Stripes & Spots
#5 of Miscellaneous Stories
So, let me try and explain to everybody how this whole thing started.
To start off with, my named is Joel Norton. I'm a twenty-one year old tiger who ran away from home right after I graduated. Don't feel bad for me, at all. The truth is I'd been planning to run away from home for a few years now. I just couldn't live with my parents. Both of my parents are successful corporate lawyers, and we were very well off. This might sound appeal to some of you, but trust me, you would not want to grow up in my household.
I'm an only child, and my parents pretty much put all their hopes and dreams into me that I would grow up to be just like them. The only problem was, I didn't want to be anything like them. Both of my parents are drunks. My Dad is a functional alcoholic who can drink throughout the day and maintain more or less normal appearance. My Mom is the type who firmly believes that no decent person should drink before 5 P.M., and that's exactly what she did every night I can remember. Do you really want to grow up around that.
I went to fancy, private schools and hated every minute of it. So many of the kids were such disgusting, unlikable, nonredeemable scum. I never really had any friends throughout my life, and my parents were sure to haul me off to the psychiatrist. I hated that as well too. Nobody could understand that I didn't want to be like the rest of my parents, elitist, stuck-up, rich pricks they called friends.
As bad as this situation sounds, I did find a refuge. The summer after my freshman year, I got a job working for a construction company. I know what you're thinking right now, "What? A rich kid performing manual labor?" Yep! That's just what I did, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I finally belonged to something. The guys I worked with were honest, hard working and not a bunch of pretensions assholes who tried to constantly one up each other. They were just ordinary beasts trying to make a living. I knew from that day on out that I wanted to start my own construction company one day.
Silly me, though, I tried to talk to my parents about it, but they wouldn't listen, couldn't be reasoned with. The whole ordeal was an exhaustive exercise in futility. Not only did I realize that day that my parents would not be convinced of what I wanted to do, I knew they would never understand. They were just too wrapped up in their own world of greed, corruption and depravity. I never let this discourage me, though. I had a plan of attack. I just had to be patient.
So, when my senior graduation came, I told my parents that I was taking the millions my grandparents had left me in a trust and moving far, far away from them. The scene got really ugly, really fast. My Dad told me that if I walked out the door, he would never speak to me again. You know what I told him?
"Fuck you, you drunk son of a bitch!"
That was the last time I ever saw my Dad. Am I upset? Would you be?
Fast forward two years, I'm living in Washington State. I absolutely loved it out their. The place was filled with trees, mountains, had nice clean air. It was like everything I'd hoped for in a home. By now, not only had I bought my own home, I'd started my own construction firm. "Stripes Construction" was the name I chose. Though I had money, I was sure never to get too excited. I'd taken business classes throughout my high school career, so I had a pretty good head on my shoulders about how to start out. I even went so far as to devise a business plan. Yep, I had a clear vision of what I wanted.
But then, something happened I didn't expect.
One day, I was out in my garage getting some tools ready for a job the next day, when I saw a young male cheetah riding by on his bicycle. I didn't really think much about it. Plenty of beasts go riding around here. What caught my attention was when he crashed into a rock or something in the road and went flying off his bicycle. I saw the whole thing, so I quickly ran down there to see if he needed any help.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said, tears welling up in his eyes as he grabbed his right elbow. "I think I scraped up my arm."
I took a quick look at it. It look pretty bad, but I was quick thinking. Running back to my garage, I got my first aid kit and returned to him. Putting on some latex gloves, I tended to his wounds. I wiped away the blood and loose fur before putting some peroxide on the injured area and wrapping it with bandages.
"Thanks," he told me, moving his elbow back and forth, trying to get a feel for how the bandages would affect his movement.
"Your welcome," I said.
I soon realized that not only did this cheetah have an injury, but he looked hungry. I asked him if he'd like some food, and he didn't hesitate to say yes. So, I went pack into the kitchen and fixed us some sandwiches. When I brought them back, he practically inhaled them! I even had to caution him to slow down. I'd already fixed some scrapes and scratches and I really didn't want to do the Heimlich maneuver. Once he had eaten, I struck up a conversation with him.
"What's you name?"
"Andy Martin, sir," he replied.
"You don't have to call me sir," I said. "I'm only twenty-one!"
"Wow, that seems kind of old to me."
"Why? How old are you?" I asked, curious.
"Thirteen," he said.
"Ah, I remember being that age once. Don't worry, you'll be twety one before you know it."
He chuckled. It was at this time that I thought I should probably take him home. Knowing that he couldn't bike back to where he was, where ever that was, I put his bike in the back of my truck and took him home. Boy, was I about to learn how the other half really lived.
Andy lived in a run-down apartment complex. When we first arrived, the first thing I noticed was all the trash that was lying around on the ground, as though no one knew how to use a fucking dumpster. The building had definitely seen better days. There was paint missing in several spots, the parking lot looked like an artillery range, and it was just a complete mess. Several young beasts were just hanging around, not doing anything. I was pretty sure that from the look of things, a whole host of activities went on that I wouldn't want to be around; things like drugs, prostitution, theft, burglary. I tried to push it out of my mind.
I parked in the parking lot of the apartment building. Andy and I got out, with me getting his bicycle out of the bed of my truck. We walked upstairs to his apartment. Andy was insistent that he introduce my to his Mom. When I asked him about his Dad, he hung his head low, saying that his Dad had been killed in a drug deal when he was only five years old. Now, I certainly had no real feelings for my Dad, but I could understand what it was like to not have a good father figure, or any parental figure for that matter.
Andy ran inside and brought out his mom. Sheila, a tall, lean cheetah, was very polite. I could tell from when Andy opened the door that they didn't have much, but was certainly not trash. I felt bad for her too, having to raise a son in a place like this. It had to be a living nightmare at times, but talking to her, she seemed to make the best of it. I didn't know what possessed me to do it at the time, but suddenly, I asked her:
"Mrs. Martin, I was wondering if Andy might want to come work with me?"
Her eyebrows raised. "Work for you? Doing what?"
"I have my own construction company, and I'm sure there's things that he could do that would be very low risk to him."
She looked at her son. "What do you think, Andy?"
"Yeah!" he said with enthusiasm.
I couldn't help but grin. I knew that extra money was something that he was probably not familiar with, but I hoped to change his fortunes.
When I took Andy back home, I promised his mother that I would bring him back the next day. He seemed so excited and eager to start working, it was unreal. At home, I taught him how to read a tape measure properly, and was genuinely shocked when he took to it so fast. Everything I should him he seemed to pick up right away.
"You learn fast, Andy," I said.
"I'm a cheetah, we do everything fast!"
We spent day after day working together, building up a great friendship. I really cared for the kid, like I'd never cared for anyone else before in my life.
We spent one afternoon measuring and cutting boards that I was going to use the next day on a house my company was building, all the while I continued to be amazed at his ability to learn so quickly. Even more impressive was his work ethic. He rarely ever stopped to eat, drink or use the bathroom. He was the type that when he set his mind to do something, he didn't finish until he was done, completely done.
Once we had finished, I had him come inside to the house to get comfortable. Andy was blown away at my place. I should mention, as a bachelor, I didn't have a wife or girlfriend to tell me "buy this" and "don't buy that". I showed Andy around the whole place. I'd set up a gym in the basement where I regularly went to pump iron, I also had a pool table down there. On the main floor, I had a hundred inch television with state of the art surround sound. There was the two living rooms, two bathrooms and kitchen with a laundry room in the utility room. Upstairs, there was three bedrooms. My master bedroom had a king size bed, ceiling fan and it's own bathroom. The other two rooms had their own beds, just in case I ever wanted to have overnight guests.
I told Andy to make himself at home, that I was going to take a nice, hot, long bath. Leaving him out in the living room to play X-Box, I drew some hot bathwater. I had a large tub that even a big guy like me could stretch out in. I breathed in the hot, humid air as I pulled my clothes off. I couldn't wait for my bath. I'd been working all day and I was sweaty, stinky and soar. Often times after a day like this, I'd sit in the tub for over an hour, occasionally adding blasts of hot water to keep me warm. It was my way of dealing with the world. After growing up with my parents, I have never touched a drop of alcohol and never plan to.
I was almost ready to get in the tub, when, without warning, Andy swung the door open.
"Hey, Joe, I forgot . . ."
I turned only my head around, leaving my complete naked back exposed to the young cheetah. I saw the look of horror, of complete humiliation he had from barging in on me without knocking first. I tried to speak, to tell him it was alright, but he fled the bathroom in terror. Putting my underwear and pants back on, I ran out to the living room where he was sitting on the floor, his knees touching his face, trying to hide his shame.
"It's okay, man." I told him. "I'm not mad."
I could hear him sniffling. "You're . . . you're not?"
"No!" I said, brushing off the whole incident. "It's not like I don't have the same equipment you do! No big deal!"
It was at this time that I noticed he was checking me out. I will admit without shame that I have a great body. I work out all the time, and I have very little fat on me. The weird thing was that I didn't do it to impress anyone, I did it simply to take care of myself.
"Andy, do you like the way I look?" I asked.
The young cheetah blushed, embarrassed that he had been caught. "Kinda," he said.
"If you want, I could help you work out. Just wait, a year from now, you'll be bulked up and impressing all the girls!"
"But I don't want to impress them," he said, shaking his head.
"You don't? Do you want to do it because you're interested in body building?"
"Not really."
"Okay, than why do you want to build up your muscles?"
"To impress you, Joel!"
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that! I like you just fine!"
"Enough to be my boyfriend?"
Holy shit, talk about being thrown a curve ball! I was not expecting this I tried to talk my way out of the situation, but it was all in vain. Remember how I mentioned that my parents had me see a psychiatrist? It wasn't just because I didn't make friends, it was because I told them when I was thirteen that I liked other males. My strict, conservative Christian parents were not thrilled in the least. I remember my Dad beating me over the head with a large, hardcover family Bible until my Mom intervened, not to save me, but to tell me to go to my room. I was allowed to come out after I was done being, in her words, "a filthy little faggot".
"Well, Andy, do you really want to be my boyfriend?"
"Yeah," he said, no trace of reluctance in his voice.
I thought about what I was doing very carefully. Andy's Mom had given me her trust, and I did not want to damage that. That being said, I did find the cheetah very attractive. I decided to proceed with extreme caution.
"Andy, if you want to be my boyfriend, you know that we can't tell anyone, right?"
"I understand," he said. "I know that I'm underage, but I really like you, Joel. Can I be your boyfriend?"
I decided to answer his question in a rather unorthodox manner. Wearing only my pants and underwear, I decided once more to shed those garments while still keeping my back to the young cheetah. Naked again, I heard laughter erupting from Andy.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"You've got stripes on your butt!"
"Duh," I said, amused at his humor. "I'm a tiger. Is it really that surprising that I'd have stripes on my butt?"
"No, and I'm a cheetah."
"Meaning what?" I asked, teasing him.
"Meaning that I've got spots on my butt!"
"Is that so?" I said, pretending to act surprised.
"Yeah, you wanna see?" he asked.
"Do you want me to see?" I asked.
"Well . . . maybe."
I shook my head, back still facing towards him. "No maybe. Do you want me to see your butt?"
Head still turned around, I watched the cheetah shed his clothes, revealing that he indeed had spots on his butt. I did enjoy the show.
"Can I see the rest of you?" he asked.
"Only if I can see the rest of you," I responded.
Almost at once we both turned around, revealing our completely naked fronts. Andy was most impressed with the object between my legs that had been coming to life. Grinning, I took in his naked beauty. He was lean, but not a bad looking young cat. It was soon after that I invited him to share my bath, a request he readily agreed to. We had lots of fun bathing each other, with Andy massaging my soar shoulders and back. I'd never felt like this about anyone in my life. I just knew as the cheetah was massaging me that I wanted him to stay here, right here with me. I didn't want him to ever go home.
The real fun started when we both went up to my room after wards. I knew what must inevitably come, and come it did. We hardly said a word between the two of us, as though we knew what each other wanted. I lied on my back, my legs spread apart as the cheetah went down on me, suckling on my large tiger prick. I groaned as I felt the breeze from the ceiling fan hitting us both. Of all the things that could have occurred after I moved away, I never expected that I would fall in love with a thirteen year old cheetah, but I reached a point where I didn't want to fight the urges anymore, and neither did Andy. It was at this time, I decided we should both enjoy in the fun, moving into a sixty-nine position, now both suckling on each other. I should mention this was my first sexual encounter with another creature, not just a male. Sure, I had pawed off, but having someone you love suck upon your member for you was so much better. We spent hours that night making love to each other, until we had no more left to give. I finally got under the covers, ready for a good night's sleep, when I saw a naked Andy walking out the room.
"Where you going?" I asked.
"To my room, like always," he said.
I patted the bed next to me, urging him to hop back up there. "I'd really like it if my boyfriend would cuddle up next to me for the rest of the night."
His eyes brightened up. Opening the covers, he got underneath the covers, with his head resting on my chest. It was the best night of sleep in my whole life.
Five years have passed since Andy and I first slept with each other. Andy had just graduated, and I couldn't have been more proud of him. I knew that his mother was proud of him as well; her only son graduating high school, a feat she herself had never accomplished. We threw a big graduation party and open house for Andy at my house. I was just so happy for him, for both of us. It was at this time that Andy, now eighteen, and I needed to come clean about something to Sheila.
I took Andy's mom to another room to break the news to her. I had no idea how she would take it.
"Mrs. Martin," I said, scratching my head. "There's something important I need to tell you . . . about Andy and I."
"I know all about that," she said, not the least bit bothered.
"What?"
"I've known for a few years now, Joel. Don't worry, I'm not upset, though at first I was. I kept mulling it over in my mind, and I realized that Andy was happy with you being himself."
"I'm happy being myself with him too, Sheila."
She took hold of my paw. "I know, honey. That's why I didn't try to stop you two. I know you love my son more than anything and you'll take care of him."
"I will," I said, my voice starting to quiver with emotion.
Two weeks after Andy's graduation, he was over at my house working like usual, when I decided to surprise him.
"Hey, come in the garage, Andy?"
"What is it?" he asked.
"Let me show you!"
In the garage I had a pickup truck covered in a large blue tarp. I looked at my boyfriend, happy to see what he'd become. I remember the scrawny, hungry kid he was, and now saw how tall, muscular and mature he'd grown. It was an amazing transformation.
"Any, I want to give this to you, to show you how much I want you in my life, forever."
He walked back and forth, examining the tarp. I finally had to tell him to pull the tarp off. Once off, I watched his mouth almost hit the ground. There was a brand new, white pickup truck I had bought for him, but what was painted on it was what really got his attention.
"Stripes and Spots Construction?" he said, barely able to get the words out of his mouth. "Joel . . . are you . . . are you making me your . . . partner?"
I chuckled. "If you really want to know the answer to that, check in the glove box!"
I watched him open the passenger's door. Opening the glove box, he brought forth a small, black box, then looked back at me.
"Open it!" I begged him.
Slowly, he opened the box, and what he saw was better than when he saw the "Stripes and Spots Construction" on his new truck. He almost fell to the floor when he saw the plain, gold ring in the box. I didn't even have to ask the question. He just jumped in my arms, hugging me tightly.
"Joel, of course I'll marry you!"
Finally, I had found my real home.