you now, you get that?"

The lion reached out over the table, just like he had done before, and took hold of his tiger's paw.

"You listen to me now," the lion spoke, seriously. "I don't like what you have to do any more than you do, believe me, and I want to support you. I'm not going to suddenly stop being your friend, we...fuck, Jake, we're not thirteen years old!"

He watched him carefully now, pleading with his nervous friend with his eyes, and with his touch, to understand that his worst fear would not instantly come to be, that Mark would be gone out of his life, where it formed an important part of his daily life, with phone calls, meetings, boys' nights out and generally just being friends, and being in existence for one another. That's how they were, and that's how Mark wanted them to be, even from now on.

Jake's ears remained flat, but he spoke, after a moment.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I," the lion squeezed his friend's paw. "But we're in this together now, you hear me? Now that I know about it, I'm going to do everything I can for you, you hear me? I'm going to start looking for jobs, for you, and I'm going to phone furs I know, and I'll even have you live here if you can't get another job soon enough."

"What about the house? I've got that mortgage..."

"We'll figure something out," the lion spoke, determined. "But I'm not going to let you go to waste, okay? You're not going to go down with this, I'm going to do that as my good deed in world, or whatever, but that's for sure that I'm not going to let my best friend just fall down. I'm picking you up right now. See?"

He gave that striped paw another gentle squeeze, and felt breathless, and a little blushed, from saying all that in such a short period of time, and sat back, then, withdrawing his paw as well, and just sat there, breathing deeply.

Jake looked at him for a long time, before he smiled, broadly.

"I might start to cry again, you know..." the tiger snuffled.

Mark chuckled.

"Please don't..."

"I'll try not to, I promise," the tiger chuffed, but not without a smile.

"Good."

They both drank their coffee, it was a good distraction, and a nice taste to go with it, as well, and it calmed then down, slowly, their ears began to perk up, furs didn't feel so itchy, and the air seemed to become cooler, no longer agitated with the rawness of the situation. They'd taken a gentle step, forward, but there was still a lot of ground to cover.

The question...the big one, nagged on the back of Mark's mind still, of course he couldn't stop thinking about his friend, who was determined to go through possibly painful, and more than likely extremely humiliating sexual acts, just to make money, and to feel that he could still have some control over his own life. The whole idea made him feel slightly nauseous, and oddly...responsible. Mark really wished that they'd talked before, that he could have talked him out of it, to try and find another solution to this before it was too late, and now the tiger didn't really have a choice.

Unless...

Unless he really would help him out.

Mark swallowed the warm coffee from his muzzle and licked his lips dry, to take any stray bits of sugar that might have clung there, from that still by all means utterly delicious half-eaten doughnut.

"I...Jake, I really have to ask you...you...you really are ready to do that, for that money?"

The tiger nodded, slowly.

"I can't back down from it anymore, they'll want that money back if I don't, and maybe demand some extra, too, for breaking the deal," Jake grumbled. "So I guess I'll just...close my eyes and just take it..."

Mark sighed, loudly.

"It's not meant to be like that!"

The tiger shrugged.

"For me it's going to be like that. I don't want to have sex with a guy, I don't want to get fucked, but that's what I gotta do to make next month's mortgage payment and my bills. I did ask for another gig as a top but they didn't have anything for me, just that...that."

"That's sick," Mark chuffed.

"I try not to think about it too much," the tiger replied in a hollow voice.

"To me it sounds like you do nothing but think about it," the lion stated, sharply.

Jake snorted.

"Of course I'm thinking about it, I'm fucking scared of it," the tiger grunted. "It's just...too weird for me. I know it's meant to be natural and fun and all that but it's not that for me, it's not who I am, but I just have to do it, and that's it. And I'm scared."

"It's sex, Jake! Nobody should be afraid of sex! That's rape!" the lion pleaded.

Jake snorted.

"Don't get me wrong, Mark, I might not like it, but I'm willing to do it, if that's what it takes to make those four grand. I'm not being forced to actually, physically do it."

"Coerced then!" the lion snapped. "Threatened with reparations if you don't do that porn video!"

"It's a business contract, it's a legal paper I signed, when they gave me the advance," the tiger shook his head. "It's not like I can afford to hire a lawyer or anything like that to try and dissolve it."

"You could say that you were in a distressed state of mind when you signed it and that you were coerced," Mark sounded almost hysterical now.

"They'd just point out at all that stuff on the page and use that as evidence that I don't mind getting it on with a dude," the tiger replied, quietly. "I don't see any way out of it, and I do need that cash, Mark, I fucking need that money. Even if I have to whore to get it."

Mark's ears flattened, and his tail smacked against the floor at the blunt statement.

"You're not a whore."

"Desperate furs make money by whoring, and if you let others have your body for money, that's whoring to me," Jake replied. "It's not even sex to me, Mark, it's just...a weird thing. It doesn't feel like anything, not the actual stuff I do."

Mark slumped down in his chair, feeling powerless and dejected. His friend's thinking was faultless, sharp, horrible, logical, and scary. He could understand the psychology behind it, of course, the ways Jake distanced himself from the whole sexual aspects of the fact that he was forced to sell himself for money, for sex...and it wasn't sex. He wasn't gay, he didn't' get turned on by the guys, or the sexual acts...it was just...a weird thing. The unnaturalness of it all made Mark feel sick.

"I'm sorry, but I can't even begin to think what you have to go through, Jake, I'm sorry, I just can't put my mind around it, it's so...huge..." the lion sighed.

"I know," Jake replied, mournfully. "I know too well, and I'm sorry."

"Are you sorry for yourself?" Mark snapped.

Jake chuffed.

"I'm beyond that," he replied. "I'm just sorry now that I dragged you into this and made you feel bad. That's not what friends do."

"It's not, no," the lion chuffed. "But I'm involved now, and I'll do all I can."

"I'm...extremely grateful for that," the tiger spoke, quietly.

Mark bit his teeth together, and hissed, quickly.

"And...If you really...really want me to, I'll...help."

The lion fell silent, not knowing what the hell he was doing, or how he had even managed to speak those words without his voice wavering too much, but now the words were out ,and his choice was silence.

The tiger's brow rose, surprised.

"You mean..."

The lion's furs bristled with nerves, but he nodded, quickly, and tried to compose himself for what he might say next.

"I don't think you'd like if I said that I definitely utterly want to do it and will love doing it, but if you...trust me to do it, I'll...do it with you. For you."

Jake frowned.

"I don't want you to force yourself into anything, Mark...it's...it's not..."

"It's not natural, no, but if that's the only way I can help you to get out of this shit, I guess I have no choice but to help you in the only way that I can."

The tiger stared at the lion.

"So you would..."

"I'll stick my cock in your ass and move it back and forth so that you'll get to know how it feels, don't make me call it anything else because it's nothing else for you either," the lion spoke, and snarled to himself after he was done, hating what he had just said.

The unease was palatable in the air, it made their furs bristle, and skin prickle, and Mark's heart was beating far too rapidly for comfort. The tiger didn't seem to be any better off, either, as he sat there, perched on the smart chair, his tail flicking nervously, and his ears were flat, and resigned.

"Mark..."

The lion waved his paw sharply.

"I already said yes, didn't it?" he stated pointedly.

The tiger nodded, quietly.

Mark grabbed his mug and took a long sip ,and almost wished that it would have been liquor instead of just plain coffee, he felt like he needed a drink, this was getting his nerves riled on ways he could have never imagined they could be affected with, and he had hard time dealing with it. Good Lord...the things the tiger was asking from him...the things...the feelings...what he felt for his friend and how that clashed with everything he believing in and what Jake was asking now...

"Fuck the recession," Mark huffed.

"Huh?" Jake sounded puzzled.

Mark slammed his paw down on the table, making everything rattle.

"Fuck the recession for making us actually this desperate," he snorted. "Jesus Christ..."

Mark shook his head.

"I hear you," the tiger spoke, quietly.

"Yeah."

Jake sighed.

"I'm sorry I don't know what else to do."

Mark snuffled.

"Maybe you should've gotten one of those dildos and try that out," the lion grunted.

The tiger hung his head, quietly.

"I didn't really think about that...sorry."

The lion chuckled.

"Of course you didn't, it's not what you're into, yeah? How could such a thing even come to your mind?"

"No, of course not," the tiger replied.

"And then you decided that good old Mark...good old Mark can help..." the lion shook his head to himself, wondering at the bizarre quality of the situation they were locked in.

"Because I trust you, Mark."

The lion snuffled.

"And...uhh...guess I also thought that...maybe it wouldn't be so unpleasant to you...you know..."

"Know what?" the lion's eyes snapped at the tiger, intently.

Jake didn't seem too happy about being on the spotlight, but he spoke, quietly.

"Sorry...that maybe you'd even like it."

A hacking sound departed from Mark's throat, almost a laugh, almost a sob, almost a bark.

"You can't seriously think that I've always secretly wanted to get under your tail, Jake, you can't be saying that!"

"No," the tiger replied, quickly. "Of course not!"

Mark chuffed.

"Just the butt sex then?"

The tiger winced.

"Yeah, guess it's that what I was thinking, yeah."

Mark buried his face in his paws and rumbled.

"Sorry."

The lion looked at the tiger over his fingers still covering his face, and gave him a dirty look.

"Hope you don't mind me saying that sorry, I don't lust after your ass, Jake," the lion said pointedly.

The tiger chuckled dryly.

"I guess I should be happy that my gay friend doesn't have a secret crush on me...that'd make everything way too complicated."

"I know the feeling," the lion huffed.

The questioning look that appeared over Jake's face made him hurry with his words again.

"Not with you!"

"Oh, okay," the tiger spoke, quickly, and escaped to his coffee.

Mark's tail twitched, and he still felt strange, an awful, and a little bit creeped out still by the gravity of the situation, but he also knew that they were at a standstill, and they had to move...to make things better, somehow.

"Right!" the lion slapped his paws down on the table, not caring for the threatening sounds that generated when his favorite mugs and saucers clattered ominously upon the impact of big lion paws on the glass surface of the table.

"Yeah?" Jake's ears flicked.

Mark snuffled, quickly.

"Well you do want a lesson...right?" Mark hoped that the tiger would laugh him off, tell that he had changed his mind, that he really thought it was just a mad little desperate thing that had escaped from his lips by accident, not because of a conscious want to say it...to do it.

Jake's eyes almost seemed to light up.

"Really?"

Mark grimaced.

"Don't make me ask you again, please, Jake!"

The tiger breathed out, loudly, raggedly.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay."

*

Mark took a long gulp from his coffee and then put his mug down, and looked at the tiger sitting opposite to him, calm on the outside, but probably equally freaked out on the inside. At least that's how Mark felt...barely able to speak, or act, without simply freezing with terror.

"Right..." he breathed out, quickly.

"Yeah?"

"Crash course, eh?" the lion huffed.

The tiger flinched.

"Nice way to put it," Jake spoke, scratching the side of his neck, nervously.

"I'm not sure if you're going to thank me later for it, but yeah, that's how it's going to be, "Mark spoke, tension all over his body. "It might get a bit rough, but I'll do my best."

"I know you will," the tiger said.

"I'm glad you do."

Jake's ears flopped down, and Mark snuffled, not wanting to see that expression again, not once again now that the whole day had been filled with that anguished look on his friend's usually smiling, happy face.

"Just a chore, Jake, right?" Mark didn't like the sound of his own words, and how the tone mirrored the tiger's own, from earlier.

"Yeah," Jake huffed. "Just a chore."

"Then we understand one another," the lion replied.

It seemed that they held silence by mutual consent, for a moment, before Jake, expectedly, spoke once more, and cut through the verbal void.

"So...what's up first?"

Mark groaned, and shook his head, gave his muzzle a little pat with his paw, and then looked up at the tiger again, resolute to not let himself crash down and burn.

"You know this is going to get really personal, Jake, even if we're just doing a...chore, right?"

"I think I do, yeah."

"And that we're going to be doing things we never thought about doing things, and I may have to use words you never heard me use, and...I'm gonna do...I'm gonna do things to you, with my body, you might not like the feeling of."

"I know that, too, it's what I'm asking you to do."

"Okay," Mark said, quietly.

"I wish there was another way," Jake hissed.

"Me too," the lion replied, feeling lame for it.

"So let's just...do it, yeah?"

"That's what I'm trying to!" Mark let out a hollow chuckle.

Jake smiled, too, and then chuckled, and both of them laughed, quickly, nervously, an almost hacking laugh coming off two muzzle, two throats, nervous, twitching lips and tongues working to make that sound of absolution, of the temporary escape from the terror that gripped them both at this...utterly, completely strange situation.

Somehow, somewhere, Mark managed to summon the rational side of his mind again, and that made him quiet , snuffle once, rub his nose, and then speak again.

"Okay...I told you it's going to be personal...you ready for that."

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jake almost smiled.

"Then I'll start by asking you this. When was the last time you took a crap?"

Mark winced at his own words, it felt...even more dirty than he thought it would, and the look on Jake's face would have been priceless if it wasn't in reaction to the question the lion had just made, and that made it even worse, for as long as it lasted, before the tall tiger spoke.

"This morning, maybe four hours ago or so," the tiger replied, matter-of-fact.

"Well it's the first rule of this business," Mark forced himself to speak on, calmly. "You don't want anything loose hanging around there."

Jake grimaced, showing his teeth, but the nod he gave told the lion that he understood as much.

"Guess that's why they gave me that...thing."

"Thing?" Mark asked, daring the answer.

"A small tube in a box that looked like it's from a pharmacy, and it said something about enema, and told me that I should use it before the shoot."

Mark wanted to hide under the table. This was....and here he had thought that it couldn't get much worse, and it already did.

"Yeah...yeah...that's...one way to clean things up," the lion hurried to speak. "Either using one of those pharmacy things or just plain water from the shower and..uhh...get that up there and then let it come out."

The tiger shook his head with extreme slowness, in disbelief.

"Right...uhh...so...do you...maybe...have one or...?"

"I don't keep a stock, sorry," Mark huffed, needing the snap to get his nerves back into order. "But I think that for our...purposes, it'll be alright if you go and have a long, really hot shower and wash everything good from the outside and try to relax a bit and then we'll...see for some more."

"Uhh...okay."

Mark got up from his chair, to unsteady footpaws, and looked down at his subdued friend.

"Maybe we should just...go, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Jake got up, too, and stood there, and they stared at one another, and the tiger scratched the back of his neck, and his tail flayed from side to side, nervously, as he regarded his friend.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?" the lion breathed out, resigned.

"Can I borrow a couple of towels?"

Mark shuddered.

"Of course, they're in the old place."

"Thanks."

*

Mark paced in the living room and listened to the sound of the running water coming out of the bathroom, where even now, he knew, his best friend was washing himself up in preparation for what the lion had agreed to do with him. The lion had clasped his paws behind his back, and he squeezed them together, firmly, as he continued to walk around the room, trying to keep his mind off the reality of things. He also tried to do his best not to look at the computer screen, where the naked picture of Jake still shone brightly, that same, cheeky smile, and conveniently placed paw covering up his modesty, and the tigerhood that was promised to be humongous in size. The idea brought no pleasure to Mark, he didn't care what size his friend was, he had never thought about it other than in passing, in natural male curiosity about how much he might be packing in the downstairs department, nothing more. He had never wanted to fool around with Jake, not really, he'd always known that the tiger was straight and only like women...and sometimes the wrong kind of women, too, like Angela, who was now gone and only despair was left. This whole thing felt too strange to him, although Mark noted, with an almost satisfying feeling to it, that he felt completely unsexual about it, detached and definitely not turned on by the prospect of getting to see his long-time friend naked up close and actually doing things with him. Mark was a sexual male, he was a lion, after all, with a lot of natural drive for pursuing sexual encounters, but even though there was a dry spell in his life when it came to that, still, he couldn't really muster much excitement over it. It was...strange...desperate, and it was just for Jake's sake, Mark reminded that to himself, he was doing this for his friend, because of their friendship, and even if he probably would end up feeling used over it, or like a partner in crime, he knew that the idea of his friend out there alone, scared and...on his knees...having to do...that...any way to make that more bearable was something he simply had to try to do.

The water stopped running, and it sounded almost final, for Mark, who stood still now, and waited.

Jake appeared a few moments later, water dripping from his mane, with one towel wrapped around his waist and the other slung around his shoulders to catch more of the remaining water. The tiger's face was impassionate, and quiet, when he walked over and stopped there, standing a few feet away from the lion. Mark could smell his shampoo all over the tiger, mixed with his natural, comfortable scent.

Jake coughed.

"I...uh...soaped up really good, everywhere," the tiger spoke, quietly.

Mark chuckled, quickly.

"That's good," he said, "that'll help us a long way out."

"Do you...need to shower?" the tiger flicked his tail towards the bathroom door.

"I washed right before you came here."

"Okay."

Mark knew what he had to say next, and he...wasn't all that sure about it at all.

"Guess we should go to the bedroom then...that'll probably be most comfortable place to do...this," the lion explained.

"I'd think so," Jake nodded.

Mark had never felt so reticent over entering the room containing the nest of his rest and...other things, too...and now, really, he was thinking about other things, unspeakable things that involved him, that bed, and his friend...who didn't seem to hesitate when he walked in and then sat down on the edge of the bed, and watched the lion who remained in the doorway.

Mark took a deep breath and walked over, across his own bedroom, and then sat down next to the tiger, and tucked his tail around his legs, to be out of the way, as they sat there, shoulder to shoulder. He dared to look over at the tiger sitting next to him, and saw a similar puzzled expression on Jake's face and his eyes, staring down at his own knees, and not letting his eyes stray.

The lion nudged his friend's shoulder with his own.

"Still doing okay?"

Jake gave him a quick look.

"Yeah, I'm just...nervous."

"So am I, Jake."

"So...what's going to happen next?"

"It's up to you, Jake, this is for you," the lion noted.

Jake shook his head.

"You know what we're here for, and you know I don't really know how to do any of this properly so...please?" the tiger's eyes were pleading.

Mark rubbed his palms nervously together as he tried to plan a logical next step to this strange game.

"Well...this is about getting you...more comfortable, so...what if I'd just...explore a bit...show that it can feel nice?"

Jake shook his head.

"It doesn't have to feel nice, I just don't want it to hurt," the tiger said. "Nothing more."

Mark's heart leaped, his belly clenched, and he didn't know what to say for quite some time, as he watched his friend's resigned, dark expression.

"Okay," he spoke, finally. "Nothing more."

The tiger hissed.

"Do you have to...stretch me out first or something?"

Mark's furs bristled, but he nodded.

"Yeah, we have to do that so that it won't hurt when your...anus...gets penetrated."

Jake bared his teeth and chuffed.

"Can we at least call it a tailhole, please? That other word makes it sound even dirtier."

"Sure," Mark mused. "If that helps."

"How do you want me to be?" the tiger asked, seemingly ready to move to be manipulated as ordered.

Mark lifted a paw.

"Wait a sec," the lion spoke. "We can't just jump into this, we...we have to plan a bit."

"Okay," Jake nodded.

Mark felt the familiar heat return to his cheeks when he spoke again, and began to share out his thoughts...the hysterical ideas that had come to his mind earlier, while the tiger was out in the shower.

"I think that first...maybe...I'll...touch you a little, and maybe you can touch yourself, too, to see how it feels like..."

"Touch my asshole?" the tiger's brow rose.

"Well if that'd make it easier," Mark suggested, quickly.

"I don't know about that."

"Or it can be just me, okay?"

"Okay."

"And...then, if that's okay, I...and don't give a weird look now...," Mark took a deep breath. "I've got a toy we could try..."

He stopped now, waiting for the reaction.

Jake looked more curious than anything else, really.

"You've got one of those fake cocks?"

The heat on Mark's cheeks seemed to intensify, when he nodded.

"Yeah, just one, it might be what we need."

"Can I...uh...see it?" the tiger asked.

Mark bit back a snarl before he nodded and got up from the bed, briefly, so that he could walk over to one of the wall-mounted wardrobes. He opened the door, and pushed aside some neatly folded clothing and pushed his paw over to the back, to reach for the box he knew to be hidden there. His fingers clasped over plastic, and he pulled it over, closed the wardrobe door, and then returned to the bed, where he placed the box down, between them.

"This is my sex box, if you really must know," Mark spoke after a few moments of mutual staring at the old plastic ice cream box that still had worn-out printed logo on the top.

Mark slipped a claw under the lid and opened it up, to reveal the miscellaneous, private items held inside. He coughed into his fisted paw, and then, determinedly, began to unload the contents down over the bedspread, under Jake's curious gaze.

"Well I'm sure you recognize these," Mark picked up a pawful of colorful plastic wrappers and let them rain down on the blue cloth.

"Yeah, condoms, of course," Jake flicked an ear in agreement. "Ursoplus, I've used that brand."

"Well, these are useful also with toys, because that makes cleaning up less of a hassle," Mark explained as he singled out a green wrapper and dropped it off to one side while he shuffled the rest a bit further away.

The lion next picked up a thick bottle, with lots of writing on its side, and lifted it up to view.

"Personal lubricant in an economy bottle," he snuffled.

"They've practically got tubs of that kind of stuff out there at the...at the studio," the tiger mused, absently.

Mark snuffled.

"A must in that business I'm sure, and here as well...okay...what next..."

His eyes were drawn to the mussed plastic bag on one corner of the box, which he knew to contain the item the tiger was after in the first place, and hesitated for a moment before he finally grabbed it, unrolled the makeshift package, and then pulled out the toy hidden within. It was approximately the size and shape of an average feline penis, pointed at the tip, with that telltale curve, and about six inches long if not counting the more flared base of the toy. The surface was made of smooth plastic, and even though it lacked the characteristic barbs that were found from every cat's member, beyond that, it looked like the real thing, except for the color.

"Here," Mark snuffled as he held out the toy out for view, in his palm.

Jake's eyes lingered on the sight of the strange object in his friend's paw, and from his expression Mark was sure that it wasn't exactly what the tiger liked seeing.

"You...wanna try how it feels on your paw?" Mark asked.

Jake simply took it from his paw, held it by the base and then ran his opposite paw over it, taking the traditional, natural curled fingered grip over the shaft, and tried out the feeling, how his paw moved over the smooth plastic. He also bent it a little, twisted it, and generally seemed to be making himself familiar with the alien object now in his possession. Mark watched with a decisively unhappy expression on his face.

"What...what do you think?"

Jake held up the fake penis up to his eye level, and studied it with a strange look on his face.

"It...well it certainly doesn't look as big as those I've seen around the studio...this doesn't look too big."

"It's about six inches, yeah," Mark replied, "about my size."

Mark's eyes widened as he heard the words come out of his muzzle, and he fell silent, the heat in his cheeks growing exponentially as he realized what he had just said. The lion avoided his friend's eyes, and gritted his teeth together, cursing his slippery tongue, even in a serious situation like this.

"Guess it's good, considering that...uhh...if the toy's first and you're next," he said, without catching Mark's eyes, "and that other guy...that fox...he's not too big either, so...if I can do this and then...with you..."

"Then you should be fine," Mark said, mechanically.

"Yeah."

Mark busied himself briefly by gathering the extra condoms into the box and then picked the lube and a couple of Catnip feline condoms from amidst the stuff spread on the bed, and then put the box away, down to the floor, and sat up, looking over at his tall friend.

"So...fingers first?"

Jake put the toy down to the bed, flexed his pawfingers, and gave a quick nod.

"Okay."

The tiger got up from the bed, and to Mark's surprise, dropped his towels, first from his shoulders, and then from his waist, and simply let it fall to the floor, and stood there, tall, slightly damp, and fully naked, now.

Mark's first instinct was to look away, to spare his friend his modesty, but he reminded himself why they were there in the first place, and simply looked. Jake was taller than him by several inches, he was wiry rather than buff, but there was some muscle definition to him, surely, he wasn't flabby, and he was definitely in a good shape for someone who had turned 30. His furs were of pleasantly striped quality, his belly furs were creamy and white, and his sheath, which Mark eyed carefully, was fuzzy and full and placed just above his sac, hanging loosely between his spread legs. The tiger's paws rested over on his sides, and he looked over, quietly, at the seated lion. His tail flicked, slowly.

"Uh...how do you want to do it?" Mark asked.

"I don't really know, Mark, honestly.

The lion gave a resigned sigh, and then grabbed onto one of his pillows and pulled it up and over to the center of the bed.

"Come on, lie down on your back and put your...ass over this pillow, and then you can draw your legs back a bit so that there's room," he tried to sound as matter-of-fact as possible, but felt like he was failing, at least if judged by the amount of heat over his cheeks.

"Oh..."

"It's so that I can see your face all the time, Jake, I wanna know how you're doing, and if I'd just judge it by talking to you, you might try to fool me and pretend that you're okay," the lion said, just a little pointedly, as he patted the newly repositioned big pillow.

The tiger give the lion a brief look, before he made his slow way back to the bed. The springs on the mattress thrummed a little when the tall male returned. Mark shuffled over to make some extra room, to make sure his friend would not feel like his personal space was crowded. Jake flopped down on his back and then wriggled around a little and used his paws to push the pillow under his backside, and then just laid there, paws falling to his sides, watching the seated, slowly breathing lion.

"Now I'm here," the tiger said, quietly.

Mark felt oddly clinical when he picked up the bottle of lube and held it in his paws, partially so that he had something to grab onto and his fingers would not writhe around, and also to prepare for the inevitable next step.

"Are you okay so far?" he asked.

Jake snuffled.

"Nervous as fuck but I'm okay."

"Just try to relax."

"I'll try."

Mark wanted to massage and rub his friend's shoulders and back, and maybe his arms and thighs, too, anything to make him calm down, feel good and warm rather than tense, something that was against everything this kind of a thing was supposed to be. Tense only meant troubles, and they really didn't need this kind of troubles. Mark knew that it was probably inevitable, and that there was very little he could do that wouldn't unease them both even further, except to stick to the plan and do it well.

"Right..."

"Uhh...Mark?"

The lion stopped, and looked over at the tiger, lying on this strange pose on his bed, naked to this world.

"Yeah, you ok?"

"Just wondering whether you're going to get naked or not."

Mark's eyes widened, his paws tightening around the bottle in them.

"You...want me to?"

Jake rubbed a paw over his face.

"Might as well get used to it as soon as possible."

"Okay."

Mark put the bottle down and then stood up so that he could undress himself in the most meticulous manner possible, to buy himself the time he needed. He folded his shirt and his pants, carefully, and put them over his dresser, and soon, after a small pause for his nerves' sake, he added his silk boxers to the pile and then returned to the bed, to sit demurely by his reclining friend. Mark crossed his legs, so that he'd only present his thigh in the side view Jake had upon the seated lion. Mark gave him a look.

"Better?" Mark snuffled.

"You don't look bad, Mark, I'm sure that plenty of guys have told you that," the tiger replied.

The lion scratched his paw through his mane and then picked up the bottle again, from its place of earlier abandonment.

"A few, but thanks for the compliment."

"I mean it," Jake rumbled. "I really do."

"Thanks," Mark flicked an ear at the tiger, and turned a little more sideways, on the bed, to look carefully at Jake, lying there. "So are you ready now?"

"Don't think I'm gonna get any reader than this, so...yeah," the tiger spoke, and without a further word, grabbed onto the backs of his thighs and folded his legs up, not all the way, but enough to really expose his rear end to the eyes of the lion.

Mark followed the trail that began with the tail, slung over the bed, a long, striped appendage that continued until it met with the white furs of the tiger's taint, spreading over the insides of his thighs, and become black and yellow stripes on the round rump cheeks that were now put on display. The fuzzy furs seemed smooth and silky, but they couldn't hide the hint of pinkness visible at the very base of the tail that coiled down over the bedspread. Mark's eyes moved over the new, strange, both familiar and both alien sight of a male's backside put out in the open in such a manner. What made it odd, and made his belly flutter in a way that wasn't caused by the extremely sexiness of the sight was the fact that when his eyes moved higher, he could see Jake's eyes looking back to him, across his folded body, trying to seek Mark's eyes in return.

"That's...that's okay," Mark breathed out, his tail twitching, as he tried to get used to the strange feeling the sight of his friend spread out in the open like that was causing in him.

He wasn't sure whether he should be glad or disappointed that he didn't feel more aroused, this was a male ass in front of him, after all, one he was expected to...take...before the day was over, and yet here he was, sitting, with nothing but an idle sensation in his warm, fuzzy sheath.

That could be a problem.

The tiger's tail swished a little from side to side, making a noise.

"I think they're going to expect me to...you know...like this, too."

Mark shuddered, briefly, but let it only show in his quietly wavering breath.

"It works pretty good this...way," he tried.

"I...uh...had to do it this way...on the top."

"Then you know," Mark snuffled.

"Still don't know anything about being on my back for it, though."

"Yeah," Mark rolled the bottle around in his paws, hesitating still. "But that's what we're here to find out, heh?"

His voice sounded strained, nervous, almost hysterical.

The tiger snuffled.

"I don't want to stay like this all day, could you do something about it now, too, Mark?" the tiger's eyes gazed to him, over his own white belly, between his spread legs.

The lion gave a quiet nod, and popped the bottle of lube open. It sounded almost too loud, and made his ears flick down, briefly when he squeezed down a good amount over his palm. He held it up so that Jake could see it clearly.

"I'm going to put plenty of this all over your..."

"My taint?" the tiger suggested, cocking an ear at the lion.

"Yeah, all over there, so that everything's very slick. I'll just...pull my fingers all over there, and I'll also touch over your tailhole, but won't push or anything, I'll just put this everywhere first and then we'll see what happens next, okay?"

"Okay."

Mark rubbed his fingertips against his lubed palm and then, with a deep breath, moved over.

"This may be a bit cool."

"I know."

Mark flattened his palm and then drew his thumb and small fingers back so that he could use the remaining three fingers as a slick scoop to spread the lube properly. He could feel the muscles of his friend's rump tense when fingertips landed against the back of his thigh. Mark decided that he shouldn't wait for too long, and immediately moved again. He stroked his fingers down his friend's creamy, soft taint, matting the furs with the sticky fluid on his palm, making everything glisten, when he moved slowly but surely across Jake's backside.

The tiger hissed a little, and had to adjust his posture.

"It is cool..."

"Sorry, it'll get better quickly," Mark noted, trying to keep moving still, over the other side, now across the place where that fuzzy sac became the taint below.

He knew that his movement had to go lower, to the very base of that tail and the small hole almost hidden there. He knew that it was the touchiest moment yet, had to be, when he moved his fingers upwards, briefly, to even out the slick layer he had made so far, and then, holding how own breath, he made a brief tour lower down, and stroked a palmful of lube over Jake's tailbase. Even if he moved quickly, he could still feel the added heat of bare skin against his palm, and that made him breathe out, deeply.

"Umph."

The tiger let out a small sound, a brief one, and Mark saw how his muscles flexed a little, probably from the surprise of the touch, but that was the only reaction.

Mark made sure with a careful look that everything seemed slick enough, and then met his friend's eyes, gently.

"You alright?"

"Frankly, makes me feel like I've pissed my pants, it's still a bit cool."

Mark snuffled to get the odd scent out of his nosepad.

"Are you ready for the next thing?"

"Uhh...what's that?"

"One finger on the outside."

"Okay, I don't think I'll get any more ready than this."

Mark turned his paw around to make sure that he was sufficiently lubed, before he moved over, and placed his paw over his friend's slick taint, and simply held it there for the moment. He needed as much time as his friend did, to get used to this odd sensation, the very fact they were doing this, because they had to.

Very slowly the lion adjusted his wrist and then moved, slowly, using that single digit to stroke over the taunt skin he knew to be the base of his tiger friend's member, leading down along the parting of his rump cheeks, and towards the small, by now slick spot down there.

"I'll just be very gentle, Jake."

The tiger didn't answer in words, simply nodded ,and looked up to the ceiling.

Mark decided not to press him further, verbally, and instead let his eyes concentrate on the task at paw as well. Very slowly, an inch by inch, he let his finger move lower, until he simply rested it over his friend's tailhole, and left it there, unmoving, and with just enough pressure to make sure that he would feel its presence. The ring-shaped muscle instantly flexed under his touch. Mark gasped, and almost pulled his paw back, surprised by the feeling. The tiger didn't even make a sound.

"And now I'm...gonna go around...just tell me to stop if it feels too weird."

Mark began to stroke his fingertip in a circular motion around the tender flesh under his touch, feeling how it flexed when he traced the edge of that bare patch of skin.

"It...all feels weird, "Jake hissed, and his tail swished around, catching Mark's thigh in the process.

The lion stopped, but didn't move himself away from his friend's taint, thinking that any disturbance in the actions would only make it more difficult to get back to them, if the fragile mood was broken.

"Can you deal with the weird?" the lion husked.

"It's not too weird yet."

"Okay," Mark whispered, and continued the movement, spreading slickness with a minimum amount of pressure, over his friend's by all means virgin tailhole.

The knowledge brought no pleasure to him, even if some darker reaches of his mind might have appreciated the fact, under any other circumstances. Right now it only served to remind him of what they were doing, and how difficult it was going to be, physically, and mentally.

It went on for a while, and Mark kept watching his friend for any reactions, for the better or worse, but he seemed to be rather stoic about it, simply lying down there and letting the lion have his way with him. Mark decided to pause for a while, and spoke up.

"Think you'll be ready to let me try to push in a little, with one finger?"

"Yeah, Mark, go on."

"Okay."

Mark braced himself against his spare paw, and made a few more delicate strokes over his friend's tailhole, before he simply let his fingertip stay against the center of the muscled opening, with a gentle pressure. He gave it a very soft little push, testing out the tautness of the flesh.

"You feel that? It ok?"

"Yeah," the tiger sounded just a little more tense than before.

"Okay, time to share a...a fact about the tailhole," Mark snuffled to himself.

He was going to regret this so much.

"Yeah?"

"It's got a double locking mechanism, so to speak, and I'm rubbing against the first one," he started, keeping up the gentle pressure, so that Jake could get used to it as fast as possible.

"Uh huh."

Mark tried pushing just a little more, keeping up a constant pressure against the muscular ring that was the topic of the talk as well, while he kneeled behind his friend.

"Okay, so, that's the bit you can control, consciously."

Still he kept pushing, and the muscle resisted.

"Uhh...oh?" the tiger sounded breathy.

"Yeah, you can relax it by pushing on it a bit, like...just like when you're sitting on the can, yeah?" he tried turning his fingertip, gently, from side to side, boring against Jake's tailhole with that slow, subtle intensity he

hoped to pay result.

"Alright."

It felt like he was almost there, just about to slip past the pursed folds, and through the first line of resistance, the flesh quivered, but did not tense too much, and with a gentle, very gentle extra push, Jake's flesh gave, and Mark felt the tip of his finger become squeezed by the outer pucker, clenching over the sudden intrusion.

Jake gasped, and the tension grew around Mark's digit that was only a half an inch inside the tiger's tight, warm body, and both of them stayed very still.

"I'm not moving more until you're alright," Mark spoke, quickly, watching Jake's face to measure his responses.

The tiger had his head tilted back, and he breathed in, and then out, slowly, before he caught his friend's eyes again. His footpaws twitched a little.

"Everything ok?" Mark asked.

"Doesn't feel like much, dunno what to think of it, though..."

Mark turned his wrist a little, and applied some extra pressure, and slowly, he slipped into the first knuckle, and felt another clenching around his fingertip. Jake hissed.

"That feels so weird, Mark."

"I think I'm in as far as I'll go like this," the lion replied, keeping himself still, careful so that he would not slip out. "We're up to the second...uhh...lock."

"What's that?"

"It's kind of a like a second tailhole, behind the first one, that you can't control consciously," the lion explained, carefully. "You just have to push at it long enough, and hard enough, and then you'll get through it and after that, it's just a matter of...pushing in."

The tiger nodded.

"So once you're in through that, thing, it doesn't feel like much?"

"Well you'll feel a bit stretched out when...uhh...," Mark stopped, his cheeks burning some more when he put the words into the right order, and spoke frankly. "When the dick widens out."

The tiger tensed around him, and Mark almost considered drawing his finger back away from his friend's tailhole, but once the tension ebbed down, he decided against it, and simply remained in place.

"I figured that part out," Jake snuffled.

Mark coiled his tail around his leg, its foot resting against the floor, while he kept his arm steady, and very gently began to apply some more pressure with the fingertip imbedded within his friend's backside. He kept pressing, and with a gasp, his slick digit slipped in all the way, in one smooth movement, when the resistance was overcome, and just the way he predicted, he was in.

"Wow..." the tiger breathed out.

Mark met his friend's gaze, and watched him carefully, knuckles touching against the tiger's taint now, keeping still.

"Are you okay?"

The warm tunnel within his friend's body felt warm and slightly dry around his finger, pushed several inches inside him, and the sensation, while both odd and good at the same time, caused...a little movement to happen, within Mark as well. It wasn't much, it was just...a hint of familiarity at this act that was meant to be sensual, foreplay, for more things to come, with a willing, happily partaking partner...and that hint of feeling made his own member twitch, inside his sheath, just once. The lion breathed out quickly at the sensation, and looked down own belly, but couldn't' see anything out of ordinary there. His sheath was like it always was when he wasn't aroused, fuzzy, and in place. Nothing peeked out.

"Just feels like I gotta take a crap but...nothing much more."

"That's just because it's there," Mark husked. "Not painful at all?"

"It's just weird," the tiger rumbled, looking over between his stretched out legs. "Really weird."

"How about this then?"

Mark slowly slid himself back to the first knuckle, and then pushed right back in, again going as far as he could, pushing into his friend's tight hole, steadily, as gently as he could. The familiar clench happened again, and Jake breathed out, but beyond that, there was little reaction. He repeated the movement, once, three times, and then, slowly kept it up, going in and out at a slow pace.

"Oh, shit..."

"Pain?" Mark stopped.

"Just...strange."

Mark decided to try something out and began to curl his finger a little, to explore the inner walls of his friend's rectum with his fingertip, in search of the little pleasure spot he knew was hiding there, somewhere.

There was no mistaking when it was found, though, the tenseness returned, all over his finger dwelling into the depths of his friend, and the tiger's head flew up, and he sought Mark's eyes, maw opening a little, as the brief touch happened and then passed.

"What...?"

"That was the prostate, Jake," Mark pulled back a little and made sure not to touch the now located place, as he spoke...his own chest felt slightly...weighty, and he felt like he was sweating, too, and could smell it upon his friend's furs as well.

Jake's head flopped back down on the bed.

"That felt really strange."

"Think you'll get used to it?"

"Guess there's little choice, eh?" Jake snorted.

Mark pulled out, very slowly, and rested his paw against the bed.

"Need a little break or should I go for two?"

The bare-assed tiger adjusted his position a little, and flicked an ear at his friend, quickly.

"Let's do all we can like this and then switch places, yeah?"

"Okay," Mark replied, and placed two fingertips over Jake's tailhole, and with only a little moment to catch his breath, he began to push.

It took a little bit longer this time, with a couple of pauses and hisses ,but soon he had two fingers inside the tiger's rear, and Mark moved them slowly, back and forth, to simulate the movement that was going to be an inevitable part of the experience soon to happen to the poor tiger. Mark kept the fingers pressed together for most parts, but let them extend on occasion, to apply a gentle stretching to the still very tight muscled rings. He knew that if he could manage to get himself past that resistance, the rest of the way was always much, much easier, and if he could make this comfortable...it'd be possible to take it further.

Mark let his eyes wander, between the tiger's serious eyes, the tall male's body, his sheath that laid dormant at the apex of his thighs, and then down, past that sac and the fuzzy, slick taint, to the spot where his fingers disappeared into his friend's hole. The heat over his cheeks had spread to his chest as well, itching a little under his thick furs and mane, and his own sheath felt...heavier. Mark had to confess that he was getting into it, at least a little, but it wasn't really because it was with Jake, it was...it was the fact he was doing it, something familiar, and sexual, and even if he was nervous, his body was reacting in the most natural way.

"Mark?"

The lion stopped all motion, and sought his friend's eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Do you need more or...should we get to the next thing?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, my back feels a bit weird but I suppose your fingers are not in that deep."

Mark chuckled; he couldn't help it, the purr-edged sound escaped from his throat, and he smiled, and his friend smiled back, and flicked his tail, and ears, as a sign of amusement, even in this extreme situation.

"Alright then," he spoke as he sat back a little, and withdrew his paw from its place, lodged between his friend's rump cheeks.

Jake let out a sigh when the presence inside him was gone, and his body tried to close itself up again.

Mark picked up the feline dildo and the condom, and then, making sure that Jake could see everything he was doing, he tore the Catnip wrapper and then, with practiced flair, rolled the plastic sheath over the smooth length, all the way down, until the elastic band wrapped itself around the shaft. He knew that Jake watched, carefully, and it was with all due slowness that he opened the bottle of lube again and added a coating over the toy, making it glisten prominently.

"Here it is," he said then, lifting it up again so that Jake could have a closer look.

The tiger snorted.

"Somehow it looks much bigger now that I'm like this."

Mark let out a very small chuckle, and then shuffled backwards, again, to be in the best position for doing the next thing he had promised...the next step. He eyed the upturned rump for a moment, the familiar twinge was felt again, but he decided not to do anything about it for now...this was for Jake, not for him. Mark kept his friend's gaze carefully when he lined up the pointed tip of the slim plastic toy and held it against his Jake's puckered opening, with no pressure, and turned the toy so that it was held the natural curve upwards, the way it would be if this was a real male just about to enter another male, face to face.

Even with all these nerves, his sheath felt even more swollen than before, when he looked up to his friend's slightly frowning eyes.

"Just remember, I'll have to keep pushing, just try to relax, and tell me to stop at any moment, if you feel bad, but if you don't say anything, I'm going to keep pushing, okay?"

"Okay," the tiger husked.

Mark held his own breath, when he began to push the narrow tip of the toy more firmly against his friend's tailhole, with the intention of penetrating into him, allowing his body to spread around the length of the plastic toy, easily three times as thick as the singular digit he had taken before. Mark wasn't sure if the feline dildo was equal in size to the canine cock his friend was supposed to be able to take during his porn shoot, but he was sure that at least this would be a good start...if he could get it in, that was.

There was some resistance again, especially after the first inch, when the tip began to push against the inner closure of his friend's tailhole, and it took a few moment of more intense pressure and a snarl, for the toy to move forward, and Mark was confident that he was in. The tiger hissed, and his legs quivered, visibly, but Mark knew that he had to keep going as long as things were comfortable, and kept pushing until at least half of the toy was imbedded within his friend's backside.

"Ahhh....!"

Mark stopped, instantly, and looked down at the place where the black plastic disappeared within Jake' tailhole. He could see the glistening flesh grip onto the toy, the pinkness spread around it, likely painfully, since the tiger snarled and breathed out, quickly.

"Does it hurt?"

"Just...hhhhh...keep going...I can take it..."

"I'm not going to force it in, Jake," Mark frowned, worry all over his face at his friend's discomfort, and the possible to even do damage to him, at the worst.

"It's almost all the way in, isn't it?" the tiger panted.

"It's as wide as it'll get but there's still almost half of it," Mark replied, confirming his assumption with a quick look at the his friend's straining flesh, and the toy protruding out of his rear.

"Just do it...this...wait isn't too good on me."

"Alright, Jake...here...here it comes..."

Mark took a deep breath, and grimaced along with his friend, when he used his own weight to put extra pressure over his paw, to make sure that he would overcome any remaining resistance from his friend's clenching pucker, when he pushed the toy all the way in.

"Ffffffuck!" Jake hissed inwards and threw his head back.

Mark pulled his paw away from the base of the toy and looked at the result of his push, at the dilated, pink ring surrounding the blackness pushing out from Jake's hole, amidst the messy white furs. He could see the flesh clench, powerfully, it must have burned, and the sensation of being all that filled up...it must have been intense.

Jake's legs trembled for a few more moments before he released them and they fell over the bed, one across Mark's lap, heavily, making him grunt from the suddenness of it all. The tiger growled, his butt pushed down over the pillow, but luckily, it seemed that his movement hadn't forced the toy any deeper into his tailhole.

That seemed to matter very little, as he laid there, tail writhing, paws falling to his sides when he panted, head thrown back, eyes closed.

"Ahhh shit..."

"I'm gonna take it out, just a sec, Jake!" Mark said, quickly, already moving his paw in place before Jake's paw suddenly clutched over his arm, and he was almost sitting up, looking at him.

"No..." the tiger panted, his face sweaty and contorted.

"You're in pain!" Mark growled, baring his teeth out of sympathy for his friend's predicament.

"It doesn't hurt...feels weird as SHIT, but it doesn't feel like I'm being torn apart...Jesus...uhhh...shit...shit..." the tiger fell over to his back again and stayed still, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. "Shit..."

Mark kept watching him, frowning all the while, but after perhaps half a minute, the tiger's breaths began to even out, and his tail calmed down, and the grimace seemed to melt away from his muzzle, although Mark could see that he still was definitely clenching his teeth together.

Mark put a paw over his friend's thigh, and gave it a squeeze.

"How're you doing?"

Jake grunted.

"Sorry if this offends you, Mark, but I can't see the...ahh...charm of this..."

"Does it hurt?" the lion frowned.

"I just...definitely know there's something in there!"

"That's how it's supposed to feel," Mark snuffled.

"And you do this for fun...shit..."

"At least you're doing it now," Mark noted.

The tiger's breaths calmed down after a while, and he seemed to be relaxing as he got used to the strange sensation invading his backside, all the while Mark was rubbing his paw slowly up and down his friend's leg.

Jake snuffled.

"Wanna hear what's weird about this, Mark?"

"Huh?" the lion was almost startled upon his friend speaking again, after a long silence.

"It's kinda making me feel like pawing off," the tiger grunted.

Mark gave his friend a surprised look, and he couldn't deny the fact that his sheath was reacting too. It felt firmer, warmer, just like it felt just after having sex...when he was still a bit heated up for it...that kind of a sensation. He felt bashful about it, now that he was in the presence of his friend, and he didn't really want it to become more substantial than that...until he really had to.

"Oh?" he questioned.

Jake snuffled.

"Dunno why."

"It's likely because a lot of nerves are getting stimulated that can give erotic sensations as well, and that's making you feel a bit stimulated as well," Mark noted. "You know, it's not really...gay, to enjoy something up your butt, it's just normal, if it feels good."

The tiger grumbled.

"It's still gay when it's another guy's dick."

"True," the lion knew there was no denying that.

Jake scratched his belly, absently, over his abs, above his large sheath, and took a deep breath. For a moment Mark wondered whether he was going to grab a feel of his sheath, but then the paw was resting again, over his softly furred belly.

"This feels really weird."

Mark gave the tiger a serious look.

"You wanna keep going with it or...stop or...switch or...?"

The tiger nodded.

"I guess this proves that I can have something that size up there, but...I still think I need the real thing...with you, Mark, so that I'll...know."

Mark's belly clenched.

"I understand."

"Probably not so different from this, eh?" the tiger shifted his hips a little, and hissed as the movement caused movement within his body as well.

"Likely not, except that it's connected to a guy," Mark snuffled.

"Don't think I can do it like...we were earlier, though, my back feels a bit weird still," the tiger confessed.

"Okay," Mark replied, wondering on alternatives, and then decided on a question.

"So, what...did they tell you what positions they want you to be in? Maybe we can...try some of those?" it felt so wrong.

The tiger frowned as well, but he spoke soon enough.

"Like we did before, doggie style, and sitting on it, and maybe standing up, bending over something," he rasped.

Mark nodded, and rubbed his chin, thoughtfully.

"Those aren't really the best thing for a beginner, though...might...start with something else."

"Oh?" the tiger looked moderately curious.

"We can lay on our sides," Mark waved his paw over the bed, "that way you have control over it as well, I'm not lying on top of you, you can relax and...just concentrate on staying comfortable."

His cheeks burned even worse than before, for describing the pros of that particular sex position, and he couldn't deny that his own hardness was growing at the thought, even despite his better judgment. He was sure that if he'd look down he'd notice his pink head poking out of his sheath, but...then again...that was necessary if they were ever going to get through this clean.

"Can you promise one thing first, Mark?"

"Yeah?" the distracted lion jumped a little.

"Get that plastic thing out of my ass, please," Jake smiled.

Mark felt sheepish for forgetting thing of such magnitude, and gave a quick nod, and a pat over his friend's hip.

"Turn over to your side."

The tiger shuffled and presented his backside for Mark, who could see the black base of that toy still poking out from its place, lodged between those arguably very nice rump cheeks. That little flicker of heat repeated itself, quickly, but Mark let it be for now, he still had to navigate the plastic toy out of his friend's rear without causing any extra discomfort...and that might be easier said than done.

"Right...," he said as he grabbed onto the flared base and took a good grip, bracing himself on his paw against Jake's hip. "I'm gonna...pull...just...let it go."

"Alright," the tiger hissed.

Mark gritted his teeth and did exactly like he had been told earlier, and gave a good, slow yank. Several black inches and hisses later, the toy was out, and dropped down to the floor, next to the discarded towels, and a very much huffing tiger sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the small of his back.

"Damn..."

Mark eyed the tiger with concern, and grimaced alongside with him.

"Sorry."

"I asked for it," Jake huffed.

"You need a break?" the lion asked.

Jake snuffled and slumped down on the bed.

"I'll take a break when I have four grand in my wallet," the tiger grunted.

"Come," he pleaded with his eyes, from his reclining posture that displayed his rump all too well for the lion sitting on the foot of the bed.

"Come on, Mark."

Mark's tail flicked against the side of the bed as he stared at the tiger, lying there, so very well presented, just as if he was...as if he wanted this...as if he'd really be into this...like Mark could be, with the right fur...and for Jake, it was different.

The lion rumbled to himself and cupped his swollen sheath in his paw, and began to rub himself, through his skin, to try and get himself fully hard, despite his nerves. He hissed at the sensation, his bare flesh came to view and slithered through his gripping palm, so that soon he was pulsing in his own grip, full six inches or so of barbed feline flesh, on display now. Mark could barely meet his friends eyes that were heavy on him, he knew as much, watching him pleasure himself.

"Is it uh...difficult?"

"A bit," Mark snuffled as he gave himself another squeeze, and then searched the bed until he spotted the green sliver of plastic and picked up the condom. "Sorry...it's not exactly the sexiest situation I could imagine."

The tiger's long tail flicked, across the bed.

"Sorry I put you into this."

Mark shook his head a she tore into the wrapper and then placed the slick, pre-lubed condom over his damp tip and began to pull it down around his length.

"Would be kinda cowardly of me to back down this far, huh?" the lion grunted, almost unwittingly enjoying the gentle squeeze of the plastic over his barbs.

Mark snuffled.

"I really am sorry."

The lion grabbed the lube and helped himself to an extra pawful of the slick stuff, which he then quickly deposited over his firm, pointed shaft. Mark's heart was beginning to race, there was a rumble to his breaths, he was starting to feel almost like he always did in this kind of occasions, except for the extreme nervousness that now surrounded the usually casual act. This time it was going to be special.

Mark shuffled himself over to his knees, and watched the lying tiger, carefully.

"Push your knee forward a little and kind of lie forward a little, as if you were rolling onto your belly," he spoke.

"Okay," Jake replied, and assumed the position described earlier.

Mark shivered a little as he moved over, and laid down over his own bed, now shared by the tall tiger, lying there, presenting his rump for him, like that...one of the classic submissive postures, ready to be taken. Despite the oddness of the situation, it made him throb harder.

Maybe I don't have to think about Johnny Depp when I'm doing this.

_ _

He could smell Jake's natural scent easily, being this close, inches away from him, his nose almost pressed against the tiger's back, and his knee already touched the back of Jake's, signaling their physical contact. Mark shivered, just a little, when he moved his hips and then put his paw over the tiger's thigh.

"You have to raise this a little...I'll help..."

Their bodies shifted and shuffled, as Mark got even closer, his chest touching Jake's back. The tiger shivered, and let out a breath.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, let's just...let's."

"I'll put the tip there now, okay?" Mark grunted, his paw moving to grab his shaft so that he could push his throbbing member down and then into place, between those spread butt cheeks belonging to his friend, his beautiful, beautiful, old friend.

Jake only harrumphed in the way of reply.

Mark grit down his teeth and tilted his hips, the movement taking his lubed tip to the crevice under the tiger's lifted tail. The heat made his flesh twitch and he gasped, out of the intensity of the sensation that was really now getting to him, he was there, everything was musky, he was going to have sex, he had to do it, he needed it, and Jake needed it too, for his own purposes, so now...it might just be a win-win situation, perhaps, if he kept his nerve.

Mark pressed his forehead against Jake's back and tried to breathe steadily, when he spoke, his voice laced with purrs.

"It's not bigger than the toy, Jake, just relax..."

The tiger's body shivered and shuddered against him, reminding Mark just how tense this situation was, and how bad it could get afterwards, and that made him stop, even if he was literally at the gates.

"Jake..."

"Yeah...." the tiger hissed.

"I'm doing this because I love you, Jake."

"I...ahh...I know."

"I'm sorry:"

Mark gripped onto the tiger's thick hip and gave a firm push with his hips, trying to drive himself forward into Jake's ass.

"AGH..."

Mark pushed himself against the muscles he had stretched out earlier, and he felt them give after a few heart-stopping seconds of resistance, before there was a great clenching sensation and he was in, his momentum carrying him on so that before he knew what had happened, he was in, his hips smacked against the round curve of that rump, and he was in.

"Ssshhhit..."

Mark bit his teeth down and tried to stay put, and instinctively, his paw moved across the tiger's side, down to his belly, past his sheath, to hold him, across his chest, protectively, as well as he could, now that they were together, joined by the hip, literally. He was buried inside the tiger, he was inside his heat, inside his backside, in the virgin grip of his tailhole and the tunnel beyond, and he was there and it was happening right now, and he was in.

Jake's heat was almost unbearable, the tightness, the grip of his body, of those muscles he violated with his presence, but it was willing, because it was needed, each for their own purpose, but a mutual one. The lion grit his teeth together and gasped, trying not to move yet, trying to give his friend just a small moment to get used to the sensation, everything that the toy couldn't provide before...this was what he had been asking for.

Asking...

Mark knew that he should ask, that he should ask permission for the next step, which would be all-out thrusting into his friend's tight tailhole, into that strong, pulsing, massive, muscular body he held close, the best he could. His instincts, however, were taking over, the sensations, the natural preference in his blood, that made him crave for males, and for pleasures with another male, they were upon him, crashing down on the lion imbedded within his friend now.

He could not stop his hips from moving, the rocking motion began, naturally, slowly, but it was there, his hips shifting back and forth in the never ending rhythm of mating. Mark's arm was held firmly over Jake's heaving chest, he held him close, making sure that the tiger would come to no harm from this, no matter where they'd end up to.

There were snarls and there were panting breaths, and he was moving faster now, the stationary, slightly tilted hips offering a good place to thrusts against, as he drove himself into that tight, gripping heat provided by his friend's backside. Mark didn't even try to stop himself, or slow down, he worked himself up, letting his muscles become strained with the effort of maintaining the motion as he became more and more breathless. He was pumping steadily, his hips a constant, a fluid presence that moved in and out his friend, taking him where he needed to be.

Their ears filled with each other's sounds and vocalizations, Mark could only smell the tiger, feel his gripping heat and his body, all against him, while he held close to him, hips never stopping as he continued on his way towards the burning orgasm he suspected could not be far away. He felt sweaty and he felt breathless, he bit down on his lip, he felt the itch rise, it was inevitable that he would spend himself while buried inside Jake...the snarling tiger he held close to himself.

"Ahh...ahh...."

Mark had never been extremely vocal when he had sex, but he had to press his lips against the tiger's taut back and let out a constrained sound when his hips thrust over Jake's one final time and his body burned itself out within seconds, pumping liquid heat through his belly and his burning member, deep inside the tiger.

"Ahh..."

The pleasure washed over him in several waves, to the rhythm of the ultimate twitches of his member within the tiger's rectum, until finally there was only a dark haze, pushing past the pleasure. Mark was breathless, he ached and he itched, and suddenly he was on his back, he slipped free of the tiger and he simply laid on his back, staring at the ceiling with eyes that were bleary from sweat that had dripped down on them.

Mark looked over at his belly and saw his hard cock, covered in the condom and swimming in seed that had filled up the plastic sheath around himself. His belly heaved, he felt sticky and hot, and his tail flicked from side to side, showing that his body was still agitated, still steady...his ears flicking, listening to his own breaths...the smell of cum in the air...

And that odd sound, slick, and accompanied by husked breaths and grunts.

"Aghh...aghh..."

Mark lifted his heavy head, and all he saw was the striped back belonging to the tiger he had just taken, and his right arm, the shoulder, clearly moving....

"Ahh..."

He could see tension grow in the body, the ears that were flattened, the constrained breaths, the huffs...and then, a loud moan, followed by a dark groan, and the smell that filled his nose...musky...strange...

Mark pushed himself up against one elbow and looked over his friend's shoulder, only to see his paw, moving at a fast pace over the fabled long, curved penis, held in a tight grip, pulsing, and shooting white seed all over the tiger's paw and the bedspread, while Jake's head was tilted down, his chin pressing to his chest, and he was breathing hard.

Mark's eyes widened, his breath was caught in his throat as he watched his friend pleasure himself, there, still in the throes of an orgasm, he was sure of that.

It felt wrong, too, somehow, to watch it, but Mark could help it, he couldn't stop staring at the rapidly moving paw and the increasing streakiness of the bedspread, covered in those watery spurts shooting out of that by all means enviously large feline cock. His own throbbed, soused in scent and musk and cum as well, but he couldn't move, he watched as long as it lasted, until the tiger stopped, and let go of his pulsing member, and opened his eyes.

Their gazes met, across the foot or so between them, and they looked at one another.

"You...okay?" Mark hissed, breathlessly.

Jake's ears flicked down.

"Just...about," he panted.

"Let me..."...Mark shuffled off to the side, to make room for the tiger to lay down properly, which he soon did, now that he had more space, and they could both lay down next to one another on the bed, staring at the ceiling, breathing heavily.

For a long while, Mark didn't dare to speak, or even look over at the other panting, heaving male. He didn't want to think too much, he...he probably could not handle it quite yet, or know what to call it, so it was just best to stay still, and not move. He didn't even move to take off the condom from his own throbbing member, even if it started to feel a bit sticky, and he was already retreating into his sheath. This certainly didn't feel like the usual post-sex afterglow he preferred...he was breathless, yes, sweaty, yes, but...it wasn't there.

"You...doing okay, Jake?"

The tiger grunted.

"Feels like I sat on a cactus but I'll live."

Mark snorted.

"Sorry," he tilted his head so that he could catch the tiger's side profile, and their eyes met again.

Jake tried to smile a bit.

"It's okay...it doesn't hurt too bad...you were...really gentle."

"Yeah..." Mark husked.

His eyes flashed over the tiger's belly, just quickly, where he could see residue of Jake's own orgasm, and the half-hard length of that large, indeed, porn star-proportioned member. it made his own cock twitch, maybe out of masculine...appreciation, and then some.

"I'm glad it was you and not that fox, thank you."

"Anything for a friend," Mark whispered, and he knew that he meant it.

Then the tiger managed to surprise him, again, by reaching out with his paw, and taking a hold of Mark's arm, and giving it a squeeze.

"Thank you," the tiger husked.

His lips touched Mark's so softly that he barely even felt it, or the tickle of whiskers as they met, and it lasted for a few, quiet seconds, and made sparks fly across Mark's field of vision, as his eyes flew open and he saw the tiger's eyes, so very close.

Jake tilted his head back, a little, so that the space remained between them, and he gave the lion's sweaty arm a small stroke.

"And...thank you for...saying what you did. Nobody told me that in a really long time."

Mark gave a soft little nod. He couldn't trust his voice at the moment, his throat didn't feel quite alright.

"Anything for you, Jake."

"Thank you."

"Thank you."

They rested for a small moment, until Jake's ears began to flick again, and he scratched his belly.

"Mark?"

"Hmh?"

"I think I need to take a leak, badly, and...well...I think my ass needs a bath...I'm feeling a bit greasy."

Mark chuckled drowsily.

"You go first, I'll come right after you're done."

"Okay..and.....uhh...one more thing?"

"Huh?" Mark opened his eyes and looked at the tiger whom he found to be now sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Can I borrow that toy and that stuff for the weekend?" the tiger spoke.

Mark couldn't help but laugh.

*

EPILOGUE 1

Jake is calling.

_ _

Mark grabbed onto his phone, eagerly, and put up to his ear.

"Hey!" he greeted energetically, partially forced, but it was still there, he always liked answering to the phone when it was his friend Jake calling.

"Uh...hi," the tiger's voice replied.

Mark swallowed before he spoke again.

"How...how are you?" the lion asked tentatively.

"Sore," the tiger grunted, and then chuckled.

Mark smiled despite the dark tone, but he couldn't help the chuckle, either, so he could understand, he did.

"You alright?" the lion's brow furrowed with concern.

"I'm sitting on a hot bath", an unamused-sounding tiger replied on the other end of the line.

Mark's ears flicked.

"That sounds like a good idea. You...otherwise okay?"

"Yeah, it was a bit rough on the head too but I'm okay, it was just a gig," the tiger replied in that hollow voice Mark had already learned to associate with the...work.

"You can always come over if you feel like having company," the lion suggested.

"I'm good for now, thanks," the tiger replied. "Maybe I'll pop by tomorrow, maybe."

"That'd be nice," Mark smiled.

"Mark...thanks again."

"Don't worry about it," Mark tried to keep his voice light. "It's over with now, yeah?"

"Yeah, definitely...don't think my tail could handle any more of it...seven fucking hours!"

Mark frowned at the ridiculous figure, and shook his head, quickly.

"Ugh...okay."

"Sorry."

"Never mind."

"Uh...okay. So...what were you up to?"

"Just some reading and some wine," Mark smiled a little as he described his high brow activities to his friend.

"Cool, wish I had some, too."

"You'll be better off with a Tylenol and a lot of rest," the lion chuckled.

"I know," Mark could imagine the look on the tiger's face when he spoke that.

"Good."

"Well, I'll leave you to it, I'll call you back tomorrow, maybe, yeah, ok?"

"Sure, Jake, I'll look forward to hearing from you."

"Yeah, thanks, bye."

"Bye, Jake."

*

EPILOGUE 2

---

---

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I am, I think that this is definitely your color," Mark grinned as he adjusted the striped tie he had just helped to fit around a dubious-looking tiger's neck. "And it goes so well with this purple shirt I chose for you."

Jake snuffled.

"The one you chose, not me," the tiger grumbled.

Mark chuckled and pushed the collars of the shirt down to cover the tie, and made another few little adjustments, his tail flicking happily behind him as he toiled.

"Let me express my fashionable side in peace and we'll see how you like the end result, okay?" Mark grinned toothily. "All hot secretaries are going to fall over on their nosepads when they see you walking in from the elevator."

Jake chuckled throatily, and smiled broadly, watching how his friend's paws moved again, across the tiger's chest, to check the alignment of the small buttons.

"I'll just be happy that I have an office to go to, really."

"So am I," Mark smiled right back, and then took a few steps so that he could admire his paw work from afar.

"Yep! I think we nailed it!"

Jake walked over to the tall mirror that hung in the small section of wall between the bathroom door and the door arch into the kitchen, and studied himself standing there, black pants, purple shirt, and the striped tie, all meticulously arranged by his lion friend's paws, for maximum effect.

Mark wandered over and stood by the tiger, grinning broadly at the taller male via the mirror.

"See, you're absolutely gorgeous!"

Jake elbowed the lion and showed his teeth.

"Easy there, or I'll have to be careful around you."

Mark smirked happily

"I think that spending a thousand dollars out of your last porn pay check on some wardrobe improvements was an investment well done," the lion mused.

Jake snuffled.

"Yeah, though it'll be mighty funny walking into that office wearing clothes that my ass bought for me."

Mark didn't hesitate to give the said rump a gentle pat, just a little one.

"Never again," he spoke, determinedly.

Jake smiled, and returned the pat, grinning at the mirror.

"No more."

*

Wowww..... 23,308 words and 148 pages..well, I cheated and wrote on font size 16, but still...heheh, what a ride!

And hopefully it was an enjoyable one, too. What do you think? Any comments? Any feedback?

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Thank you for reading!

Cheerio!