The Angel of Yiff Chapter 19
The Angel of Yiff Chapter 19 -- Imagine My Surprise
'The Cameron Estate' sat dark and silent. The only source of light left to brighten its living room was a single, dim lamp alongside the estate's lone namesake: Eric Matthew Cameron. The television screen was dark, the blinds and curtains were drawn closed to shut out even the moonlight, and all the ottercoon could hear were his own breaths and the rumbling purr of his central heat protecting him from the February night beyond his walls.
These lonely moments, though few and far between -- especially with Sirrus and Rei so often running about -- reminded him of a time from a year ago. They reminded him of a time when this house was empty and he was alone...a time before he bought his little talking dragon.
At this moment, in the dim silence of his living room, if he didn't know any better...if he didn't know that there were four teenage boys asleep down the hall, and a dragon and a rabbit tucked away in their own secret corner, somewhere...he could have convinced himself he was completely alone...
...but he was glad he knew better.
Despite certain bouts of drama, and current pressing worries, this was the happiest he'd been in a long time. His life felt fuller, and he was more content and at peace than he'd been since...actually, he couldn't remember a happier time. It certainly wasn't during the awkward drama of high school and the stress of coming out, or the unfortunate choices and lessons learned in college, or his failed relationship with Lance. Life wasn't perfect, but as a whole, this last year had been the undisputed high point of his first thirty years. Things had changed for the better, and he was in no hurry for them to change back.
He stood and stretched, moving away from his couch and its dim lamp. In the darkness, he couldn't help but notice at least one thing quite different from those nights, a year ago. Tonight, he stood in his living room, fully dressed, thanks to a house full of others, with whom he had reason to maintain some semblance of 'appropriateness.' So maybe not EVERYTHING had changed for the better...
With a chuckle at the thought, he turned and left the living room, making his way down the hall to pay a visit to his guests and his 'sons'...to check in on them before he, too, retired to bed.
First, he stopped at the door to Luke's room...or at least what he'd assigned as Luke's room. It seemed only a grounding could keep the raccoon in it, though. Stopping there, he saw light flickering from under the door, and a mischievous smile crept across his muzzle. And without the courtesy of a warning, he quietly but swiftly flung open the door.
It was his hope to catch his guests in the middle of a compromising position...but Alex and Jasyn were fast asleep and the flickering light was only the endlessly looping title screen of The Bourne Ultimatum on the small television inside. Disappointed, he clicked the DVD player and TV off, and returned to the door where he turned his eyes back on his two young friends.
He'd never assumed, at nearly thirty, he'd be friends with a 17 and 18 year old, let alone so involved in their lives and wrapped up in their struggles. But he had been. He'd been at their side through everything: playing some small role in Jasyn accepting Alex, in later accepting himself, and in the two finally getting back together following their rather unfortunate summer.
Funny, too, how their story mirrored his own, this year: months of worry and confusion sparked by a gay guy falling for his straight best friend. He could only hope that his own tale ended as well as theirs...
He closed the door and turned to the second, directly across the hall. He remembered a time when he'd thought he was fooling himself...when the prospect of ever having guests seemed like a fruitless hope...even after he'd already bought the beds, and went about furnishing his 'guest rooms.' He never would have imagined how much he'd ended up making use of them.
He opened this second door more slowly, peeking in on his boys: his sons. That, definitely, was something he'd never thought he would have. He'd known he was gay from an early age, and never held any illusions of having a child in the 'traditional' manner. Nor had he ever expected to adopt one, seeing as that was a decision for a couple to make...which would first require a steady relationship.
But here he was with a full house and HIS two children. Neither one shared a drop of his blood, but they were more his family than anyone who actually did. Everyone loved to make fun of him about how he was their 'Mom,' but no one ever seemed to notice: he only argued that he wasn't their mother, NEVER that they weren't his sons.
He had been worried over where Chris would be in the few weeks or months down the road, and what would happen when his inevitable transfer came...but the worry was never ONLY about Chris. He loved the lion, and couldn't handle the thought of him leaving...but the thought of potentially losing Riddick, and of what pain it would bring Luke, was no easier to bear...
After closing that door, too, he made his way back out to his still dim living room and toward the sliding back door. Just as his paw lit on the handle, though, he was halted by the sound of snoring coming from the dining room.
...and that would be his dragon.
Turning and following the sound, he found Sirrus and Rei wrapped around one another in a clump under the dining room table...a place he'd found them in more than once before. And, as usual, they were a mess: one's fur matted and the other's scales stained with cum from the most recent of their more-that-daily 'playtimes.'
Matt's relationship with Rei had been limited at best, but Sirrus was a different matter. Sirrus was arguably the most important person in the ottercoon's life. But, really, it wasn't too big of a stretch to say that about almost everyone else, too. Where would any of them be without Sirrus?
Without Sirrus, Matt might still be alone. It was only once he bought his pet that his lengthy solitude was broken, and it was in large part thanks to the dragon that Matt and Chris first had any 'playtime' of their own. Without Sirrus, Riddick may never been outed to his father, and it was only through the ordeal which followed that Chris was finally able to accept his sexuality.
And, of course, without Sirrus, the events of a certain day almost a year ago in the park would never have come to pass. Matt would never have even met Alex and Jasyn, and by extension, he and Riddick would have never met Luke. And, moreover, who knows when Alex would have ever been honest with Jasyn about his feelings without Sirrus to provoke it...an event which served as the catalyst for Peter's long awaited punishment, Alex's difficult escape from his past, Jasyn's unexpected discovery, and the fox and wolf's stressed but ultimately triumphant love story.
In the end, no matter how circuitously, Alex, Jasyn, Luke, and Riddick all owed their current romantic prosperity to the often inappropriate sexual escapades of Matt's pet dragon.
Sirrus was like a horny little cupid...
...like an angel of yiff.
Even Matt owed what little he had with Chris to Sirrus, albeit it was less than he wanted. It was too bad he couldn't make use of his little cupid's magical libido and finally make Chris more than just a friend with benefits...
Leaving the dragon and rabbit to their most certainly well deserved rest, Matt left his dining room and returned to the sliding glass door. Pulling it aside, he was met with and stepped out into the cold evening air. It sent a chill through his body, but, thanks to his thick fur, wasn't enough to send him back, and he walked deeper into his well maintained yard, without bothering to close the door behind him.
He'd planned on going to bed, but who was he kidding? So long as he was waiting on Chris to get home, he wouldn't be able to sleep. So, instead, he stood in the chilled night air, watching the wind rustle the branches on his trees, and the stars peeking through the mesh of leafless limbs.
There were times when all of this was becoming too much to deal with. He loved Chris more than he'd ever loved anyone else. He raised tail for him, he joined in to help him raise his son, and he could feel himself light up every time he saw the lion. He first realized the last bit when he saw how upset it made Lance.
But Chris didn't love him back...at least not like that. He'd made it clear they were just friends more than once, and that all he was looking for was a friend who he could play with. At one time, Matt, too, was fine with that and nothing more...but that time had passed.
And to make matters worse: it seemed like the lion was never even there. More and more frequently of late, he was gone at unexpected times for indefinite durations...and Matt couldn't help but be reminded of a badger who used to do the same. And when Lance was the one disappearing...
But the ottercoon shook it off. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't what he wanted. But it was the best he'd ever had. He had friends, he had family, and he shared a bed with the person he loved. Sure, he could ask more, but he owed it to himself and to Chris to recognize how lucky he was to even have this.
But then again, that was the real problem, wasn't it? Not that his life was going so badly, but that what little he had was on the verge of slipping away. He'd had far less than a stellar track record...with friends in school, with his family, with Lance, and with every other failed relationship...and he found it difficult to believe any happiness would last. Especially in a situation like this: where every sign pointed to its impending, inevitable end...
And he could see it all now. In time -- months, weeks, maybe days -- Chris's assignment, which had already lasted far longer than expected, would come to an end. He would be reassigned to somewhere else, in a city far, far away, and everything they had would go with him.
And then Riddick's life, too, would be thrown into turmoil no matter his own fate. Would he go with his father, and leave his love, his school, and all of his friends behind? Or would he stay behind with Matt, Luke, and the others, at the cost of losing his father all over again?
And reeling from losing Chris, himself, what state would Matt be in to handle either eventuality? Could he be a parent to Riddick without Chris's help? Could he possibly fill the void left by his father? And if Riddick left, where would that leave Luke and Matt? Certainly they would still have one another and their pets...but Matt couldn't believe he was actually rooting for the scenario where both he and his adopted son lost the men they loved.
He shivered, not from the cold, but from the pain, from the quickly chilling tears on his face, and from the crushing reality that there could be no happy ending to this story. Either he and Luke would be left alone, or he would be left with two children he could never be equipped to care for by himself.
The ottercoon sniffled and shook, simply letting himself cry in the supposed solitude of his back yard.
"You know, Matt...you really shouldn't be crying over me."
Matt jumped and spun to find Chris standing in the still open doorway yards behind him, "Chris!" The ottercoon hurriedly went about wiping his cheeks, "I...I wasn't...uhm..."
"Sure you weren't." Chris stepped farther out into the cold night, closing the door behind him.
Matt dropped his paws aside, giving up on trying to pretend, "How long were you there?"
The lion stopped feet from the ottercoon, his paws in his pockets, "I came in the front door, right about as you were walking out the back."
"Long enough, then."
Matt just rubbed his arm, avoiding eye contact with Chris, as the lion tilted his head and looked his friend over. After a long silent moment, Chris pulled his paws from his pockets and crossed his arms with a huff.
"So," he began, "I've been practicing what I was gonna' say, pretty much ever since I left here, earlier." The lion tapped his food, "And, to be completely honest: at first, I was kinda' pissed off."
Matt looked up, shocked, "At me?"
"Yep." Chris nodded, but then shook his head, smiling through a sigh, "But then I realized that this was all really MY fault."
The ottercoon closed his eyes for a moment, trying to make sense of a conversation he felt like he'd missed the first half of, "I don't understand, Chris. What are you-"
"You will. Just give me a minute." Chris stopped him and continued, "See? I had an interesting conversation with Duncan earlier today. The way I hear it is this: a certain boyfriend of mine, name of Matt-"
Matt coughed, cutting Chris off, "Did you just say boyfriend?"
"You hush. I'm telling a story." The lion pointed at the ottercoon, with a stern but playful glare, "So, anyway...my boyfriend thinks I don't love him. He even goes so far as to think that we're not even a couple. But he doesn't come and talk to me about it. Instead, he talks to this raccoon we adopted a while back." The cat paused to point at the house behind him, "I think you've met him: his name's Luke? And then Luke goes to my son and all their friends, and they concoct this big plan to finally get us together. They go to Duncan, and Duncan comes and talks to me."
Matt just blinked, replaying the party in his head, "...when you were out back, in the shed." He muttered as it clicked.
"Someone's catching up." Chris snapped his fingers and smiled, "And, at first, I was just so angry at my boyfriend. I wanted to tell him..." He stopped and sighed, taking another step closer and dropping the silly theatric third person, "I wanted to come back here and ask you how, in the world, you could be so blind. Matt, this came out of the blue for me! I thought we WERE together. I thought you KNEW that we were together. And the fact that you thought otherwise was like getting punched in the jaw!"
The ottercoon looked up at his...at his boyfriend? The lion's eyes were softer than usual: concerned, gentle, and almost hurt. Matt though, was only confused, "We're...together?"
"Of course we are!" Chris shot back through a laugh, "You can't tell me you haven't noticed anything, Matt. I mean, when we have sex..." He paused and stepped just a little closer, his voice lowering and his paw brushing his boyfriend's arm, "...when we make love, are you even paying any attention? Haven't you noticed how I pull you up close against my chest?" His paw ran up Matt's neck and cheek, "How I lick your neck, and kiss you between your ears...and bury my muzzle in your headfur? How I stay inside you after I'm done, and just hold you there, until you fall asleep in my arms...?"
Matt nuzzled instinctively against the paw, "I have. But you never said..." He shook his head and looked down at their feet, "I mean, last SPRING, we weren't a couple."
The lion lifted his ottercoon's muzzle up again, "That was almost a year ago..."
"But..." Matt didn't look away, "You didn't even realize you were gay until your fight with Riddick."
"And that was...what? June?" Chris raised an eyebrow, "So, like...eight months ago?"
"Well when did we...?" The ottercoon stammered a bit, still off balance from all of this, "When did you decide we were together? Apparently it was in the last eight months."
"You know?" Chris snapped his fingers and pointed at Matt with a smile, "I can actually pin point it, to the night. It was in July: about a month after the fight with Riddick. He was out with Luke, I think, and breaking in all of his new clothes and stuff...and you and I had the house all to ourselves."
Matt nodded, remembering it well, "...the first night I let you top me."
"That's right." The lion nodded back, "So there I was..." He reached out and gently pulled his ottercoon close, turning him and holding his back to his muscular chest. And with his muzzle against the side of Matt's head, he lowered his voice even more, as if there was anyone else around to hear and he wanted this to only be for the ottercoon's ears, "I'd bit your neck while we were, uhm...going at it, and when we were done, I remember I was licking the little pinpricks I'd left there on your shoulder. I was holding you up real close, and you bent your head to the side for me..."
There, in the moonlight, they reenacted the moment. Matt tilted his head aside and Chris squeezed him tight as he rooted his muzzle into the open collar of his boyfriend's shirt. The ottercoon shivered as his lion's rough tongue slicked and parted his fur from the base of his neck, and all the way up to his ear.
And Chris stopped there, purring as he softly nuzzled his boyfriend's ear, and then continued in a whisper, "And I had never been as happy, with anyone, as I was, right there...just like this." He squeezed Matt again, his fingers rubbing and kneading his boyfriend's chest, "Knowing what you'd just given to me...feeling how you felt there in my arms...it was perfect."
Eyes closed, Matt just sank into his friend's...his boyfriend's arms, "It really was a perfect night."
"The first of many." With a huff, the lion broke their embrace and pushed away, "So imagine my surprise, all those many perfect nights later -- about seven months worth, in fact -- when I find out that you think we're were still just friends!"
Matt turned to face him again, "But...Chris..." Even though trying to defend himself, he felt almost guilty, and couldn't seem to make eye contact, "Do you remember the night Lance was here?"
Chris nodded. "I do."
The ottercoon looked up, through narrow confused eyes, "...and how you told him we were together?"
"And I meant it."
"But just a couple of days later you told me that you'd only said it to get rid of him."
"Well, yeah." Chris shrugged and chuckled dismissively, "Getting rid of him might have been I finally SAID it, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. I mean, Matt -- for me at least -- it had been the truth for months. "
"Okay...but..." Matt shook his head, still trying to make sense of all of this, and yet to just finally let himself believe it, "Then what about how often you've been late from work lately: the weird schedule, and how often you've been leaving...like tonight at the party?"
The lion nodded, "Yeah, Duncan told me you'd been worried about that, too. He also said that you were worried because I'd been here for nearly a year, now, when I was only supposed to stay for a month, right?"
The cat smiled and raised an eyebrow, and Matt just nodded quietly.
"Well, the thing is: I've been gone so much because I've been trying to make sure I could stay here longer, Matt." Chris held up his paws with a shrug, "I've been filling out forms, talking to bosses, and asking for every extension I could. I've been trying to make sure that I could be here with for you as long as possible." He paused for a long moment, tapping his foot on the cold walkway, "And tonight, I when I left the party, it was so I could get you your birthday present. I hadn't quite gotten things squared away for it, yet, but, after the talk with Duncan, I figured I shouldn't wait any longer."
The ottercoon blinked, "Present?"
Chris nodded, "I talked to the big boss, tonight, Matt: the BOSS'S boss. And I didn't get an extension this time. I got a transfer and a new job. It pays less, but it's worth it..." He grinned slyly, "...because it means I'm staying here...with you."
Matt smiled back at that, but shrugged through an exasperated laugh, "Why didn't you just tell me that's what you were doing: getting extensions and everything?"
"Because I didn't want you to know what I was up to until I was done." The lion poked his ottercoon in the chest, as he smiled his big toothy grin for the first time since he got home, "I was TRYING to keep everything a secret, so it would be a surprise once the transfer was complete. Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea, but I really didn't think you'd jump to the conclusion that I was cheating on you...and it didn't even cross my mind that you might think we weren't together!"
"God, Chris...I'm so sorry." Matt shook his head in shame, but couldn't manage to wipe the smile off of his muzzle; he was finally starting to believe that this was really happening, "I've been so moody and paranoid...and I didn't-"
"No." Chris stopped him, "Matt, this isn't your fault. It's mine."
The ottercoon shook his head as he took his lion's paw into his, "It's not your fault that I was being stupid, Chris."
"Of course it is! And you know how I know it is? It's because it wasn't just you." Chris intertwined his fingers with his boyfriend's and looked back at the house, "Remember my little story from earlier? You talked to Luke, and then he told everyone else? But not a single one of them came to talk to me!" He looked back at Matt again, "They felt like they needed to get some big, burly, straight jock who I could 'relate to' or some nonsense. That's why it was DUNCAN, of all people, who talked to me!"
"I don't understand." Still smiling, Matt shook his head, "How does that make this your fault?"
"My point is, Matt...that I must be doing something wrong. I've been...I dunno...driving everyone away from me, or something?" The lion shrugged, "None of the boys thought they could come to me with this. Riddick, my own son, was afraid to talk to me about it. And the same goes for Alex, Luke, and Jasyn, too. I mean, I know they're not my kids, but I've tried to TREAT them like they were, if, for no other reason than how important they are to you. And, y'know," he pointed over his shoulder with a laugh, "who better to relate to me than Jasyn, anyway? Who else around here, other than me and him, was straight and turned gay in the last year? But they were all too afraid to say a word to me..." The lion gently poked Matt in the chest again, "...just like you."
Matt only laughed at his boyfriend, shaking his head, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe we're all just stupid, and that you didn't do anything wrong?"
"Well of course you're stupid, but that's the point!"
"Oh? Well, thank you!"
"I'm not big on spelling things out, Matt." Chris looked down and back up, his playful expression turning more serious, "I thought you should've just KNOWN how I felt about you. I thought that us sharing a bed, and how affectionate I was being was more than enough to make you realize that I thought we were together. I thought, at our age, we were beyond needing some big declaration of our feelings for things to be 'official' or whatever." He motioned his head at the house, "And the same goes for the rest of them too! I thought, since I felt like Luke was my son, that he should automatically know I did, and feel like I was his DAD, too. And since I felt like they could come to me with anything they needed to talk to me about, I thought that THEY should have felt the same. But I was wrong..." A playful smile started to grow across his muzzle again, "You're all stupid, you all need this stuff spelled out for you, and the bottom line is this: if I love you, then it's my job to make sure that you all know I do. So, I'm here to start with you."
Chris took Matt's other paw and drew him closer, their bodies and muzzles inches from one another, and the ottercoon, unable to control the smile splitting his muzzle, didn't say a word. He wasn't interested, in the slightest, in cutting his lion off; he wanted to hear every word of this. For Chris, they may have been together for eight months, but for Matt, this night was their first...and he'd been waiting for it for too long.
Chris touched their noses together and began, "Eric Matthew Cameron...I want you to be my boyfriend. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to help me raise my son..." He paused and corrected himself, "Sorry...our SONS. I want this house to be our home, your and Luke's pets to be OUR pets, and this crazy cavalcade of gay teenagers we can't seem to escape to be our family. And when they're grown and gone, I want to sit around here getting old with you. And what I mean by all of that...is that I love you, Matt, and that I'm sorry if I ever made you think otherwise."
Tears forming in the corners of his eyes, Matt jerked forward, not giving Chris the chance to make the first move. He pressed his lips hard against his boyfriend's and wrapped his arms around his neck, holding them as close together as he could. And the lion showed no signs of complaint, gripping his boyfriend's hips and slipping his rough tongue into the ottercoon's muzzle.
After a long moment, Chris broke the kiss, but didn't pull away, his paws still on Matt's hips, and Matt's arms still around his neck, "That good enough?" The cat smiled, pressing his forehead against his boyfriend's.
"You're really good at this stuff when you try, you know that?" Matt smiled back.
"Am I?"
"Spectacular, really! In fact..." The ottercoon raised an eyebrow and widened his smile deviously, "I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear your speech for the boys, tomorrow! You know? When you tell them how much you...LOVE them, too."
Chris's smile disappeared, "You're gonna' record it, aren't you?"
"Don't tempt me." Matt winked.
The lion chuckled, nuzzling his ottercoon and planting another small kiss on his lips, "I love you, Matt."
Matt nuzzled back and drew himself closer in the hug, his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, "I love you, too, Chris."
"Nice to hear?"
"Almost as nice as it is to say..."
~
There we go! The soap opera, Forbidden, has come to an end!!
FULL SERIES CREDITS
* Starring: F. R. Borealis as Eric Matthew Cameron Riddick Dumar Eden Alexander Collin Moen Reinao Duncan Joshua Porter "Tanya" Tantyana Salnikov Fuller Peter James Moen Cheyenne Rivers Eden Terrence Diego the Coyote and Various Extras, including the original Lucas Joseph Trammel Cecil B. North as Jasyn Aiden Fuller Lucas Joseph Trammel Christopher Phillip Eden Sirrus Ex Machina Kevin Michael Terrence Fray the Snow Leopard Michael William Terrence Sebby the Lion Liska the Foxcat Lance the Badger and Various Extras including the original Reinao, and one-time as Alexander Collin Moen *
Cecil was a writer here as well, back in the Yiffstar days. If you want to check out the stuff he wrote back then, go ahead and look him up. His username on here is: Cecil_88
Special thanks as well to Emerald Cistern and Tossican for working as our Betas during the original release years ago, Emerald Cistern (again) for the fan art of Forbidden, and Hammerfist for recently proofreading AoY 17 for me.
THE END
Thanks for reading!
I welcome any feedback! Comment or PM me here, or email me at frostborealis[at]gmail.com
See you this December: for the Christmas Special! And keep an eye out for my next story: "The Eye" ^.^
I'll post a journal soon with what the future holds.