{"sf1_id":813077,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Dogs: Litany - Episode III","author":"Aux Chiens","words":14030,"posted_at":"2015-01-29T22:39:00.000Z","tags":["Character Development","Cum","Gay Relationships","Heat","Hybrid","M/M","Male","Male Pregnancy","Oral","Plot Development","Pregnancy","Story Progression","Swallowing","Transformation","half-human","semen"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/813077-the-dogs-litany-episode-iii","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/813077","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=813077\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"            In the small space of time that it took for them\nto leave the gas station and come to the front door of the Green Room, Andrew fucked\nup really badly by being honest.            As\nhe was about to try and open the door to see if it was locked - it was well\nafter closing, he knew- he said, a mounting pressure in his chest that exited\nhis throat like a toxic vapor:            \"Yanno,\nit's uh - it's kinda funny.\"            \"What\nis?\"            \"Well,\ngrowing up, me and you I - I never thought I'd hafta raise your kids. That's -\nkinda funny, right?\"            An\ninsensitive joke at the expense of the situation - it was the culmination of\neverything he had put himself through while waiting for Bligh to get gas, where\nhis logic had led him...where his life, so changed and so altered, had led him,\nuntil now.            Bligh\nstopped where he was, not five feet away behind him - those eyes of his looked\nespecially beautiful, especially ethereal, when he was sad, when he was\nwounded...the last time they saw each other before Andrew moved they were\nflawless, and it hurt Andrew's very heart to see them.            And\nnow they looked - not quite as flawless, but close, very close, because Andrew\nhad delivered a savage blow to a spot that was soft and unguarded.            \"What\nthe - so yew - yew dun wanna raise\nem?\"            Andrew\ntried to backpedal: \"Wait - dude, dude no, I didn't--\"            \"What\nthe fuck, Drew?\"            It\nwas a leap of logic based on one small joke that wasn't even a proper joke, but\nAndrew could not hide how he really felt.            He\ncringed as his hand grasped the door to the Green Room.             \"I\n- I dunno, I just--\"            The\nwhirling trill of the crickets, still symphonic for the next month but doomed\nto be silenced by the cool of the October rains - the ambient roar of the cars\non the street - it all seemed too loud to him, ringing in his ears as the\nregret panged in his chest.             \"I...I\ndidn't mean--\"            \"That's\nexactly what yew meant, man. Yew been actin funny since we left the house - ya\nwanna tell me what's goin on?\"            His\nhand still on the door handle and his eyes down into the sidewalk, Andrew gave\nan impassive little shrug, a deflating headshake.            \"N-no--\"            \"Well\nwhy the Hell not?\"            He\nshould have felt ashamed, the lingering submissiveness that came from knowing\nthat, after all, he was gladly owned as\na person by Bligh, but he straightened his jaw and shook his head.           He\nmade a futile pull to the glass door, papered over with scores of skating\ncompany logos and band insignia and faded fliers for decades-old shows and the\nobnoxious Kalashnikov silhouette with DEFEND POP PUNK beneath it - it gave off\nan uncomfortable jamming noise.            \"He\nwas my boyfriend, Bligh then - you\ncome down and knock him up and I - I gotta take care of kids that ain't even\nmine? That're yours?\"            \"They're\nyers too!\"            \"No.\" Andrew sighed harshly.\n\"No - no they ain't. Just think,\nokay? Who's got the bigger dick and who's in better shape and who cums more?\"            Bligh's\nface turned pink - he shut his eyes, shaking his head sadly. \"Man - don't--\"            \"It's\n- stupid of me to think, maybe, after all higher volume of semen does not indicate higher fertility...\" His\nvoice, so full of scientific certitude trailed off into a half-hearted\nheadshake. \"But me and Stephen are inbred all to fuck, and - I - I know my\nlimits.\"            Bligh\nlet out a long sigh from his nose. \"Drew dun - dun be like that, yer -\nstill in good shape, man, and yanno--\" He stopped himself, growling in\nagitation. \"Man - not ten minutes\nago yew--\"            \"I know what I said, Bligh. But - but\nmaybe I was just saying that - to - to convince myself.\"             For\na few seconds Bligh seemed mystified - his eyes, no longer sorrowful, narrowed\nin annoyance. \"So ya lied.\"            \"No,\nI didn't--\"            \"Yeah\nya did.\"            \"F-fuck\n- consider my position, Bligh,\nokay?\" He hesitated, still fearful to stand up to him, fearful enough that\nthis would ruin his relationship, his marriage, but unable to suppress it any\nlonger. \"Those puppies are gonna come outta someone who -who--\" He\nstaved off an unwelcome surge of emotion, his ears straining hard inside his\nhat. \"S-someone who said he - he loved me first, and the daddy ain't me\nit's - you.\"            Bligh\ndid not offer a response, at first - his lips pressed together in a different\nkind of frown, something defiant, something demanding, and Andrew's eyebrows\nflicked together over his nose as he half-expected Bligh to reprimand him for\nquestioning how he wanted things done. For a lapsing second the true horror of\nAndrew's bitchdom crashed into him, as what he had willfully ignored was\nrevealed to him, how deeply patriarchal Bligh was - how he, Andrew, had allowed\ntheir entire lives to slip into a paternal autocracy with Bligh as its head.             But\ninstead, Bligh did something Andrew had not expected - he apologized:\n            \"Well then I'm sorry,\nman.\"\n            \"I am too,\" Andrew\nsaid, near-automatically.\n            Another brief, uncomfortable\npause as Bligh smooshed an imaginary bug on the asphalt with the toe of his\nboot.             \"But\n- Drew, man, yew definitely\nsaid--\"\n            \"I say a lotta\nthings!\" Andrew retorted dismissively, calling on long-forgotten reserves\nof courage. \n            He tried to tug the door open\nagain - he knew it was locked but the kinetic burst helped him, somehow, in\nthis battle of wills he had accidentally started. \n            Bligh remained unyielding - he\nfolded his arms, tilting his head back some, his mouth becoming a firm line. \n            \"Then what yew gonna\ndo?\"\n            Andrew knew the answer - this\nhad all been an exercise in futility, Bligh needed to hear what was going on\ninside his head and heart even if it could not change the circumstance of\nAndrew cuckolded, Cody pregnant. \n            \"I'm gonna raise your\ndamn kids, Bligh,\" he said, in a low voice of dying anger.            This\nwhole time his tail had been perfectly still with dread anxiety, but it\nbetrayed him, the thought of a family, however distant, however monstrous, made\nit wag - a slight vibration in his khakis.             Bligh\nfiddled with the cigarette pack in his shirt pocket, an abortive, nervous\ngesture. \"I kinda dun like the way that sounds...\"            \"I\nain't - gotta choice,\" Andrew answered, the same low tone.            He\nlooked past Bligh - to the emptying asphalt-wasteland parking lot splotched\nwith the leprous lights of the streetlamps that were starting to come on, the\nroad with its anonymous bleary-lighted cars and the ritzy beach condos that\nrose sinisterly behind choking palms and oaks on the other side of it.            He\nlooked past Bligh to memories he now wasn't even sure were real.            \"Even\nif it weren't for Cody - making sure\nhe's okay, which - I'd die for him, we both know that--\"            \"Dun\nsay that,\" Bligh murmured.            \"Even\nif weren't - for - him...\" Andrew pressed - he paused, trying to choose his\nwords carefully. \"It's...still you.\"            Bligh\nfolded his arms again. \"Wazzat s'posed ta mean.\"            \"It\nmeans - ever since you shot that mountain lion in the head, this - something\nlike this - was gonna - was gonna happen.\" He swallowed hard.\n\"Understand? I never really had a damn choice.\"            Bligh\nshook his head slow - Andrew rolled his eyes.            \"We\n- this is just a hunch now, but it means - we were always meant to do -\nsomething like this.\" He sighed. \"Maybe a little less fucked up,\nbut--\"            \"What,\nlike fate? S'fucked up way o'tellin me yew love me, Drew.\"            Andrew\nshrugged. \"I mean if it weren't for you, I'd be dead. So I - not to be\ncliché - fuck I even hate saying this, but - I can't quit you.\" He jerked\nthe door handle again. \"Ever. Even if it means - raising young'uns that\nain't my own, fathered by my best friend and mothered by - someone who started\nout being just mine. I mean - I mean shit,\nyou were better at everything back home anyway, except grades, so - so no\nwonder you could do in one try what I...\" He realized the absurdity,\nsituational and historical, of what he was about to say, but he went on,\nsmiling to himself. \"...what I tried to do too many times to fucking count.\"            Bligh\nabsorbed what Andrew said, but he seemed unimpressed. \"A hunch, huh?\"            \"Yeah\n- y-yeah. A hunch.\"            Taking\na few steps forward, his hands thrust to his pockets, Bligh still seemed\nskeptical - or tried to seem that way, to guard being hurt.            \"Thought\nyew hated hunches - all about ya some scientific ev-uh-dense.\"            Andrew\nturned back to the door - there was the sound of a key entering a lock.             \"I\nhave said that in the past, haven't I?\"            He\nwasn't sure if Bligh wanted to answer him or not, and in either case he was cut\noff by the door swinging open - standing on the other side was a woman,\nslightly shorter than Andrew, with glossy bobbed black hair that came straight\ndown to her shoulders, a pretty oval face framed by a pair of thick black\nglasses that accented eyes that near-glowed with a luminous brown, rose-petal\nred lipstick and flawless olivine skin. She wore a purple shirt - John\nVarvatos, Andrew noted, rather expensive - with jeggings that terminated in a\npair of near-matching purple Tom's.            She\nsmiled in that delightful, joyous way so rare amongst women, indeed amongst\npeople - in an instant you could feel the joie\nde vivre, the ecstasy of merely being alive, from that one, single smile.            \"Hey\nyou!\" she said in a raucous\nNuyorican accent, throwing her arms around Andrew in a hug. \"How you doin!\"             \"Hey\nGabby,\" Andrew said, forcing a friendly smile. \"How's it been?\"            \"Good,\ngood, good! I hadn't--\" She cut\nherself off as she noticed Bligh, and the red lips curved into a bemused\nexpression.\"Who's this, who's ya friend?\"            Bligh\nstepped forward, cleared his throat and smiled without showing his teeth. He\nthrust out his hand, and gave a half-nod of acknowledgment as he introduced\nhimself - \"Bligh, Bligh Lynch\" - all, the action of a humble good ol\nmountain boy that a month in Florida could do nothing to erase.            \"Oh\nso you're Bligh!\" Gabby said\nwith another delightful laugh as she took Bligh's hand. \"Cody's talked\nabout you, ya know, what, so--\" Her hand returned to her, she used it to\npoint at Bligh. \"He's roomin with you guys? Amirite?\"            \"Yes\nma'am,\" Bligh affirmed. \"Moved down ere last month.\"            The\nlaugh returned, less delightful, more amused: \"Ohmigawd, that accent!\nThat's so cute! I've never heard\nanyone talk like that in real life!\" A touch of pink came back to Bligh's\nface as she went on: \"And - oh, oh, oh!\nOh honey please don't call me ma'am, ya make me feel old!\"            A\nperplexed look crossed Bligh's face - Andrew sensed at once that he had never\nin his life heard someone utter such an absurdity, which he himself was so used\nto hearing in the egalitarian anarchy of the New South.            \"Yeah\n- yeah, that's right,\" he answered for Bligh. \"I'm sure Cody told\nyou, he's my best friend, from back home--\"            \"In\nWest V.A., ya, ya I know.\" She smiled at Bligh - the same smile of\ninfinite joy, who answered with a polite smirk. \"We known Andy for ages!\" She struck to Andrew to\nstrike him lightly on the shoulder with the back of her hand. \"How long,\nhow long Andy?\"            Andrew\nchuckled. \"Since, um - since I moved to Tampa...\"            \"Ohmigawd\nthat feels like foreva ago, don't it?\" She patted him on the arm. \"Don't it? And now little Davey, he's\ngrowin up too quick, he'll be in junior\nhigh!\"            \"Yeah,\nyeah he will,\" Andrew replied with another chuckle. \"You still want\nhim tutored, right? Last we - we spoke you said you wanted to wait some--\"            Gabby\nlaughed, a kind of high-pitched chortle that brought the back of her hand to\nher mouth in something like embarrassment. \"Oh yes - oh honey, yes--\"\nShe laid her hand on Andrew's shoulder. \"He's doin okay so far, so far,\nbut yanno it's Earth science this year--\"            \"That\ncan be tough,\" Andrew concurred with a small smile. \"I'll definitely\nbe here for that if y'all need me.\"            He\nwondered if, behind him, Bligh could catch it, the way he was speaking, the way\nhe was acting, the effortless, empty, charm of his father, how meaningless his\nwords were, how this conversation did not matter and only Andrew knew it...he\nknew how distasteful he found it, anytime Archie Lightfoot's corrupted, inbred\nDNA found its way to blossom into Andrew's voice, Andrew's heart...            Gabby\nshifted where she stood. \"So whatchu doin here honey, you come ta see\nCody?\"            \"Well,\nit's...\"            He\nshot a glance that nearly betrayed a transparent worry to Bligh who, detecting\nhe was needed, cleared his throat and spoke up:            \"It's,\nuh - it's a lil hard fer em ta talk bout but his - his mama fell down the steps\nand, we gotta go up north n'see her, n'we think Cody needs ta come up with - uh\n- with us, n'we - dunno how long that'll be.\"            Would\nthis be happening to someone else it would have been an element of light comedy\n- but it was happening to him, to\nAndrew, and his whole body froze in mortification, in barely suppressed rage.             They\nhad not, it was true, agreed upon a plan, on what to say, not even as they got\nthere - there was vague mention of a family emergency but never exactly what the emergency was. It was a poor\nchoice - improvable, yes, it was in bad taste, appallingly bad taste.            As\nGabby gasped and put her hands to her face in abject horror, Andrew's eyes\nslowly turned to Bligh in a glance that could have murdered him, had it the\npower to.            But\nGabby thrust out her arms and pulled him into a hug that only mother could\nmake, complete warmth, complete comfort, utterly undeserved, it made Andrew's\nwhole body shriek with an embarrassment he did not think capable of feeling.            \"Oh\nAndy honey,\" she whispered, a\npracticed, polished maternity in the words. \"I am so - so sorry.\"            Her\nhug did not relent as much as Andrew wanted it to - needed it to - and he swallowed, hard, his discomfort and his\nhumiliation falling back into his throat in the same action.            \"It's\n- it's okay,\" he managed, pulling out of her hug with a humility that was\npartially forced, partially genuine. \"It's okay. We - just need him up\nthere with us, and--\" He tried not to grit his teeth as he echoed Bligh's\nwords. \"We really don't know how\nlong that'll be.\"            Gabby\nflipped her hair, face still full of concern. \"So - you takin Cody\nwith?\"            Andrew\nhesitated - he did not mean to, one slip-up and even she, who trusted him\nenough to be alone with her own child for hours on end while tutoring him,\nwould know that he was lying.             But he hesitated, gravely, crucially, before\nanswered with a succession of nods - Gabby, he saw, reading her, did not\nnotice.            \"Yeah,\nhe does. I'd like the whole family there - and he's--\" He smiled to\nhimself, knowing the truth behind it. \"He's family too.\"            Gabby\nwaved a hand. \"Ohmigawd you guys are so cute, it's disgustin--\" She\nlooked to Bligh to support her. \"Isn't it disgustin? How cute they are?\"            Bligh\ntittered, his mouth closed, hiding his teeth - Andrew could only guess how\nhilarious he truly must have found this.             \"Sure\nare - cute as can be.\"            Gabby\nlaughed at the remark. \"And that accent!\"\nshe exclaimed again. \"Okay Andy honey come on in, we're doin inventory so\nwatch ya step, it's a little messy.\"            They\nentered to find the Green Room was the same as it usually was: the sensory\noverload of skating paraphernalia, the endless papered chaos of old band logos\nand flyers from long-ago punk shows, the saluting rows of skateboards lined up\nsmartly against the wall above the black vinyl couches like the muskets at the\nGovernor's Palace in Williamsburg - it crossed Andrew's mind every time - but\nGabby was right when she said messy.            There\nwere piles of shoeboxes, many of them half-open - shirts in chaotic puddles of\ndiffering colors and sizes - boards in what looked like an aborted attempt of\norganization from off the wall behind the cash register.            But\nthe thing Andrew noticed immediately was how quiet it was - the Green Room was usually loud, really loud,\npumping through the speakers with something, The Killers, Unknown Hinson,\nSocial Distortion, Black Flag...but now the store had closed, the music was off.             The\nonly sound was, faintly, a high-pitched electronic beep in an irregular pattern - three sets of them, it sounded like\n- and one of them, Andrew knew, by smell, with just a quick inhale, was Cody.            Of\nthe many things he went back and forth on about his new body even a month on,\nbeing able to know his two mates by smell was something he had learned to\nunquestionably love - every time one of them came home from work, or when he\nmet them somewhere and hadn't seen them in some hours, that rush of scent, that\nfeeling of being close to them in a way no one else in the entire world could\nfathom, made him, as few things did, happy.            \"Cody...\"\nhe said - to himself, but Gabby, in front of them, leading the way, heard him,\nand turned around with one of her charming little laughs.            \"Yeah,\nyeah, lemme go get him, he's in the back with Tim and Davey--\"            \"Davey's\nhere?\" asked Andrew.            \"Oh\nyuh, he's helping me and Tim and Cody do inventory - we gotta get everything\ncounted cuz, yanno, Christmas.\"\nShe threw mockery on the last word - Andrew smiled politely at the joke.             \"But\nyeah Cody, uh - Cody volunteered to stay, cuz yanno, he's Cody, so we let em.\"            \"He\nvolunteered,\" Bligh murmured back.            Gabby\nnodded. \"Yuh huh! He's always doin that - right, Andy?\"            \"Yeah,\"\nAndrew said with a chuckle that he hoped did not sound as mirthless as it was.\n\"Yeah, yeah he is.\"            \"So\nwe got these guns, right? And they're supposed to scan the barcode and then it\ntells our computer how much of what we have, right?\"            \"Right,\"\nAndrew answered.            \"Yeah!\nIt makes everything so much easier, yanno back in the day--\"            Whatever\nstory she was about to tell - turning around, accenting every word as she\nalways did with a wave of her hands, was interrupted by the stockroom door,\nwhich sat behind the glass display case and the cash register underneath the\nformidably enormous black-and-white picture oh Alan Gelfand doing an ollie,\nswinging open.            Out\nstepped Cody, first - in his Vans hoodie he had bought himself a few weeks ago\nand jeans, with a grey plastic scanning gun in hand, he was sniffing the air\nwith a deeply puzzled look on his cute, boyish face, and Andrew realized, a\nwarm feeling building in his chest, he\nhad smelled he and Bligh before he had seen them.\nCody stopped behind the display case, setting down his scanning gun, his head\ntilted in further bepuzzlement as he saw Bligh and Andrew with Gabby.            \"Hey\nBaby,\" Andrew greeted.            \"Hey\n- hey guys,\" Cody answered.            From\nbehind him emerge two males, each of them wielding scanning guns of their own:            The\nfirst - Tim, smiling and waving at Andrew as they neared each other - was a\ncorpulent but jolly-looking man with shaved head and gauged ears, one arm\ncovered in an intricate style of a well-known New York tattooist, wearing a\nplain black shirt with an embossed picture of Morrissey.            The\nsecond, Davey, who, taking a cue from his father and also waving was a boy, no\nmore than eleven, short, rather chubby, with freshly-trimmed dark brown hair -\nhe was dressed similar to Cody, his jeans tight in the latest style.            Tim\nspoke first: \"Well hey, fellas! Fancy seeing you here.\"            \"Hey\nTim and - Davey, how're y'all?\"            Davey\nshrugged. \"Mami and Dad are making me help with inventory - so -\nyeah.\"            Andrew\nchuckled. \"Sorry to hear that.\"            \"Yeah,\"\nDavey huffed.            Gabby\ninterrupted the smalltalk:            \"Cody\nhoney, they're uh - they're for ya, actually.\"            \"Well\nwhat's up, you guys never visit me at work unless--\"            Andrew\ncleared his throat to start. \"Baby it's - it's my mom--\" He swallowed,\nthe will to lie dangerously fading with every vowel. \"My mom fell down the\nstairs, and uh - she's really bad, Baby. We have to go - we have to go visit\nher, I - didn't call you because I - wanted to tell you in person.\"            \"That's\nawful!\" Tim exclaimed. \"Did it happen today?\"            \"Yeah\n- yeah, happened this afternoon.\"            Tim\nfrowned with a slow headshake. \"Oh, man.\"            Cody's\nreaction would have been, at any other time, in any other situation, priceless:\nhis face did not change, nor did his tone, all that he was able to say was:            \"Really.\"            \"Y-yeah,\"\nAndrew went on. \"We - we gotta take you home and get packed up--\"             \n            Cody's eyes narrowed for a split-second - Andrew\ncould tell he was no fool, particularly to this, he had suspected a ruse and\nhad smelt one as surely as he had smelt the two of them coming in the store.\nHis ears wanted to flatten as his boyfriend stared him down.            Davey\nset his scanning gun down on the glass display case. \"You have to go,\nhuh?\"             Gabby\nshook her head, still concerned with how Andrew must be feeling.            \"Yeah\n- yeah, but you're mom said you're doing okay this school year, right?\"            Davey\nshrugged. \"Yeah, it's pretty okay so far.\"            \"Is\nshe okay?\" Cody asked in a lifeless tone.            \"We\n- we dunno--\"            \"I\nhad an uncle fall down the stairs once,\" Tim said to Gabby. \"It was\nbad, real bad.\"            Davey\nwas becoming restless with all the adults talking. \"What's so bad about\nfalling down the stairs?\"             \"Well\nyou can break a lot of bones,\" Tim answered matter-of-factly.\n\"Sometimes people even die when they're old and they slip and fall like\nthat.\"            Davey's\neyes widened. \"Whoa.\"            \"Yes\nwhoa,\" Tim said with a nod.            \"Wait,\nwhich uncle?\" asked Gabby, distracted.            \"You\ndon't remember Uncle Ora, came to the wedding?\"            Gabby\ngasped. \"Ohmigawd, yes! And he\nwas still on crutches, oh--\" She turned to Cody to grab his shoulder.\n\"Cody honey this is serious, you really should go with.\"            Cody's\nhazel eyes drilled into Andrew's. \"I guess we're leaving soon?\" he\nasked, still lifeless.            \"Tomorrow,\"\nBligh answered with a confidence that Andrew now longed to have.            A\nsmall silence wedged between them as it became apparent they were waiting on\nCody to decide - he sighed, quick, acquiescing, probably knowing that, somehow,\nand sooner or later, he would have to submit to whatever plan was being\nhatched.            \"Is\nthat okay with you, Gabby?\"            \"Yes,\nhoney, yes! Go be with your family, we can manage.\"            \"How\nlong you think ya gonna be?\" Tim asked.            \"Bout\ntwo months, I reckon, right Drew?\"            \"Hey,\nyou might be longer than that,\" Tim opined.            \"For\nthat long...\" Gabby thought to herself - and then, an epiphany: \"Oh,\nwait, no, that's perfect! Lemme go get, um--\" She tapped her husband on the\narm. \"The thing, that thing we're doing. Yes, awesome, okay--\"            \"You\nsure it's alright?\" Cody could no longer hide his listlessness.             She\nlaid a hand on his shoulder, another little laugh. \"Cody honey it's perfect, just lemme go get something in\nthe office, okay? Be just a sec - Tim honey take Davey and keep scanning those\nOasis, I wanna get outta here on time, okay?\"            \"But\nMami--\"            \"No\nMami!\" Gabby shot back, pointing\nto the stockroom. \"Go with ya daddy, I ain't playin.\"            \"C'mon\nDavey,\" Tim beckoned, clicking the trigger on the scanning gun.\n\"Sooner we get this done, sooner we can get Little Caesar's.\"            \"Fine,\" Davey groaned, and into the\nstockroom he, and his parents, vanished.            No\nsooner were they out of sight when Bligh tittered, softly: \"Ya think we're\ngonna be like that when we're older?\"            Andrew\nsnorted, livid, not even able to look at Bligh in the face.            Waiting\nuntil they seemed to be out of earshot and the cheerful beep of the scanning gun, Cody spun on his feet to glare at his two\nmates.            \"Your\nmom isn't dead,\" Cody said flatly, clearly nonplussed.            \"S-sick,\"\nBligh corrected - the hesitancy gave it away, the sigil of the jig being up.            Andrew's\nface went hot - the guilt, the brokenness of what he was doing, hit him, once\nagain. \"Fell down the stairs,\nJesus, Bligh, least get your own lies straight--\"            \"Y'ain't\nmakin this any easier, Drew--\"            \"Don't\nstart with me,\" Andrew answered\nwith a hostile mumble.            Cody\nremained nonplussed. \"Making what easier,\nguys? I mean - I know for a fact you wouldn't pull me outta work - because your\nmom is sick or--\" He rolled his eyes irritably. \"Fell down the stairs.\" He shook his head, as though in\ndisappointment. \"You hate your\nmom.\"            Bligh\nturned to Andrew, who half-nodded, still ashamed.            \"Yew\nmean yew still hate yer mama?\"            \"You've\nheard me talk about it...\" Andrew murmured.            \"Yeah,\nman - like today, but shit--\" Bligh seemed aghast. \"Not enough ta\neven--?\"            Cody\nthrust his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, looking first to Andrew, then\nBligh. \"Seriously. What's this really\nabout, guys?\"            Andrew\nswallowed hard. \"Baby - Baby, we--\"            Unable\nto finish his sentence for the second time that evening, Bligh once again\npicked up where he had left off:            \"Pup\n- Pup, listen - yer - yer pregnant, aight?\" At the word pregnant his voice dove into a whisper.\n\"And we can't be havin yew--\"            \"Having\nme what?\" Cody demanded.\n\"Having me go out and help get money for\nmy own puppies? We have to get so\nmuch stuff--\"            Andrew\npersisted: \"Baby, listen, I can pay--\"            Cody\nshook his head furiously. \"No! No - no. I have to help.\"            \"Pup\nno--\" Bligh tried to say.            \"You\ndon't have to, is what I'm saying--\"            \"Andy.\"\n            Andrew\nshut his mouth at the sound of his name - Cody moved closer until their eyes\nwere locked, the latter shorter than Andrew by a several inches so that he was\nlooking up at him, but with a tangible emotional power, the unshakable\ncertitude that Cody had developed about the world many darker years before.       \n            \"You can't just - decide this without - without asking me,\" the boy said\nquietly.            \"Yeah\nwe can,\" Bligh rejoined, his voice absolutely serious, devoid of the\nslightest irony. \"Yer carryin my - our\nkids--\"            \"And?\"\nCody answered at once. \"Bligh I can still work, I can still--\" A\nmoment of epiphany, immense and shaking, took hold over Cody's face, and his\nmouth, in mid-reply, slowly closed.    \"Oh,\" he said\nsimply.            Andrew\nwatched him - his boyfriend, his beloved, so beautiful and so precious, his\nlips parted in thought so that his fangs drooped just slightly past his lips -\nrealize, and realize deeply.            \"Oh...\"\nhe said again, quieter this time, more defeated this time.             Bligh\ngrabbed him into a hug about his shoulders, kissing him on the forehead,\nsearching his eyes with his own in a deep earnestness that surprised even\nAndrew.            \"Pup,\ndo ya - do y'understand?\" He took a hand to stroke the boy's face.\n\"Me and Drew's puppies they - they growin inside ya. We love ya but - it ain't bout yew anymore.\" He glanced to Andrew, who nodded in\nreluctant agreement. \"It's bout all o'us - as a family, aight?\"            \"Yeah,\nI--\" Cody sighed, closing his eyes. \"I get it, I get it, I just--\"\nHis eyes opened and he fidgeted uncomfortably. \"I wanna help! I wanna help\npay bills and--\"            \"Drew\nn'me can do that - he gotta little money, and I'm workin full time...\"            Cody\nlooked to Andrew, who tried to disagree - not just with Bligh, not just against\nBligh's word, but with the idea that he could, after all, simply let the person\nhe vowed to protect, who meant so much to him, just do as he pleased...as\ndistasteful as it was, maybe Bligh was right, maybe this was for his own good.            \"Consider\n- Baby, consider if you got hurt or something. It wouldn't just be - you getting hurt - it'd be the puppies\ntoo.\"            Bligh\nrelaxed his hug, the hand on Cody's face retreating to his shirt pocket where\nhe fumbled for his pack of cigarettes - a nervous subroutine, Andrew knew.             \"Pup\n- listen, I dun - I dunno what I'd do if something ever--\"\n            \"But when I'm gonna get\nhurt, though?\" Cody said, the helplessness in his voice becoming palpable.\n            \"Well for one thing, I've\nbeen letting you to skate to work when it's cool out,\" Andrew answered.\n            \"I've skated to work for\nlike a year, Andy--\"\n            \"And you ate shit back in\nJune because you didn't see that they had busted up the sidewalk putting in new\npipes.\" \n            Cody winced at the memory,\nAndrew almost doing the same - it was mere months ago, and he had recovered\nfrom it so quickly, that he had almost forgotten it.\n            Andrew looked to Bligh, whose\nface had turned to stone, the nervous motion of his cigarettes in his hand\nfrozen in mid-gesture, all at the very thought.\n            Cody was in utter rout:\n\"But you - usually drive me--\" \n            He stopped, and there was a\nvery faint motion in his toboggan that Andrew had not noticed before - his\nears, trying to flatten in their hiding place, a motion that, upon seeing it,\nhe now shared.\n            \"Shit,\" Bligh\nmurmured, the cigarette pack going back in his shirt. \"I ain't - I ain't bout that.\" His gaze was suddenly\nstern, and Cody withered within it. \"Pup, we gotta git yew home - me\nn'Drew'll take care o'ya and--\" \n            The hand that had been in his\nshirt pocket came to Cody's belly, in the pouch where he had kept his arms all\nthis time, and they parted, falling to his side, so that Bligh could gently\npress.\n            And he stifled back a burst of\nemotion, an instant of - it was similar to how he acted when he would talk about\nPappy, but deeper, somehow, rawer, and Andrew felt it, he felt it as Bligh felt\nit then, a wrist coming to his mouth to hide it, the stone cold terror-euphoria\nof being an expectant father.\n            Cody looked away - a of\nSkullcandies he would probably need to scan later- grabbing Bligh's hand,\nstoic, at first, but then hanging his head, to submit. He was overcome - the\npressure, the immense pressure of being himself, Andrew could see, was becoming\ntoo much. Cody had the fantasy of getting pregnant as a human, but now that he\nwas as half of one, the consequences, the impossible and unthinkable\ndeterminations of being fertile, carrying offspring, crashed into him, leveled\nhim, such that, written into his face that Andrew and surely Bligh could see\ntoo, in that moment, he became a mother.\n            But just as soon as it all\nhappened, it all evaporated into the unobvious hidden symbols of their present\nreality - Cody, his hand still tight in Bligh's, looked back, and into his\neyes, nodded, slowly, wordlessly, the affirmation and the surrender.\n            It was done.\n            Andrew made an emotionally\nexhausted noise of completion that came on the wind of a sigh, and none too\nsoon, the door to the stockroom swung open, and Tim reappeared, scanning gun still\nin hand - Cody and Bligh separated, but Tim did not seem to notice.\n            \"Hey fellas, Gabby'll be\nout in a minute.\"\n            \"Where is she?\" Cody\nasked.\n            \"She's in the back still,\nshe's getting a form for you to fill out. You said two months, right?\"\n            Cody tilted his head.\n\"Y-yeah, maybe - longer - wait, a what to fill out?\" \n            \"It's a form - a rehire\nform, and when you fill it out we can just put it in your file and then when\nyou come back and work for us - boom,\nwe can start you right away again. Two months, right?\"\n            \"Well that's good,\"\nsaid Andrew, only slightly cheered by the notion that this was, perhaps, not\naltogether permanent.\n            \"In my file...\" Cody\nrepeated. \"So you're starting that up for real, like a real - like a real business--\"            \"Yeah,\nwhat we're gonna do is - it's a new thing we're doing just in case we expand--\"\n            \"You're expanding?\"\nAndrew asked with a raised eyebrow.\n            Tim chuckled. \"Well, we\nmight, you never know. Business in this neighborhood's been pretty good -\nCody's really knowledgeable and gets people skating who normally never would've.\"\n            Andrew stifled a cringe, but Cody\nrolled his eyes bashfully. \"Tim, cut it out--\"\n            \"Seriously! So that's\nwhat Gabby's looking for right now, and that way when you're ready to come back,\nwe have your form on file, and you can start again no problem.\"\n            Cody nodded. \"Yeah, but -\nyou know me already, right?\"\n            Tim conceded the point in a\nshrug. \"Well of course, but, we want to start being more official--\"            \"So\nyou really are looking to expand...\" Andrew said.            \"Eh,\nyou know, we'll see. Like I said, we do really well in this neighborhood but\nother places in Tampa...might be a little tough.\"            \"Orlando?\"\nAndrew suggested, trying to make conversation and put off the inevitable of\nbeing alone again with Cody.            \"Yeaaah,\nthat's what we were thinking, but it's a little uh - what's the word - saturated up there, they got malls and\nmalls and malls and every one of them has a Zumiez in it.\" A thoughtful\nlook came to his chubby face, with a small, wistful smile. \"Plus it'd be a\nlittle hard without my best guy up there with me.\"            \"Without\nme?\" Cody clarified - a fleeting\nside-glance to Andrew that made the latter's ears try to flatten in his cap.            \"Yep!\"\nTim answered with another chuckle. \"Nah, it'll be alright.\"            Perhaps\nsensing that there was a mounting, if invisible, awkwardness, Bligh, who had\nlistened to the three of them had not said anything - Andrew noticed a strange,\nfaraway look in his gelid eyes. He shifted where he stood to get Tim's\nattention:            \"Y'all\ngotta bathroom?\"             \"Ah\nyeah--\" Tim curved his arm to point around an unseen corner. \"That\nway, s'on your right if you keep goin that way.\"            \"Thank\nya,\" he said, nodding at the rotund man as he passed him by - he turned\naround and walked a few paces backwards as he smiled at Cody and Andrew.\n\"Be back in a sec--\"            \"Take\nyour time,\" Andrew murmured, trying to tease him.            Barely\nhad Bligh left when Gabby's voice floated in from the back:            \"Tim\nhoney? I need you! C'mere I can't find the Halloween stuff cuz we gotta put\nthat out next, and I need that new rehire thing, where they all at?\"            \"They're\nin the--\" Tim sighed, chuckling. \"Hold on, I'm coming.\" He nodded\nat Cody and Andrew with another chuckle. \"Hey guys I'm gonna go help her\nfor a second.\"            \"Is\nshe really doing this again?\" Cody asked with a giggle. \"They're two\ndifferent things, they're probably not even close--\"            \"I\nknow,\" said Tim with a half-chuckle, shaking his head as he opened the\ndoor to the stockroom. \"You know how she is!\"            The\ndoor remained half-open - Cody giggled at the muffled sounds of Tim directing\nGabby.             \"I\nalways though they're - they were great to work for, because they're - because\nthey're married, they make a good\nbusiness team, I think...\"             \"Yeah,\"\nAndrew agreed impassively. \"Always thought they did a good job parenting,\ntoo - Davey's a good kid.\"            \"Mmmhmm,\"\nCody intoned.            They\nboth could sense the awkwardness that befallen them now that they were alone -\na painful quasi-tension that made Andrew nervous, and he took a deep breath,\ntrying to will away the pit in his stomach that was coagulating from the\nmounting anxiety.          As his ears strained in his cap, he put his arm\naround Cody's waist and pulled him into a kiss - trying, failing, not to be as\nsad and as guilty as he felt, to greet Cody's smile, lukewarm and hesitant.             Cody\nleaned to return the kiss - he looked down at Andrew's shirt and smoothed a\nstray wrinkle with a furtive smile that went away as soon as it came.            \"That's\n- your favorite shirt.\"            Andrew\nglanced down - it was indeed his favorite, a powder blue Banana Republic v-neck\nwith the cute little elephant logo on his left breast.            \"Y-yeah\nit is.\"            Cody's\nfinger came to the stitched off-grey elephant, and Andrew sniffed as he watched\nhim linger there, petting the trunk with his fingernail.             \"We\nhaven't seen them in awhile...\"            \"What,\nthe elephants?\"            Cody\nnodded. \"Kinda miss going to Busch Gardens.\"            \"Well\nthen we should - uh, we should take Bligh.\"            Again\nCody nodded. \"Yeah...yeah.\" His face was becoming fraught with a new,\npoignant sadness.             \"Baby...\"\nAndrew kissed his boyfriend's cheek, whispering in his ear: \"What's\nwrong?\"             \"Um\n- w-well they didn't say this, because uh - they dunno I know, but I overheard\nthem - they were gonna make me a keyholder next month - I - just needed to be\ntrained, first...\"            Andrew\ncringed, barely stifling a groan - he could stand it no longer, the guilt burst\ninside him like an overfilled balloon, and he knew then, he knew that Cody\ndeserved to know the truth.            \"Baby\n- Baby listen, this--\" Andrew moistened his lips, his nervousness betraying\nhim. \"This was - this was Bligh's idea.\"            Cody\ncocked his head. \"Bligh's idea?\" he repeated. \"But you both\nsaid--\"            \"No,\"\nAndrew said quietly, shaking his head. \"No, I - I was gonna wait til you\ngot home tonight, and - and we could kinda talk about it as a family, like, us\nthree.\" His frown deepened. \"N-not - not just showing the fuck up and\ntaking you like - like this. I just -\nI just really don't like this.\"            Cody\nshrugged - trying to shrug it off, as he probably had seen Bligh do before.\n            \"I - it's alright.\"\n            \"Are you sure?\"\n            Cody tried - failed - to\nsmile. \"Not really. But maybe...he's right, you two are right, it's the best\nthing for now. I know - how worried he is - now - I get it, now...\" He\npaused, letting out a small sigh. \"But then - aren't - aren't you worried too? They're yours\ntoo--\"            \"No,\"\nAndrew cut him off. \"I mean yes\nI'm - I'm worried about you, but - no, I'm - I'm pretty sure they're not.\"            \"Wait\nwhat? How can you - how can say that!? What about--\" Cody seemed to\nstruggle to remember the word. \"What about - super - super--\"\n            \"Superfecundation.\"\n            \"Y-yeah! What\nabout--\"\n            \"Cody...\" \n            Andrew's face lost all\nexpression - it should have been liberating to be this honest, to let loose the\nweight he had been carrying these weeks, but he felt no joy in it, he felt\nnothing at all.\n            \"What...?\"\n            Andrew swallowed hard.\n\"He had you first - and you - you've seen him, he's bigger, he--\" He\nwinced. \"He produces more - plus\nI'm - we kinda talked about this once, randomly, but my genetics aren't really\nall that great--\"\n            \"So?!\" Cody\nprotested, taking a step back. \"Andy, come on, I'm the one who's--\" He\nstopped, lowering his voice. \"Has - them - inside me, and I know, I just--\"\n            Andrew silenced him with a\nshake of his head, allowing himself to think outloud.            \"Baby\n- listen. That's your - your intuition. Not\nscientific fact - and it's hard to argue that - the more fertile, the more - fit organism...gets to pass on their\ngenes.\" He paused for effect as Cody studied him, his hazel eyes becoming\nsadder and sadder with each word. \"You keep - you like being half-dog, don't you?\"            Cody\nnodded, somewhat ashamedly.             \"Well\nwhat's the other half? ­Human.\"\nHe paused, searching for the best way to continue. \"Not everything is\ngoing to mirror canine physiology, canine - reproduction. And I - I think I was\nwrong about - some things, but - superfecundation, especially...\"            \"But\n- Andy, why?\"            \"Because\nI think, I truly think, based on logic, and reasoning - Bligh won the - the\nevolutionary game.\" He let out a small sigh. \"If we're - I don't\nthink it was deliberate but if we're\nreally setting out to - to carry on the species, then--\" He cleared his\nthroat, trying to relieve some of the emotional pressure that had been clogging\nit. \"He succeeded.\"            Cody\nshook his head, mouth agape as though in horror. \"Andy, that--\"            \"So\nit's left up to me to - I - I provide\nfor the - the pack.\" He forced a smile. \"That's what we are,\nright?\"\n            \"Wait a second--\"\n            Andrew ignored him - he meant\nto air his anguish so that Cody could hear, just as Cody had to listen to his\nanxiety about graduate school and college and how his parents never loved him,\nnow too, he would have to hear this.\n            \"That's what I had to be\nfor Stephen, I had to - to um, support him, I'm used to it, really, people\ndepending on me - and I said, I told Bligh this, I wanted to help people, like\nmy Granddad did - and this way I can help y'all, I'll support y'all, as like -\nan uncle.\"            \"No.\"            \"Really,\nthough, it makes sense, see, there's a theory, actually, called the Gay Uncle Theory, where--\"            \"Andy,\nstop.\"             Andrew\ndid as he was told - he could see in Cody's face there was an irritation, small\nfor now but in high danger of growing. It was rare, extremely rare, but Andrew\nknew when he had crossed the line.            \"Stop\ntalking down to me.\"            Andrew\nraised an eyebrow, trying to guard being hurt by the remark. \"But I'm\nnot--\"            \"Yeah,\nyou are.\" Cody hung his head, scowling. \"I know - I get it - I know\nyou're all - all s-smarter than\nme--\"            \"I'm\nnot, really--\"            \"Yeah\nyou are, stop saying you aren't!\" Cody's raised his head, narrowing his\neyes defiantly.             Andrew\nwanted to press his case, the ancient tradition, or so it felt like, that\nAndrew was not more intelligent than\nCody - but he could not. Cody, so it turned out, had a point to make:            \"Just\n- I know you - you said you didn't have evidence\nfor me - for me knowing that what's\ninside me is - puppies, like - like actual dogs,\nand I guess that's really - um, um, convenient,\nbut--\" He shook his head, a rapid motion of trying, Andrew thought, of\nclearing his own thoughts. \"You should listen to me! Why aren't you listening to me? I'm the\none--\" And again his voice dipped. \"I'm the one who's pregnant!\"            \"And\nthat we can prove,\" Andrew said, clinical, retreating. \"We can\nprove--\"            Cody\ntook his hands to grip Andrew's sides, shaking him - Andrew sucked in a shocked\nbreath as Cody's eyes bore into him.            \"Why?\"\nCody whispered. \"Why can't you ever trust your - feelings?\"            Andrew\nremained impassive - lack of emotion still his best defense.\n\"Because,\" he answered, letting a coldness creep into his words, his\ntail deathly still in his pants. \"Feelings aren't facts.\"            \"But\nwhat about - when - when - when you found me\nand--?\"            \"It\nwas a fact that I felt - feel - fell--\"\nAndrew paused, trying to stop stumbling over his words, his tongue feeling along the back of his front teeth, rounding gingerly\nover his fangs.\n\"That I loved you, love you,\nthat's a - that's a fact--\"            \"Well\nthis is a fact too!\" Cody hissed, as near a threat as he had ever spoken\nto Andrew before. \"I felt you fuck me in the bathroom, I felt you knot me\nand I felt you make me pregnant, Andy\n- something - something I've always, always wanted.\"            He\npushed Andrew back so he could see there were tears forming in his eyes, the\nhazel becoming gemlike, always perfect, and Andrew felt his chest tighten at\nthe sight - instinctively he raised his hand to catch Cody's face, but he was\nstopped, a hand on his wrist, in a display of emotional strength Andrew always\nknew Cody was capable of, but had never actually seen.            \"They're\nBligh's,\" he said, through gritted teeth, the fangs appearing. \"And yours.\"             He\nshut his eyes tight - against bursting into tears, against being weak,\nsummoning, Andrew could palpably feel, the courage from his former life,\norphaned and alone, without Andrew to save him...his eyes flew open, and two\ncrystalline tears streamed down either cheek:            \"That\n- that is a fact, Andy.\"            A\nsilence draped the two of them once again, Cody's hand still on Andrew's wrist,\na physical expression of power he could never before articulate with words -\nAndrew's eyes wide with a mixture of emotions that leered at him, a\nphosphorescence in the midst of twilit gloom.            He was\nsorry, desperately sorry, abashed, mortified, guilt-ridden, gobsmacked - he was\nall these things, because he had forgotten, and he was ashamed he had\nforgotten, that in the violent immolation that Bligh had performed to their old\nlife, that Cody held power over him\nalso, still, he was still what had stood between him and being a ghost, an\nunperson, dazed and alone in the poisonous Florida sunshine.            In\none single action, Cody took Andrew's wrist and forced his hand to come up\nunder the hoodie that hid what Andrew could now feel...Cody's pregnant belly. The bulge, a modest pouch that distended\noutward only a few inches, was the proof, positive and infinite, that he was of\na different species, that he possessed a body that could fulfill the dark magic\nof biological reproduction\n            He had felt it before, he done\nthis before, but now, now it was different - Andrew's hand felt electric\nagainst Cody's skin, warmed preternaturally with his new physiology and two\nfinal lower nipples he was not born with.\n            Some microscosmic distance\nagainst his palm, into Cody's newly-formed uterus, attached to his colon, an\nawkward but practical setup given that he was still male, were puppies,\namniotic, embryonic...puppies that would be, whatever gods that plucked these new\nstrings of fate willing, healthy, beautiful, with the same strong genes as\ntheir fathers...            ...fathers.            Andrew\nfelt his eyebrows furrow as he tried to understand, tried to make sense, why he\nknew all this, why he understood all this, why this seemed so empirical, not theoretical, not a guess\n- but he was stopped, and his mind made utterly blank, as Cody's relinquished\nhis grasp, and pulled him into a tight hug, so that Andrew's mouth was pressed\nagainst the Bucs toboggan, where he felt the boy's ears twitch, very subtly,\nagainst the cloth, against Andrew's face.            He\ninhaled Cody's milky-sweet scent, growing stronger every day, the smell of\nfertility and beauty and, he thought, of hope.            \"I'm\nsorry,\" was all Andrew could manage - stunned, but oddly, very oddly, grateful. \"I'm - I'm so, so sorry,\nCody...\"            Cody\nrelinquished his hug and took a step back, covering his face with the sleeves\nof his hoodie to wipe away the tears and loose snot.             \"Don't,\num - don't be, okay? It - it's okay--\"            \"It's\nnot,\" Andrew muttered, facing away from him, pinching the bridge of his\nnose as a lump starting to swell in his throat, feeling his ears angrily strain\nin his cap. \"You're - you're right, I just really should have--\"            Back\nCody came to hug him tightly again. \"Andy - stop. Stop beating yourself up\n- hey, hey look at me.\"            His\nsleeved hand, moist from his mopped tears, pushed against Andrew's cheek -\nAndrew relented, his arm dropped to his side, looking Cody in the eyes.            Cody\nsmiled - it was warm, warmer than it had been. \"I - I got mad at you -\nI'm, I'm sorry for that, is your hand okay?\"            \"Yeah,\"\nAndrew answered, rubbing his wrist. \"It's fine, Baby, you didn't hurt me\nor anything.\"            Cody\nnodded. \"Okay - okay. But - I got angry with you, like I said, but that's\n- that's who you are. That's just how you think...\" The smile faded some.\n\"I just wish you'd - put that aside, though, and believe me.\"            \"I\ndo,\" Andrew said, having to clear his throat from the sudden rush of\nemotion the mere particles of words had summoned. \"I - I do.\"            \"You\ndo? You really do?\"            Andrew\nnodded. \"Yes--\" He nodded again, trying to show Cody how sincere he\nwas. \"Yes, Baby...yes.\"            \"Okay\n- well, like I said, I know - I can see where you're coming from with the\nscience-stuff - remember? The first day we even met, you said you wanted to\nbe--\"\n            \"--a scientist.\"             The\nword - that old dream of greatness echoing from the invincibility of his\nteenage years - came out reverent and lofty, like it was the name of a\nforgotten god in a despoiled temple whose name, in hieroglyphics, was being\nread aloud for the first time in millennia.             This\nwas what was forgotten, this was what was left behind - his new life, his new\nidentity, his new species, no, for once, and only once, that his entire\nexistence had been predicated on the notion of transcendent success, even fame,\nas...a scientist.             Andrew\nfound himself running his tongue over his upper teeth, pausing on his fang,\nletting it poke the flesh of his tongue...Cody giggled, very softly, imitating\nAndrew by doing the same - Andrew sniffed at him.            \"What're\nyou doing...?\" he said playfully, trying not to feel as upset as he still\nwas.            \"You\ndo that a lot.\"            \"What?\"            Cody\nwaggled his tongue along his teeth in the space between his own fangs.\n\"That! Only slower - you always do that when you're thinking hard on\nsomething.\"            Andrew\ncleared his throat, trying to chuckle. \"Yeah, yeah - yeah I do.\"            \"You\nwere thinking about something just now,\" Cody guessed.            \"You\ncan tell?\"            \"I\nthink at this point - yeah.\" Cody giggled again. \"You gonna tell me?\nSeems like - tonight's a night for talking about stuff.\"            Andrew\nforced a chuckle. \"It's just - it's just, well yanno - I - I'm--\"             He\nfroze - he looked away from Cody, to the cash register, messily plastered with\nband logos, he had said it before, some variation of it before, some shade of\nit before that had latched into his subconscious, but now it was beautifully,\nhorrifyingly real.            \"I'm\ngonna be a dad.\"            \"Yeah\n- y'are.\"            Andrew\njerked in surprise - Cody's head coming from behind his shoulder at the same\ntime - to see Bligh behind him, arms folded, an unsmoked cigarette in a mouth\nmarred by a deep frown.             \"H-hey\nBligh,\" Cody said with a meek smile.            \"How\ndo you keep doing that?\"            \"Dun\nstomp round when I walk, I s'pose,\" Bligh said, taking a few steps\nforward, dashing the cigarette out of his mouth to twiddle it in his fingers.\n\"I dun mean ta sneak like that--\"            Andrew\nchuckled nervously. \"Well you--\" Bligh neared him, his frown\nunyielding, joined with his gelid eyes that dragged disappointment across all\nthey saw. \"You k-kinda do...\"            Andrew\nsensed that Bligh wanted to see Cody, the way he was moving felt like a wedge\nand he gave way to it, so that Bligh and Cody were face to face - his frown\nfaded, and a smirk arose from where it was.            \"Are\nyou okay?\" Cody asked - it was apparent he was unsure what else to say.            Bligh\nnodded - and took his hand to where Andrew's had been, Cody's lower belly,\nfeeling the bare skin beneath his hoodie.             He shot a glance, which\nAndrew could see was tinged with a kind of triumph, and the smirk grew larger.\nAnd then, his hand retreating from under Cody's hoodie, he turned, thrusting it\nto Andrew's own, gripping it tightly.            \"Y'understand\nnow?\"            \"I\ntold him...\" Cody muttered. \"I told him I knew - and he should trust\nme.\"            \"That's\nwhat he said...\" Andrew affirmed, trying in vain to swallow back the\nboiling-over embarrassment that was making his face turn pink.             \"Do\nya believe em?\"            \"I--\"\n            It was an almost involuntary\ngesture, how Andrew's eyes in that moment moved to lock with Cody's - to see\nCody's eyebrows raise, slowly, waiting for an answer.\n            Andrew remembered the feeling\n- the epiphany devoid of materialistic backing, the sensation of certitude that\nhad no root whatsoever - and this time, did not fight it, did not try to probe\nor prove it.\n            He grinned - shut his eyes,\nshook his head, but still grinned. \"Y-yeah - it's - I - yes, yes I - I do believe him. I, uh - I\nguess I was wrong, really...really wrong...\"\n            Cody smiled - Florida sunlight\nmade flesh and fang - and Bligh cackled, restrained, trying not to be so loud\nso suddenly. He nuzzled Andrew's cheek and, lightly, in his ear:\n            \"Fer a smart boy,\nLightfoot - yew can be dumber'n owl shit sumtimes...\"\n            Andrew stiffened. \"I ain't dumb, Lynch. Don't call me\nthat.\"\n            Bligh sniffed, a little\nunkindly, folding his arms. \"What the fuck yew wanna call how ya been\nactin, then?\"\n            Andrew looked to Cody, who\nshrugged, reaching for his hand - Andrew took it and gave it a quick squeeze.\n            \"Don't - blame him, he's\n- that's just how he is, I even told him that.\" He squeezed Andrew's hand\nback in turn. \"He just...\"\n            His voice trailed off, and a\ntwinge of fresh pain clenched around Andrew's heart - here was Cody trying to\napologize for him, for his cloak of alienation and paranoia that had brought\nthem such needless strife tonight.\n            After a handful of unbearable\nsilent seconds Cody finished his thought: \"He just wants to know.\" He glanced to Andrew.\n\"Right, Andy?\"\n            \"Shit,\" Bligh\nanswered for him, taking a step forward to wrap Andrew in a strong one-armed\nhug. \"I know it, this man's gonna be a big ol scientist one day, ain't\nhe?\"\n            An unwelcome flush came to\nAndrew's face - a flood of relief and gratitude so heavy it almost made him\npanic deluged him.     \"N-no dude,\nhey--\"\n            \"Nuh uh, c'mere,\"\nBligh murmured, and pulled Andrew into his chest - Cody soon followed, hugging\nthem both. \n            Andrew let himself be a part\nof the moment - another group hug - for several moments, breathing in Bligh's\nsmell of earthiness, musk, masculinity, and Cody's of the same ambrosial milky\nsweetness.\n            Just as the three came apart\nfrom their group hug, Gabby's head appeared in the crack of the stockroom door.\n            \"Hey Cody honey!\"\nshe chirped.\n            \"Hey Gabby - did you get\nthe, uh - the thing?\"\n            \"Yeah, the rehire form,\ncan ya come back here and fill it out?\"\n            Cody nodded. \"Yeah,\nsure.\"\n            \"Thank ya honey it'll\ntake a second - Davey you stay out here we gotta do business, but you be nice\nto Bligh, he's Andy's friend, kay?\"\n            \"Kay,\" Davey\nanswered from somewhere behind her.\n            Tim opened the door to the\nstockroom, and Gabby entered, Cody following - Davey, in turn, emerged to stand\nin front of Bligh, who looked down at him with a quick nod, seemingly expecting\nhim to leave now that he had been greeted...but he did not.\n            Andrew was highly amused at\nthe sight: Bligh, naturally aloof already to newcomers, was still usually\nwonderful with small children, but it was when those same children aged and\nobtained the warped sentience of adolescence that he became disinterested and\nuncomfortable. And who could blame him? Sullen, hormonal, contrary - they had\nprobably been the same at their own age but Bligh would deny it, he could have\nnever have been that awkward and that stupid.\n            \"Hi,\" Bligh said,\nfriendly enough, with another nod.\n            \"Sup,\" Davey said,\nholding up a hand in greeting.\n            \"Hi,\" Bligh said back, again, now looking uncomfortable.\n            \"Where are you from?\"\n            \"West Virginia,\"\nBligh muttered, looking to Andrew, who raised his eyebrows, his smile becoming\nmore and more bemused.\n            Ricky beamed. \"Oh, neat! So is that where you know\nAndy?\"\n            \"Uh, yeah, we grew up\ntogether--\"\n            \"My dad's from Ohio, you\never go to Ohio?\"            \"Can't\nsay as I--\"            \"It's\nneat, have you ever been to Cincinnati?\"\n            There\nwas a slowing down of the way the syllables were spoken as if it were a\nwhispered myth of utopia from a Bronze Age text.\n            Davey was a good kid, Andrew\nhad told Cody, and it was true - like his peer group he was rough-and-tumble\nbut still thought himself impeccable in taste and style, yet he was,\nconsidering the area and considering the culture, on the right path. Of course\n- and again, like his peer group - he was still saturated in the culture of\nhashtags and swag and plastic, characteristic of South Florida youth. It wasn't\nhis fault, Andrew knew, but it was still repellent to someone like Bligh, who used to regularly shoot his\nown food. \n            Andrew saw Bligh's jaw stiffen\nas he tried to hide his irritation at the young boy. \"Nah...nah I\nain't--\"\n            \"Aw, dude!\" Ricky burst out, waving his arms to accentuate his\npoint. \"Why not, oh man, they\nhave this awesome place where there's this huge\nfountain and it's so - so cool -\nhey - hey you like the Bengals?\" \n            \"No,\" Bligh said\nthrough near-gritted teeth - he put a thumb and finger on the bill of his cap.\n\"D'ye not see this, boy? I like--\"\n            \"Oh why do you like the\nRavens?!\" Ricky's nose curled up with ribald disgust. \"The Ravens\nsuck!\" \n            Andrew stifled a cry of\nlaughter as Bligh's eye twitched in suppressed rage.\n            \"I dun...think...\"\n            \"Dude okay so we went to\na Bengals game cuz my granddad owns a dealership and he has lots of money? And\nit was so much fun! Um, I don't remember if the Bengals won but uh - oh dude\nyou know I got beer spilled on me?!\"\n            Andrew was nearly beside\nhimself with choked-back laughter as Bligh's face turned bright pink with\nagitation. \"Zat so, now...\"\n            \"Yeah dude! And\nthen--\" He hoisted his hands on either side to announce his final triumph -\nBligh recoiled somewhat. \"Zac flipping Robinson signed my autograph! See my\ngranddad owns this dealership--\"             By a miracle that could\nscarcely be expressed, at that very moment, the door to the stockroom swung\nopen, and out came Gabby, Tim and Cody:\n            \"Davey don't be yammerin\nlike that,\" Tim scolded. \"Andy's friend don't wanna hear about\nGrandpa up in Cinci!\"\n            \"No, no!\" Andrew\nburst in with a grin that exploded the dam of laughter he was holding back.\n\"He's - he's fine, yanno I'm - I'm used to it--\"\n            Bligh shot Andrew a glance of\ndaggers that only made it funnier for him - as Cody came from behind the\ndisplay case, cocking his head and looking at him askance as though he knew\nthere was a secret being kept, Andrew could help it no longer, he pulled Cody\ninto a happy squeeze, burying his face in the folds of his hoodie and letting\nout a hearty, muffled guffaw.\n            \"Drewhoney, whassa matta\nwit you?\"\n            Without missing a beat, Cody,\nhaving resigned himself to what has happening, answered for him: \"He's\njust really nervous about seeing his relatives again.\" Andrew could hear\nthe smile in Cody's voice: \"You know, visiting his mom and\neverything.\"\n            \"Now Andy honey -\nlook-a-me. Look-a-me!\"\n            Andrew emerged from being\npressed against Cody to do as he was told - Gabby held him by his cheeks, her\nhands immaculately smooth, and her eyes, the near-glowing brown, going through\nhim.\n            \"You need anything, you\ndon't hesitate, kay?\"\n            Andrew nodded - he was indeed\ngrateful, but could not tell her, for the option of Cody to come back to work,\nfor understanding and for trusting him that he needed Cody to come with him.\n            \"Yes ma'am,\" he said\nwith a smile. \n            \"Don't call me\nthat!\" she admonished teasingly. She relinquished him to do the same to\nCody. \"You too, Cody honey. Okay? Now ya gotta good man, ya gotta take\ncare of him right now, got it?\"\n            Andrew heard Bligh made a\nstrange noise in his throat - unable, it seemed, to contain the irony. \n            \"Okay Gabby - I'll be back.\"\n\n            \"I know ya will honey,\nbut right now you need to go and that's okay. Okay?\"\n            \"Speakin of--\" Bligh\nsaid, with his smirk. \"We really oughta be gettin--\"\n            \"Alright - well, sorry to\nsee you go, Cody.\"\n            \"Yeah,\" Cody said\nwith a glum frown. \"But you guys made it so that I can come back, so -\nit's okay.\" He smiled - the usual sunnyness was absent.\n            \"Yep, we'll be waiting\nfor you,\" Tim added with a little chuckle.\n            \"Well - that said--\"\nGabby sighed, surveying the disheveled store before her. \"We better get\nback to work! Lemme walk y'all out--\"\n            Tim and Davey said their\ngoodbyes - near in unison, how very much alike they were, father and son - and\nGabby led them back to the front door. She gave Cody a final hug, and they\ndeparted.\n            She shut the door behind them\n- there was a clink and a scrape, as it locked back. \n            The evening was settling into\ndusk - the crickets louder, the cars on the street lazier and fewer, the temperature\nfine and refreshing.\n            The three of them set off for\nthe truck in silence, one to the other probably loathe to break it, the\ntension, the new, the enormous change.\n            As they neared the car,\nhowever, Cody stopped - he had been in front of them, and he turned, slowly, to\nboth of them, and he said, in a low murmur, to neither of them in particular:\n            \"I just quit my\njob.\"\n            Unable to take seeing him this\nway, Andrew pulled him into a hug. \"Hey - hey Baby - Baby I'm sorry.\"\n            \"It'll be aight,\nPup,\" Bligh said. \"I mean they made a big deal outta ya comin\nback.\"\n            \"I - I know, it's\njust--\" Cody nuzzled Andrew's chest. \"It's my first job ever, and I\nwas really, really good at it...\"\n            \"But you'll come\nback,\" Andrew objected quietly, kissing him on his forehead. \"You said\nso - and I want you to.\"\n            \"I know...\" A thought\nseemed to occur to him. \"But - what if they see us? Or me?\" \n            \"What, like, out and\nabout?\" Andrew asked. \"Baby I've never\nseen them anywhere but the store. If it bothers you - if it bothers you\nwe'll just go to a different Publix or something.\"\n            \"Alright, alright...\" \n            \"Pup--\" Bligh stepped\nforward, jingling his keys from his pocket. \"Ya still understand, dontcha?\nWe ain't bein mean, we ain't - tryin ta run yer life--\"\n            Cody shrugged. \"It kinda\nfeels that way, but - yeah, I can't - I have to think about...\" He nudged\nAndrew out of the way so that he could rub his belly through his hoodie.\n\"These - these guys.\"\n            Andrew felt his heart warm as\nhe watched - he felt his ears Bligh neared him and nuzzled his cheek.\n            \"Bligh - you - wanna tell\nhim what you told me today?\"\nBligh tittered - he and Cody shared a kiss.\n            \"I, uh - I told Drew here\nI wanted him ta be my husband - wanted us all ta be husbands.\"\n            \"Husbands?\" Cody\nrepeated. \"But - aren't - aren't we already?\"\n            \"He just wanted to make\nit official I - I think, right?\"\n            \"Yeah,\" Bligh said\nwith another titter, his eyes still on Cody. \"Yeah I - told em it was high\ntime--\"\n            Cody kissed him back to\ninterrupt. \"I love it.\" He giggled. \"I'm married - and I,\nuh--\" Andrew chuckled, his tail stirring in his khakis, as Cody giggled\nagain, louder, more embarrassed. \"I have husbands.\"\n            Bligh closed him in a bear\nhug. \"Yeah ya do Pup - bet yer ass, ya do.\"\n            From in Bligh's arms, Cody,\nsmiling his immaculate smile, moved his head, slightly, telling Andrew to come\ncloser, and he did was he was told - Bligh, sensing he was close, pulled him\ninto the second group hug that evening.\n            They remained this way for\nonly a few passing seconds before Andrew backed away from them both - reaching\ninto his hat to scratch his ear, which had developed a sudden itch, he sighed,\nfeeling the weight of the day pass off of him at last.\n            \"Let's go home,\ny'all.\"\n            Bligh and Cody separated.\n            \"Aight,\" said the\nformer, jangling his keys again so that they folded up in his palm. \"Pup\ngonna ride up front with me.\"\n            \"Okay,\" Cody agreed.\n            \"Cool then - let's\ngo.\"\n            Bligh's door closed - then\nCody's. Andrew leapt over the tailgate, into the bed, and sat down with his\nback against the cab with his head up, searching the darkening sky that had\nturned a smoldering burnt orange with the blue of the Tampa Indian summer. \n            He heard the engine start, the\nlurch of going in reverse, and he shut his eyes - the feel of the cooling\nevening upon his face, mixed with the relief that something dreadful but\nnecessary had been accomplished, eased him, gently, and he sighed out a breath\nof immense, wordless relief.\n            The ride back home was quick,\nbut pleasurable - the lights were all green, it was one long breeze on him, on\nhis hat which held down by the bill, smiling to himself, feeling once again, as\nhe did earlier that day, content with his life, with Bligh, with Cody.            They\npulled into their apartment complex, and the truck parked - the rattle and hum\nceased. Andrew sat up so that he could see the two passengers up front...            ...but\nhe saw not two heads in the cab, but only one - and Bligh, looking down at a\nshape that undulated in shadow with a pleased smirk, a fang over his lip.            Andrew\nrolled his eyes in immediate annoyance, a hot wave of arousal making his face\nlook and feel ruddy-hot.             He\nknocked on the window: \"Hey - hey what the fuck, y'all?!\"            He\nsaw Bligh's arm move subtly, as though holding something down - no, that was precisely what he was doing, and he\nflashed a devilish grin at him, cunning, toothy, the Big Bad Wolf incarnate yet\nagain, before that same smiled melted into gritted teeth, and tightly shut\neyes.            Andrew\nfelt a stirring in his loins as the inevitable happened - Bligh's lips moved in\nwhat he knew to be a grunt, prefacing terminal thrusts into Cody's mouth,\nrapid, quick, animalistic, a cadence that Andrew had never seen a human\nperform, but he wasn't human, he was a dog, as much as he looked like a man he\nwas still a dog, a dog he was married to, a dog he was in love with.            He\nheard soft coughing noises coming from the inside of the cab, and Bligh's\nthrusts slowed to nothing, his eyes opened, his whole face bespeaking a\neuphoric afterglow - Cody's head rose with his wrist to his mouth, gulping back\nthe last massive dose of what must have been Bligh's cum.            For\nseveral seconds there was absolute quiet in Andrew's head - no thoughts, no\ninner voice - his mind had become blank with the pressurized heat of sex yet\nagain.             He\nshifted uncomfortably where had been sitting, trying to will away the\nanticipatory stir of his tail, the paralyzed fluttering of his ears in his hat,\nand the fat erection that had sprouted of his sheath, waxing longer with each\nconsecutive heartbeat, hidden in the crotch of his khakis.             His\nbreathing had begun to pick up as Bligh threw open the sliding glass of the cab\nwindow - he cackled from within, reaching into his shirt-pocket for a\ncigarette...so like him, Andrew thought, to smoke after sex.            \"Hey,\nuh - s-sorry, man had ta - take care o'sumthin.\"            Cody,\nmeanwhile, looked back at Andrew with a deeply sheepish smile.             \"Hey,\nAndy.\"            \"Uh,\"\nAndrew chuckled awkwardly, \"hey.\"            Cody\ndid not answer - he put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, twice.\n            At first he wondered what\ncould have been wrong, but then he realized -- Bligh had been pent-up and his\ncum, surely, had become rich and thick, some of it maybe still stuck in the\nboy's throat...\n            Andrew should have been\njealous, but their triad was firm, even with the uncertainty of that evening he\nfelt a sick sort of pride in knowing that Cody had done well to please Bligh,\nthat Bligh had stepped up over Andrew's own objections to, in turn, protect\nCody and their pups. The storm and the challenge had passed.\n            Bligh had left the truck and\nshut the door behind him - another, final sharp throat-clearing from Cody, and\nhe exited the truck as well, and they both came to opposite sides of the bed,\nflanking Andrew who still sat in its center.\n            \"Um - you're not mad - or\nanything, are you?\" \n            Cody's voice was hesitant,\napologetic even in the gathering darkness of their apartment parking lot, the\nstreetlights with their slumberous orange-white beams turning on to pour down\nonto the asphalt. \n            Andrew could see that his beloved,\nfumbling in his pants to hide must have been an angrily insistent erection of\nhis own, had a face that burned with embarrassment and passion.            He\nshook his head, a slight gesture, his own arousal was abating by an abrupt wind\nof the fear he had felt at the Circle K - the fear of discovery.            \"Y'all\n- c'mon y'all, couldn't we waited a little?\" he asked, his voice growing\nlow, throwing an incredulous chuckle on the question. He rose, very carefully,\nhis hand diving into his pants, as Cody's had, to right his penis so that it\nwould not bulge through.            Bligh\nlit his cigarette, the Zippo framing, as it always did, his face against the\napproaching darkness, the Sun dying in the sky. Back went the Zippo into his\njeans pocket - he took his first puff.            \"Drew,\nman--\" came his answer in a cloud of smoke. \"Dun git mad, aight?\"            Andrew\nsteadied himself, cautiously mounting the edge of the tailgate before leaping\nto the ground - landing on his feet in front nearer to Bligh with a triumphant\n\"Oomph!\"            Brushing\noff his back side, his mouth had become set into a disapproving frown, and he\nlooked to Bligh with it.            \"I'm\nnot - mad, y'all, I'm just - what if someone saw?\"            Cody\napproached him from behind to give him a quick hug. \"But - there's nobody\naround, Bligh checked.\"            Andrew\nraised an eyebrow - it was a strange detail. \"Wait...what? You checked--?\"            \"S'why\nI told ya not ta git mad, man,\" Bligh said in a reluctant murmur. \"I\n- I needed it real bad n'I - looked round real quick, made sure weren't nobody\nwatchin...\"            \"You\nneeded your dick sucked that\nbad?\" Andrew repeated dubiously - Cody came around to hug him on his side,\nand he stole a kiss on the boy's cheek.             Bligh\ninhaled another drag on the cigarette, putting his hands in his pockets - a\nlook of humility. The cigarette stayed in his mouth, squirming in the corner as\nhe spoke, and the smoke flew in a plumed cloud with his answer:            \"I\nkinda - I kinda weren't playin with ya today when yew was fixin dinner. I\nneeded some--\" His mouth closed around the cig as his gelid eyes, for just\na moment, grew pensive. \"--whatcha call it - release.\"            \"It\nhappened really fast...\" Cody murmured.            Andrew's\nmoved out of Cody's hug to stand before Bligh - a sick feeling clenching his\nheart.            \"Bligh...\"\nAndrew began. \"What - what are you saying--?\"            Bligh\nshrugged. \"I'm sayin I git all wound up n'shit real bad, lately man - ya\nsaid so yerself I's horny all the time.\"            \"Y-yeah,\nbut--\" Andrew was horrified into near-speechlessness - what Bligh was\ndescribing something insidious, something that Andrew's naturally analytical\nbrain seized upon as being directly related to their new species.             He\ntook a breath, trying to quiet, in his own head, the uncomfortable flight of\nideas and theories.            \"Is\nthis - is this a new thing or--?\"            Bligh\nshook his head. \"Nah man.\" More smoke came from his mouth, and he\nappeared as he sometimes did as he smoked, as a dragon, something mythical,\nsomething limitlessly powerful even he was wounded. \"Nah. This is like -\nlast week, two weeks.\"            \"I\n- holy shit, Bligh I didn't--\"\nAndrew stopped. \"Why didn't you--?\"            \"Weren't\ngetting all that bad til - last - two days, maybe?\" Another drag, another\nnervous puff of smoke. \"Whattya think I's doin in the bathroom, man?\"            Andrew\nwas still aghast. \"Taking a shit, for one thing!\"            Bligh\nshook his head, the cherry on his cigarette illuming with his breath.\n\"N-nah - nah.\"            \"Jesus\nChrist,\" Andrew hissed. \"Dude, I just - I just figured you were pent\nup from - f-from the week, but if it was that - important - I coulda stopped\nwhat I was doing in the kitchen, we--\"            \"Cuz\nI liked what we was doin, Drew,\" Bligh said quietly.             \"Cookin\ntogether that--\" He tittered, sad, regretful. \"That was special, man.\nI's jest teasin ya but - maybe I shoulda, I dunno, but I didn't wanna ruin the\nmoment when ya said we had ta cook...\"            \"You\nguys cooked together?\" Cody asked.            Andrew\nnodded, as did Bligh.             \"Yeah\nPup. We havin fried chicken tonight.\"            Cody\nmade a noise like he was about to laugh excitedly, but suppressed it, and\ninstead nodded enthusiastically with one of his warm smiles.            Andrew's\neyes were fixed on Bligh, who, after several moments of awkward silence that\nbegan abrupt and by the second grew hideously uncomfortable, shook his head,\nslowly, very slowly - his hands still firmly in his pockets, he had smoked the\ncigarette unusually fast, and he let it fall out of his mouth and hit the\npavement, where it flamed out and turned to blackness underneath the stamp of\nhis boot.            \"S'jest,\nI mean, I--\" He glanced to Cody, smirking weakly.           \"I\nguess I should say sorry, Pup.\"            Cody\nshook his head vigorously. \"No - no, Bligh - I mean hey, I liked doing\nit!\"            \"It\njust - happened?\" Andrew pressed. \"Suddenly, like real suddenly--?\"\n            \"Yeah,\" Cody\nanswered for him. \"He - uh, yeah. Like I said, it was really fast--\"            Bligh\nopened his mouth, perhaps to add something, but Andrew interjected before he\ncould:\n            \"Bligh...\" He rolled\nhis eyes, Bligh had told him not to get mad and he wasn't, but he couldn't help\nbut be agitated at this abrupt change of news. \"You should've told me. I\ncould've put chicken off if you needed to--\" He stopped, again. \"I\njust thought you were stressed out and you - and - and me and--\" He glanced to Cody. \"--and him - when we\nwould--\" He left the final idea unrealized. \"It would help, it would\nmake you feel better.\"\n            \"I mean yeah, kinda -\nkinda.\"\n            \"Only kinda?\" Andrew said, leaning\nforward, trying to draw Bligh's eyes to his. \"Bligh - hey, so - please,\nlemme get this right, you - you have these, like, irresistible urges, now, to -\nto fuck?\"\n            Bligh's head still down, he\ngave no verbal response, only a slight nod.\n            Andrew sighed. \"And you -\nyou of all people are - are upset by\nthis?\" He sniffed. \"You were even smiling when--\"\n            \"Cuz it felt good,\"\nBligh muttered, glancing away, but still to the pavement. \"But I dun like feelin like my dick's gonna\nexplode, man. Like I'd be fine and then suddenly I'm--\" He held up his\nhands, as though to contain the idea of being poisoned by his own testosterone\nwithin them.\n            Andrew and Cody shared a look\n- Andrew frowned, so taken offguard with this new information, so much so soon.\n\n            Cody, in turn, seemed to think\na moment.\n            \"Bligh it's - maybe\nyou're just having a reaction to me. Because I'm pregnant now. And all those - hormones, right, Andy?\"\nCody's eyebrows went up - he was giving Andrew a cue.\n            \"Y-yeah - actually, yanno\nI dunno why I didn't think of that myself uh - it might be because--\" He\nhad spare nanoseconds to bullshit a hypothesis, and his tone become the calm\nexplanatory drone of his speciality. \"The - well we don't know what kinda\nhormones that Cody's giving off because - we're not - not human and all, so there might be some - unknown quantity that's\ncausing your testosterone production to escalate, and with that sexdrive - perhaps even in violent bursts.\"\n            Bligh at last looked up from\nthe pavement into Andrew's eyes - they still sparkled, even in the darkness\nthat was now becoming supreme with the sun finally setting amongst the splatter\nof orange and pink on the horizon, like glaciers in a vast ice sea, that\nperfect picture they would create when something awful had befallen him.\n            \"That ain't no scientific\nevidence, Drew,\" he said softly.\n            \"Right,\" Andrew\nrejoined his heart pained to see Bligh so worried even if, as it probably was,\nit was over nothing. \"But sometimes - you have to guess.\"             He\nsmiled with a confidence he wished he had, came forward and grasped Bligh by\nthe chin, and kissed him, putting as much love and understanding as he could in\nthe movement of his tongue in his husband's mouth.            Cody\nclosed in on the two of them - Andrew broke the kiss and relinquished the hold\non Bligh's chin, to flash the boy a grateful smile, which faded almost at once\ninto a new frown.            \"But...\"\nhe added, starting to believe his own hype. \"But if that's the case - it\nmight start affecting me, too.\"            Bligh's\neyebrows furrowed. \"Ya think so?\"            Andrew\nshrugged, and with an unintentional burst of honesty, answered:\n\"Maybe.\"            Bligh\npulled him into a bear hug, nuzzling the side of his face - Andrew could smell\nthe fresh nicotine, the warmth of his earthy scent that others, other humans, could not detect, and it filled\nhim, as it always did, with that ineffable safety, that brain-quieting\ncertitude of love.            \"It'll\nbe alright, Bligh - I'm here for--\" A dread feeling overtook him that oozed\ninto a dark, sexual place in his brain. \"I'll always be here when you need\nme...\"            He\nheard Cody giggle, and he nudged Bligh out of the hug, looking to Cody first,\nthen back to Bligh - he motioned to their awaiting apartment some yards away up\nthe stairs with his head:            \"C'mon\ny'all, lemme fix some dinner.\"            Bligh\nsniffed, smirking - for the first time since they had left the Green Room it\nseemed genuine.            \"Aight,\"\nhe answered softly.            \"Yeah\nlet's go,\" Cody said with another giggle. \"I'm really hungry.\"            \"Zat\nright, now?\" Bligh said, reaching to scritch the back of the boy's neck as\nthe three began to make their away to their apartment. \"Yew gonna be\ncravin some weird stuff now that yer all knocked up.\"            \"It's\nnormal,\" Andrew said. \"Every mammal goes through it - eating weird\nstuff for extra nutrients - now if it gets too\nweird, it's called pica, but\nyou'll--\" He chuckled. \"You'll be fine.\"            \"Yeah\nI heard that too - um, heard of that,\ntoo...\" said Cody. \"I just - I guess it would never actually happen to\nme one day.\"             Bligh\ncackled - something about the remark had broken his tension. \"Believe it,\nPup - believe it, it's happenin.\"            \"We're\ngonna be dads, Bligh,\" Andrew admonished teasingly as they came up the\nstairs. \"Are you ready?\"            \"Shit,\"\nBligh replied. \"Ready as I'll ever be I reckon.\"            \"That's the spirit,\" Andrew replied\nwith a knowing laugh.            Cody\nwas a cloud of giggles at their banter, in between the two of them as they\nwalked together.            Andrew's\nhand was on the doorknob as he turned back to see Bligh and Cody - the first\nsmirking, the second smiling, a family, his\nfamily, there with him.            \"Alright\ny'all - let's get in here and--\"             He\nmade the motion, so routine, so quotidian, to open the door - but the doorknob,\nto his instant confusion, to his immediate horror, jammed in his hand...            ...as\nthough someone else was trying to open it from\nthe inside at the same time.            He\nrecoiled: \"The Hell--?\"            \"Sumthin\nwrong, Drew?\"            \"What\nis it?\" Cody asked.            \"It's\n- it's the--\"            But\nbefore Andrew had time to explain, all three of them saw the knob move and turn\non its own.            The\ndoor opened with the welcoming creak it always did, from the inside, as though nothing at all was strange or wrong.\n            But someone else stood in the\ndoorway.             It\nwas a boy - short, scrawny, and shirtless, barefoot, his only clothing a pair\nof preppy khaki shorts cut just above the knee and a silver pendant about his\nneck terminating in a sharp dog's tooth that guarded his heart.            He\nlooked like a miniature version of Andrew, but more polished, and perhaps - if\none had known them both - more handsome. He had all of Andrew's facial\nfeatures, but they were warped, oddly curved, by an innate slyness that bespoke\nof someone who, just from his sinister smile, which curled in the corner of his\nmouth, would declare it better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven...the\noverall impression was of Andrew himself, an imperfect clone, a smaller and\ndaintier Andrew Lightfoot, had he been forever possessed by an impish, vulpine\nspirit.            The\nboy's evil smile somehow grew even more evil: \"Hey, Drewseph - sup,\nBligh.\"\n            Andrew was struck dumb - all he could manage was\na strained, shocked noise that roughly coalesced around a word: \"St-Ste - Stephen!\""}