Somebody That I Used to Know
#57 of Hockey Hunk Season 4
Hello, sweetpeas!
How are you doing? It's Hockey Hunk time, and I hope that I'm delivering another good chapter today - I've been having a lot of fun writing, which is a bonus, and I hope that it shows - even if it usually leads into some harrowing Gruffhangers in the end... *chuckle*...but it's all in good fun! I promise!
Ramblings aside, I hope you'll have a fun read, and that you'll comment, vote and fave - all feedback is always appreciated, and it will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well.
Cheers!
*
"...no I don't know...no, I'm not sure...I know there've been rumors but...you know, you never know..."
_ _
The wolf's voice rumbled down into almost a mumble, and I could almost imagine the expression on his face...a slight frown, maybe, and possibly rubbing his side or his muzzle...if I could only see him...
"...but really, I never thought he was gay too, dude...wonder if anyone else knows here..."
_ _
I softly grabbed the edge of a nearly shelf and poised myself to listen extra carefully. I tried to block out of the sound of blood rushing, because my heart was thumping like mad, as I eavesdropped on the fratwolf. I knew he was behind this shelf...hidden from view only by the rows of books...maybe he was only two yards away from me...in his own little world...speaking his own secrets...
By God if they were my secrets, too...
"...no, I haven't asked..."
_ _
Asked what exactly, I wanted to yell, possibly grab the wolf's shoulders and shake the very words out of him.
"...that'd be so embarrassing, dude..."
The wolf chuckled a little, a snuffling laugh that made me grimace. What was so hilarious about whatever or whoever they were talking about? Was this a dirty little secret they were snickering about like a pair of schoolboys (cite: Case The Big Book of Penises), and the topic was someone's alleged...or was it now confirmed homosexuality?
"...oh, stop, dude..."
_ _
Dude...dude...who was this dude? It was easy to come to a certain kind of a conclusion in that regard, but...surely Mason had other friends besides the one who could have earned a living as a butt model...
"...no, I'm not gonna just walk up and ask him, lol..."
_ _
Lol...what the hell, Mason, you were talking with someone on the phone, not texting...
"...but yeah, I'll pop by a Seven Eleven or something on my way, I'll bring the chocolate I promised...yeah, of course I will...yeah...hah, dude, yeah, of course I look forward to trying that new position, I've been looking at stuff to make sure...yeah, yeah, of course I've got them, in my bag...yeah, dude...hah...yeah, okay, see you soon, Haakon, see ya!"
_ _
My muzzle was probably hanging a bit open by the time I heard a soft beep that signified that the phone call had ended...terminated with a flick of the wolf's paw...he might've as well hit some sort of a button that stopped my heart or something.
What on Earth was all this, then? What was Mason going on there?
Or more importantly, who were they going on about there? It had to mean...they were talking about someone, someone who was gay, someone they didn't know was gay before...
Haakon knows...
_ _
The thought was obvious...he knew...of course he knew, he'd seen straight through my attempt at "old college buddy to Victor", and he had confronted me about it...but he had promised to not to tell anyone...
...so had he told Mason? Had he spilled the secret to the wolf, the very good friend who, by the sounds of it, was going to bring chocolate and...oh, God...enthusiasm for 'trying out a new position' for his meeting with the lynx...this was just too much...
I made a face. Outing someone was really the one thing you should never do to a fellow Gaymerican, it simply wasn't done...not even for what probably was just a cheap laugh over "Did you know that Rory is gay too and in the closet about it?"
_ _
Maybe add another "lol" and then another chug from the red kegger cup...
It felt difficult and bad to think such about the lynx. He seemed like a nice, honest, gentle man, besides being a joy for the eye, admittedly. It just didn't feel like something he'd do, besides maybe as a drunken mistake, as my mind was bound to think, considering how many times Mason had seemingly nursed a hangover acquired from a booze-filled party with the European cat...so maybe he'd slipped...
Or maybe I was blaming Haakon pointlessly. Maybe Mason had just figured it out on his own and was now sharing the giggle-worthy fact with his boyfriend...surely amused by the idea that he worked with the Amazing Invisible Gay...
Or...maybe just...
"...Rory..."
I almost crashed against the shelf. My claws snapped against the steel of the shelf, certainly, brought out of their sheaths by the clenching of my fingers. My tail must've made a great jump, too, since Mason's eyes were looking something that appeared to be to the side of me, not directly at me. The frat wolf, clad in some jeans and the red standard issue uniform shirt, stood on the end of the short aisle the two shelves made, ears perky, one paw holding what had to be his phone...
His voice sounded...well...I don't know...frat boy-like?
I snatched my paw away, as if the shelf had suddenly become scorching hot, and tried to stand upright, and proper, even if my cheeks felt flustered and I was sure my mane was bristling a little from the sudden shock of adrenaline through my body. I tried to look like someone who had just been walking along the aisle instead of leaning against the shelf and spying on the wolf, rather. I wasn't sure whether I was doing a good job or not.
"Uhmm...howdy!"
What the fuck, Rory?
Mason's tail swished the air behind him a bit while he watched me, standing there, he standing on his own side...like some sort of a stand-off, in a way, I guess, lion and the wolf, each weighting the other...or was it just me measuring him...seeing if he...if he...you know...knew?
"Hi..." the wolf replied with a certified "What the fuck, Rory?" expression, likely based on my silly greeting.
Shit. I only had seconds to prevent this from becoming weird...really...what could I do, but...yes...
I struck a bit more confident a pose...well..more like, relaxed a little from my rigid freeze by the shelf, and let my tail sway a little, to show that it was still working...that I was alright...not in any way thinking that the wolf was acting suspiciously...or that I was...
"I'm hiding," my brain decided that a conspiracy was the way to go, wherever that stupid idea came from, I wasn't sure, but a grin spread over my lips and a rueful expression followed...Mason looking at me curiously, "it's getting a bit hot and heavy up there..."
I flicked an ear to signify upstairs, and kept smiling...which possibly looked creepy...and Mason looked at me.
"Marge still freaking out?" the wolf asked, certainly aware about where I was going at.
"Yeah," I shrugged, patting my thighs with my paws, the image of a relaxed lion, possibly a heterosexual one, too, I hoped, perhaps.
"She kinda freaked out about my iPod this morning," Mason rumbled, making the absence of any hanging cables all the more noticeable now that he mentioned it.
"Well I missed that," I replied, having not been present for what must've been a true spectacle of feminine wrath. "Though she did give me a talking about the wrapping table...that's why I bolted..."
"She's really weird..." Mason shook his head.
"Her mom has that effect on her," I replied, "whenever she storms in, Marge takes it out on us."
Mason frowned.
"So it's not just...you know...the baby stuff?"
I smiled a little.
"No," I shook my head gently, "it's maybe...20 percent that, I'd say, give or take, heh."
"I kinda got the impression that her mom kinda gave it away, yeah?" Mason questioned me.
Giving away, huh...oh, Mason...
"Yeah, I suppose so," I rubbed my neck thoughtfully, hoping that it gave the right impression to Mason that I had been as surprised with the baby news as anyone else. "I mean, she didn't mention anything..."
"Yeah..."Mason replied, mirroring my gesture, too, rub rub rub and all, "pretty cool that you're gonna be the manager once she goes on maternity leave..."
Another secret.
So many secrets on the floor of this store, as of recent.
So many whispers.
"Guess it all comes down to seniority," I replied, as if trying to brush the thought aside, "I've been here longer than anyone else besides Marge, of course, and guess she just thought...and young Mr. Albrecht, too, I guess..."
"Yeah, sure," Mason nodded, "not like I thought I was gonna be the boss or anything..."
""No reason you couldn't be one day," I suggested, "If that's what you want to do..."
The wolf's whiskers waved with his sharp exhalation.
"It's not really what I have in mind for my future career, hahah," he said.
Yeah. Who does?
"Heheheh," I chuckled politely.
We stood there for a moment, not saying anything. I still felt a bit tense, and my smile was a bit forced, but at least we weren't being too strange...I thought...hopefully not...though...well...
"So what were you up to?" I asked casually, hoping that it would make it all clear. "Marge mentioned an inventory..."
"Yeah," his ears flattened, "she told me to check all the new shipments...yeah...well guess I'm almost done..."
Done enough that you can spend time with strange phone calls, yeah?
_ _
"Heheh, that's great," I said. "I was supposed to be checking up on you, actually..."
Mason scratched his chin.
"Well...uhh...am I on the clock now?"
"Naaaah," I said, trying to sound confident and carefree and maybe a bit cool, big brother style, not daddy style, NO..."I'm sure we can spend some time finishing it together so that Marge can cool off and we can go back up..."
"Hah," the wolf smiled a bit.
I clapped my paws together, determined to brush the strange feelings aside and just...well...perhaps sort this out, somehow, and maybe even...well, not to just blurt it out but...perhaps I could...test the waters...hmm...
"Let's get it done then!" I enthused. "And maybe we can catch a cup of a coffee or something afterwards...it's about time for a little break then, don't you think?"
"Uhm....sure..." the wolf replied after a pause.
"Show me the way, then," I said, "what were you working on?"
"Uh...just these couple of boxes here..." he pointed towards the direction in which I presumed he had hidden for the phone call, "just going through that stuff...."
"I'll try to help you out as much as I can," I said.
"Thanks, dude," the wolf smiled.
We wandered over to the other side of the shelf and Mason pulled out a box from one of the higher shelves, straining a bit to do so. I reached out with a paw to give it some extra leverage, and we got it down alright.
"Just have to look through this..." Mason explained as he opened the box deftly.
It was quiet again for some time, during which we checked the contents of the box and cross-referenced it with a list Mason had on a clipboard which he procured from the shelf below, where he'd left it before...likely during the phone call...
"So!" I managed after a few moments of this. "How's your friend Haakon doing?"
That was probably foolhardy of me, I know, mentioning the lynx like that, but...dunno...maybe it could've made the wolf slip something...a fact or a clue...a hint...something...
Mason kinda...froze...upon that question, giving me a look, paws not moving...an ear flicking...but that was all, before he started running a fingerpad over the backs of plastic-wrapped books.
"Yeah, no problems," he said, "pretty busy with stuff and you know..."
Well that was the problem...I didn't know...busy making out with a fratwolf, perhaps?
"And you're no longer...you know...punchy-punchy?" I suggested.
Oh, crap. Why did Mason always make me feel a strange urge to wear a plaid shirt and give out some damn good age-old advice to my younger co-worker? Turning into my father at this age was not something I wanted to happen yet...not for a long time yet.
He gave me such a weird look, really...introspective, I guess...before he shrugged.
"It's cool," he said, "we kinda had an argument but...it was a good argument, you know?"
Yes....YES....YEEEES?
"Yeah?" I uttered.
"Well," Mason closed the box and lifted it back to its place, "we sorted things out..."
"Well that's nice," I smiled.
And maybe had some hot makeup sex to match...
_ _
"Yeah," the wolf smiled, too. "This box next, you gimme a paw?"
"Oh, sure...."
"HELLO? HELLO? ANYONE DONE THERE? WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOU, GUYS? THERE'S A MAD AFTERNOON RUSH OF CUSTOMERS HERE AND ITS ALL HANDS ON DECK SITUATION HERE!"
The shrill voice of the cougarette shattered my brain and made any further conversation impossible. I let out a good-natured huff and gave Mason a little snuffle.
"Well, duty calls for studmuffins and stud-wolves alike," I stated.
*
And did it ever...that coffee break was but a dream by the time I finally slinked into the locker room, changed, and then hurried to catch the bus to Bell's End. I was glad I didn't miss it, because that would've meant another ten or fifteen minutes before I'd enter the strange world of Peter's apartment.
We said hi, I showered, and then we sat to the kitchen table to eat a soup Peter had made...chatting a bit...just...well...being.
"Something weird happened at work today," I said.
"Yeah?" Peter glanced over to me, eyes up from his soup.
"Well, I caught Mason on the phone with someone...well...Haakon..."
"Ohhh, Haakon..." the cougar stated.
"That one, yeah," I said, "and they were talking about someone...uhh..."
I stopped stirring my own soup and then just looked at him.
"...they were talking about someone being gay, and I thought they were talking about...me..."
Peter's ears jumped a little, but the response was rather moderate.
"Were they?"
I shook my head, mane rustling about and all.
"Well I don't know," I said," It sounded like they were talking about someone they'd just learned to be gay, though they might have suspected it before...but I don't know..."
"So if two gay guys talk about another guy who's gay...that makes you worried because...?"
I snuffled and grabbed a cracker from the little plate laid down for me and dunked it into the soup for a little moment and then bit off the savory half. It was enjoyable...there was some curry in it, I could tell.
"It just feels weird," I shook my head," And I can't even really ask, because then I might accidentally spill the beans and..."
"And that'd be weird because you think it's none else's business who you screw with," Peter finished the sentence for me, matter-of-factly.
"Yeah," I made a face despite a muzzleful of good in there.
"You stress too much about nothing," Peter replied, going back to his own soup.
"Guess I do," I huffed, chewing on the slowly disintegrating cracker. "It's just so strange...I mean...I don't know..."
"You worry too much," Peter repeated before he slurped on a spoonful of soup.
I swallowed hard.
*
Well, talking with Peter did help. He told me to relax and not jump into conclusions...which did help to a degree. I still couldn't get that nagging feeling away for good...but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I still felt a bit uneasy when I went over to my bedroom and turned on the computer...ready for my nightly chat with Victor...that'd be sure to cheer me up! I felt nice over the talk with Peter, too. We'd actually talked, not sulked...not...not being things we shouldn't be. We did arguing so badly...it didn't work at all between us. We knew each other too well and were too protective of one another to really get a constructive shouting match going. We only ended up feeling like wanting to cry and...stuff.
No crying now. I was sprawled on the bed and the computer felt warm over my thighs, Facebook was loaded up and I was simply waiting for Victor to show up. It varied a bit, when he'd come over, usually depending on just how elaborate a meal Cobb had cooked up tonight. I almost felt envious for that. Peter's food was great but chef Cobb...now that was something else altogether.
Envious of Cobb...what next?
Hmmm...find out which flavor of ice cream you would be...a new character quiz shared by my mom on Facebook...
Pop! The little window appeared on the corner of the window. My ears perked happily.
Haakon Kjerulf says: Wassup?
_ _
Oh my goodness....
Well wasn't it the man of the hour, that was, the recipient or possibly the original caller of the telephone conversation I had witnessed one-sided...much to my confusion and chagrin. The keeper of my secret was now here, with me, metaphorically speaking, and I would have the perfect opportunity to clarify things...whether he'd told Mason...whether...whatever was going on...oh...could I? Would it be weird? Would he react badly? He had promised not to tell, after all...how could I explain that I knew that maybe Mason knew? Damn...I had to buy time...
Rory Gliese says: Evening! Just relaxing, thank you! You?
_ _
Hmmm...wonder if he was being busy with a wolf...I mused, and told myself not to think about the ways they could get busy with...
Haakon Kjerulf says: Oh, just listening to this song over and over again, hahah, it's an ear worm.
_ _
He had attached a YouTube address to the post. A quick click brought out a...what was this...a strange, plucky tune and ...was that a guy's naked leg...
Rory Gliese says: What is this?
_ _
I asked the lynx just as the shaggy-haired guy started to sing about a certain kind of sorrow.
Haakon Kjerulf says: It's something that just came out, it's a really new video, I've listened to it like ten times today, heheh, it's so catchy!
_ _
So why was that guy being painted on in strange stop motion with crayons? Surely that was a bitch to get off the furs...
Rory Gliese says: Sure looks original, at least.
_ _
Haakon Kjerulf says: It's great!
_ _
Rory Gliese says: Well it's kinda...modern, I guess.
_ _
Haakon Kjerulf says: Hahah, Rory!
_ _
I was a hahah now? Hmmm...
Rory Gliese says: Long time no see, I guess.
Haakon Kjerulf says: Been really busy, heh.
_ _
Getting busy by any chance?
Rory Gliese says: Aren't we all?
_ _
Haakon Kjerulf says: Well I guess
_ _
Rory Gliese says: At least you've got time to watch this video over and over again.
_ _
Now there was a girl there, too, naked, and covered in paint. I wondered whether Goggy had contributed somehow to this...as weird as the thought was.
Haakon Kjerulf says: Well not just this one...thought this one might interest you too, dude..."
_ _
Why did they insist on calling me a dude? There was another YouTube link there...which probably was another...hmm...viral video - yes? - which he liked to share...likely simply because they were meant to be sent forward to all your friends and the like...
I did click the link, though, obediently, and another video loaded up...the momentarily blackness replaced with a familiar, striped, bespectacled face.
"Hello, everyone," that same, familiar voice greeted me, quietly, "I'm Lord Mistwillow, and...I would like to tell you all that it does get better."
_ _
The title of the video said: "IT GETS BETTER - LORD MISTWILLOW 7/9/2011"
*
Thank you for reading my story!
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See you on Monday!