It’s so Funny
#6 of Hockey Hunk Season 6
Haakon's got some time to spare, and he finds himself busier than he thought.
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Hello, muffins,
and welcome to the Hockey Hunk! Little surprise hiatus aside, not to mention the site crashing yesterday, we are now back in business, I hope, and I am not only glad to present to you this latest chapter, I'm brimming with ideas, and hoping that you'll be enjoying this story as much as I have. Your feedback means a lot, as always, so I'll be looking forward to it!
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School is alright at this point because...well...there's not really much school stuff, yet. There's just endless orientation, meet-and-greets, introductory lectures and wandering first year students bumping onto you at each corner searching for class rooms and being too scared to ask you for directions...standard stuff, standard stuff. It meant that I didn't have an awfully lot to do, even after my hour at the gym, so what's a better way to kill a couple of hours between a workout and an X-Box marathon than to wander around the mall?
This Stepford Center place is alright.
There's a lot of shops and places to go, even that movie theatre we've gone to a few times. It seems to be at a nice, central spot, so that you can take the bus from the city centre or the university and just drop by. Which is pretty nifty. Not like that mall around in Stavanger where you had to first drive 45 minutes by car to get there to see that massive parking lot and that one single huge grey box with a few shops inside it. This one has palm trees, and a pirate ship! Why did anyone had to complain about these super-malls? It was pretty cool here. And yeah, cool, too, because the sun just wouldn't stop burning everyone's ears off. The air conditioned atmosphere felt nice on my newly showered furs, too. Nothing like a good fur scrub after a work-out that left your thighs and biceps burning a bit. Walking around shops and browsing was relaxing and nice in comparison.
Poor Mason working on that shop again, though. I knew he had to, because he wanted to make the...ends meet? That was the phrase, I think, with his parents giving him some money, he still wanted some extra, so the bookstore fit him just fine, he said. I'd gladly do the same thing, maybe, if it wasn't for my visa. I just wasn't allowed to work. Period. So guess I was supposed to just enjoy this American thing without anything to interrupt it rudely, like a job. Maybe I should've enjoyed this down-time, too, with no mountains of homework to do yet before it all would start pouring in soon, anyway.
I was walking down along the main...well, street, I guess? There was that bookstore there to my left, but I didn't really feel like going there, since I did enough of book browsing back at Mason's shop anyway. And this was the same shop, well, the same name, so they probably had the same books in there anyway. A few furs were walking around the shop, I could see through the glass front, and there was this black-furred Labrador in a red shirt chatting to them. He looked kinda familiar...I think he'd worked with Mason at some point. Alex or something? Mason said he was a pain in the ass. Maybe not go there and tempt my fate.
I wondered what he was up to, anyway. Probably just getting bored while helping furs finding their books, or maybe working the counter. Maybe with Rory. He was an okay guy, even if a bit awkward at times. Not a bad-looking guy either, even if he was a bit older than me. Not that I minded. Kind of a friendly-looking guy, and I always liked a thick mane. Not that many lions in Norway, so it was weird to see so many of them walking around here. Many manes to look at, and stuff. Not bad! But why was he always so shy...or in the closet? Not like Mason would care...or maybe he had some friends or family who didn't know or he didn't want them to know...I could understand that. Still, funny to see a big man like him act all like he was embarrassed about something. Even with a big guy like Victor as his boyfriend! Almost shame we didn't share showers with them when...
Heheh. Maybe I shouldn't think that about Rory's boyfriend. He was a nice guy. He'd even been worried about me a bit, after...that happened. Mason told me that. That was kinda sweet of him, even if he hadn't said much to me, directly, just that message on Facebook a few weeks ago. At least he'd thought about me, wondered how I was doing, and stuff. That's what mattered.
I could feel myself tense even then.
Still made me feel sick in my belly thinking about it. Those photos online...even if they were not sharp, you could see there were bodies floating in the sea...bodies that could've been Reidar...better not think about that. At least most the websites and news had stopped by now. They had other things to talk about than mass murder. Even that went old after a few days, it seemed. Everyone who didn't have a personal connection had slowly forgotten. The rest of us...I expected a few more sleepless nights.
At least Mason was cool about me staying over often at his place. It was so much easier like that...even if I didn't have nightmares, at least not that I remembered. It was still nicer to stay at his place, not at the dorm, where the room had to be shared.
But there'd been nights when I would wake up with a gasp and then just lay there listening to him breathe quietly in his sleep, and I would keep listening until I would be sleeping again. He never mentioned anything in the morning so if he knew that something like that happened, he wouldn't' speak about it. At least he didn't even bat an eyelid about the two of us sleeping together in the same bed like that. He didn't mind.
If only.
I rubbed the back of my neck, adjusted my shirt by giving it a tug, and sought out my next target along this street of easy window shopping. There was a shoe store...nah, mine were alright, and not too interested...pawbags and colourful accessories...that was a bit girly for me, maybe...music store...maybe...sports gear store...not bad...could check out the jockstraps...been thinking buying one and they're not often sold in Norway...Mason said they were common here...well...the guys at hockey wore some, and I'd been thinking about it for a while now...
I gave a bit of a look at the scarves and bags on the display, though. Seeing them all there lined up like that reminded me of a certain leopard who had been a nuisance as of recent. Ugh. My ears flicked back a bit at the thought and I walked ahead, past the shop with the stuff on the windows. Reminded too much of Aiden's giggling voice and the remarks he'd do or the looks or pretending to drop something so that I was forced to see him wriggle his ass when he picked the thing up.
And it's even been going on since he and I had that little...chat...in the showers...
...
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"Hmm..." he was purring, real loud, when his fingers touched my chin...curled. Tried to stroke.
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_It lasted for a second. _
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Then I grabbed his paw and took it off my shower-damp face. He'd already touched enough that his scent remained there on the wet fur, and I could smell it, even through the remaining scent of the soap.
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_"How about you give it up, really, Aiden, please?" I said. _
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The leopard let out a purr and winked.
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"Oh I'll give it up gladly if - "
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I pushed him. I put my paw on his shoulder and pushed him hard enough that he was almost unseated from his paws. He actually staggered, and by the flash in his eyes, and the angle of his ears, I was pretty sure that not only he'd felt a bit scared about the possibility of being slammed to the wall, my shove had also hurt a bit. His paw flew up onto his shoulder and his wide eyes stared at me while he let out a surprised hiss. I puffed out my chest.
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"Just quit it, Aiden, I'm not interested."
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The cheetah's teeth flashed with his sneer.
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"Wolfy boy not keen on sharing huh?"
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I grunted, my own teeth bare, too.
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"Don't get Mason involved in this, Aiden."
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"You jealous that I might be doing something to him? That he likes spots in other places than your butt too, big boy?" the leopard sneered.
I growled.
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"Stay off him," I said, "stay off me, alright?"
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His eyes flashed.
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"So you are into him...hmmm..."
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"I'm not into anyone," I grunted. "and if I was, it's none of your business, Aiden. Stop being an asshole and leave me be!"
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The leopard, his shoulders raised, his furs spiked, a sharp angle to his ears, just looked at me.
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"Well suit yourself, if I'm too much to handle for you..." he started, then lifting his paws up in the air to make those annoying air quotation marks, "'straight' boy..."
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Then, with another annoyingly cocky smirk, he turned around and walked out, his tail and ass swinging as if he was still in character as a Cabaret girl.
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...
Damnit. At least he'd toned it down a bit after that, but still, we had to stay civil, and we had to go through with the play...and I bet he was enjoying the dirty dancing we had to do on the musical a bit more than he was supposed to be, but we had to go through with it. As long as he wasn't starting to do anything really bad like really trying to grope me or rub on me or do something weird or say something strange to Mason, I was going to be alright until the entire musical thing was over. We'd probably not be hanging out so much after that. He was starting to get kinda annoying.
Hmm. I decided on a nice-looking, airy clothing store next to the sports gear store and walked inside, through the security gates and into amidst the quiet early afternoon traffic in the shop. Just a few furs milling about browsing the stuff, spread along the spacious floor. I wasn't really looking to buy anything to wear, I had to look my own funds a bit and stuff, but...I could always look? It was always nice to wear something that looked good on me, but filling my closet with clothes I only wore really rarely wasn't something I aimed to do. It'd all have to go back to Norway, too, I one day.
Stupid Aiden. Weren't there other guys for him to chase? There were enough openly gay guys in the English department alone to create a harem of guys interested in other guys, and that was just for starters. There was that gay bar, too, and the internet was full of guys wanting to do all sorts of stuff with other guys. So it's not just like he didn't have the freedom to pick. And I hadn't even told him, or anyone else, really, that I liked girls and...yeah...boys weren't bad either.
It shouldn't be difficult anymore, should it? When even among the staff there were several gay guys, and Ms Gilmore, too...why should it be difficult? I don't know...something just kept me back...maybe...maybe the fact that Mason was so nice and...and now it'd been so long and...ugh...all this shit happening recently.
Maybe I should just come clean about it.
But would he feel weird, then? Or maybe...
Nah, probably not. I reached a rack with some T-shirts on it and started to browse. They were alright...nice earthly colours they were called, I think? Natural colours? What was the name of this shade...tan? kind of brown...yellow...something in between...beige? Sometimes this was difficult. Our old colour names and English having so many different names...French ones or something. Maybe Professor Abigail would be displeased of me for showing indifference to etymology. I was going to start her class on it this week. The introduction had been interesting enough already.
Hmm. I suppose this shade, I thought, as I picked up a T-shirt from the rack to see what it really looked like, I guess this was called cream or something...would it be nice on me? Not clash with my own shades...I wanted a shirt that looked good, not like a camouflage...hmm...though maybe camo wouldn't be so bad. Mason sometimes wore camo pattern pants. Maybe we could match. Heheh. That could be a fun thing to do. I might have to ask him about it. Maybe he'd like to do something like that.
"Uh...Haakon?!"
My ears flapped back and forth. The softly spoken word that was nothing more than my very own name, and the voice was familiar as well.
Standing behind a small display of jeans was Jessica, looked over to me. Her eyes as much as her ears seemed tentative, questioning, maybe, and the expression on her face was really hard to read just straight on. She wasn't letting out much.
I felt my own tail give a tense flick while I faced her properly.
"Hi," I spoke quietly.
Her ears gave a brief flick, and she smiled, but it was a polite smile. Not the way how she smiled before...in all the situations we were in together. She rounded the jeans display and stood on the aisle, clad in a nice little skirt suitable for the weather, and a blue top that did show how attractive she really was....especially with the knowledge of the body underneath those clothes, the one I had...seen. Her paws seemed a bit restless against her sides, clenching and unclenching, too. She seemed a bit nervous...or maybe not just that happy to see me...or maybe...I don't know. Things had gotten so hot and heavy with her so quickly and then things just went downhill so quickly that it was hard to know what she wanted of me now, after weeks of silence.
"I wasn't sure it was you," she said.
That sounded lame, and it probably was an excuse, but considering how tense I felt, too, I did not pick up on it.
"It's me," I said, "hello."
Damn this was awkward. We hadn't had any contact since she'd angrily stormed out of my life after labelling me and Mason immature assholes for a variety of assholish reasons in our part, and...yes, there she was now, not likely too happy to see me.
"How are you?" she said.
That was unexpectedly polite. She almost sounded interested.
"I'm alright, thank you," I said, "you?"
"Oh, okay," she shrugged. "I...I saw the news and...I almost called..."
Of course. I felt myself bristle a little.
"I didn't lose anyone," I put it as plainly as I could without going into any detail. I couldn't talk about it, not that casually. Maybe not ever. "But it sucks."
"Yeah..." she said, in a way that'd come really familiar over the past month or so, the kind that told that furs who had no idea how I felt were trying to tell me that they knew exactly how I must feel because my home had been destroyed by a lunatic.
"Yeah," I said.
"Uh...would you like to have a coffee, maybe?" Jessica asked. "Or something, I don't know..."
I didn't expect her to say that either.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" I replied.
"I'd really like to talk with you...about stuff," she said, glancing down her body, her paws twitching against her belly where she kept them, protectively. Defensively.
"Okay," I sighed.
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