Looks and Lookers
#45 of Hockey Hunk Season 5
Life really is a cabaret, old chum.
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Amazing and appropriate and suggestive fan art is today by kensukethecat - thanks, dude!
Hello, and welcome to the Hockey Hunk! Here is the chapter, finally, after being too busy on Friday and not really having the time or the mood to write it during the Friday, considering the various topic materials in the chapter, but now I'm back to the right set of mind, and that the creative flow is...enjoyable once more. Sometimes art isn't all pleasure, I must admit. But
I hope you'll have a fun read, and I look forward to your feedback! As always, remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to read and enjoy as well!
Cheers!
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WILLKOMMEN!
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BIENVENUE!
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WELCOME!
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Im Cabaret -
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"HOLD IT, HOLD IT!"
"au Cabaret -
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_"_KEEP IT UP BOYS AND GIRLS!"
"TOOOOOOOOO CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!"
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The music came to its crashing end and then, instead of the mystery that is the music and dance, I became aware that I was panting from the workout that dancing for four and a half minutes really is, aching a bit, almost, with my breaths huffing straight to Aiden's neck. He was holding up a remarkably agile position, halfway curled against me, and then not, I wasn't even sure if he had more than one footpaw on the floor, or whether he was standing on his tail or something, or whether he was just lying on top of me, in a way, while I held my arms up.
Everyone not involved in the number were clapping, clustered around the mirrored wall where they'd been sitting, except for Professor Faye who was clapping and bouncing so that his beret seemed to be in the danger of falling off or something.
I looked over to Mason, standing in the center because he was the star, his tail flicking about, obviously breathing heavily, his paws curled into kind of a funny angle, with Lauren and Kimber with their paws on his shoulders and chest, pressed onto him.
"Oh that was great, everyone, just great!" Doctor Faye was still yelling even if the applause had gone down by now, leading to a kind of an intense half-silence in the practice room, while adrenaline was still running high after the excitement of performing in the physically tasking...physical number.
"Hmmmm...thanks, handsome..."
Took me a moment to realize that Aiden was still collapsed there on my chest, sort of, though looking not much like Aiden in general, because he had insisted on wearing his costume for the number. It consisted of black mini-shorts, a kind of a black top, some black fishnets stockings with those little straps that attached them to his shorts, I guess, a really kink-looking collar that was surely out of a bondage shop or something, as well as a black satin bowler hat, which he somehow managed to keep on his head despite all sorts of bouncing dance moves.
I looked down to the smiling leopard, who wore lipstick and fake lashes, and breathed noisily, and seemed pretty happy to be there.
"No prob," I muttered, lowering my arms, finally, feeling my shoulder blades pop.
He finally bounced up onto his footpaws and let me carry just my own weight. I felt like I needed a drink of water, and all around me were furs standing and looking kind of unsure what to do or say next...it seemed to me we often felt like that, especially after going through one of these big musical numbers like this. You just...went into another place, I guess, and acted in such a strange, unnatural way that by the time you were finished you needed a moment to get back to the real world again, the world where boys didn't dress as girls and where wolves didn't grind themselves against lynxes and asked them if they felt lucky.
Unsurprisingly, Doctor Faye especially liked that little idea, and told we should definitely put it into the choreography, led by Megan, who'd also gotten up from the chair she sat on with the script, looking important and amused and excited in a very fox-like way.
"Any time," Aiden winked and it looked so weird because his lashes almost seemed to reach his lips, or something, they were so long.
"Gather around, everyone, I'm sure that we're all very tired but let's unwind a little before we all go!" Doctor Faye clapped his hands together in a non-applauding way now.
Everyone walked zombie slowly towards him, standing there and looking at all of us excitedly, even if we probably would have preferred to go for the towels and water bottles stacked nearby.
"Just look at you!" the lion sounded excited. "You've all come so far over these past few months, I can see that everyone has really started to take onto your roles, too!"
"Oh we are!" Aiden giggled, still lingering nearby.
Doctor Faye looked at the dressed-up leopard and seemed to smile a little bit more. Go figure.
"Well you are showing a lot of dedication, mister Lambert," the lion chuckled, and the leopard purred, too, of course, his tail flicking all around.
"Well you have to thank Megan here," Aiden pointed at the fox standing nearby, next to Robert, who seemed haughty as always...standing really close to Megan, too, "she told me that I better learn to dance on high heels as fast as possible or I'm not gonna make it. So I decided to go all the way... this outfit is awesome, anyway!"
Hmmm...he still seemed to stumble a lot on those heels...especially when there was an opportunity to fall against me...
There was a round of giggles while he showed it all off again, everyone watching curiously.
"I'm sure Liza would be proud," Robert muttered.
"Meow!" Aiden made bitch claw movements in the air...with his painted claws visible.
"Come on, boys," Megan chuckled in her own charming, attractive way that got a lot of perked ears, the sound of her laughter, "don't get ahead of yourselves."
Mason was looking at her, too.
"That goes for everyone on heels," Faye said, "we don't want any crashes, do we?"
The girls nodded almost in unison - everyone had been wearing them throughout ever since we started doing actual dance practice, and everyone was getting pretty good. Many of them had been doing a lot of dancing before, too, anyway.
"Anything else you'd like to say about the dancing, Megan?"
"Well I think everyone was doing good," she said, "good strength for the boys and everyone is dancing just as camp as you're supposed to, considering the number and how we're supposed to portray this scenario."
"Oh, agreed," Faye sounded particularly enthusiastic, "we do want to show that these characters are really into what they're doing, but the end results isn't always particularly smooth or great, but it's fun!"
"So that means we're playing that we're bad, and that's what takes most skill of all," Megan giggled.
"It's all about confidence," Faye carried on, "and I can tell that you've got it in great amounts! And that's what it's all about, indeed!"
I wasn't sure if we needed any pep talks now, now that everyone was committed to this thing and we'd gotten through the initial embarrassments. What I was sure of was that I didn't need any more working out today, not after going through this whole big song and dance number three times without music and twice with it, too. I just needed a shower and a drink and some nice off-time. So glad there wasn't homework to do yet, since the new term hadn't started yet. Could just hang out....and this late, with Mason's shift over at the shop too, done earlier today, he'd probably be free for something fun...
"Everyone should also practice your vocals for Thursday, can't forget the singing part, either," Faye continued talking to us. "this is about both the dance and the music, after all!"
I wasn't much of a singer, but if I just shouted along to everyone else, it went alright, I thought.
"Unless anyone has anything else to say, I think we can call it a night, then!" the lion said. "See you guys on Thursday, and we'll be doing another run-through of Two Ladies and the finale, and probably Married, too, so I think we're going to have a good, full night ahead of us then!"
There was a lot of murmuring, and then the session was over, and everyone went to fetch their stuff from the sidelines of the room. I had a water bottle there and took a big, refreshing sip. Everyone was still taking, excitedly, even when we left the room and went across the hallway into the changing rooms. It was funny that this wing of the university was equipped like this, a whole number of these big practice rooms. It was nice that Doctor Faye had managed to get us some time from the drama department who really had all this space for themselves, and we were the guests. They had it good here, though, rooms for practicing instruments and dancing and everything, and with locker rooms, too. Boys and girls separately, too, and true, it did smell as funky there as it did in the Winter Sports Pavilion, in my experience. It looked pretty much the same, too, with lockers and benches, and a door into a shower room. A bunch of us came in, everyone who'd done any dancing, really, which only left Robert out of it, because he didn't dance. He did come in, though, because he'd stashed his stuff into one of the lockers.
"Looking great, dude!"
I'd just opened my locker to get out a towel and some shampoo, when his familiar voice touched my ear.
I peeked over the locker door and saw Mason there, in the adjacent locker, taking out shoes and his jeans, since he'd had some training pants on for the practice, because they were more comfortable, I guess.
"Hmmm?" I asked, watching him, smelling a bit of sweat from Mason.
"Just wanted to say that you looked good," he said, "glad to see you're having fun."
Yeah...guess he'd seen that'd I'd been so low over the entire weekend, with everything going at home...being worried...shocked...sad...and he wasn't wrong. Not at all.
"It felt good to blow off some steam," I smiled to him, and that's how it really felt, just...dancing and singing pretending to be someone else, even if it was a naughty German dancer boy from the 1930's who got grinded on by a cheetah in drag.
And a wolf, a bit, too, groping my chest and my butt and telling that Hans was a naughty, naughty boy...
I didn't mind being Hans for that little moment.
Mason smiled sweetly.
"That's great to hear, man!" he chuckled.
I smiled back a bit, and pulled off my T-shirt, and put it into the locker. My pants and socks and shoes followed soon, though I left the boxers on until I had my towel around my waist, and then slipped them off from underneath it. These Americans weren't quite as comfortable with nudity than furs back home, I had learned quickly.
"You gonna shower?" I asked.
"I think I'll leave that until home," Mason mused, "don't feel too stinking yet, I think, and I was thinking of jogging a bit on my way back home. Feeling like it."
"Alright, dude," I said, closing my locker, holding the towel with one paw and my shampoo in another.
"Catch you in a bit then," he replied, seemingly happily ready to go once he'd pull on his hoodie, and was putting his backpack on, too, "I'll be outside."
"Sure!" I smiled.
I walked through the locker room and into the showers. It wasn't very big, but there were several cubicles there. I was the first in, too, so I could just put my towel onto a hook and go into the cubicle. I put the shampoo onto the small plastic shelf and turned on the water, bristling a bit when it first hit me, cold. It was enough to make me hiss, but soon it turned to be almost burning hot, and it took a bit of twisting of the knob to make it come at a pleasant temperature.
It felt good, too, very good, all over my, slicking my furs onto my body. It felt nice and relaxing for my muscles, too, and it was nice to rub my paws all over myself, to ease the tension a bit more.
The water gurgled onto the grille on the floor, about my footpaws.
Nice and relaxing, I thought. It was easy to get lost in the feeling.
Feelings.
Funny things.
Weird how it made me feel like being looked like that. A lot of furs did. Megan, Lauren, Kimber, Brianna, Vanessa, Valeria... Aiden, Doctor Faye, even Robert. He was a bit different, though. It was more like envy than the others. The others watched differently, even Faye. He watched a lot, too, but yeah, he watched a lot of the boys. It'd be really creepy if he was older, I guess, but he wasn't old...I wasn't sure how old he was, anyway, but he couldn't have been that much older. He'd just seen a lot more, I guess. That made him older, a lot older, on the inside. Kinda cool that he'd want to hang out with us, anyway, even if he was older and probably had really cultured friends. He laughed a lot with us, too, and said all sorts of funny things. Didn't even mind that he looked like he wanted to undress me, sometimes, when he thought nobody knew he was looking.
Guess it made me feel nice that so many looked at me. They'd be smiling, or looking. I wasn't sure what it was. I wasn't that special. Maybe they just didn't get to see a lot of lynxes around here. Maybe lynxes were as rare as I thought they were, at least around here. I'd heard that more Norwegians had moved to other parts of the US something like 100 years ago, but not so much here to New York area, I read, more to different parts. I'd heard that I might have some distant cousins living there, too. Might be cool to check that out at some point, maybe.
Didn't really mind being checked out, I guess. Though then there were the likes of Aiden who liked to come on a bit too hard and fast. That could get old, quickly, but I could deal with him, if you kept him at an arm's length, when he didn't have excuses to rub himself on me, it was alright.
I turned the water off and went for the shampoo. I squirted a lot of the stuff onto my palms and rubbed them together to make a little bit of foam before I started to rub it all on myself. I could hear water running somewhere in another cubicle. I rubbed the fruit-smelling shampoo in good, pads and claws scratching through into the skin and all. Almost made me purr, that, the nice sensation. It'd be easy to take that further, but this wasn't really a place for that sort of a thing. Maybe later in my own dorm, if I got some relaxing privacy later on, I could do something about it. I wouldn't mind at all.
With thoughts like that, I had to make sure my paws didn't wander too near to the bits between my legs. The temptation would've been too great, there. I decided to soap up my head furs extra well, instead, and hummed a bit of "Willkommen" while I did so. It was catchy and easy to get stuck in your head. I'd gotten all the way to the chorus by the time I felt un-soapy enough and turned the water off and shook myself a bit. There was nothing fancy like fur driers here, so it was up to mechanical force, and the towel, which I soon picked up and began to briskly rub myself with, to get the worst of it. At least it was warm outside, it'd be nice to walk down the street and have the evening air do the rest of the drying.
"Well you don't see that every day..."
My ears perked at the voice, coming from one of the cubicles.
Aiden was standing there, leaning against the partition, dripping water from his own newly washed furs. He was without makeup and lashes now and managed to look...masculine enough, though being a rather thin, young cat didn't give him the most manly figure, I guess. At least compared to me, if I was forced to do any comparing, and I don't think there was much need for that sort of a thing.
He was watching me, and really watching, certainly enjoying the sight of me naked, I had no doubt of that. At least he wasn't touching himself, or something.
I stopped my toweling and just held the towel kind of in front of me, not giving him too much eye candy.
"You mind, Aiden?" I asked him, feeling like I was on the spot, stared like that. He was still looking at everything of me that was visible beyond the towel...or maybe he got a special kick out of imagining peeling the towel back, or something.
Now he really did purr.
"Do you mind?" he asked, unashamedly standing there, naked and with a knee tilted a bit, like he was showing off.
I rumbled and quickly put the towel around my waist and faced him.
"Look, Aiden," I said, "you're a bit much, ok? You may wanna...what's the word...step it down a bit, yeah?"
The leopard's ears bounced, and so did his tail, watching me.
"So I'm too much for you?" he purred. "Really now?"
I snorted.
"Just...cut it off, dude," I told him in as gentle a voice as possible. I didn't want to argue about it, "you come on a bit hard."
His ears flicked. His eyes narrowed dangerously.
"So that's the issue, then?" Aiden rumbled, now walking closer...for a moment I thought he was going to just walk over to me, but instead of that, he did grab a big purple pillow from the row of hooks on the wall and put it around his waist.
Then he approached me.
"Is that it then?" he spoke again, now only about a meter away from me. "You'd prefer to take your time?"
I shook my head.
"Look, Aiden...."
"You're not saying no," he said, "I don't think you are..."
The furs on the back of my neck pricked despite the warmth of my skin after the shower.
"You don't really mind, do you?" the leopard purred.
"I'm not interested," I said, "sorry, dude."
He lifted a paw.
"Spoilsport," Aiden rumbled.
"Sorry, dude."
He touched my cheek, his paw as wet as my muzzle.
I should've slapped his paw away.
"Too bad," he said.
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Author's note: A good representation of what Haakon and company are trying to do with Cabaret might be this recorded performance from the classic Dolmar Warehouse production, directed by none other than Sam Mendes, later of American Beauty and Skyfall fame.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW5eFCFnW9c
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Thank you for reading my story!
I do hope that you enjoyed today's chapter, and I'm all ears to hear what you think about it. As always, remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
See you on Friday!