Crunch Time
#41 of Hockey Hunk Season 5
It's dinnertime at the Holden residence, and things are going to get spicy!
Appropriate fanart is courtesies of the ever-generous Frosted_Fur
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My ears perked when the door opened, even over the sizzle of the frying vegetables on the pan.
"OH THERE YOU ARE!" I called out while I kept on stirring, unable to leave them to fend for their own, "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR AGES!"
He rustled in the hall for a moment before he stepped into the living room kitchen area, with his suitcase in paw. He looked tired.
"Long day," Victor said, dropping his case and then falling ass first onto a chair, "phew..."
I picked up the spice grinder and added a couple of wristfuls, and stirred some more.
"Well you're lucky I've been too busy to cook before now," I said, "otherwise I would've had to reheat this for you, bro."
My brother sniffled the air.
"What're you making?"
"Oh, a chicken curry!" I smiled. "I've got this wonderful recipe, lots of spices and coconut milk, and some nice rice, and I'll boil an egg and put that into it, too, and well, I thought about chopsticks but..."
"Nothing fancy tonight, Cobb," Victor huffed.
My ears drooped a little.
"Well ain't you a little sunshine too," I grumbled.
Victor stretched out his paws over his head and rumbled. I thought I saw a strange spot of white on one of his fingerpads. Was that a band-aid? I'd have to ask.
"A long day," he went on to scratch his belly, "is the food ready soon?"
"Twenty minutes tops!" I said, "I was waiting for you to come to pop the rice in..."
I added the pre-measured amount from the cup into the boiling pot and adjusted the flame before putting on the lid. I spent a little moment sniffing the wonderful scents rising from the pan with the chicken on it, swimming in the sauce.
"I think I can handle that," Victor said.
"Excellent!" I smiled as I checked up on the vegetables, found them to be in order, and turned the flame down so that they could simmer in their own juices for a bit. I grabbed the towel and wiped my paws quickly before I made my way over to the sitting area and took the couch.
"You're busy as usual then," Victor commented.
"Just cooking for now," I said, "I handled company business on the computer earlier, and then I tidied the guest room a bit, and went out to buy food, and oh, then I called Tate!"
Now he looked interested.
"You finally did?" he asked.
"Yeah," I felt my ears flop, "didn't go very well I think."
"Why?" Victor frowned.
"Oh I don't know," I waved my paw, "It just didn't really seem to work."
"What do you mean?"
I shrugged.
"Well I tried to apologize but he just brushed it all off and didn't really think much of me trying to say I was sorry."
"Sorry about what?" Victor said. "Reacting badly to the kiss?"
I cringed a bit.
"For making him feel awkward, I guess," I huffed and considered pulling my legs up to the couch, but I didn't, because it'd be such a chore to put them back down if I had to hurry to check on the food.
"And what did he say?"
"I told you, he didn't say much," I said, "he just said he didn't want to bother us anymore."
"That doesn't sound good," Victor said.
"That's what I thought," I breathed out, "it sounded wrong to me."
"He's taking it pretty hard," my brother commented, "poor guy. To think he really had it for you..."
I grunted.
"Only because he thought I was the gay one!" I grunted. "For what we know, he has a thing for both of us."
Victor's ears flattened.
"Don't be silly."
"Hey, twins is every straight guy's fantasy too, isn't it the same for gay guys?" I replied.
"Oh for the love of..." Victor shook his head.
"Well I don't want to know what you think about it especially but - "
"Maybe you just shouldn't think about it at all, and especially not to think whether Tate has a fetish about twins," Victor replied.
"Well I didn't say I want to think about it! I don't want to think about anything of the sort!"
"Well now you have to, you have to sort this out," Victor noted.
"I am sorting it out, I called Tate!" I grunted. "He wouldn't talk to me properly."
"Maybe he wasn't in the mood."
"He said he wasn't busy," I defended myself, quite rightfully, I thought, "though he was busy to pick up a friend afterwards...does that mean something else in gay language?"
Victor snorted.
"There is no such a thing as gay language!"
"How about calling someone a...a...what is it...uhh...chub chaser?"
"I've no idea what you're talking about, and I've no idea where you heard that," my brother replied unconvincingly.
"Liar," I rumbled, "besides, surely at least 'pitcher' and 'catcher' exist! They must, otherwise you guys couldn't have sex!"
Victor hung his head.
"Oh, fuck..."
"Well there you go..."
"Nobody - and I say - nobody uses those terms for real!" he complained once he was looking at me again. "It's just something the media made up. Would you really use baseball terms about sex?"
"HA!" I folded my arms over my chest. "What about the bases, huh? That applies!"
"I've never thought about them in gay terms, to be honest," Victor grunted.
"Because you'll skip to the sex right away?" I said.
"Cobb..."
"I better check the food," I retreated to the kitchen, just in case, let him have a breather. He seemed a bit tired. He'd been a bit irritable over the weekend. Maybe the food would cheer him up.
"Ohhh this is all so nice..."I stirred some more, "Shame we don't have Rory around, there'd be plenty for him too..."
"He's busy today," Victor replied really quickly.
"Hmnmmm?" I looked over at him.
Victor shrugged.
"We've got our own lives, Cobb," he said, "it's not like we meet every day."
"You talk every day, on the phone or on the computer," I noted, "I can hear the tapping even when I'm in bed. That's staying up pretty late."
"Well we do, sometimes," he said.
"Awwwwww...." I grinned while stirring my pot of rice, "hmm...a hint of cumin, maybe..."
"I don't want to experience Montezuma's revenge at home, Cobb," Victor replied.
"Bah, you get that from dirty water, not from spicy food!" I said, "don't they teach you anything at school?"
"We went to the same school."
"How about you come and help me set the table?" I suggested. "Take the big plates and the black bowls, and full set of utensils for both."
"Well I am really hungry..."
I smiled.
"Sure you are," I said, "It's quarter to six!"
"At least you waited," he nosed, going for the cupboards.
"Well I had no choice after you texted me," I said ,"I didn't really feel like eating, either, after that phone call..."
"Maybe you shouldn't mope about it too much," Victor replied, "give him some time to calm down and try again."
"But I don't know what to say..." I rumbled, "I'm not good at this sort of a thing."
Victor took out a bunch of cutlery and dropped them onto a plate he'd taken from the cupboard. I noticed the white spot again. I leaned over to investigate closer.
"Why've you got a band-aid?" I pointed at the white spot on the black pad.
"A paper cut," he said, "you know, I'm a paper shuffler..."
"Glad you're not a juggler," I patted his shoulder, "I especially like those who do it with knives or something."
My brother chuckled while he took the assorted dining items to the table.
"Why not running chainsaws?"
"Hmmm now that..." I said.
"Well it could've been a stapler," Victor chuckled. "Consider me lucky then."
"Hmmmm..."
"Are you sure the food is ready soon?"
"Stop being a wussy," rumbled, "It'll only take a few more minutes. The rice has to be just right for the perfect texture so that it'll support the rest."
"I could smell that sauce already down the hallway, it better be worth the wait," he grunted.
"Oh, it's a great recipe, I took it from this blog I go to, it's always got great recipes!"
"I'll trust you on that," Victor said, now sitting down onto his usual chair, "I won't be happy if we have to order a pizza."
"Have I let you down with food yet?" I didn't like that implication at all.
"Well that pie you made last week was a bit strange..."
"Hmmph. I do admit that maybe adding that much Tabasco was a mistake in retrospect but it wasn't that bad..."
"It was still too spicy."
"Well this won't be, I hope not," I smelled the fumes and found them agreeable, and not eye-watering in the least, "It'll be just nice...trust me."
"I don't like when you make your food sound like a dare," he said.
"I am an adventurous soul!" I declared.
"Yeah, right."
I checked the time.
"The rice is ready," I turned the flames off and then quickly poured the water out to get a potful of nice, brown rice."
"Hmmm...excellent..."
It took me a few trips to get everything to the table, including the water and the bread and the butter, but then it was all fine and Victor dug into it, which was a good thing, and I took, my own share.
"Just smell it," I pointed at the pot, "hmmmmmm..."
"I've already got it on my plate," he replied, "I can tell."
"You can thank me by doing the dishes," I grinned.
"Oh ha ha!"
"I ain't joking," I replied with pursed lips.
"You big Cobb..."
"Uhhhm yeah," I puffed out my chest and made a muscle with my arm, "yeah baby..."
"That's quite enough of that, please."
I stopped posturing and picked up my fork instead.
"You're still doing the dishes."
"Alright, alright," he replied, soon too busy with the food to complain any further.
It was quiet for a bit.
"We still have to do something, I think."
Victor didn't reply. He was just playing with the food on his plate. It was as if he hadn't heard.
"Victor!"
"Huh?" he seemed to come back from somewhere inside his head or something.
I frowned.
"Are you listening at all?" I questioned. "You don't seem to..."
I grunted.
"Why is it that nobody is listening to me today?" I complained. "I try to be nice to everyone but I only get silence."
Victor snorted.
"I was listening."
"Didn't seem that to me," I said, "you're like you're somewhere else. Like you don't want to talk to me or something."
"I wasn't avoiding you."
"Really?" I snorted.
"I was trying to talk to you about Tate again, you know," I said, "wondering what to do with him."
"Well go on then," he sounded challenging, "What do you have in mind?"
"Well that's the problem," I rumbled, "I don't know what do next. I tried talking to him but he barely listened, and he sounded really scared and sad."
"I guess he is, since he thinks he screwed up with us by kissing you."
I cringed.
"You just love reminding me about that, don't you?"
"It's what happened," he said.
"I don't need to be reminded every five minutes!"
"Come on now," Victor grunted, "if you can't even think about it, how're you gonna make things better?"
"I don't need to think about being kissed by a man," I harrumphed, "I just need to know how to cheer Tate up!"
"Sounds like to me that kissing you would've done it."
I put my paws over my ears and went "LAAA-LAA-LAA-LAA-LAA-LAA-LAA-LAAA!"
And then it made perfect sense.
I dropped my paws down onto the tabletop and smiled. My tail was wagging.
"Well that's it!"
"What?" Victor looked at me.
"Well that must be it!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Tate's problem," I said, "he's lonely and needs friends...and we're his friends, aren't we?"
"I thought we already agreed on that."
"We do, but that doesn't mean it's all we can do."
"Hmmph?" his ear seemed to droop more than usual as he looked at me.
"Well, if he's a loner, we need to make him feel less so," I said, "can't be easy for him, meeting other furs, being like he is."
"Like what?"
"Well..." I shrugged, "you know, injured...I don't know how to talk about it politely."
"Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it," Victor suggested, "maybe he doesn't let it define him, being injured."
"But its still the first thing anyone will notice," I said, "I sure did."
"You're you."
"I'm me, but I'm not alone," I grunted, "you know what I mean."
"Of course I do."
"So...are you with me on it, then?" I leaned over the table a little, watching him deeply.
"What is it?"
"We have to help him!" I said, smiling widely.
"How?" Victor questioned.
"Well, we have to help him make friends!"
"Cobb - "
"Surely this city has a few more gay guys than you and Rory and that Peter guy, and I'm sure you know them," I said, excited at the prospects of opening Tate's social horizons, "so it's just a matter of throwing all of them together, and Tate gets to mingle with all the guys he wants to!"
Victor shook his head.
"We're not going to start playing matchmakers with Tate, Cobb," he said, " and that's final."
"I didn't mean that!" I flicked my ears at him, "I just meant, wouldn't it be alright for him to meet some nice guys? Gay guys mostly make friends with other gay guys, right?"
Victor growled.
"That isn't true. That's like your pitcher and catcher all over again. Most of the furs I know are straight because 90 percent of furs are straight, Cobb."
"But gay guys still know more gay guys than most furs do, right?"
"Well yeah but - "
"So?" I was practically wriggling on my seat, I felt so excited about my idea, "so, I'll make a lot of nice food and mix some drinks, and then you'll invite Rory, and maybe Peter, and any other gay guys the three of you might know, so that Tate will have a lot of nice guys to choose from!"
Victor slapped his forehead with his paw.
"I feel like if this conversation gets any stranger I'll suspect that I'm suffering from some sort of a hallucination," my brother rumbled.
"I'm serious!" I said. "It's obviously what we have to do."
"What do you suggest, really?" Victor scowled. "That we hold some sort of...speed dating event here?"
"No...no, that's awful, I went to one once, it was really embarrassing because nobody picked me afterwards..."I pouted, "no, we can't let anything like that happen...no...just some nice furs he can mingle with..."
"Cobb..."
"Do you know any gay dogs?" I asked. "I've only met Rory and Peter so I don't know about every other gay you know around here. I'm sure you know - "
"Do you really think I've got a whole roster?" Victor grunted.
"Well Rory must come, of course, and that Peter guy can come too if he promises not to be a party pooper, and then we only need a few more...like...four, five, maybe? But only nice guys, we don't want Tate to be hurt by some nasty bastard..."
Victor shook his head again.
"You've no idea what you're suggesting, Cobb, and I think it's a terrible idea."
"I think it's a great idea!" I said. "A big welcome home party for Tate!"
Now my mind was set.
"Don't you - "
I could barely eat. I had so many ideas. Finger foods...music...themes...
"You gotta tell me all about gay parties, at least the non-kinky parts, Victor" I told him solemnly. "Tell me everything!"
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