{"sf1_id":563880,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Coping with Chaos","author":"DarkSoulsSauron","words":1654,"posted_at":"2013-07-16T04:28:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Bathroom","M/M","ninetales","pokemon"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/563880-coping-with-chaos","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/563880","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=563880\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Eli paced up and down his new apartment in downtown Kansas City, sipping from a can of coke and ruminating on\nmany things at once. Firstly, he forced himself to scrap and restart\na time consuming pen and ink piece. It was just too ugly to be\nsalvaged. Soren would have disagreed, but he was too nice about Eli's\nwork. He wasn't objective. Soren was on his list of things to worry\nabout too. It was 9pm, he was over three hours late, and he had not\ncalled at all today. On top of that, his parents sent him an email\nand asked if they could plan a visit. His ears perked up as he heard the keys\nturn. He placed his coke on the kitchen counter and went to get the\ndoor. Soren staggered in, his eyes and ears were drooping and he\nlooked completely exhausted. He dropped his backpack and coat by the\ndoor, not hanging them up, and kicked off his shoes. Such simple\nactions seemed to take an extreme amount of energy and willpower to\ncomplete.\"Shit,\" said Eli, \"What the hell\nhappened to you?\" Eli rarely swore, in contrast to Soren, who had a\nsailor's tongue. However, Soren's state was so severe it seemed to\nmerit it. \"What happened at work? And why were you out of touch?\"Soren flopped onto the couch, his nine\ntails fanned beneath him, his limbs splayed at odd angles as he was\ntoo exhausted to care about sitting like a normal fox. \"Chaos,\"\nsighed Soren. \"Utter chaos. The lab was turned upside down, and I\nwas in the middle of it.\" Eli slipped between Soren's arms and\nbegan to arrange them so Soren would be able to sit more comfortably.\n\"What happened,\" he asked as he laid his head on Soren's\nshoulder. Soren growled lowly, appreciating Eli's soft touch. It was a balm on the mental injuries inflicted by one of the worst Mondays of all time.\"Some people broke into the lab last\nnight. Over the weekend,\" sighed Soren, speaking as though the mere\nthought of the subject caused him physical injury. \"They destroyed\nour security hardware then broke all the test subjects out of the\ncages and let them loose. On top of that, they smashed the computers\nwith our data. Three years of testing. Down the drain.\" \"Weren't your subjects just white\nmice,\" queried Eli, stroking Soren's shoulder. It was tight and\ntense.\"Exactly,\" sighed Soren, \"they\nhave a lifespan of three years at the most and they likely just\nwalked out the door and got snatched up by predators. Meanwhile, we\nneed to compensate for loosing all our subjects, and it took us at\nleast six generations for us to get the genes right, and then two\nmore to get enough subjects. Then, all our data was ruined, except\nfor a few back up disks that they missed.\" \"Is that what kept you so long,\"\ninquired Eli, \"the break in?\" \"Partially,\" sighed Soren. \"But\nit got worse. Internal Affairs thinks it was an inside job. The\nidiotic intruders managed to get around all of our security measures.\nNow they are interrogating everyone from the bottom up. Since I am\none of the newer guys, they dragged me in and drilled me about any of\nthe security info I knew, as well as where I was in the building for\nthe past two weeks.\" \"But you're just IT,\" murmured Eli,\nrubbing Soren's shoulders again. \"You keep the computers running.\nYou weren't let in most of the highest level labs.\" \"Yeah,\" groaned Soren, his head\nthrobbing from the days work. \"But I think they are right. It must\nhave been an inside job, and they had to start somewhere. The\ninterrogation took most of the morning, and then they had me running\nacross the building trying to work on the computers and to restore\ndata. Sorry I didn't call. I forgot to charge my phone, and I they\ndidn't give me two minutes peace anyway.\" Eli slid his hands across Soren's face\nand got off the couch. \"Do you want me to make you something to\neat? I know its late.\" asked Eli. \"Thanks, but no thanks,\" said\nSoren, getting up. \"It's a nice gesture, but we don't want to set\noff the fire alarm again. I ate my lunch in the car.\" Eli blushed a bit, but he knew Soren\nwas right. He couldn't boil water without burning it. If Soren wasn't\nsuch a kitchen whiz, he would be living off ramen noodles. \"they\ndidn't let you eat lunch? That's harsh.\" \"I'm just glad today is done,\"\ngroaned Soren. \"I need to relax a bit and turn in early. I'm beat.\"Soren staggered his way to the\nbathroom. Eli's new place had a damn good bath and a really\nsnazzy shower. They were both large, luxurious, and high tech. Eli\nhad a thing for nice showers and the like, and he had spent a fair\nchunk of cash to make the bathroom the best room in the apartment. He\nreally needed a good soak. Soren decided on the bath this time.\nLetting the water run until it was scalding, he perused Eli's\nextensive collection of bath supplements until he found his personal\nfavorite, bubbles laced with scents of strawberries and coconut. He\nlet the sweet fumes waft over him as he undressed, and slipped in,\nenjoying the view of the city through the bathrooms tinted windows.\nHe closed his eyes. His whole body was tensed up, and even the\nluxurious bath wasn't helping. After about five minutes, Soren smiled\nas a number of sounds reached his ears. He heard the creak of a door,\nthe rustle of fabric, and a small splash as a slight and slender paw\nbroke the surface. Eli slid down on top of Soren, his soft body\nrubbing on his wet fur. Soren smiled as Eli's arms snaked under his\nand reached up behind him, massaging his shoulder and neck.\"Thanks,\" sighed Soren, finally\nstarting to relax a bit as Eli's soft hands moved across his\nshoulders, squeezing lightly. He felt a soft kiss on his cheek. He\nhad hoped that Eli would join him, but felt too awkward to ask.\"You should have just asked,\"\nwhispered Eli, as though he could read minds. \"Sorry,\" said Soren, breathing in\nthe scent of Eli's body and the sweet bubble bath. He adjusted his\nhead so that the bottom of his muzzle rested between Eli's ears. \"it's\njust still a bit weird for me to be living here. We've only been\ntogether for four months.\" Eli broke apart for a muzzle to muzzle\nkiss, then returned to his position under Soren's head. \"Not\nreally,\" he said with a giggle. \"We were dating for about five\nyears. It was just that neither of us noticed until a while ago.\" \"You think your parents are gonna buy\nthat,\" queried Soren, sounding anxious.\"Oh, so you read that email,\" said\nEli, not angry at all. \"Yeah,\" said Soren, a bit guiltily.\n\"I saw something from your father when you left your laptop up. The\nsubject was about a visit, and I wanted to know details. I wanted to\nbe aware of any logistics. And he's such a hard ass sometimes, I\nwasn't sure how he would take us living like this.\" Soren never really got to meet Eli's\nparents. He heard stories and had seen them across the campus some\ntimes, but never said anything besides a quick \"hello\" and\n\"goodbye.\" Eli's dad, an austere Houndoom lawyer, was forever in\na jet black suit, and his mother, a very pretty Ninetales, was\ndefinitely where Eli got his creative talent, if Eli's stories were\ntrue. Eli groped behind him and found a\nbottle of body wash. He put a liberal amount into his hands and began\nwash Soren's silver fur, massaging him into a more relaxed state.\n\"He's mellowed out now that I am doing well as an artist. He was\nreally stressed about me not being able to support myself with just\nmy painting. But we can cross that bridge when we get there,\" said\nEli calmly, working on Soren's chest now. Soren sighed in contentment, wrapping\nhis arms around the back of Eli, content to hold him as he worked. He\nkissed the top of his head a few times, tasting the sweetness of his hair, longer\nnow than before. They lay there for at least an hour, chatting about\ninconsequential things. That was a benefit of being a fire type: the\nwater was always hot. Eli was doing his best to keep Soren's mind off\nof work. Eli kissed Soren and growled sensually as he\nreached down below the water, running his hand down Soren's chest.\"Not tonight sweetheart,\" sighed\nSoren with regret, even though he really did want it. \"I'll be called to go in early\ntomorrow. I'll bet you money. I should have gone to bed before now.\"\nHe kissed Eli on the muzzle again, reaching up to stroke his face. Eli gave Soren his best disappointed\npout. \"Are you sure?\" Soren kissed Eli on the\ncheek, wishing he could take him up on his offer. \"I'll make it up\nto you this weekend,\" he whispered, \"an all-nighter if you want.\"Eli grinned. \"Deal,\" he said after\nhe finished kissing Soren on the muzzle again. The two foxes stepped out of the bath,\ntoweling each other dry. Not even bothering to redress, they slipped\ninto the bed they shared, holding each other. Soren was out cold, but\nEli stayed awake for a bit, stroking his tails. His\nhead was still running through his other two problems, not to mention\nhis new worry that another day like today would really run Soren into\nthe ground. But he shook himself a bit. Shit happens. He smiled a bit in anticipation of the weekend, and soon\nhe was asleep, his head on Soren's chest, their arms wrapped around\neach other. "}