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Hi, every-body! This here is Free Association, Episode 9! Wow, we're almost into double digits! I'm beginning to think I did not forsee how much this project would develop. We're still nowhere near halfway through the story I want to tell. But, that's an excellent thing, as far as I'm concerned!

So, if you're new, and you like reading about two guys being adorable and romantic and encountering a bit of drama, you probably want to head back to Episode 1.

Again, note the 'No-Yiff' tag; this one's only adult because Brad's a perv. Pervvvvvv. A sexy perv, though! If you're lusting for something more lustily... lustful... Well, you maaaaay be in luck in the near future! *wink*

...But, you also may not! You can never tell with me! MUAHAHAHAHAHA -- *cough, choke, is strangled*

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_ Thursday. _

---

The disgustingly cheerful chimes and chirping birdie noises were usually enough to get Brad out of bed. He crawled out from under the warm covers, scowling, and gave his phone an aggressive whack. "SHUT UP," he growled, and didn't care if he woke Marty up.

Brad was not the sort of guy who liked being woken up by chimes and birdies.

Which was why he used that alarm. Nothing got you out of bed like annoyance.

And once he was standing, he was standing. Keeping the phone on the other side of the room had that benefit. The wolf stretched and yawned, tail hanging stiffly. The sun was just beginning to come up outside, making the chink between his curtains a medium blueish-white.

Kitchen. Coffee.

When Marty worked the 4-noon shift, he'd always leave the coffeemaker on for his roommate. Today, though, the boar wouldn't be up until late morning; he'd stayed up late to push his sleep time back in preparation for moving to the later shift.

Brad wasn't sure how he did it. The wolf couldn't move his circadian cycle more than a couple hours in one day; both staying up late and sleeping late were all but impossible for him. When it was time to sleep, his body insisted: it was time to sleep. You did not keep a sleepy wuff from his bed, unless you wanted to deal with a cranky wuff, too.

And nine hours after it was time to sleep, it was time to wake up, whether he was ready or not. Whether he'd actually gotten all those nine hours, or not.

Of course, today, it was still not yet time to wake up, but work was work. And he really ought to not be late this morning. Brad watched the coffee drip into the carafe impatiently.

Then his brain reminded him of what he'd done last night.

Oh yeah.

A dreamy smile rising on his face, the wolf leaned on the countertop, sighing a bit. In the movies, he would have been a pretty twentysomething female, probably leaning on her windowsill and staring into empty space, eyes unfocused. Take your pick of modern-day or medieval attire.

But hell, if a princess could sigh and go all misty-eyed after a night with a suitor, why the hell couldn't Brad? Never mind that he was wearing only a pair of green plaid boxers and his fur.

Brad scratched that same fur idly; specifically the long strip of shaggier fur that ran down his chest and stomach. He murmured to himself: "Jonathon..."

Whispering his name felt nice. What a sexy name. What a sexy coon.

Boyfriend!

The whole angsty thing in the park had been stupid. Brad blushed as he remembered it. He could be such a dumbass sometimes.

Hadn't really been his fault, though. After that run-in with Wallace, he'd felt so powerless. Thinking about the schnauzer always made him feel that way.

Ding! Coffee's done.

Pouring noises. Huffing noises. Slurping noises.

Aaaah, that was better. Brad regained a hint of the wry grin that typically adorned his countenance; his eyes lost some of their slitted lethargy, and his ears magically perked up. He took another gulp, and then another, before allowing himself a more leisurely pace.

And then it was business as usual. Morning as usual. Gotta take a shower, gotta put on clean clothes, gotta brush those teeth, gotta have my bowl, gotta have cere... no, wait, couldn't start that until tomorrow, heheh. Too bad Marty wouldn't be up to be annoyed by it. Or, heck, maybe he wouldn't be in bed yet, trying to stay up late enough to not be dead at the end of his night shift! Not allowed to go to bed, forced to endure the wolf's boxer-clad rendition of agonizingly catchy songs from two years ago... A captive audience.

Bradley cheerfully sat on the couch and watched some news, the TV on mute so he wouldn't wake Marty up, holding his cereal in one paw and shoveling it into his maw with the other. So freaking delicious...

Cereal!

English today. That was a shame. And math. Bleeeehhhh. Still, the wolf found himself in a spectacular mood. Remembering a first date that had gone well was sure a good way to start your Thursday.

Speaking of Thursdays, wasn't Thanksgiving coming up here soon?

Brad frowned, spoon sticking out of his mouth comically. Yeah. Probably... two weeks. Ish. Fourth Thursday, right?

Hm. He'd have to do something about that. Maybe he could stuff turkey into his mouth with his new boyfriend. They could break the wishbone and do vaguely erotic things with cranberry sauce across the table at each other. And then curl up on the couch afterward, stuffed, and just cuddle, maybe nap a bit together.

Well, if Jonathon wasn't going home for the holiday, or something. Brad hadn't been home for a thanksgiving in...

Well, come to think of it, thanksgiving at his dad's place was about like every other Thursday in November. So, he hadn't been home for a Thanksgiving since... since he was probably about fourteen. That had been the time he'd gone down to spend it with Mom and Stan and Anika and Garrett.

Ugh. It was too early for bad memories like that one. Brad slurped his second cup of coffee and thought about a raccoon. Idle stuff. He wondered if Jonathon had been with many guys before.

About time to head out. He finished his coffee and put the empty cereal bowl in the sink. Grabbed his backpack, sans most of his school stuff - he only brought it to work so that he had somewhere to stick his phone; the back room was usually open and didn't have lockers, and he didn't like to leave his expensive gadget just sitting around back there. Even if it was old.

Speaking of phone. He went and grabbed it from the top of his dresser, flicking the thing open out of habit. Not having a physical keyboard would kill him, but there weren't many sliders on the market nowadays, and his contract was almost up... He could always stick with this one, at least, it wasn't a bad phone, and -

Vreep vreep! The phone vibrated in his paws. Hello. One new message.

Poke, poke. Jonathon Howard says: 'Hey there ;) had a great time last night'

The wolf felt his muzzle twist into a gigantic grin. His tail began a reliable, rhythmic wag, like some sort of broken helicopter.

'hey you so did I. what are you doing up so early'

He send the message, waiting impatiently for a response.

He supposed he didn't really have to leave just yet...

No, no, this was how he always ended up being late to work, dammit. Maybe not texting a cute coon, but... Brad steeled himself. Responsibul wuff hat.

Grab the jacket, shoes, lock the door, vreep vreep!

'Roommate has 8am class might snooze a bit more but thought I'd say hi since we didn't text yet how bout you?'

Brad tried not to trip down the stairs. Tried not to grin so big his jaw fell off.

Boyfriend texting!

'just heading to work now looking forward to seeing you later hawt stuff'

Heeheehee. Send. Walk across the parking lot, open the car door. Hope the monster was feeling generous; it was nearly freezing out. Every winter that this horrible vehicle continued to reluctantly start - when he really needed it to, at least - brought Brad that much closer to believing in the power of prayer again.

Vreepage.

'Me too have to take you past my dorm sometime ;)'

The wolf paused, one leg hanging out the door of his car.

Well.

'hehe hopefully when your roomie is gone for the night'

Brad stuck his phone in the cupholder, grinning with just a touch of lewdness. He'd sure like seeing that coon butt sticking out, bent over one of those familiar dorm room beds, the narrow twin kind with just enough space for your footpaws and not quite enough for your arms.

The car choked to life, and he rumbled out of the parking lot. His phone vreeped, but it would have to wait until he got to work; the wolf was a bad enough driver without texting to distract him.

He wondered if Jonathon had any kinky fetishes.

A devilish smile played about Brad's muzzle. He was up for trying something new, if his partner found it hot. Just as long as it didn't involve bodily waste products or doing anything physically or emotionally hurtful.

Dillon had had a bit of a paw fetish. Liked to have his finlike footpaws rubbed and licked, gave him a halfway-boner. Brad hadn't minded; he licked most of the rest of the shark's rough skin, too, and Dillon was a fairly clean guy, pre-med and all that. And listening to him pant and moan a little was hot in its own way. It'd been fun.

See, there, he thought about Dillon without getting all upset over it. It was a good day, when that could happen.

He wondered if Jonathon liked being on bottom.

Brad found himself topping more than the other way; it was just easier, and more familiar. He was a good top. It felt natural. But that wasn't to say he hadn't enjoyed being bent over one of those dorm beds himself, in the past. Brad could fuck just about anyone - and for a while after Wallace, he'd done a good job of testing that. None of those guys had earned the right to his tail, though. When he could trust a guy enough for that... it felt really nice. At least, as long as they were gentle about it.

That line of thought conjured up images of the short coon boy hunched over him, in some generic dorm room setting. Jonathon, naked and fluffy, moaning as he buried his dick under the wolf's tail.

Brad shifted around in his seat, suddenly finding his boxers extremely constricting. He blushed a little. He wondered what that would feel like. He wondered what sex with the procyonid would be like.

He wondered what Jonathon's cock would feel like in his mouth.

Hoo boy. It was gonna be another looong day at work.

He pulled into the parking lot, climbed out of the car, adjusted his raging erection so it was less conspicuous. He grabbed his phone and backpack, flicking the former open as he walked across the lot.

'Of course XD he goes home for whole weekends often enough'

Oh geeee that would be good. Not that Brad didn't have his own bedroom and an accommodating roommate. Not to mention a bed designed to fit more that 80% of an adult in it.

Pillowtop!

Maybe he could advertise it to the raccoon like that, heh. Every dorm resident would kill for a real bed, right?

'keep me posted lol. kay at work boss is strict about phones :[txt you later :]'

Click, phone in backpack. Brad strode into the storeroom two minutes ahead of when he needed to be there. Take that, Jane!

He didn't see the equine boss-lady around, though, so he'd have to make a brisk trot out to the store proper if he wanted his well-earned commendation. Or, knowing Jane, more likely a lecture on how following normal rules did not earn you a commendation.

Sigh. Brad threw on his apron and stuffed his backpack behind the desk housing the main stock computer.

He wondered if Jonathon minded pulling out. Having a guy's cum squirting all over his face was just an incredible feeling. Some stupid combination of empathetic pleasure, and an awestruck 'Wow...', and a rather proud 'I did that.' Hot and sticky and musky, all in his headfur and stuff, mmmh.

Seriously, Bradley, he grumbled, walking through the booze section in the back of the store. Do you want to have a stiffy all day?

He could do without drippy boxers and funny looks from Eric when he caught the smell. Today, at least, heh. Tuesday had been a good one.

The red panda was manning a register already, yawning and doing some sort of configuration stuff; he was responsible for keeping the old register computers in working order, in addition to the usual checkout responsibilities. "Morning, Brad," he offered.

"Hey there," the wolf replied. "Seen Jane anywhere?"

"She's around." Eric grinned a little. "I'll vouch that you were here on time today."

"Heh, well, I just figured she'd want me to stock something before I hit the checkout line, but thanks."

And thus began another very boring day at work for one very horny wolf. The incessant beeping of the barcode scanner. The chsh-chsh-chsh of shopping carts on the tiled floor. People muttering to themselves about toilet paper and ketchup. It was just him and Eric on registers all day, which Brad preferred to stocking shelves, for sure. Brad did sacking most of the day, since it was quiet, occasionally chatting with the ailurid between customers. He didn't know Eric as well as Daniel, despite the fact that Eric had been there longer than he had, and Daniel had only started working this year.

Daniel would probably be in this afternoon again. Like usual. Great. The dragon hadn't said a word to him yesterday afternoon. Not that that meant much; the teenager wasn't paid to have good conversations with his co-workers.

Eric's flicking, stripy tail reminded him of Jonathon and it was torture. The red panda's ass wasn't quite as nice as the raccoon's, but Eric had his back to the wolf most of the day. With some ogling, and some imagination...

Aprons were really great for concealing erections. Brad had to give them some credit for that. On the other hand, Wallace had been wearing an apron last night. So that was a big point in their disfavor.

Speaking of Wallace. What the hell was with that cryptic text message? Brad huffed when he remembered it; it represented another obligation. Something else he had to deal with. And good mood or none, Brad really didn't want to voluntarily walk into the same room as the schnauzer any time in the near future.

He shouldn't dwell on things he couldn't solve right now, anyway. Brad hopped off at two and headed back to the back room, growing apprehensive when he saw a certain pair of pointy, gold-scaled ears surmounting a stripe of jet-black fur, poking over the filing cabinet beside the apron rack.

"Hey, Daniel," he said casually.

"Hi, Brad!" the highschooler replied, equally casually.

A few seconds of awkward silence, as Brad undid his apron.

"Uh, school going all right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Good enough, I guess," Daniel chuckled. "Kinda ready to just be done with it, though."

"Senioritis so soon?"

"Heh, I guess, yeah."

Brad grabbed his backpack. "Well, just don't play too many of those video games, and you'll be done soon enough. Or, at least, done with one pain in the ass and on to the next..." Christ, he sounded like an old fart already. He sounded like Mr. Harwood across the hall, going on about how he'd been in college once too.

"Heheh, yup." The dragon awkwardly reached behind himself to tie his apron. "Oh, that reminds me, I was up your way yesterday, but I didn't know exactly when you were on campus, or I would've said hi."

"When's that?"

"Yesterday evening. Went up to campus to go to the fall expo, mostly for the video game tournament, heheh. Did you go?"

Brad shook his head. "Nah, I don't really do that sort of stuff on campus any more..." He figured Daniel didn't want to hear that he'd been on a romantic date with a romantic guy, at that particular time. "I don't have class after work on Wednesdays, anyway, so I just go home."

"Ah."

"Did you take... uh, whatserface. The one who buys Mountain Dew and flirts with you."

"Oh, Loren? No, heh." The drake scratched the back of his neck, ears flicking back. "We, uh, ended up... she's with someone else."

"Oh. Sorry." Brad frowned. "I guess I haven't seen her in a few weeks."

"Yeah, we're still friends, she's in my chemistry class."

Brad nodded, hoping the conversation wouldn't turn to -

"By the way, how're things with you and...?"

Shit.

"Uh. Okay." Come on, Brad, it won't be awkward if you don't make it awkward! "We, um, went on a date last night."

"Cool, how'd it go?"

"Pretty good." Brad shrugged. "We're... gonna try the whole relationship thing, I guess."

"Cool!" Daniel gave him what seemed like a legitimate smile. "That's... nice to hear."

"Heh, thanks."

Wham. Awkward silence. Brad was stalling by the timeclock, unsure if the conversation was over; Daniel was fiddling with his apron, clearly at a loss as to how to continue it.

Brad gulped. Time to cut his social losses and escape. "Uh, well, I've got to run. See you around."

Daniel nodded. "Better hit the floor, then. See ya." He darted around the filing cabinet with a small smile; Brad punched out and walked briskly out of the storeroom.

See, there, he told his still-thudding heart and elevated adrenaline levels, It turned out all right!

The wolf scoffed and shook his head. Apart from his uncanny ability to destroy seemingly normal attempts at conversation, he couldn't honestly say that things were going badly with the young reptile, since Tuesday. Sure beat the hell out of the precedent, for heterosexual co-workers. Still, he wondered how long the two of them would be able to tolerate this palpable tension that sprung up whenever the wolf opened his mouth, or the drake failed to do so.

Hell, maybe it would be better to just have the awkward 'What do you think about this stuff?' conversation? Maybe tomorrow, or Saturday, when they'd have longer than a few moments in the back room to talk. It wasn't as though Brad didn't have experience with that conversation, too. Even with using it to try and break out of an awkward cycle.

The wolf smirked as he climbed into his car. He'd done it to Marty, a long time ago. Being put on the spot like that had given the boar a jump-start Brad had never seen the like of. Or, at least, he'd come to some conclusions about sexuality in general, that Brad wasn't sure he would have reached, if he hadn't had a gay best friend who couldn't keep his damn fussy maw shut when he was worried somebody was uncomfortable with him.

Ah, Marty. Thinking of the boar back then made Brad smile a little. He'd sure changed, since they'd been freshmen and Brad had been newly and madly in love with a certain schnauzer. Brad liked to think he had a little bit to do with that. At least, with the boar's progressive mellowing. Marty hadn't gotten really worked up about something in years; he was calmer now, no longer crippled by anxiety and a positive feedback loop of self-doubt.

Yeah. The wolf liked to think he had something to do with that.

It was interesting, from a psychological perspective - now that Brad was studying such things, he found himself often looking back at past interactions and seeing them in a strange new fashion.

That went for himself, too.

Ironic, wasn't it, that he was studying psychology? When he probably needed a shrink himself, with all these damn issues that he couldn't sort out? Rising up, controlling him... almost ruining things like his relationship with Jonathon, just as it was beginning to take flight...

The wolf snorted. Not ironic. More like ridiculous. Wasn't he supposed to know what to do about stuff like this, as a 'psychologist'?

"How does it make you feel, being unable to pick yourself up?" the wolf growled to himself, mocking. "Being powerless? Maybe if you weren't such a fucking idiot, you'd know what to do; they teach you how to fix people's heads, don't they?"

Ah, hell, one thing he did know was that self-deprecation wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Fucking Wallace. He was going to have to do something about that, too. The wolf whined, merging onto the highway. He didn't want to talk to Wallace. What the hell did Wallace want to talk to him for? He didn't want to, he didn't want to.

And yet...

...on some level, Brad did recognize that four years and counting was too long to spend torn up by one failed relationship. Or several. He ought to have done something about this years ago; hiding from it wasn't going to help him any more than calling himself an idiot.

Which, he was an idiot. A fucking idiot. You know, just to be clear on that.

The wolf breathed out slowly. Seriously, Bradley. You have a boyfriend now. You have Jonathon. You can't let this shit affect that; he deserves better than some miserable loser who spends all his time pining over other men.

"Alright. Fine," Brad growled at his steering wheel. "If Wallace wants to talk, I'll fucking talk." He didn't know if it would help, but it seemed to be the right step to take at this point. Maybe if he could talk to Wallace, he could get over Wallace.

Not talking to him sure hadn't done him any miracles. Plan B, maybe. But as far as the wolf was concerned, his erstwhile boyfriend could still just go right on and fuck himself.

It sure didn't help, being able to remember when they'd first gotten together and Marty had been a mutual friend. Being able to remember... feeling that way, about the swishy little dog.

He'd been so fucking in love with that dog. It hurt. It hurt, to remember it.

How he felt about Jonathon... was nothing in comparison, to how he had felt about Wallace. He knew that, intellectually. And yet, now he was with Jonathon, and could feel all these intense, complicated things about the raccoon... and where those stronger feelings for Wallace had once lain, there was only ash and wounds. He didn't feel anything for Wallace anymore, and that hurt almost as much as losing him had. It hurt, knowing that Wallace had shown him how strongly one fur could feel about another... and then had taken that feeling from him.

And that's why Jonathon deserves better than you, the wolf told himself. If you want to feel like that, if you want him to feel like that. So you need to be better, if you want to keep him.

Brad wanted to keep him.

---

I try not to let my characters lapse into musing so often, because it's so easy to write pages and pages of "Whut?". But, I let Brad do it this time, because he seemed to have some things to say, and given all that he's been through so far it seemed fair. Promise it won't happen too often in this series; I'm trying to make it more plot-driven.

Though, if you like musing like the last bit there, you'll probably like Where There's No Frost (Part 1), another story of mine. Shameless self promotion! And if you've already read ole Frostie over there and want moar, well, I haven't written it yet! Be patient! So there! :P