Stripes: Epilogue
#13 of Stripes
As winter gives way to spring, Tim settles comfortably into what his life has become.
Spring had taken its sweet time, but it was finally here to stay. The last of the snow was gone, the air was starting to feel mild, and days were longer than nights again. It was a sunny afternoon without much wind and with only the lightest, fluffiest of clouds to be seen.
In short, it was about as good a day as you could ask for to move house. And with my newly exalted rank and pay scale(the latter of which still didn't hold a candle to some people I know, but anyway), it was about time to do so.
My worldly possessions didn't take up that much space; they had, after all, fit into one fairly small bedroom. Even crowding for space among someone else's, they weren't that hard to fit into an entire, larger apartment, except for a few things that were entirely redundant and stayed boxed. That final box had been the last thing to find a home, now shoved into the back of a closet; other than that, all my things had been put into their appropriate places around Ric's flat. So we were done, and it was time to celebrate.
"Another Wednesday at Casey's," Sam sighed as he put the truck in park. "Feels like we've been doing this forever by now, doesn't it?"
"I'm usually not this tired at the time," I laughed, giving the skunk's leg a pat while the third member of our little band let himself out the passenger door. "Or this sore. Sure glad we had_you_along to help with the heavy lifting, but I'd better get some alcohol in me and relax before I seize up."
"Once was enough for that, huh?" He gave my shoulder a squeeze, leaning over to nuzzle between my ears. "I'm sure you won't lack for willing hands to give you a rub-down, anyway."
"If we were going to do that, we probably should've stayed at the apartment." The image came to my mind of me sprawled out along the bartop, with three pairs of hands competing for space on my back. I couldn't help but chuckle as I slid over to the passenger door and out.
"Is Sarah going to show up?" Ric asked on the way in.
"Wouldn't be a Wednesday night at Casey's without her," was Sam's reply. "She had to work a bit late, but she should be along shortly, after she goes home and changes."
"Well, there's one other thing that's a bit different from a normal Wednesday," I thought aloud.
"Yeah?" prompted the chinchilla.
I looked over at him, at his soft, quizzical smile, and I grinned back, reaching over to seize one of his hands. "Yeah. You're normally on the other side of the bar."
"God," Sam sighed, easing onto the stool on my other side. "How long has it been since we all had a day off?" His voice dropping to a sensual purr, he went on, "Back in January, wasn't it?"
And well he might be sensual about _that_day. I shivered. "Sarah couldn't make that one, I don't think. Just us guys."
"And did you two _ever_make it a good one," the skunk drawled. "I'd say you'd given me my fill of men for a month, that night..."
"Except that that wouldn't quite jive with me waking up with your mouth on me the morning after, now would it?" Ric said over my head.
Sam coughed, ears furling back. "What can I say? You're addictive, and it's not often I get a taste of _you,_specifically."
There was a pause in the conversation as we ordered our drinks.
"So." Sam took a swig of his drink, distinguishable from my Screwdriver only in that _his_glass lacked anything alcoholic. "Taking the plunge, huh? The big step, as they say. Cohabiting."
"Hell, we've almost been doing so anyway," Ric laughed, giving my hand a squeeze in his. "We're just admitting it, and making it a bit more convenient."
"Who knows? We might actually be able to play host at some point," I suggested. "Me doing so before today would have just been inviting a bit more teasing than I'd want to."
"You have a limit? Hell, you put up with _us,_all this time," Sam laughed.
I had, hadn't I? But then, I had no desire to see any of my old housemates naked, new developments in my sexuality notwithstanding. "I'm pretty sure you fuck better than they do," was what I said out loud.
"That I can well imagine," Ric put in. "You're a brave, brave man, you know that? I don't know _how_you do it. And I've been at that sort of thing a _lot_longer than you have!"
"Guess there's something to be said for just jumping right in," Sam mused, suddenly serious. "Keep thinking about something too much in advance, and you might never get around to just trying it. Or when you do, you're tense and nervous enough that it doesn't go well."
I let the two of them banter over me a bit more. Motion from the door had caught my eye; the first three times were false starts, but the fourth time, the last member of our little gathering had arrived. Ric was saying something about holding his breath and trying something new when Sarah murmured into his ear, "Does that mean _I_can get a piece of you, then?"
I couldn't help but laugh; her delight in making people blush seemed to be one of those things that just wouldn't change. And God, his expression was priceless.
So was hers when he looked over his shoulder and said, "Sure, why not? There'll be plenty of guys around."
Not quite as much so as the one I saw later on, after we'd had another round of drinks and gone on to the skunks' place. After I'd shot a fresh load into a rubber and was shivering on top of Sarah, after Sam had slowed to a halt atop me in turn, and I was looking up past the head of Ric's cock, licking at it as Sarah's tongue bathed his balls... the look on his face at the moment his spunk shot over my tongue was pretty damn fine. I never got tired of that look - not on girls, and, it was turning out, not on guys either.
Some things never seemed to change. But some things did, and it looked like they were going to keep changing in some _really_neat ways.