Parlor Talk
#36 of Free Association
Brad's working on his paper. An appointment follows. Information is juggled. Marked adult, tagged No-Yiff, 3064 words.
Hey there, folks! Welcome to Free Association, Episode 36! If you're new, hightail it back to Episode 1 and have fun!
Cover art is once again courtesy of my darling boyfriend :iconFrosted_Fur: , who is absolutely amazing and awesome and fantastic. I thought there was going to be a Jonathon in this episode, but then I switched things around last minute because it made more sense. Still, I love this drawing so much... It's just a perfect rendition of him, so I didn't want to wait until a Jonathon chapter to post it. Be sure you go and appreciate the original lots! :3 Jon!
_ Saturday. _
"Well... I guess if you want to do it about the Miller pieces we could always - "
"Fuck Miller," Brad grumbled, scratching his neck. He hoped he didn't smell too much like raccoon... They'd taken a shower together this morning, but then Jonathon's cock had started poking out kind of a lot, and Brad's followed suit rapidly, and before they knew quite what was happening, Brad was on top and Jonathon was making those cute orgasmic squeaks he did...
Guess it was catch-up after last night, when they'd been in too cuddly a mood to do more than gently rub each others' penises under the blankets... Though Brad had to say, Jonathon sure had a nice way with knots, considering he didn't have one... Brad didn't shiver like that when he was getting himself off. Or whimper. Like, at all.
Mortimer frowned, doodling in the margin of his notebook while his bare footpaws waved above his bed. "Well, it's that or this one about motifs..."
"Miller it is, then."
They were in the younger canine's dorm, Brad in his usual leather jacket and jeans, the dobie in his usual too-large shorts and shirt. The wolf didn't know how Mortimer could stand wearing something that light when it was this cold outside... but apparently the dog was made of tougher stuff. The dobie's roommate, a light-furred gray mouse with several piercings, seemed almost to have more in common with Brad than his partner... at least, if the music blaring from his headphones was any indication.
Still... The dog at least made great eye candy.
What, like he was supposed to ignore those perfect hemispheres of contoured muscle underneath that waving, excitable tail? The lumps of raw masculine mass surmounting Mortimer's shoulders, his lean and defined thighs, his perfect pecs, sculpted six-pack? It was clear from a distance that the dobie wasn't a bodybuilder, he was too tall and skinny, didn't have the right proportions. But up close, given enough time to examine the guy... He clearly put quite a bit of effort into his physique, all the same.
Made Brad a little uncomfortable, to find himself staring at that, and then thinking of his chubby boyfriend... Not that Jonathon wasn't cute and sexy in his own ways, not at all...
Heck, made Brad a little uncomfortable staring at that, and thinking of his own deteriorating studliness... Maybe he should ask Mortimer to be his workout buddy? ...Nevermind, that probably wasn't a good idea...
"Well, I guess it makes sense for me to do that part anyway..." Mortimer was saying. "I read that one like three times because I couldn't figure out that stupid assignment he gave us over it, so I think I've really got it down now."
"Cool," Brad replied. "I'll take the last two, then, and we can kind of hitch them up in the middle."
"Better proofread his bits extra good," the canine's roommate put in from the other bed, which was lofted. "I once asked him to check a paper I wrote and he mixed up all my 'your's and 'you're's. Also my 'yore's, it was for Middle English Literature..."
"I got confused," Mortimer mumbled, his floppy ears drooping. "I'm not a bad writer... I said I was sorry..."
On the one paw, Brad had to cringe a little, at the revelation his partner fit the 'dumb jock' stereotype fairly well... On the other, the dobie looked so apologetic and humiliated, and also... just shyly ashamed... Gee, did his roommate really have to embarrass him like that? That was kinda mean...
"Heh, it's all right," Brad rumbled, giving the dobie a surreptitious pat on the arm; he got a soft, inquisitive look in response, and a small smile. "I'm not too great with the grammars either. Or the spellings. I'll get my roommate to check it over, he's got a better head for stuff like that." Or Jonathon. The resident coony boyfriend sure seemed pretty smart, even if he was a chemistry major, not english or something...
"Okay." Mortimer carefully tore the page he'd been writing on in half, and passed one sheet to the wolf, with another smile. "There's the template we worked out for that bit."
"Cool." Brad stretched and yawned, peering at the paper... and then frowned.
"Uh... can you read it?" Mortimer asked, a little shyly.
The wolf tilted his head a bit, and then managed to catch a few familiar shapes, and nodded. "Yeah, it's fine."
Mortimer smiled at that, paws between his knees, and Brad abruptly felt uncomfortable again.
Fortunately, the moment was interrupted by his phone! Vreep vreep!
Mortimer jumped a little, and the mouse studying in the loft glanced down at them at the sharp, unexpected sound. Brad pawed at his pocket and procured the plastic pest.
"Who's that?" the mouse inquired curiously, removing the other earbud (blaring symphonic metal chords) from his round-y ear.
'Jonathon Howard: hey so when did your friend say he could hang out again?'
Brad glanced up; Mortimer was looking at him uncertainly as well, though the canine didn't seem to be brave enough to ask a question like that.
Hmm...
The big, dark-furred wolf shifted a little, tossing his mane. "Just my boyfriend," he said smoothly, ticking away a response on his keyboard.
'monday!'
Mortimer's reaction was easier to judge, as he was closer. He could almost feel the canine's eyes bugging out... surely causing the air pressure of the room to rise as they widened. He didn't say anything... but a quick glance up revealed how much he was blushing.
"Oh that's cool, how long have you guys been together?" the mouse above them asked.
"Just a couple weeks... well, nearly a month now," Brad revised, finishing his response to the coon.
'does that work okay he could probably reschedule if you need to'
"I didn't know you were... gay..." Mortimer mumbled, awkwardly, glancing between Brad and the floor.
"Yup!" the wolf said cheerfully. This one was going fairly well.
"Cool, dude," the mouse guy in the heavens drawled, dropping one paw. "I'm bi, give me five."
Brad slapped his paw with a grin. What was the guy's name again? Steven? Mortimer had taken a second to process what was happening, but then his jaw dropped a little bit, and he looked up at his roommate in bashful shock (said roommate, meanwhile, had put his earbud back in and was headbanging).
Vreep vreep!
'Oh no that should be okay just gotta schedule people :p too popular for my own good'
Brad chuckled a bit, still in the warm fuzzy state of having random strangers accept you.
I wish Jonathon could feel like this...
The thought struck him abruptly, as he glanced up at the doberman, who was now making a conscious effort to act friendly, but not too friendly, but not too not too friendly... While throwing curious and somewhat forlorn glances up at his roommate, who was completely ignoring them now... The roommate who had just high-fived a stranger with whom he had something in common...
I wish Jonathon could feel what it's like to... come out to nice people.
The raccoon sure didn't seem like he'd ever had that experience... with the way he got nervous, either he had only come out a few times, or one of his comings-out must have gone very, very wrong...
Brad could still remember when he came out to Todd... Did that count as going wrong?
Fuck, no, Todd doesn't count as anything, think of something else before you get upset.
Quick, when was the last time he'd come out, before this... Well, Ricardo, but Ricardo had known, the asshole...
Oh, that's right. Daniel. The cute dragon guy at work. His friend. Who spent weeks thereafter being all awkward about it, like an awkward awkwardness.
But Daniel was over that now. He wanted to meet Jonathon. This mysterious raccoon he'd heard so much about... Mostly by his own awkward attempts at conversation...
The raccoon he... knew was Brad's boyfriend, already...
The beginnings of an idea began to fashion themselves in Brad's brain. He'd have to talk to Daniel about it... And Jonathon, too, but separately... The raccoon would be hard to convince, he'd surely be uncomfortable...
...Still, Daniel was a nice accepting straight guy, even if he'd been a bit awkward... He was a good one to start with, right? And he did already know...
"Alright, that should take care of it," Brad rumbled, snapping his phone shut and gathering up his stuff. "I'll email you the bits as I get them done, I guess?"
"Huh? Oh, yep, sure!" Mortimer replied, with a tailwag and a distracted smile.
"Taking off already?" the mouse inquired.
"Yeah, I have work tonight and some stuff to do before then," Brad replied, with another yawn... man, he'd have to stop by the coffee shop on the way back to the car, this was kinda silly...
"Okay." Mortimer gave him a warm look... and then looked down slightly, seeming almost... guilty.
"See ya dude," his roommate offered. The remark drew the skinny doberman's attention again; he looked up, and then jerked his gaze back to the floor.
"Bye, guys." Brad gave a little wave, and left the two younger males to their own devices...
...he wondered if Mortimer was going to have a talk with his roommate, or if he'd be too shy.
None of your business, you don't even know if he's gay, butt out, wuff, you've got your own life/problems/etc.
Heh. Yeah.
He did have his own problems.
The line at the coffee place wasn't too bad, so the wolf perused the various signs and posters which adorned the walls... not quite worth it to pull out his phone and try to entertain himself. There was a big, black-furred panther up ahead of him that looked sort of like Bryan... Bryan had been shorter, though... Wonder what he was up to nowadays...
Brad yawned and ordered his usual. "Large dark mocha, whole milk, no whip, with an extra shot and some cinnamon, please."
Instructions for wuff: Insert caffeine. Turn crank handle.
He paid, and waited impatiently as students came and went around him. Wonder if I look twenty-seven to any of them, he couldn't help but grumble internally.
Ah, man, Ricardo probably deserved a break on that one.
Hahahahahaha.
"Here ya go!" a chipper salamander fellow with brilliant red coloration exclaimed, brandishing a large paper cup.
"Thanks." Bradley took possession of the beverage and strolled out of the establishment. Mr. big-Bryan-lookalike was sitting at a table near the door with a slinky cheetah girl who looked vaguely familiar... but it was still the black-furred guy who drew his eye. He really did look a lot like Bryan, that nice panther Brad had once had a thing with... Not a big thing, just a good friend, a friend who was nice to sleep next to and kiss and fuck and be fucked by... Big hunky muscular panther, a lot like this stranger, always smelled like motor oil and exhaust, wore only baggy boxers under his work overalls...
They'd had a nice time together... but when it was over, they both knew they had no reason, really, to stay. Not much in common except their mutual love of big sexy mens. They weren't in love, they were just...
The wolf sighed a little as he paced out of the union and headed back to the parking garage. What was with this strange feeling today?
Maybe it was because of where he was going...
...Probably.
It was a short drive. Nice little place... not really the classiest part of town... but that precarious balance between low-rent and respectable. That was probably what he could afford... Brad daren't ask how he was managing the money thing.
Fourth floor...
The door opened after his second round of knocking; the schnauzer smiled a little upon sighting his guest. "Hi, Brad."
"Hi, Wallace."
"Thanks for coming over," the haggard canine said, beckoning him inside. He looked like shit...
...Brad supposed he looked like Wallace, now.
"You'cn have a seat if you want... I'll make you some iced tea if you like... Oh, you have a coffee, never mind... Well, I'll make myself some, then..."
The wolf watched the other male bustle around haphazardly. The living room of the small apartment was tastefully decorated, if somewhat minimalist... White walls, pale furniture. The schnauzer's fur looked downright dirty in such a light setting, though Brad could recall it had once been a rich and gleaming mix of salt, pepper, and hints of caramel. Now it was just gray.
Brad had never been here before. It had all been dorm rooms and dodging roommates, when they were together...
"Not really used to this anymore..." the dog said, with a nervous sort of laugh. "No one ever really comes to visit me... been that way for a while, I guess. Kinda dumb. I always wanted to be an entertainer, you know... like some housewife, I guess, able to have a good social function and say all the right things and do the right stuff at the right time... Serve a cake or some shit... Stupid..."
Brad nodded at strategic moments through the canine's babbling, watching him making his tea. The dog's paws were shaking a little.
"I guess it's been like this for a while, though... Some sort of..." Wallace shook his head. "I don't know... At some point I just... there was all this classy artsy shit I surrounded myself with, and then there was me... Going to some bar every other night like it was a tradition... Kept saying I should make time to have some people over... Friends I hadn't seen in a while..."
He came and sat down across the cluttered coffee table from Brad. Orange bottles and paperwork...
"Seemed like less and less of it was worthwhile..." the schnauzer sighed. "It started a long time before... all this, I guess." He gestured at the orange bottles, prominent in the environment. "By the time all this was... a thing... I didn't really have any friends left. No one I could... really open up to, I guess. Too busy fucking the ones who'd let me and ignoring the ones who wouldn't..." He stared into his cup. "It was... probably good that you didn't know me during that time... Saved yourself some trouble..."
"How've you been?" Brad asked slowly.
"Oh... Okay..." The canine shrugged helplessly. "It's not something that really changes overnight... Just take the pills, go to the doctor and get counts done, get more pills... Watch the right numbers creep upward and the others creep downward..." His laugh, when it came, was forced. "Thanks for coming over... probably needed something to take my mind off that stuff..."
He gulped his tea. Brad sipped his coffee.
"Don't really do much in the way of hobbies or anything anymore... Heh... Can't even get into playing the Sims and color-coordinating the entire neighborhood... Such a damn waste of time, that field... All of it, I mean, my degree and all that... At least you'd think I could be doing something worthwhile..."
"One-song glory?" Brad rumbled, with a weak smile.
Wallace smiled back, just as weakly. "Nothing quite that dramatic, I'm afraid... Don't think I have it in me anymore."
"You certainly never were as dramatic as you could have been," the wolf chuckled, thinking of Ricardo.
"Heh, thanks..." the scruffy dog murmured, rubbing his nose. "Man, you know, it's almost... almost a relief, in some ways."
"What is?"
"Having this damn disease."
The wolf blinked. Wallace glanced up, saw his inquisitive frown, and shrugged helplessly.
"I mean... It was getting to the point where... I was getting so tired of the way things were, and... All the stuff that went wrong with you, the stuff I thought I wanted, the guys and the booze... It felt pretty... disappointing. It was like... is this it? Is this what I'm supposed to be enjoying?" He huffed. "At least now I know... no, it isn't. And I... I can stop. And just focus on... living, you know, re-orienting myself... Even though I probably should have done it years ago... Gotten my priorities straight..." He threw a tentative glance at his ex-boyfriend, and huffed. "I'm probably just trying to rationalize my condition... never mind..."
Slowly, Brad got up, walked around the coffee table, and sat next to the schnauzer on the loveseat. He put one arm around Wallace's shoulders, and felt the bony canine shiver.
"Thanks for coming over..." the dog said again, this time in a softer voice, more of a whine.
"Whenever you need somebody..." Brad said slowly, his voice rumbling in his chest, "You've got my number."
"It's hard doing all this stuff alone..." Wallace mumbled tremulously. "I can do it, I can, I'm strong enough, I just... it's hard..."
Brad gave him a little squeeze. "You don't have to... The people who were your friends before... if they at all deserve the title, they'll come back. And you can always make new friends. Just have to keep your chin up and be nice to people." He picked up his coffee with his free paw and took a gulp. "Hey, you know, you should come hang out with me and Marty sometime, he always liked you."
"Heh... Up until he hated my guts for what I did to you... Rightly, probably..." Wallace snuffled a little.
"All that's in the past now... Don't let it weigh you down moving forward."
The schnauzer set his tea down; his paws were shaking a bit too much to hold it steady. "You... think he'll forgive me?" he asked weakly, looking up.
Brad gave him a solemn look, all dark fur and blue eyes. "He already has."
"Y-you... told him about me?"
The wolf nodded. "He was never really that mad at you... It just came as such a shock to our friends..." He sighed a bit. "They didn't see it coming like I did."
The dog didn't reply to that. Brad resumed drinking his coffee.
I guess I won't mention that... It would be hard for Marty to stay mad at him after... what Dillon did was so much worse...
The wolf tried not to let bitter feelings consume him once more. As strange as it might have seemed a few months ago...
Wallace needed him.
Sort of an odd episode, this was... or, at least, that was the feeling I kept getting while working on it. But some fun revelations and some plot movement... I wonder if the plot changes are obvious... *quiet muahaha*.
Anyway, see you guys next week, and be sure to go appreciate my boyfriend for that awesome and adorable Jonathon up there. :3