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** Navigating the Labyrinth**

Part IV - The Unexpected

By: Rufus Quentin

For: Vickfox

"All I'm saying is that people aren't always easy to figure out," Lauren said, making a circular gesture with her red solo cup filled with a sweet mixture of purple Kool-aid and various high proof spirits. "But you can always tell a lot about a person by the crap they keep around. Seriously, there is no better psychological evaluation more accurate than a stroll through the space they live in."

"I think I know what you mean," said Victor, taking a long drink from the potent concoction, "it's like if you see leopard print, or lots of pink. Or like what they listen to, or read, you know?"

"Close," the collie continued, taking a drink herself, "but it's more specific than that. Take something more essential for example, like posters! Remember those guys that set up shop in the quad back in first week? They come with their collection of run-of-the-mill posters and pawn 'em off to students to fill the bare walls of their crappy little rooms. It's like, 'oh look, here let me express my unique identity by spending twenty bucks on something you made a hundred thousand copies of.' It all boils down to a few archetypical types, and those posters function like a highly accurate hidden code. Like when you walk into someone's room you can automatically tell how crazy they are. You know what I'm talking about; like the times you follow some hot tail home that you're not one-hundred percent sure about. All you need to do is look around and you should know when to pull out your excuse notebook and high-tail out."

"Examples?" Victor asked, slurring after another sip, the tartness of which puckered his lips.

"Take 'Starry Night'," Lauren said. "It's probably some guy who wants you to believe he is a deep, interesting, tortured artist, but doesn't know the first thing about art, nor has he ever put paint to canvas. He will probably try and leverage some 'deep-thinker' points with quotes falsely attributed to Nietzsche and lexical knowledge of 'Catcher in the Rye' to prove how smart he is. His concept of socializing is quizzing you for hours on a number of subjects, none of which exceed a 12th grade level."

"Oh my god! I know someone just like that!"

"Or take any Gustav Klimpt print. If in a girl's room, it means 'I've never had a lesbian experience, but I fantasize about it all the time.' So it's basically a green light. If it's in a boy's room, it means 'I'm still a virgin, and will probably be one for the next ten years, very much against my will.' Which makes it a red light, since they're probably also a crier."

"Who's Gustav Kimpt?" asked Victor?

"Excellent, you've just passed the first test, keep at it. Oh, and then there's that 'Melting Clocks' thing by Dahli. It means that 'I don't have the slightest clue who made this art, I picked it because it looked cool, and because I want you to think that I'm all counter-cultural, like drugs, and am more interesting than I actually am. My favorite movies are 'Fight Club' and 'Fear and Loathing', although I saw them for the first time last semester. I loosely use the term 'edgy' to describe the music I listen to, never even seen a narcotic, and never even touch alcohol because I'm underage and don't want to get caught and lose my parent's respect.'" "Nail-on-head. But what about M.C. Escher?"

"M.C Escher? It means 'I'm a math or computer science major with sub-par social skills, but that doesn't matter since I can solve poly-fractal equations in my sleep and you can't. I can explain to you how this picture is actually possible, but you wouldn't understand.' Foreplay consists of a few compliments comparing your body to non-euclidean planar models. During sex I am calculating the probability of acquiring an STD, or solving some named math equation. After disappointingly short, but let's call it efficient sex, you are shooed out of the room so they can get back to work due two months from now."

"Hey! My sex has never been efficient!"

"Oooh, looks like I struck a nerve. Duly noted."

"No, but I do have an Escher print."

"Thought so," she snickered.

"I think I know what you're saying. Let me try. A poster of any flower means, 'Guess what, I recently found my clitoris!' and if it's in a boys room, it means 'guess what, I can help you find your clitoris, but on a purely platonic level. By the by, have you ever read Orlando?'"

"Oh Vic, you don't know how right you are. On that note if you have that Chat Noir poster, you're basically saying, 'did I tell you about my first lesbian experience in France last summer? Last summer in France this French girl named Amelie, I can't remember her last name, shared a bed in a youth hostel in Provence. You remind me a lot of this young woman I met in France last summer."

"What about band posters?"

"Band posters. Watch out! Depending on genre, they can tell you if you will be domming or subbing, which can be a very useful little tidbit of information if you don't already know how things are going to end up. Sometimes it's enough to know when you ought to turn your tail around and find a way to back out, like if you see any ICP paraphernalia, or better, album art from one of those Norwegian leather bands."

"You sure it's not just a matter of taste?"

"The last time I went against my own advice, I learned a new sex move that should never have been invented. It also parallels the origin story of my safe word 'kan ikke huske.'"

"Okay, I think I've reached the point where my mind is officially fucked."

"And my favorite. 'Scarface.' As soon as their pants come off, 'Say hello to my little friend' runs through your mind and it's impossible to take anything seriously after that."

"Yea, another thing I don't want to know how you know."

"And if it's any black-border inspirational poster, he or she is basically telling you 'If you don't utter verbal positive reinforcement exactly every 30 seconds, I'm going to think I'm hurting you or am totally inadequate for you and will start to cry.'"

"Unless it says 'teamwork.'"

"Unless it says 'teamwork'," repeated Lauren with an accent of concession, "that says, next time bring enough condoms for everyone."

"Look at you Vic," said Beth as she stepped into the conversation, "schmoozing with the best of them I see. I remember when we met, you were so damn shy."

Victor watched Lauren present her cheek, which Beth kissed in a brief peck. "Well, Lauren's been doing most of the talking," he said, "I'm just keeping up."

"Still," Beth continued, "the fact that you're here. The fact that you're not riding Miles' coattails is really unusual. You've really changed a lot. We're proud of you."

"It's true," said Lauren, "and I've known you a bit longer. You're a bit more confident than back then. It's sexy. Has Miles commented on it?"

"I don't think so. Speaking of Miles, have you seen him?"

"I think he's upstairs with Allen and Carl. They fired up Smash Bros, and the last I smelt, they're passing around a joint too. You'll probably find him there all night," said Beth, rolling her eyes.

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"Nope. I'm officially off duty till January. I'm turning a blind eye on all these shenanigans, including that." Beth pointed at his solo cup. "You earned it. But be careful, more than two of those and we'll be dragging you home. Seriously, I saw them mix that shit. They weren't fooling around."

"What is it anyway?"

"Some people call it 'wop,' others 'Jungle Juice.' It's foul."

"It's sweet," chimed in Lauren.

"Yea, it's actually drinkable."

"Just watch it, that stuff kicks like a mule. Anyway, I'll catch ya guys around." Beth let her fingers pass up Lauren's arms as she strode away, moving on to chatter with the next group down the hall.

"So how are you and Miles doing?" asked Lauren. "You foxes an item yet?"

Victor shrugged, "I donno. I'm not really sure."

"Not being sure usually means no."

"I tried everything. I've talked to him, I put out all the damn time, I've given him some time. But still, not so much as a hint of change."

"So you're still looking for a relationship then? Keep in mind, these things can take a lot of time."

"Yea."

"Usually, if chick flicks are a reliable source of relationship advice, Miles just has to learn that he depends on you. We got a month of break ahead of us. Once we all settle back in, he may have figured that out from being away from you."

"I don't even want to think about the next month!"

"Tell me about it. It's going to be boring as fuck around here."

"You're not heading home?"

"I will for New Years, but we're gonna have Christmas here. There is a cluster of people here who don't have much of a home to go back to on the count of hate or awkwardness. Beth arranged a mini Christmas here last year and will arrange the same this round. You'll see once you hang around the scene long enough that families form out of the little bits and pieces due to the same necessities that 'normal' families form. People need each other."

"Yea, I'm scared to tell my family. They're old school. Ya know?"

"You actually don't have to feel obligated to tell them. Save yourself some drama. Wait until you're done with school and settled in a nice job. Wait until you and Miles are an item and have a few years together under your belts. Then you'll have something to show. There is something incredibly satisfying about proving all the people who doubt you wrong."

"Wow. I was actually considering telling them over break. Not quite sure how though."

"Don't get me wrong. There is something noble about being out to your family. But from their perspective, you'd just be a confused straight person in it for the sexual gratification. Unless you have something to show them otherwise, you're just going to be validating their stereotypes. Even then there are no guarantees. Some people were born that way."

"It's ironic you should say that."

"I am an ironic person."

"Don't turn hipster on me, babes."

"Did you just call me babes?"

"Sorry ma'am!"

"Don't call me ma'am!"

"Babes it is then."

"Dude, you kind of made me a little bit horny right now."

"I guess I should remember to call you babes."

"No, serious. That was a pretty confidant exchange right there. Confidence is sexy."

"I actually thought I offended you the first time."

"Na, you did good. You know, you've changed a lot since I first met you."

"How so?"

"A lot of little things."

"Name one?"

"Like that just now, it looks like you've come into your own. That's cute. That and you seem to be a bit more comfortable around yourself, if that even makes sense. It's hard to track." Victor shrugged.

"I'll just stop talking before I embarrass myself."

"Usually I'm the one thinking that."

"Case in point, Vic." said Lauren, taking another long sip. With Victor a little too abashed to reply, a pause of moderate awkwardness ensued. Lauren eventually spoke, "So was Miles your first?"

"Yah, pretty sure we were each other's first." Victor said, feeling his ears flush a bit from speaking on such a personal topic.

"There you have it, no one gets married after a couple of months together, unless you come from where I grew up." Lauren said, shrugging her shoulders in a gesture of implied hyperbole. "Sow some wild oats and stop trying to rush things. Enjoy yourself a little more, explore, and let things run their course over time."

"Well, that's not even legal in this state anyway." Victor smirked. "But I get what you are saying."

"Ever even kissed a girl?" Lauren asked, raising her folded ears as if out of genuine curiosity.

"Well, yeah. Of course." Victor stated, as if there were any way he couldn't have done such. "I've messed around a little, just not..." He trailed off trying to come up with less vulgar term in front of Lauren.

Lauren giggled as she watched him struggle. "Fucked, I get it. Now stop being so defensive. It was just a question."

"I'm just saying it's not like I had no experience before getting here." Victor stated in a slightly less indignant manner.

"You probably would have gotten further if you weren't so shy back then," Lauren took another drink, "and playing World of Warcraft naked in your mom's basement."

Victor gave a sarcastic stare at Lauren. "And how would you know I was naked?"

Lauren half shrugged. "I'm the last kid in a line of five boys. Trust me, I know guys. Guys always are naked when they think no one's looking."

Victor tipped his cup in her direction before taking another drink. Lauren replied with the same motions and stepped closer to Victor, standing beside him as she scanned the room. "Place is pretty full tonight, are the parties always this packed?" Victor finally asked.

"They can be, at the beginning and end of the semester everyone comes out of the woodwork, especially when free alcohol is around." Lauren stated, her shoulder bumping into his as another group started to invade their space.

Victor slid his arm behind her to keep her from falling completely into him, and to keep his own balance. "Umm, is there anywhere else we can move to? I think our spot is being annexed."

Lauren reestablished her footing and looked around. "Yeah, let's just go to my room. It's a lot quieter up there. I've wanted to show you my WoW character for a while now anyway."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "So you make fun of me for playing WoW naked in the basement, while you are doing it naked in the attic."

"Shut up," blurted Lauren expressively. "You ass! One more remark like that, and I'll kick you in the mouse! Let me grab a couple more and we'll go up." She raised her cup and motioned to the kitchen.

"Ok," Victor said. "I'm just going to hit the bathroom real quick and meet you back here."

Lauren nodded and finished her drink as she walked out of sight.

It didn't take him long to identify Carl and Allen's room on the second floor. The rather acrid smell of pot and the sounds of digital carnage, turned up perhaps a bit too loud, seemed to announce without a doubt where they all resided. Miles, Allen, Carl, and some unconscious german shepherd lounged on the floor or in bean bag chairs around the television, all eyes transfixed on the mayhem Allen was dealing to the undead. Flashes of gameplay flickered gray over the walls of the room.

"Miles!" Victor harshly whispered. "Miles!"

"Hey," Carl said, nudging Miles and pointing at the door. "It's for you."

Miles turned towards the door, not moving from his bean bag chair. "Hey, come here, you gotta see this."

Victor stood at the door and waved Miles out, giving a serious look of panic.

Carl nudged him again with a foot-paw, "Go on man, just don't take too long, you are up next."

Miles took a bit longer than usual to get to his feet and move to the hall. He squinted in the hall's comparatively glaring light. His eyes were visibly bloodshot. "What's up?" he said, with a distinctive slur.

Victor tugged Miles further back into the hall and had to steady him once they stopped moving. "I think Lauren is hitting on me. What should I do? She invited me to her room."

"Nice." Miles said with a smile.

"What?" Victor said with a bit of confusion. "What do you want me to do?"

"Man, go for it! That's not an offer you get every day, hell, I don't at least."

Victor stood silent for a moment. "What if something happens? Are you ok with that?"

Miles shrugged. "Go for it, when was the last time you had a girl invite you to her room?"

Victor stared at Miles for a moment, trying to come up with a response when he heard Carl yell, "Miles, you're up!"

Miles nose bumped Victor with an intoxicated grin and turned around, heading back into the fray of gaming. He gave a thumbs up and wink as he disappeared back into the smoke hazed room, in which someone, it was hard to tell whom, flicked a lighter against a bong. Victor stared at the door frame a moment, listening to the chatter inside and what sounded like a high-five, at least to him. He took a deep breath and turned back toward the stairs, walking slowly as he played the conversation over again in his mind.

On the way down, Lauren intercepted him, pushing a fresh solo-cup of the same sweet concoction they had been drinking into his paws. "You still coming?" She said nonchalantly. "My room is up."

Victor followed Lauren's tail up the narrow flight of stairs, turning and ascending again. The whole house seemed to creak as their foot-paws carried them into the dark. A 40 watt clicked on via a practiced gesture, illuminating an equally narrow hallway to which the term shoulder-width could barely apply. She led him to one of three doors to rooms obviously converted out of former attic space, which still maintained the typical musk both current and previous inhabitants were unable to dispel. She found her keys right away. Their jingle filled the wordlessness.

"I've had this room for a year and a half. Although I hardly come back here since I moved in with Beth. You'll have to forgive some of the dust, this place doesn't see much company," the collie said, before ultimately swinging open the door.

She disappeared, moving instinctually to small nightstand lamps, blue plastic spheres on either side of her bed, or rather stacked mattress and box spring. Her space looked neat, colored in modern shades of white, blue, and gray, the same colors as her fur. The ceiling slanted down on one side in which a recessed gable window stood. Overall the room seemed small, far smaller than his or Miles' rooms which weren't much to speak of anyway, though he knew she didn't have to share it.

"I lucked out with this room. It's not much, but it's the only room on the third floor with a built in bathroom," she nodded to one of two doors in the wall opposite the slanted ceiling, "and the view up here is killer." She beckoned Victor over to her, who stood hesitant under the doorframe. "Check this out," she continued. She pointed off into the distance beyond the window. The leafless limbs of neighborhood trees reached skyward beneath them. Chimneys too strove for the russet layer of clouds. "You can almost see the city from here," she said, implying the concentrated radiance off on the horizon.

"It's nice," Victor said, not knowing how else to respond. His attention drawn more to the uncanniness of the collie's room, upon things bathed in blue pallor, than anything else. For all her tom-boyishness, it felt strange to see objects of feminine nature strewn about. A few tubes and bottles of make-up littered her desk. Articles of inexpensive yet tasteful jewelry lay between them. The vague essences of perfumes and other scented products laced the air. It felt odd, perhaps a bit like trespassing in the room of his friend's sister. He chalked it up to a guilt complex, a small voice telling him he shouldn't be there. He stood anxiously, watching as Lauren pulled her laptop from her backpack and set it up on her desk. Both waited silently, listening to the music through the walls until the power-up tone sounded.

"See, this is why this crap is bad," she said, nodding to her red solo cup. "A glass and a half in and I can't even type in my password."

"I think I'm holding up," he said with intentionally careful enunciation. He realized he was swaying and corrected himself.

"Damn," she said, with some sort of emotion he couldn't place in her voice. "Net's slow. WoW won't even launch."

"Damn," repeated Victor, prepared to head back down to the party. Still he stayed. Lauren did too.

"Wanna listen to some music? Hang out? It's quieter up here."

"Sure," he said, knowing he was consenting to something more than just hanging out, to what exactly wasn't clear. For a moment both refrained from moving, both casting expectant albeit indecisive glances at each other and averting away shyly.

"Let's see what we can find," Lauren said, breaking the silence. "Bet you can't name this group. If you can, I'll give you a kiss. If you can't, you owe me twenty dollars."

"You have an interesting method of gambling," Victor said.

He watched as she hopped onto her well-made bed and made herself prone across the sheets. She reached over the side, fumbling for a few moments with an older model sound system, breaking the quiet with the electromechanical grind of a CD tray. A music he couldn't recall ever hearing before started to play, an eerie combination of electronic and analog elements accompanied by a soft-dirge like tenor. He felt oddly aware of himself, his silence and his slouching, as he stood reticently watching Lauren make herself comfortable. She came to rest in a natural relaxed state with her long slender legs crossed with the casualness as if she were ready to go over calc homework or some foreign verb conjugations with him. A modest smile and a glance accented by no hidden motive invited him over to the plain of empty bed.

Lauren looked at him with an expression of victory. "I do believe you owe me twenty dollars. Bet you can't even guess what country it's from."

"If I keep betting with you, I won't even leave here with the shirt on my back." Victor said, rocking a little as he stalled for time. He swayed, batting his ears out of anxiousness, well aware of the diminishing final opportunity to backtrack and the awkwardness of each second's hesitation. He let his feet carry him the short distance to her bed and felt the cool fabric of the comforter give under his paw-pads and knees. The bed seemed tinctured in her aroma, the subtle fragrance both foreign and familiar. He lay on his back upon the sheets, staring upward at the mosaic of posters at the periphery of the blue light's radiance, aware of the rapid beating of his heart.

The bed swayed as she inched herself closer. Her paw came to rest upon his quickly breathing chest. He watched as if in a trance as her fingers spread and drew circles on the logo of his t-shirt.

"What do you want to talk about?" he said.

"I donno. I didn't think you would actually come up here," she said.

"Did you plan this?" said Victor, immediately regretting the bluntness of his statement.

She chuckled and smiled. "Do you think I'm that way?"

"No," he blurted.

"I don't plan these things," she reassured him, and bumped him with her nose, "I always let what happens happen." A minute or two passed as they lay, listening more to the noise from below than to the music quietly playing from Lauren's system. A nuzzle upon his neck called him back from the reverie of doubt. He turned to her and found a smile, found the unnamable signs his mind automatically decoded for him, revealing the traces of a very specific expectation lacing her features like the finest of veils.

He dared himself to move. His muzzle approached her no more than an inch, a move requiring the courage of a leap into the unknown. She completed the remaining distance, meeting his lips in a slight testing kiss. The contact endured the passage of seconds until her tongue-tip leapt across his lips, as if coaxing him further into the field of play, tempting him to forget the voice advising him away from his joy.

"Do you not want this," she whispered before a second kiss pressed a more anxious invitation upon him.

Victor's lips returned to hers in reply. Muzzles tilted, tongues found each other, and breaths of heightening rapidity passed through each other's whiskers. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to slip into the warm sensation of spinning, into the destabilizing darkness behind his eyelids. He found himself embracing the taste of the collie's kiss, and the weightless and illicit euphoria that seemed to blur the line between the expectation that things wouldn't get any more serious, and the hope that they would. Trusting in that uncertainty, he dared his paw to leap to her flank, to the chaste realm just above her waist. His fur twitched as she reached for his side in response, perhaps a little bit lower than where he held her. From there a sequence of minute escalations sent his tongue chasing past the lips of an unexplored species.

Lauren's knee slid up his thigh in a slow erotic movement, closing the space between them. A slight yet sensual grind gyrated against him as if giving a sign, teasing, or testing. He resisted the urge to act in kind, aware of the tension growing in his underwear. He feared if she found him too eager things would escalate, or perhaps it would repel her if he in fact misread her motives. He found himself scooting away, until her paw reined him in with a squeeze and eliminated the buffer of space. The canine moved against him according to some primal mechanic, divulging anatomy still covered in cloth, inviting him to do the same. Her foot-paw caressed his in a playful little twitch as their bodies intertwined past the point where they were willing to part ways without first experiencing a taboo.

In a fluid movement she wrapped her body around his, pulling him on his back with her atop. There their kiss intensified, as did her smooth sway along the bulge trapped uncomfortably in his jeans in a way less than ambiguous as to whether she practiced an implicit tease, or craved something more serious. Her paws slid under his long-sleeved thermal and swept over his belly and flanks, triggering his ticklish spots. He managed to stifle the awkward laughter but broke the kiss, exhaling a helpless shudder upon her whiskers and nose. Oh, you're ticklish too." she said. "That's so cute."

He let a nervous chuckle become his reply and tried not to writhe too much, though it seemed each ticklish wiggle entertained her in some unknowable way. Her light touch crept up his belly, keeping him twitching. His thermal and shirt traveled up his torso along with her paw, leaving his belly exposed to her. He watched her paws touch the white fluff and caress the copper on his sides, unable to keep still.. Nervously his paws returned to her flanks, perhaps letting a thumb stray over the sides of her breast and into realms south of her navel. She let him explore, indulging him, and perhaps herself, as she elicited gasps from his ticklish body. Their paws continued to move, pushing boundaries, infringing upon butt and breast, and making fair game the playing field between.

Her ears swept to the sound of a snap come undone, while well integrated in another of many kisses. Victor undid the first of the metal buttons on her men's gingham shirt, enticing an amused little chuckle from her, nothing else. A half dozen more snaps gave until her shirt hung open and his paws could travel over her underlying t-shirt. Without interrupting the kiss she shook off the gingham fabric, hastily pulling her arms out of her sleeves and twisting herself loose in skillful contortions. Their lips only parted when it became time to rob Victor of his shirt, which she pulled over his head and off his arms in a hasty movement. Her shirt followed, peeled off shoulders with the same urgency. Only when his eyes lay upon her almost bare upper torso, the white of her silken bra and the dimensions of what lay beneath, and upon the curl of an eager smile beaming from the Lauren's muzzle, did it sink in exactly where he was and where things were going.

She undid her tail-strap in an act reaffirming the expectation Victor could now count on. His paws reached for the expanse of spots dotting her back, his fingers free to trail through fur she uncovered for him. He found difficulty unhinging the more-complex-than-anticipated bra strap. After a more than tiresome moment and a few mishaps, she helped him. A simple flick undid the latches, a few shrugs let the straps fall off her shoulders. She left the rest to him. The work of a moment uncovered her breasts, revealing two perky mounds far larger than her men's wardrobe flattered. His paws immediately gravitated to the collie's supple bosom and let the fur and softness pass beneath his paws.

Another heated kiss united their muzzles, one completely undistracted by mutual exploration. A few skilled manipulations finally brought slack to his pants. No sooner did he feel the relief from constriction, he found Lauren's trembling paw reaching into his loosened jeans, ignoring his boxers entirely. Her fingers found and caressed the smooth skin of his cock-tip in what at first seemed like appraisal, then a confession of excitement. Her paw wrapped around the first few inches of his girth and tugged, coaxing pre from Victor's fox-cock. With no more reason to hesitate Victor reached for and lifted her brass belt buckle, undid her button, and aided down her zipper, unleashing the invisible pheromones of estrus to the already enamored couple. The discovery that she wore boxers too surprised him, though commenting upon it didn't feel like a top priority. His trembling fingers dipped beneath the elastic, down into direct contact with feminine pubic fur, and from there to the heat and moisture in immediate proximity of her intimacy. His paw soon covered her gender, wedged between sex, fur, and fabric all of which saturated in the wetness of arousal. Lauren emitted a soft gasp, and pressed back in a show of approval.

He let his finger trace along her sliver, finding her wet down to every soft crevice. She managed to wiggle out of her jeans without breaking contact. Only a brief interlude separated her from Victor's paw as he aided her out of her dark blue and noticeably marked boxers. She did the same for him. A few kicks pushed his pants off the edge, leaving only the naked fox and collie beside a nest of pillows at the head of her bed. Her knees parted, free of constraining garments, showing Victor all of her fur and more. She smiled, hinting at a bit of timidity as she let herself be seen at her most intimate. Victor realized he was no better off, sweeping his gaze up and down the totality of the feminine form then upon himself and his arousal. Victor needed no instruction, no bargaining, and no coaxing. He crawled above her, facing the naked and receptive female. Again they kissed, and again their paws resumed their exploration. Taking advantage of the newfound freedom and the explicit invitation, Victor's fingers spread her supple sex and traced the narrow corridor through folds of skin concealed among tufts of fur. He quickly identified Lauren's swollen hood, the risen prominence of her pearl, and the intimate opening of her vagina. Her legs spread for him, as if she knew he needed to still his curiosity. She made no qualms as his fingertip teased the entrance to her body. The textures of her intimacy passed beneath his paw-pad as it slipped within, embraced on all sides by tight warmth and slickness. Again her chest rose and sank, filling her lungs and exhaling as a twitch shook her body. She laid in complete compliance to his touch.

Rapid breaths vented into the fur of her slender neck in the wake of too many kisses to count. Lauren's touch glided over his swept-back ears, communicating a subtle invitation to partake in all she had to offer. Victor nuzzled through her chest fluff, pressing his nose into the softness of breasts, sniffing her faint scents. The brush of his lips approached a firm little pinnacle in a journey that seemed to bring pleasure to them both, ultimately sending a discernible shiver through the collie upon attainment, marked by a featherweight kiss. One kiss became another, then a third, with lips embracing her exposed nipple, suckling tenderly upon her breast. Repeated caress and scratches behind the ears became his reward, doing nothing to dissuade him in the experience of female anatomy. Laps teased away fur and tasted skin while his paw massaged the softness of its twin within an apprehensive hold. His nose resumed its descent down Lauren's body, sunken in long fibers of collie fur. Victor kissed the collie's slender belly, her navel, and the tautness of hidden muscle. No voice beckoned him to cease when his lips impressed themselves down the narrowing path south of her navel. It seemed as though every other touch excited a quiver, a bolt of electric tension. Victor sensed it, as if something beyond the impulse of nerves conducted through her, like a charge, a reflex, a hushed declaration of anticipation spoken in the nuances of her body.

The unfamiliar scents of canine arousal grew stronger, the fur beneath his nose and lips became coarser, a warmth radiated near his nose. When he finally lifted his head, he found himself lying prone between her legs with Lauren's sex inches away from his muzzle. Her narrow pink slit shone through tufts of white fur laden with evidence of moisture. His fingers spread the glistening folds concealing the taboo details of Lauren's intimacy. His eyes leapt over the uncovered particulars, committing every detail to memory. Lauren chuckled, permitting the fox a moment to his pleasures. "Go ahead," she said, combating her body's self-evident signs of impatience. She reached out between his ears, a gentle pull instructed Victor's muzzle into her sex, exposing him to the unmitigated totality of female arousal where her heat, her feminine scents entered every corridor of his vulpine nose. His tongue dashed out as if on its own accord and swept through the sliver of folds, partaking in the first of Lauren's intimate tastes. The collie gasped, her hips urged forward, claws sunk into her sheets. Victor accommodated her pleasure, fully dedicated to his muzzle's exploration. His tongue cleansed the bare skin of its fluids, lips nibbled at pubic fuzz in pursuit of musk, and nose nuzzled through folds chasing a texture or the hint of a scent. The fox pursued the collie's details, all his senses stood prepared, perceiving and recording information from second to second, and assuring no iota of data went missing. As Victor nibbled through her folds, he found her little hood of skin and took it into his lips, suckling it with utmost care. His tongue-tip swept against her to find her canine pearl tucked under its tender shroud. The collie elicited a curtailed yelp of pleasure; a sound sent echoing throughout the room. She held her lips shut to prevent further broadcast, shifting her vision to the door and back at the fox between her thighs.

A slight, hardly noticeable quiver passed through her and against his lips and tongue. Her knees parted even further and her hips bucked forward, bringing her sex to bear. Another intentional buck nudged his muzzle, urging him toward her presented intimacy. He followed her puffy lips down to her narrow feminine slope, kissing and licking the collie's smooth and supple skin until his lips found her opening. His vulpine tongue traced the circle of Lauren's body and slipped into her wet passage without resistance, pursuing the wellspring of undiluted feminine flavor as deep as his tongue would allow. With his muzzle pressed flush against her, his tongue slithered into the unconventional curves of her canine sex, into intense heat and unfamiliar, albeit not displeasing, tastes. She seemed to tell him where to go with a slight movement of her hips. A buck, a nudge to the left and one upward instructed him where to send his tongue.

Lauren shuddered, her belly tensed, and sounds she tried hard to repress came through like broken fragments. Victor sensed her breathing intensify. His ears perked in order to receive any instruction hidden in her subtle cues. He felt another twitch flex her tummy, embracing his tongue from all sides, and quivering against his lips. Her palm returned to Victor's scalp, holding him nose to clit with his tongue writhing within her twitching passage. He slid, twisted, and nuzzled as best as he could in her rising moments of pleasure, trying not to be distracted by the intense reactions cresting through the female.

Just as her body tensed, as if she could no longer take another moment of eagerness, her belly and her vagina began to flutter in a moment long sequence of spasms. She sung a high pitch yelp, unable to contain the expression of total climax any longer. A liquid rush surged forth and soaked Victor's muzzle, flowing over the already saturated fur between her legs and upon the sheets. The occurrence startled him. He wanted to withdraw, but his pull back was met with even more force keeping his nose to sex. The gush filled his nostrils and streamed in through the corners of his mouth making it difficult to breath. Still, he willed his tongue forward, lapping away within the intimate enclosure of a woman enveloped in a rare moment of bliss.

Only after the drawn out tremors of orgasm, and the irrepressible notes confessing sensations Victor could not hope to imagine ceased, did the hold on his scalp relent. Fingers slipped through his head-fur, issuing a brief but rewarding caress. The collie melted back into the sheets, her limbs and belly still twitching with the occasional post-orgasmic shiver. Only then did Victor withdraw his muzzle, panting heavily of sex laden air, his senses overwhelmed with the scents and flavors of womanhood. Every crevice of his muzzle, inside and out seemed permeated. The collie stared up at the ceiling, exhaling, a look of satiation beaming from her.

"Wow," she panted at the posters above her. "Not everybody can do that so fast."

Victor chuckled softly, feeling his ears blush. He stared up her slender breathless body, with a feeling of accomplishment. He snuck a glimpse down at her womanhood too, watching with fascination as her puffy labia and erect clittoris quivered. After she caught her breath she motioned to him with her paw. Victor climbed his way up her body, pausing above her only an inch away from her muzzle. He wasn't aware of the expression he carried, but perhaps it seemed a little more serious than needed. She smiled at him, he followed her lead. Her tongue lapped over his matted muzzle fur. Her head tilted to one side, he knew to tilt the other way. Their lips met in the brevity of a kiss. Hands glided through his fur, holding him close. He tried to feel strong as she caressed his back and buttocks, but perhaps he only felt tense under her touch.

With his eyes closed he could feel her body writhe beneath him. Her breasts rose and fell with the haste of one descending from climax yet not entirely satiated. Her tongue showed him parts of her muzzle, partaking in the occasional foray into his, boldly sweeping into the flavors of her orgasm. As her fingers played down his spine, he let a questionably involuntary buck send his firm cock along her soft folds and his tip preing into her pubic fur. A returned buck and a muffled little moan conveyed an affirmative message. She wrapped her legs around him and began to move, slowly flexing, angling her hips, sliding her lips along his length without letting him enter. Her folds, her heat, her slickness seemed to envelop his cock, giving him a clear impression of what finally lay within reach. Before much longer he caved and sent his trembling paw down between their bodies, toward the base of his cock which he found coated in a mixture of their slick fluids. A movement of hips and a little direction brought his canine cock-tip sweeping through her folds in search of the collie's sex.

"Wait," she whispered, pulling out of the kiss. Her paw took hold of Victor's wrist before he could continue. "While I would like nothing more than to feel you inside me like this right now, I've been off the pill for a while, and, I guess, if you haven't been able to tell for yourself I'm totally in heat right now."

"Oh," uttered Victor, flattening his ears and turning down to look at himself on the verge of his first opportunity, overcome with the totality of disappointment.

"No worries, though, I have a few," she hinted at her nightstand. The collie slid out from under him. His eyes followed the curve of her slender back as she leaned forward to rummage through her personal belongings. Her tail disguised the curve of her butt. Its wag betrayed some of the excitement she must have felt. "Here," she continued, "this should do. It's been awhile since I've been with a guy, plus I've grown comfortable enough to trust in the pill."

She carefully broke the wrapper and pulled out the little ring of dark red latex. "Hold still," she said, instructing him onto his back. He found himself staring nervously down the white corridor of his belly at the dark pink of his arousal as she readied the piece of rubber. His heart pounded in his chest. She brought the condom to his tip and started rolling it down his shaft. There seemed to be some evidence of practice in her gesture. "It's easy to break these," she said, "if you're not careful, especially on a canine." Her index finger tapped the very point of his cock in a telling way.

The latex slowly unraveled down his length, growing tighter with every inch. The condom was constructed in a way that accommodated his knot, but it still felt uncomfortable. Ultimately it shrouded his entire arousal, disguising the natural textures and tones in uniform maroon smoothness. "I'm sorry I'm making you wear this," she said, "but, you know, with the heat and all. It's not worth the risk. I've made mistakes in the past. I can't take any more chances."

"It's okay, I understand," he said, speaking with nervous rapidity, "this is fine."

"Don't be so nervous," Lauren said, leaning in to give Victor a kiss, her paw giving a slight teasing squeeze to his knot as she finished fitting him. Victor nodded, again feeling his ears flush.

"Are you ready," she said, caressing his arousal and furry testes, "are you really cool with this?"

"Yea, I'm cool with this." He said, looking at his condom clad cock.

"Okay," she said, climbing over his body. "But it's normal if you don't last very long. Most guys don't last more than a few seconds."

The collie straddled his waist. His fingers traveled up her thighs as she settled, following the curve up her slender waist. She let herself come to rest on him, her pink sliver touched his shaft or rather the layer of latex preventing absolute nearness. It took a second before the material mediated the sensation of moist supple lips against his achingly erect cock. His body tensed, his hips drove forth a buck, sliding his maleness against her. "Easy tiger," she said, pressing her palm against his shoulder. "Or you're not gonna last at all. Just follow my lead."

She once again aligned her body, rising above the fox's torso and let her lithe fingers take hold of the base of his cock, directing his tip toward the soaked fur between her thighs. Her other paw came to rest upon her damp pubic fur, finger's V'ed to expose a little more of herself, her tiny bud, and the gape of her intimacy framed in a blushing shade of glistening skin. His curved tip found her center as she descended and let him cross the nonexistent boundary into her body. The collie released a soft gasp as her folds parted to receive Victor's cock. The fox felt his gaze drawn upon his vanishing shaft, witnessing every inch of himself disappear. In a brief instant her simple movement brought about a transition, something he thought should make him feel if not be a little different than before. She came to rest upon the lobes of his knot, her labia spreading over its form not yet able or willing to go so far as to take all of him in.

Lauren's paws slid up Victor's flanks as she gave herself a moment to conform to the change no doubt electrocuting her body with a thousand incomprehensible signals. "It's cute that you're so nervous." she said, her voice bearing anxiousness as well. "Don't ever change that, but try and relax. I really want you to enjoy this." A paw moved to Victor's chin, nudging his gaze away from the sight of their united anatomy toward her canine muzzle. Her misty gray-blue eyes looked into his, a shimmer of some unknown force divested them of a fraction of their clarity. Her lips shone with a tense smile. Victor stared into her eyes, at the wires of her whiskers, and at the freckles of black fur dotting steel-blue cheeks and the pink corona of her muzzle. Their noses touched, flared to take in the scents of proximity. A feminine chuckle left her. A more masculine one left him. The two found each other tilting to kiss.

She arched her back not long after their lips met. She pressed against the fox-cock within her, letting Victor's tip reach her enigmatic depths. A moan escaped her as she began to rise and fell, slowly sliding along the length of the fox's shaft. His hips reciprocated, pressing knot against her parted lips. Recurring movements sent his cock through warmth of feminine folds, through bands of tightness and constriction. His balls and the entire length twitched as he hilted her, sending droplets of pre into the condom's reservoir.

Victor's paws crept up Lauren's body along her slender feminine curves, feeling her movement; her dynamics permeate flesh and fur, practiced, experienced, carrying itself in total awareness of being. She seemed to know what he wanted without him having to speak it, without having even to imply it through touch. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted too, moving, shifting in her own mysterious way toward the inexpressible. Her entire substance engaged in graceful fluidity, in movement that felt like more than just rocking, more than just the cycle of hips and the reciprocal interplay with gravity. Even her subtle shudders, sensitive recoils, and the littler subdural twitches whispered in their own dark language, betraying her feminine secrets in a tongue far from the fox's comprehension.

Their kiss broke when the need for air became too great for their noses to channel, when only shuddering pants could deliver refreshing calls into their lungs. The bodies of fox and collie hastened in deliberate pursuit of the physical, abandoning all attempts for longevity to slate the needs of feminine heat and to pass on the traces of genetic material. Victor's paws refused to stay still, gliding between breast and buttocks to wherever his desire willed him. His eyes too were allowed to indulge in the various sights of womanhood and of coitus. Breasts clad only in the white fur heaved with the rolling motion of her frame. His cock disappeared and reemerged from her sex in rapid and audible strokes, bucking in perfect time with her descents, denying her a split second of rest. Knot slapped against her slick outer lips, spreading the folds with each forcible contact. Her limbs assisted in angling her torso during repeated descents, colliding with the fox and his knot with a fervor confessing a need of her own.

"I think you're going to do it," she whispered, her voice growing more desperate with each word. Her eyes closed as if in contemplation of the unknowable. A serene inexpressiveness crossed her features, denying Victor knowledge of what states the collie experienced, of what she hinted at. She never stopped moving and perhaps grew even more forceful.

"What?" Victor exhaled amidst pants.

"You played me Vic. You're totally gonna make me do it."

Victor's ears swept forward expectantly, but no further words exhaled from her lips, just the phonemes of moan and gasp. In a movement that gave neither room for pause she pressed her hips to his. In a last wet smack knot struck home. Blushing lips encompassed knot. Her fangs bared in a flash of perfect white. Her pink speckled nose wrinkled, whiskers lifted, eyes quivered in sublimation of a sensation Victor could empathize with, even as his hips drove forward uniting with the female in a hold that would not diminish until well after the satiation of their most primal needs.

A full body shiver seethed through Lauren as she crested another wave of euphoria. A feminine utterance, soft and hushed like a stoic plea escaped her lips between rapid breaths. Her features expressed yearning, a modest need for something as essential as the air. Her hips swept forward and back locked in the closest contact possible, grinding her sensitive outer lips against his sheath and her hooded pearl through his pubic fur in insatiate pursuit of the bliss she felt. Her paws held onto Victor's shoulders with a grasp beckoning him to continue, to do anything but stop. Victor obeyed, rocking through the wholeness of her taut sex, transitioning to into a mode of seeing his needs slated. Inner walls experiencing the flurry of orgasmic waves seemed to tug upon him, caressing his cock, as if willing from him the white potency of his seed.

The hold around his knot urged an instantaneous drive forward. His paws swept down her feminine hips and held her upon his twitching cock as if she were capable of slipping away. A vulgar breath exhaled upon Lauren's breasts as the cresting buildup behind his knot unleashed itself. Victor thrusted with decisive bucks in tune with the escaping jets of his semen, rocking the collie and pressing from her satiate moans at the volume of a whisper. The fox willed his climax to persist as long as he could, trusting in nothing more than the condom to keep the surges of viscous white from splashing over the velvet of the collie's deepest folds. After seconds of intense bliss, the tension of climax left him, bringing him back against the sheets, blissfully burning in the after effects of mating.

A meek and gracefully feminine moan escaped Lauren as the maleness locked within her pulsed until the last spasm. She followed Victor's instruction, pressing herself into his last and most dominant thrusts. Her whole body tensed, willing every muscle to constrict around the fox in his moment, hugging knot and shaft in a way that seemed as pleasurable to her as it felt for him. A sigh left her lips as the hold on her hips relented, as the vulpine climax waned and as their playful rendezvous ended with a loss of another category of Victor's virginity. The collie collapsed on him, panting into his shoulder, her slender body snaked down his. Victor pressed his nose into the styled tuft of her head fur, taking in floral scents and feminine perfumes which in that moment outweighed the scent of sex as he panted. His arms, not knowing what to do, performed on instinct and swept to her back, caressing her many spots. An occasional ecstatic after-spasm fluttered through Lauren as her sensitive body cooled following the rush of multiple climaxes. Each quiver contracted around the knot and shaft within her, prolonging their union to no one's displeasure. No words left their lips, only the rush of slowly steadying breaths. Their ears swiveled back demurely, perceiving the sounds of voices, laughter, and other indeterminable noises through the wall.

"You little liar," Lauren panted into Victor's fur.

"What," he said, within an exhalation.

"You told me you've never been inside someone."

"I haven't."

"Can't be..." she said.

"But I haven't," Victor said, growing defensive.

"Shush, no more lies," the collie said, leaning back up with a stiff crack of bones. Lauren looked at Victor and smiled.

"Was I okay?" he asked.

Lauren exhaled a deep breath and conceded, "More than okay."

"Did you get off?" Victor said.

The collie threw him a quizzical look. "Yea," she said, melodically stating the obvious. She raised her paw and held up three fingers. "And one of them was the good kind. The 'you don't have one of these every day' kind. See, this is why I like guys like you. You're inexperienced, but you make up for it in curiosity. Wow. Maybe it's a kink, but I really like having my body explored in the way you just did, its adorable and somehow really fulfilling."

A smile crept across Victor's muzzle. He felt the heat of a blush warm the usual spots across his face and ears. "I'm not sure what to say," he said, before exhaling a nervous chuckle. "You don't need to say anything. Just stay the way you are," the collie said, pressing her hips down upon Victor's lap, twisting around the girth buried within her. A shuddering sigh left her muzzle. Her muscles flexed around his shape. "Oh man, I could almost go for another round," she said, a shiver jumping down her spine terminating in yet another after-quiver. "That's the downside to tieing, this could go on all night."

"I don't really see too much of a problem with that."

"Of course you wouldn't. I picked wisely. But if I had my way, you would miss your flight."

"Better than being molested by TSA."

"True, true, but I have to ask, do you want to head back to the others, or stay like this a little longer?"

"We can stay like this a little longer, but we should probably see what the others are up to and should probably say my good-byes, especially to Miles. It's getting close to that time. But do you think we can meet up like this again sometime?"

"Of course," she said, nuzzling into Victor's fur. "I usualy feel like the only one who hates breaks. Now I think you understand why." The collie sighed, "But you're right," she continued letting the smile slip from her muzzle, "plus they're probably wondering what we're doing, it's been over an hour. Man, do I hate this part."

"Breaking the tie?"

"Yea. Call me naughty, but I love tieing."

"Why's that?"

"What's not to like? The fullness, the closeness, having nowhere to go. I don't do it all the time, but sometimes if I manage to bed an exceptionally cute fox or canine, I can't help myself. Being in heat doesn't help either. It makes me think dirty, dirty things like this. But for the record, not all girls are into tieing. There are a lot of negative associations people get hung up on. For me, if it feels good, why not?

"I guess so," Victor said, "never thought about it that way."

"Now for the hard part. You ready?"

Victor sighed as well, issuing a caress down her flanks and back. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

"A little for me, but not for you. If at all I try to avoid it, to be honest. Plus I'm so sensitive right now, but I can feel you getting a little soft, so now is a good time, before I start riding you again. It'll be okay. I've done this before. You just need to hold still."

The collie braced herself, straightening her torso and arching her back. Victor felt her body pull on him, as if lifting him by the knot. He made himself stiff and resisted the urge to tug back, letting her body do the work. A slow slip preceded an audible pop. Victor's knot and cock slipped free, landing on his belly. Both gasped, buckling as their bodies separated.

"Fuck," said Victor, first to spot the bare tip of his cock poke through the broken condom. A mixture of fluids tinted unmistakably white poured forth from Lauren's loosened folds onto Victor's sheath.

"What?" Lauren said, instinctively reaching down to her sex and returning with fingers coated in threads of Victor's sperm. "Shit," she said, as her pink speckled nostrils flared, taking up the distinct scent. "Shit, shit."

The collie crawled off Victor and moved to the edge of the bed, legs spread in the direction of the room's sole light. Both stared in disbelief at her glistening lower lips as a steady trickle of undiluted fox cum oozed from the gape of her intimacy. Both froze in shock as a little pearlescent stream of the substance coursed down to the bareness of her tailhole to pool among the tufts at the base of her tail. "Fuck, she said, cycling through every profane word in her vocabulary. Her fingers nervously spread apart her lips, confronting them both without room for doubt with the material evidence of insemination. Her index finger slipped inside her loosened passage, returning trembling, drenched in cum. She looked upon her paw, testing the viscosity of Victor's semen with a sweep of her thumb. Her eyes then fell upon her sex, at the folds of skin tarnished in a coat of virile sperm.

"Didn't you feel anything?" she said, looking up at Victor with a hint of fear apparent in her eyes before wiping off her fingers on the sheets and returning them within her, desperately cleaning what she could.

"It all felt good, especially at the end. I didn't feel it break. I swear! Didn't you notice the change?"

"It felt warm, but it always feels warm when I come. Quick, hand me a Kleenex," the collie said, futility whipping herself of Victor's essence. "I'm sorry," Victor said, taking the total blame on himself.

"This is no one's fault," she said, obviously trying hard to believe her own words. "I think the condom was just a little too old, I've had them for a while. She crawled over Victor and reached off the side of the bed, picking up the wrapper from off the floor. She sat leaning on her side, covering up her sex with her tail as she read the wrapper. "Yea," she continued, "expired in March. It still should be good though, these things last."

"If I felt it break, I would have said something,"

"I know you would have. But fuck, I'm in heat, and we tied, and you came, bad, baaad combo." She returned to the edge of the bed, sitting with her gaze cast down at the floor as she tried to compose herself. She sighed a frustrated breath accentuated by an anxious shudder. She looked off, her paw slowly and perhaps unconsciously moving to her belly, as if feeling the slow seep of fertile seed cast into the limbo of her womb, as if sensing the mysterious processes at play within carrying out what both dared not consider. Victor looked on helplessly. He thought she seemed beautiful even in distress. The curve of her back, the downcast droop of her ears, the profile of her form still enticed him, even though the mood had been thoroughly killed. He scooted beside her, not knowing what to do. He tried to put his arm around her, but she pushed them off. He tried to think of something to say, but perhaps wisely stayed silent.

"Excuse me," she said, her nude form darting into the bathroom. The door closed and locked behind her. A sliver of light turned on underneath. Water started running from the faucet. She left Victor alone on the bed. Only her scents stayed behind. He looked around. The bed was littered in dozens of wet spots. The smell of sex and cum seemed omnipresent. He peeled the broken condom off and inspected it. A large hole erupted in the side near the reservoir. His tip must have slipped through. The sense of burden took hold like a prison sentence as he sat there, not knowing what to do. A thousand other cravings occupied his thoughts, all enticing yet woefully inappropriate. He kleenexed himself off as he waited, listening to the sound of chatter, giggling, and of laughter through the walls. It died down from before, but people more carefree than himself still celebrated. He looked at the clock. 3 AM. His shuttle left at 6. He stood and walked to the bathroom door. Knocking and trying the lock.

"Not right now, Vic." Came her voice from within, "Really bad time."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine as I will be. I think things will be alright if I visit the health center first thing tomorrow morning. I sure hope there's someone there." She reappeared a few moments later, making a beeline to her boxers and t-shirt, both of which she slipped on with little ceremony.

Victor looked on experiencing a sensation of loss. About a dozen other things he wanted to do with her circulated through his mind, though he knew that the time for that had passed. "I'm sorry this had to happen on our first time," she said, sitting beside him.

"Not your fault," he said, looking into her disheveled features.

"Not yours either."

"Do you want me to stay? I don't have to go home," he said.

"No point. There's nothing you can do right now."

"I can at least be here for you."

"Still, even if I act first thing in the morning, it could still take a few weeks to find anything out."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Besides, there's no point in ruining your holidays. Go home. Try and have a good time." "What about you?"

"I'll try and do the same. Chin up. There's still a chance it won't stick, especially if I get some meds tomorrow. This whole process is a matter of precise timing."

"What do we do now?"

"I think I'm going to hang out here. You can head back down if you want, I sort of need some personal time."

"Can I at least kiss you one more time?"

"I don't see why not."

Victor scooted closer to Lauren, suddenly feeling a bit underdressed. The collie forced a brave smile and tilted her muzzle for Victor. They kissed, but an underlying tension robbed it of some of its pleasure. They sat for a while, listening to sounds of the party which had since died down. Only a few voices chattered here and there. A vacuum ran somewhere downstairs. Victor eventually got up and gathered all his clothes. It still felt odd being naked and getting dressed in a girls room. Only when he was fully dressed did he win back some of his ease. Victor stood by the door, Lauren stayed put on the foot of her bed. They looked at each other for a few moments. Victor wished he knew what she was thinking. He wanted to thank her, but didn't know the proper phrasing.

"Can we keep in touch?" he said.

"Sure," she replied.

"I'm sorry about what happened, but I had a great time up until then."

"Me to, Vic. I really mean it."

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

He stood another moment before moving to the door.

"If you see Beth, can you tell her to come up."

"I'll find her," he said, unlocking the door. "Goodbye."

"Bye Vic, have a safe flight."

Victor found his way back down the steps to the main hallway. He passed Carl and Allen's door from which the sounds of gaming seemed to have ceased. It still leaned open a crack, but no noise came within, just the faint blue glow of the mute television. He peeked in with a gentle knock, whispering, "Hey it's just me." The German shepherd still lay unconscious, now with his pants pulled down a few inches and copious amounts of what looked like whipping cream under his tail. Carl and Allen were present, both lying on their bed engrossed in a deep kiss. Carl's paw snaked down Allen's pants. The tip of the buck's cock stood visible just outside his boxers. They recoiled as they noticed Victor. Allen tried his best to cover himself until he realized it was just Victor.

"What up Vic?" said Carl, with a startled rattle lingering in his voice.

"Have you seen Miles?"

"I think he's still here. Didn't notice when exactly he left the room, but I think he's still at the party."

"What about Beth?"

"She's gotta be downstairs."

"Thanks guys, sorry about barging in."

"No prob, just close the door behind. Oh, and how was Lauren?"

"How do you guys know?"

"Pretty obvious. Lambda isn't built with privacy in mind."

"I'll just leave you guys be."

Victor retraced his steps, finding bathroom and hallway devoid of Miles. Downstairs too seemed more or less vacated. Only a few stragglers remained. Beth was among them, chatting as she tossed all manner of trash into a black plastic sack. He was afraid to talk to her. He didn't really know how to tell her he slept with her girlfriend, that there had been an accident. He didn't want to feel her claws tonight, nor ever.

"Hey Vic, surprised you're still here. Ya have a good time?" said Beth, to the rather distracted and apprehensive looking fox.

"Beth," he paused, "do you know what happened with me and Lauren tonight?"

"Did you guys actually do it?" She said, surprisingly unfazed.

"So you knew?"

"We talk about these things. It's an important part of our relationship. I gave her the green light on you a while back, but I didn't think she would get you to do it. Well, welcome to the family Vic. Our crazy, dysfunctional, incestuous family."

"Well, there's been a little bit of an accident. It's no one's fault. Something was wrong with the condom and we didn't catch it. I think you better go up."

"Oh," she said, looking at the floor, giving off no further reaction.

"I'd like to stay, but I need to catch the first shuttle."

"Go on," she said. "I'll take it from here."

"Sorry," he said again.

She disappeared up the stairs with no further words or gestures, leaving him alone with the quickly diminishing handful of stragglers.. A scan of the first floor, the kitchen, and the porch didn't turn up Miles. He stood in the cold outside on the porch and called Miles number three times to no avail. He left a text, waited five minutes, and sent another, informing Miles he was leaving the party and to get in touch with him ASAP.

The walk back felt like a blur. The sex exhausted most of the alcohol in his system, but the world around him still felt hazy and unreal. Its effects still shielded him from the full impact of reality, but he knew he couldn't count on it much longer. In the fresh air he could smell Lauren on him and his clothes more clearly. Her tastes still lingered, but they too began to fade. Confusingly, he still felt aroused. He scolded himself for it, but that didn't do away with the partial erection hampering his step. He tried to distract himself by growing angry at Miles. Why had he allowed him to go up with her? Why was he so afraid of commitment? Had he actually reciprocated a fraction of the feelings he had for him, none of this would have happened, he thought, standing on a block devoid of streetlights. Before he could do violence against the next mailbox, he realized he couldn't lay blame. It was his choice to sleep with Lauren, and he liked it. If only things went just a bit differently, he might return home proud instead of with a collection of untellable secrets. He looked up at the winter constellations, and thought of himself flying home in just a few hours, the last place on earth he wanted to be.