Left to the Doghouse
#3 of Hockey Hunk Season 6
Left to the Doghouse
Amusing cover art is of course by Frosted_Fur - thanks, Frosty!
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Hello, and welcome to the Hockey Hunk!
I'm very pleased that all of you tuned in for the season opener, I am happy to announce that readership seems to be on the rise, too, which is awesome! I was very happy to see all of you return for the story, and to read your comments, and the rampart speculation going on there - keep it up! I do thrive on it, after all. *chuckles* All of my readers are very valuable to me, and I am always looking forward to your feedback. So don't forget to go to the keyboard after this chapter either!
As always, I hope you have a fine read!
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Knock-knock-knock.
I squinted my eyes closed real tight before lifting my muzzle up from the computer screen littered with countless numbers and names on the Excel sheet.
"Yeah?" I called out.
My office door swung open and Max stepped in, trailing the smell of coffee, fox and erasers with him. He stepped in with good right vulpine ease of motion, alright...the word I should use was...and I bet Rory would have something to say about it, was...svelte. Maybe a girly word to describe an all-American all-heterosexual guy of 45, even if he was a cocky fox who were a plaid tie with his white collared shirt.
"Wassup man!"
"Morning," I smiled, my ears flicking in greeting while the fox entered my lair, tucking his tail out of the way just before he kicked the door shut behind him to close us into the privacy of my office.
"How's it going, man?" the fox grinned casually, his paw armed with a mug that said "RAPALA" in red letters.
"Eh," I shrugged. "Trying to figure out a bunch of these contracts, really. Still working through all the municipal bulk orders for the start of the school year, really."
"Aren't we all?" Max chuckled.
"Well, it keeps stationery flowing in and out, I guess," I rubbed my morning-weary muzzle while looking at the confidently smiling fox.
"And keeps us in business," Max said. "Damn...kinda itching to be out there though..."
"Well it's the weekend soon, I'm sure there's a few fish left for you too," I said.
"Oh I know," the fox mused while scratching his neck with his non-coffee-bearing paw, "still, now that the my holiday is over..."
"...not going fishing every day?" I suggested.
"Don't remind me," he chuckled, "how about you?"
"Well, I've got so much to do that I don't think I'll be able to take any time off before October or November, so that's hardly a summer break is it?" I said. "Got so much work to do, and my sick leave didn't help at all."
"At least you didn't lose your days off for it," the fox mused.
"Well there's that," I rumbled, "but doesn't mean I can just go now that everything's so hectic."
"I'm sure there's a lot of good things you can do in October too," the fox smirked, "maybe go down south if you want more sun...or go north for a nice autumn experience..."
"Sure," I said.
"Or is that..." Max stated, looking down to me carefully, "or is that you're still wondering what you could do with...you know..."
I gave him a look. He was looking very earnest, and all, and...well...maybe that flick of a tail was slightly...edgy...perhaps, or maybe I was imagining things...just maybe...you never knew just quite for sure, even with the most open-minded furs.
"Well..._we..._have not really discussed it yet," I replied softly.
I haven't exactly yelled it out in the coffee room but of course my friend Max knows that I'm...seeing someone...and being Max, of course he wouldn't be too shy to bring it up either. He didn't even seem too awkward talking about the fact that I was possibly planning a gay holiday with my gay lover. Not that I'd expect him to be. He seemed to be a member of the generation of furs who just don't give a damn anymore. Or at least they want to tell themselves they don't, and whatever misgivings they have come out in bursts of unintentional awkwardness.
"Should you?" Max proposed.
I stretched out my paws high over my head and felt and heard my spine pop pleasurably as a result. I let out a satisfied rumble.
"Depends on if...Rory...gets any time off, of course," I said, "I'm not actually quite sure how it works for him."
"At least make a long weekend getaway out of it if nothing else!" the fox sounded enthusiastic.
I chuckled.
"Quite the Cupid you are all sudden, Max," I rumbled.
"Meh," he sipped his coffee while shrugging exaggeratedly, "In my experience, when you're getting laid, you need to keep doing stuff like that to keep it coming."
I chuckled.
"Well I think he's sweet enough for me that I don't need any immediate emergency weekend interventions," I replied in measured tones.
Not that I wouldn't mind...
Max chuckled and grinned, in the way only foxes could, perhaps.
"Confident, I like it!" he said.
"Not just you," I winked.
To his credit, he did not balk at what could've definitely been seen as a flirt, but instead just kept on smiling steadily.
"So do the girls," he said, "so do the girls."
"I've no doubt of that," I said.
"Heheheh."
Damn that coffee smelt nice.
"Did you have any other business or did you just pop by to gossip?" I asked in a semi-serious tone.
"The latter of course," he answered lazily, "thought I'd check you out."
"Oh really?" I raised my brow.
"Gotcha," he grinned.
"Well, you know me," I said, "all's pretty steady now that my brother returned to Chicago. I told him I no longer need to be nursed, and he complied, surprisingly so. I suppose he had work to do, too."
"Back to TV dinner days now that you don't have your live-in cook?" Max smiled.
"Hah, no, I've been a very good boy in that regard," I said, "I've even made a green salad every day and even took some for a snack to work."
"So still planning to lose 20 pounds by Christmas?"
"Lose 10 and make 10 pounds of flab into muscle, more like," I smiled.
Rather murr, I hoped, though I wasn't sure whether Max would fully appreciate that. Perhaps he did, in a kind of a macho way.
"Not bad," he smirked.
"I hope so," I said, " though it will take some work."
"I'm in whenever you like."
"Thanks, man," I said. "Always more fun to go with a buddy."
"You bet!" the fox grinned. "Though I think...what's the time?"
I checked from my computer.
"Ten past ten," I said.
"Damn, I should get back before Bambang catches me out of place..." he chuckled. "Nice chatting with you, catch you soon?"
"Sure, sure," I smiled.
The fox sailed out, to leave me alone and staring at the figures on the display. There was a lot to go through, after all...and I managed to read about three lines before the phone started to ring.
"Damn," I harrumphed as I put the phone up to my ear, "Victor Holden, United Stationery Company, good morning!"
"VICTOR!"
_ _
My ears lurched back and forth.
"Cobb," I huffed, "you shouldn't call me on my work phone, a client might be calling, or one of our sellers."
"But I am a client! I buy all my office supplies from you on a bulk order!"
_ _
Bah. He could hardly be considered a major client if he bought a whopping five staplers and twenty file folders, and maybe a few rolls of scotch tape.
"I know you do, but you know what I mean," I said, "what's up?"
"You haven't called me in days!" my brother complained on the other end of the line. "How are you?"
_ _
"I've been busy," I replied, keeping my voice low so that nobody in the neighbouring offices would hear that I was having a rather extracurricular call in work time, "you know that it's always busy at this time of the year with the schools starting."
"It only gets busy here whenever someone holds a concert. If that what-you-call-it Justin Beaver appears somewhere, we're soon shipping out a truckload of shit with his face on it. Who is that anyway?"
_ _
How charming of Cobb, to call his livelihood 'shit'...how very typical of him.
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure it means good business for you," I replied.
"Well at least I ain't doing the packing, hahahahah!"
_ _
"I'm sure you're not."
"Anyway, how are you?"
_ _
"I'm fine, thank you," I replied sharpy. "Keeping busy...at least trying to."
"Good, good...still working with that guy who has a fetish for pencil sharpeners?"
He must've meat Toby with his never-ending anecdotes about staplers I sometimes shared with Cobb...
"Ha ha," I chortled.
"I take that as a yes. And how about Rory? You are still dating, right?"
_ _
Oh Cobb...
"The last time I checked, yes," I spoke between clenched teeth. "And he is perfectly fine, thank you, I'm sure he appreciates you thinking about him."
"Well he better! Maybe I should give him a call to see how he's doing..."
_ _
"Don't you dare," I grumbled. "You'd be lucky that he still agrees to speak with you after what happened."
"NOTHING HAPPENED!" my brother yelled.
"You should be goddamn grateful for that," I replied.
Yeah...considering that apparently my brother had gone to the bathroom in his room, then walked into the kitchen with his junk hanging out of his pants since he'd forgotten to button up, rummaged through the kitchen for something salty to eat, took a wrong turn which made him cram himself into my bed instead of his own since in his dazed state he'd thought that a bed is a bed, which left into him sleeping between me and Rory for God knows how long until I woke him up by nuzzling his neck and almost nibbling his ear, and apparently Rory, too, had realized something strange was going on when he felt something wet against his butt...and I suppose that Cobb, who had forgotten to shake himself properly after taking a leak, was lucky that he hadn't done what men liked to do and pressed his sheath between Rory's two plump...pillows in his dreamy state.
Yeah.
"Well at least he liked my gift basket, didn't he?"
_ _
I shook my head. That huge thing was ridiculous.
"Yes, he did, "I said.
"Well he better also go to the day spa with you!" Cobb grumbled.
"Maybe we will," I said, "when we have the time."
"And you definitely need to come to see me in Chicago too!" my brother demanded. "We can go out for a nice meal and to the park and - "
_ _
"Hold on there," I warned him, "we're not going anywhere any time soon, you should know."
"Are you being mad to me?!"
I snuffled.
"We're both busy with work, you know that," I said, "you can't just leave everything and go for a long trip like that."
"You can make a long weekend out of it!"
_ _
Ugh...why was everyone suggesting that suddenly? It's not like I was stressed or in need of a vacation...I felt great! I felt...just fine! Just perfectly! No complaints...especially now that I didn't have to operate around the imposing presence of Cobb in whatever I did...including seeing Rory, of course.
"Maybe we can at some point, but now we're busy," I said.
"Or maybe he doesn't want to see me..."
_ _
I groaned.
"I don't this is about Rory, Cobb," I said, "why would it be?"
"Maybe he's telling you he doesn't want to go."
_ _
"You're paranoid," I snorted, "I told you weeks ago that we'll come to visit at SOME point, but that doesn't mean right away. It's only been three weeks since you left, anyway."
"I do miss you, and Rory..."
_ _
"Well you always know where to find me," I said, "and you can call when I'm not working, preferably."
"I'm working too! And I still called you!"
_ _
"You're the boss, though, you can do whatever you like," I noted.
"Well that's true, HEHEHEHEH!"
_ _
"Did you have anything else you wanted to tell me, Cobb?"
"Do I really need a reason to call my lovely brother?" Cobb suggested.
"Well I guess not, but if you're still only up for a gossip, you should phone when I'm not at work," I said.
"Oh pooh. Surely you can sneak in a few minutes."
_ _
"We've already been chatting for a few minutes."
"Well, yes, but indeed, if we're chatting, we might as well chat!"
_ _
"I thought we were chatting."
"Of course we are, but you're being evasive!"
_ _
"We aren't talking about anything, how can I be evasive?"
"Well you didn't tell me why you and Rory can't come for a visit..."
_ _
"Stop badgering about the visit," I said, "I told you, we've promised to come at some point, but not now, because we're both really busy."
"Well that sucks."
"That's life for you," I said.
"Hmmm. I suppose so..."
_ _
"Indeed."
"Have you heard from Tate?"
_ _
Well, that.
"I actually called him last week," I said, "he sounded quite busy on the phone."
"I hope he's alright..." Cobb said, "I've talked to him on Facebook a few times but he seems really evasive...I'm just worried that he didn't like the party or something..."
_ _
I wouldn't be surprised.
"The party was probably a lot for him to digest."
"And I'd made sure there are many nice guys for him there too..."
_ _
"Maybe they weren't his kind of guys, Cobb, did you think about that?"
"What do you mean by that?"
_ _
"Furs are different, not everyone fits into any single mould, Cobb."
"Well, still, everyone was gay, except me..."
_ _
"Even that doesn't always help," I said.
Not to mention, the bitching could make things completely unbearable...but I wasn't going to tell him that. That'd just spark some kind of a bizarre rant response I wasn't in the mood to hear at this point at work.
"So what are we going to do now?"
_ _
I could feel the furs on the back of my neck prickle.
"I don't think we should do anything, Cobb," I replied," I think we've meddled quite enough for now."
"I don't think we were meddling, we were just helping him meet new friends!"
_ _
"Well it wasn't a roaring success, I think not," I said, "So I think it's best we don't do anything for now, alright?"
"Hmm...maybe he could come and visit me here...maybe take him out to some nice place..."
_ _
I wanted to yell "WHAT KIND OF A PLACE?" but held my calm...for now.
"I'm not sure that's a very good idea either, Cobb," I breathed.
"Why not?"
_ _
"For the same reason that the party was probably a bit too much for him," I said.
"But it was a good party!"
_ _
"Maybe it was but maybe it wasn't Tate's kind of a party," I said.
"Hmppph."
_ _
"Cobb, I really need to get back to work now," I told him, "we can talk about this later on if you like but I have to work now."
"If you say so, but - "
_ _
"Catch you later, Cobb," I told him.
"Hmm. Okay, then."
_ _
"Bye, Cobb."
"Bye, Victor!"
_ _
I put my phone down and rubbed my face, pushing my glasses askew in the process. It seemed that my brother didn't even have to be physically present to cause mayhem here.
Someone was already knocking on the door, too.
"Come in!"
*
Thank you for reading my story! I hope you had a fun time, and I look forward to reading your comments. Remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
See you on Monday for the next chapter!
Cheerio!