FSE

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In the locker room there was an alligator. He was built in such a way as to suggest to the viewer that he was in fact wider than he was tall, though this was not the case. He was wearing a towel.

And there was a horse, standing the way that somebody who is the oldest in the room and therefore in authority tends to stand. He had the body of a man who has played and practiced nearly every sport there is without being discernibly better at any one of them. He was wearing shorts and a t shirt and a whistle.

And there was a rat, and an otter. The rat was tall, the otter wasn't. Neither of them was wearing anything.

Jed suspected that Coach Clayton wasn't paying attention. This was the third time he'd said that he needed some advice, and each time Coach said "right" and "uh huh" and even occasionally "oh yeah" without any indication that he knew what he was right-ing and and uhhuhing and ohyeahing.

"Um, coach?"

"Oh yeah."

"Coach, could you maybe stop watching Conner and Greg grope eachother and listen to me?"

"Right."

Jed had what his mother had always told him was a bad habit. Whenever he was puzzled or confused or frustrated, he frowned on one side and let his bottom teeth stick up over his upper lip. In spite of his mother's protestations that 'if you don't stop that hideous grimace you'll never get a job or meet a nice girl,' nobody else had ever noticed it. Coach Clayton didn't notice it now.

"Coach, I can tell you're, well... busy? But I really do need this advice."

"Uh huh."

"So. I guess I should be asking someone else, then."

"Right."

Jed left.

There were two alligators online, chatting. One of them was calling himself SuperSigma616, and the other was calling himself ThePurpleCroc, but they knew eachother's real names, and read the screen names as 'Jeb' and 'Jed.'

"I guess I probably should have known better than to ask Coach," Jed confessed to his cousin, "But... it just came to me after my workout while I was showering. And he was there, and I know he's engaged, so I figured..."

"Perfectly natural, boy." Jeb even typed with a southern accent. "But from what you've told me about those locker room parties, I don't think that's gonna be his area of expertise."

"All right," Jed said, "what would you advise?"

"You say you're feeling blue?"

"Yeah. Like it doesn't matter if I do anything or not."

"Anything else?"

"Well, I guess you could say I feel kinda like... Like everyone else is living in a completely different world? Does that make sense."

"Oh sure, but I meant like anything ELSE."

"...what does that mean?"

"I'm waggling my eyebrows when I say 'else.'"

"How am I supposed to see that through a chat window and what would it mean if I did?!"

"It means have you been able to get it up? Does it feel weird when you do? Is everything working like it should."

"Oh yeah, yeah, just fine, but..."

"But?"

"It's kinda getting to seem like a chore, almost."

"Ahhhhhhhhh. Verrrrrry interesting."

"You gonna tell me what you're talking about, or?"

"Your problem is simple, boy. You need to get yourself, well, a boy."

"What?"

"A mate. A paramour. A significant other. A lover. A main squeeze. A sweetheart, flame, or homeskillet. And knowing you, this hypothetical person's gonna be sporting some sausage and eggs in the pants too."

"You think getting a boyfriend will solve my problems."

"Well put, boy."

"I dunno. What makes you so sure this'll solve my problems?"

"Well, it'll solve the problem of you not having a boyfriend, for one. And if it doesn't, at least you'll have a boyfriend to take your mind off your problems! Where's the downside?"

"Allright," said Jed, and signed off, "I'll give it a try."

In the den there was an alligator. He was taking up most of the recliner, and wearing the first wifebeater and jeans he'd put his hands on when he got home.

There was also a husky and a tiger, both leaning back on the couch. The tiger's shoulders had the slump of someone who's body grew a little faster than he was expecting. The husky was slim, narrow-chested, and sat as if he meant to topple over into whatever it was he happened to be looking at at the moment. They were both wearing jeans, their t-shirts were on the floor, and their arms were wrapped around eachother.

"I'm not really sure what to tell you, dude."

"I'm just asking how you did it!"

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly sure how I did it."

"Don't look at me either," interjected Wade from the middle of his video game, "I didn't even realize it'd happened till it was done."

Ed scratched his chin, and frowned studiously at the alligator on the recliner. "I just dunno."

"Well, maybe if we went over how you two got together?" Jed asked hopefully. "Maybe we could figure it out?"

"Uh..." Ed began, not sure where to go from there. "I... had sex with a whole ton of dudes. And then decided to date Wade. And have sex with him."

"Pretty much the same story with me," Wade said, with an exasperated sigh as he lost a life and passed the controller to Ed. The husky refused to pick it up and just wagged expectantly at the tiger. Wade rolled his eyes, and removed yet another piece of clothing. "Except for the part about having sex with a whole ton of dudes," he addded.

"What about all your brothers?" Ed asked.

"Oh, well yeah, but I thought they didn't count. Besides, there's hardly a TON of them."

"Lot more brothers than anyone else I know!"

"It's still not a TON."

"Well, what about your dad?"

"..."

"And uncles."

"..."

"And cousins."

"..."

"And grandfather."

"...you going somewhere with this?"

"Just wondering," Ed said, with his tongue hanging out in concentration as he cleared a difficult set of jumps, "whether there's any guy in your extended family you haven't slapped cheeks with."

Jed blinked at them. "Wade, do I want to know-"

"It's a long story. Tell you later." Wade said as if he'd heard that question many times before. Which he had. "Ok, fine, I ALSO got myself a boyfriend by having sex with a whole ton of dudes, and then deciding to date Ed."

Jed bit his lip again. Ed and Wade didn't notice. "Ok, but, there had to have been some reason that each of you just decided on the other, right? I mean, you coulda ended up with any one of these guys you were knocking boots with, right?" He didn't say 'Me, for example,' but he thought it. "So why each other?"

Ed considered. "Well, I'd had a monster crush on him for... well, months."

"Same here," said Wade.

"I was afraid of that," sighed Jed, getting up.

As he left the room, he could hear Ed growl in frustration as he fell at the same point Wade had, and Wade cheer as Ed was forced to hand over the controller and peel off his pants.

There was an alligator in the food court, frowning at the half-empty cup of pop in his hand. There was a bull sitting across from him, stuffing french fries into his mouth.

Jed didn't like the mall. It was full of things that he honestly didn't know what they were and didn't much care to. Lady's shoes. Perfumes. Weird-ass coffee things. Lingeries, and negligees, and faberges, whatever those were. But Preston spent all his time, and a good deal of his parent's money, at the mall, so Jed tried not to pay attention to it.

"So," said Preston, wiping a few grains of salt from his lips and leering at a passing Lemur Girl with very low pants, "You said you wanted some advice about the ladies."

"Not exactly-" Jed bagan.

"Well you came to the right place." The bull ran a finger through his thick golden hair, "Because Preston is the flavor that they can't resist."

"I don't need help attracting-"

"As I recall, you've had yourself a couple tastes of the flavor yourself."

Jed stared at him.

"So you know how irresistible the flavor of the Preston is. You can't resist it yourself!"

Jed stared at him a few more moments. "Is this the sort of thing that you're going to be advising me to say?"

The bull shot him a look like they were on stage and he'd just said out loud that the audience was fat and smelled bad.

"Yeah," said Jed, getting up. "I should probably be getting home anyway."

There was an alligator in bed, with the covers bunched up underneath his body and the pillows kicked onto the floor. He was naked. His manhood was erect and throbbing gently, his balls were resting against his inner thighs, his hands were running slowly over his chest, down his stomach, over his shaft, and back again, and his eyes were closed.

Jed was thinking. That wasn't of course all that he was doing, but it was the thinking that he was interested in. Pawing himself wasn't going to solve his problems, after all. That was just relaxation.

There had to be something he wasn't doing. Something simple. Something obvious. Something that when he saw it he'd kick himself for not seeing it earlier.

Coach had been no help. Ever since the team had started letting him do them in the locker room, he'd been no help at anything but getting off. Course, he hadn't been much help before that either. Jed dismissed him from his mind, after licking his lips at the memory of the horse's seed in his mouth.

It wasn't something Preston was doing. He was pretty sure that Preston didn't have anything he wanted. Well, except a gorgeous cock and a body to match. That was good for a few moans and a little writhing against the sheets, when Jed remembered the feeling of Preston's manhood lodged smoothly and securely under his tail. But the man was no mate, to him, or anyone else.

What about Conner or Greg? They fooled around often enough. Because that was the only thing to call it. It was what made them so eager to please, that they just wanted to have fun. Jed had to admit it was fun. The otter's mouth on his shaft, the rat's cock in his mouth. Maybe they were on the right track, and he was taking this too seriously.

Or Trevor, the big rhino, he might know something. With Preston...You didn't have sex with Preston, you had sex OF him. Even while he was mounting you, you could tell he was thinking about how sexy it made him look. With Conner and Greg, they weren't thinking about you either, they were thinking about the sex and that it was fun. But when you let Trevor take you, then you could feel him thinking about nothing but you. He was dominant, possessive, single minded. As long as his rod was in you, then as far as he was concerned you were the only thing that existed. Could that be the trick? And would it work the other way around? And could it work for Jed too? He'd have to ask.

Jed was panting and moaning. His legs were spread from one side of the bed to the other, and his back was arched. His hands were slick with pre.

He should have spent more time with Ed and Wade. He should have offered them a three-way or something. Those two always got more talkative after sex. Even if they didn't, it would have distracted them from the video game so they might have given him a better answer. They just decided to date. Pfeh. You don't just decide to date someone. You don't just decide to be someone's boyfriend. You ask him.

Jed's eyes snapped open.

He knew what he'd been doing wrong.

He did not, in fact, kick himself. Instead, he sprayed semen all over his chest. But he was winded enough afterward that he might as well have.

There was an alligator sitting on a rock in the tall grass. He'd spent an hour that morning choosing his clothes. He'd settled on exactly the same outfit he would have ended up wearing if he'd grabbed the first thing he touched. Maybe the way the tank top clung to his chest looked a little more like an invitation than usual, but that was the only hint of the decision he'd made.

On the other side of the rock was a rat. He was much leaner than the alligator, and wearing clothes that seemed to have been selected to be as baggy as possible. It was possible that they were actual bags. There was probably something witty on his t-shirt, Jed couldn't see it from where he was.

Jed had spent the last hour trying to get the question he wanted to ask to come out of his mouth. Greg had spent the last hour looking at the sky and the grass and the rusting foundation of a house without saying anything. Once, he'd thrown a pebble.

Just when Jed opened his mouth, Greg said, "So, I hear you're looking for some advice?"

Jed swallowed what he'd been going to say, almost coughed on it, and said, "Well, yeah, I was... but I think I know what to do now."

"Oh. That's cool, I guess."

"Yeah," Now, Jed thought, just let me work up my nerve again and I'll do it. But then he suddenly felt the rat's arms wrap around him from behind, and his nerve decided to stop right where it was for a few hours.

"Uh," Jed asked, slowly and carefully, "Greg? What are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you."

"Yeah, I could kinda tell."

"Then why'd you ask what I was doing?"

"I kinda meant more 'why?'"

Greg rested his head against Jed's muscled back. "Cause hugging is good."

Oh, thought Jed. "It is?"

"Isn't it?"

Well, thought Jed. "I guess it is."

"Besides," said Greg, gently stroking Jed's chest, "it seemed like you needed it."

I might not have to ask at all, thought Jed. Better be sure, though. "There's something else I need." He bit gently at his upper lip as he took a deep breath. Greg noticed the alligator's chest expanding under his arms, but not his characteristic frown. "I wanna ask, that is, I want you to, I mean... you wanna be my boyfriend?"

Greg squeezed gently, nuzzled the back of Jed's neck, and said "No."

Jed blinked. "You said no?"

"I did."

"But... we, I mean.... you're still hugging me."

"Hugging's still good."

Jed felt as if he hadn't been paying attention, but he was sure he had. "So, you don't want to have, like, a significant other, or whatever?"

"Never had one."

"You don't want to, like, go on dates?"

"Never been on one."

"Wait. Didn't you have to go on a date with a girlfriend that one time, though?"

"I don't want to talk about that!"

"Oh." Jed paused to regain his train of thought. "We could be like just brothers, if that's the way you want it. That's fine."

"Don't have any brothers."

"So... why don't you want any of those things, then?"

"Cause." Greg pulled himself around Jed's body and hugged him again, with his eyes locked on the alligator's. "You're my friend. Never had friends before either. I just wanna enjoy that for now." He rested his head on Jed's chest and pulled Jed's thick arms around his shoulders. "Besides, I'm straight."

Jed blinked again. "But... didn't we have sex?"

"We do, yeah, but that's just fooling around. Just fun. You want something serious."

Jed nodded, and hugged Greg tightly. "Yeah. Yeah I do."

"Hope you find it, dude."

"Thanks."

In the park, there was a bench, and there was an alligator on the bench. Next to him was an otter. Jed had come here straight from the vacant lot, with perhaps a couple of creases in his shirt and his pants not zipped all the way. Conner was wearing jogging pants, a baseball cap, and no shirt. The park was quiet. The air smelled like lawnmowers, not fresh cut grass. Lawnmowers.

Conner had been talking nonstop since they'd gotten to the park. He held forth for a long time about how everyone was saying that it was perfect weather for a barbeque, and that was so wrong it was ridiculous, you had barbeques when it was cool and warming up or warm and cooling down, but right now it was late summer and the hottest part of the year and what sort of time was that for standing around for hours in the full sun over a roaring fire, no, what it was was the perfect weather for was a beach party, and it was too bad they lived several hundred miles from the beach, because if you were at the beach where he'd grown up you could swim then stay under the trees where it was shady and there'd be a nice breeze of the lake so it wasn't too hot to cook hot dogs or something once the sun started going down, and-

Jed let him talk. As long as the otter was talking, he wasn't expecting Jed to say things, and that meant Jed could collect his thoughts and his nerve. He just inserted rights and oh yeahs and uh huhs whenever the conversation seemed to need it.

"And if you get tired of swimming, you just wrestle around in the shallow water for a bit, right?"

"Right."

"Course, we were lucky, our patch of beach had a little stream with a waterfall. That was pretty awesome."

"Uh huh."

"Then, after the hot dogs, you roast marshmallows."

"Oh yeah."

"Yup, these barbeque people, dude. Out of their minds." Conner paused. "So, I heard you wanted to talk about something?"

Oh crap, thought Jed, not ready. "Yeah, um, I-" His lower teeth pressed against one side of his upper lip. "That is, you. Um. Yeah." Just say something! Anything! "Want a hug?"

"Huh?"

"Do you wanna hug?"

"Uh, why?"

"Cause, you know, um... hugs are good?"

"Dude, don't go all Greg on me."

"Ah. Ok."

"Yeah."

"Not gonna have any better luck if I asked you to be my boyfriend, then?"

"Nope. Sorry. I'm straight. Well, except for some fooling around, you understand?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

There was a long pause filled only with the sound of sprinklers and the swings on the other side of the park, and the sound of an approaching ice cream truck.

"Howbout some ice cream?" Jed proposed.

"Sure."

As the sun began sinking in the sky, the small one-story rambler with the catfish pond out back had three alligators inside. That number increased to four as the screen door slammed behind the Bordelon residence's largest occupant.

Jed could still smell gasoline and old grab bags clinging to his clothes. That, and there was a blue-green mess of sugary substance staining the front of his tank top. He was always clumsy with popsicles, assuming they were more solid than they were. So why did he keep getting them?

"Hey, Mom," Jed said a bit more cheerfully than he felt, peeling off his shirt and tossing it through the doorway into the laundry room. His mother, having only recently been surpassed by her firstborn in actual height, nonetheless had to lift her head to meet Jed's kiss to her cheek. Her hands were furiously clicking and clacking along the keyboard of the laptop appropriately resting on her lap, her elbows resting on the arms of the wheelchair she sat in.

"Hey, sweetheart, have a nice day?" she asked, hitting control and S before looking up at Jed, her smile as always suggesting she truly wanted to know how his day was. Jed smiled back, standing behind her and starting to rub her shoulders.

"Oh, it was ok. Decided to come home from the park after I thoroughly embarrassed myself with a popsicle."

"Oh honey, I'm sure your friends don't care," his mother patted his hand in thanks for the massage, before returning her hands to her keyboard, "You boys are always making messes of yourselves."

"Yeah, well, I guess I was just trying to impress someone today," Jed muttered in response, working his fingers deeper. The doctor's said regularly massaging the shoulders and back would help his mother's recovery, so he just sort of always did it whenever he was talking to her. "Anyway, enough about my embarrassing day. How was yours?"

"Oh, Jedadiah, it's been wonderful! I've been on a roll here!" She chimed with a soft laugh, her fingers still typing away, "I've gotten almost six chapters written out today! The publishers called just before you got here, and they're very pleased with my progress. I keep saying, sweetie, between the settlement to cover the bills, and the time I've had on my hands to finally write this out? I should have thrown myself in front of a car years ago!" She began rambling then, going on about how his father had stopped supporting her writing after they'd got married, and then been the one to suggest she spend her time doing that after the accident, which quickly became yet another verbal comparison between him as a boyfriend, a husband, and a man-she's-technically-married-to-who-lives-three-streets-over.

Jed just let it wash over him, still smiling, but when she somehow got into the plot of the six chapters she'd written today, his hands slowed as he tried to puzzle out what she was saying.

"Jed, don't bite your lip," his mother toned automatically without looking up. Jed stopped.

All things considered, it still bugged Jed that his mother had been hurt. Sure, the settlement had been easy- the driver admitted he simply hadn't been paying attention at the stoplight- and the doctors said she was on track to recover complete use of her legs. And since she was rendered unable to do much but sit, refusing anything like a van with a chair-lift, she had spent her time writing the novel she had started in college. She had even had the initiative to send the draft to some publishers and literary agents. One was so impressed, they'd sent a check to cover her expenses while she made a final draft.

He even saw more of his dad now. His parents had separated, but not divorced, just a few years ago, and happenstance had seen his dad moving back into the neighborhood. Now, his dad made dinner for the family a few times a week, even staying to eat with them.

The biggest adjustment, however, was the presence of his grandmother. When she'd first heard about her daughter's injury, she'd packed up her things, leaving her Louisiana home to Grampa to come and set up shop in the guest bedroom. Gramma was oddly strict about some things, such as never letting Jed out of the house in any clothes that could be sewn and repaired, and removing anything too worn and beaten from his closet to make into rags. She'd also enrolled Clark, his younger brother, in a karate class, saying that little boys should always have something after school, and during the summer, before coming home, for whatever reason. But certainly the oddest part of all was when she had taken upon herself to clean out Jed's bedroom.

"Lan' sakes, boy, just lookit this waste!" She had bellowed, waving his trash can underneath his nose. He had dashed straight to his door after his mother told him where Gramma was, and it was as if she had been waiting for him.

His trash can, the source of her apparent rage, was full near to the brim with tissues. And Jed's nose hadn't been runny at all since elementary school. His heart had tried to claw its way out of his throat to freedom as he braced himself for a lecture on the horror that was masturbation. His family had never been particularly religious that he could remember, but the sob stories that populated the internet had him expecting the worst.

"You gotta have at least a good dozen boxes worth a' tissues here, Jedadiah! Don't you bite your lip at me mister, your mother is counting on us to pinch our pennies!" Gramma's head whipped left and right for a moment, before she grabbed Jed's bath towel off the hook on the door and tossed it in his face.

"Use a towel! Lord knows it soaks up all the rest a' kinds of your bodily fluids!" She intoned as she pushed past him to empty the trash can. He had stood there, stunned, staring down at the towel and somehow unable to process what had just happened.

Nevertheless, he kept an extra towel under his bed now.

"HIYAH!" A loud, shrill cry and a sharp pain in his left calf brought him back to the here and now, making his hands spring from his mother's shoulders lest he grip too hard. With a growl, he spun to glower at the ten-year-old gator that had just kicked him, his hands flexing as that deep, primal part of him ached to wipe that grin off Clark's face.

" Dammit, Clark, I'm helping Mom!" Jed half-shouted at his younger brother, pointing down the hall, "Go play in your room or something!"

"Jed, language!" his mother shouted over her shoulder.

"HAS-IK-TYAH!" the short gator shouted again, bopping Jed in the nose with a fist that made his whole head jerk upwards. Clark immediately gasped and held his hands behind his back just as his mother wheeled her chair around.

"Clark! You do not hit people, especially not your brother! Apologize, right now!"

"I'm sorry, Jed! I-I didn't meant to hit your nose!"

"Grrrah, jeez, Clark!" Jed hissed through his teeth while he held his nose. If he started bleeding now, that was just going to ruin the rest of the evening. He slowly moved his hands away, ready to glare his brother down, until he saw that the little gator was so huddled in on himself he was barely up to Jed's waist now, and tears were just streaking down his cheeks. Clark was not a stranger to crying on command to get his way, but Jed knew on sight when he was really upset. With a sigh, he knelt down and held out his arms, and Clark rushed into them as Jed hugged him tightly.

"It's ok, Clark, it's ok," he said soothingly as Clark started to sob softly into his shoulder. "I'm not bleeding, and I'm not mad, alright? It's all ok.."

"S-Sensei said *hic* w-we needed to p-practice, and, and-"

"Well, you can tell him you practiced, ok?" Jed patted Clark's back and slowly moved him away, giving his brother a grin. "You're gettin pretty strong, bud! When'd you start hitting that hard?" Clark had just enough time to grin in delight before a knuckle rapped the top of his head.

"You know what I toldja happens if I catch you rough-housin' with your karate, Clark!" Gramma said with a scowl as the little gator rubbed his head. "Two more strikes, and I'm puttin' you in lacrosse instead!"

"No no no!" Clark howled in fear, running around to hide behind Mom's wheelchair, "I'll be good, I promise!"

Jed couldn't help but bite his lip. He stopped when he felt both his matriarchs' eyes on him.

"Clark, do you even know what lacrosse is...?" he asked slowly. Clark's head popped out from behind Mom's shoulder.

"Yeah! It's a girly sport!" he shouted with the confidence of someone who only knew of a sport by how its name sounded, "It's that one where you...uh...sweep ice?"

"That's curling."

Gramma's knuckle hit Jed's skull this time.

"The boy doesn't wanna do lacrosse, Ah'll threaten him with lacrosse!" Gramma said in the way of finality she had. "Now go put a shirt on, this is a home, not a brothel!" Jed was all too quick to obey, dashing into his room and grabbing the first shirt he saw. As he tugged it on, he realized it was the green t-shirt that was too tight everywhere and far too close to the color of his scales. All the same, he was in a hurry and didn't want another bruise anywhere on his head.

"Bye Mom, Bye Clark, Bye Gramma, love you!" he rattled out as he made a beeline for the door, barely noticing that Clark was immersed in the TV, Mom in her laptop, and Gramma in a magazine.

"Going out again, sweetheart?" his mom asked as he stood with the door open and the screen door handle in his hand. "You just got home!"

"I, uh, got something to take care of with a friend. Might be late. I'll just stay there for the night if I take too long." He didn't say 'if things go well', but he thought it.

"Just keep your tongs out of the oven," Gramma said candidly, turning the page of her magazine. Jed's eyes widened as he pushed open the door, and he grimaced and groaned as the door slammed shut behind him.

His mother chuckled after his exit, looking to her own mother with a smirk.

"You know, ma, you really don't have to tell him that every time he goes out late."

"Gwendelyn, I've made it a habit to tell every teenager leaving my house not to pop a bun in the oven before their time. I'm not about to stop for Jed just because he's fancy."

"...Fancy, ma?"

The aging gator looked up from her magazine only to look at Clark, who still was paying no attention to his elders. All the same, she decided to be oblique. "Even if he'd rather lick the dough off the spoon than go anywhere near the oven."

Gwen couldn't help but laugh and shake her head. The only thing more amusing than Gramma's comments on Jed's sexuality was his obliviousness of her knowing. Or Gwen herself, for that matter. It really just never came up in conversation.

"Wait, are we making cookies?" Clark piped up after a moment to realize what he heard, turning to grin at his mom with wide eyes.

Just outside the front door of the impressive but empty-looking house, there was an alligator who was rapidly becoming discouraged. He knocked at the door, and it opened.

Inside the door, there was a rhino. He was wearing a t-shirt that was far too small for him and had several holes, boxer shorts that had lost all their elastic, and a jockstrap that was plainly visible through the top of the boxers. He was yawning and squinting. "Jed? Wha matta? Wha're you doin here?"

"I didn't get you out of bed, did I?" Jed asked.

Trevor shook his head. "Nevermind, was time I got up anyway. What's goin on?"

"Can I come in?"

There was an alligator and a rhino sitting on the edge of the bed. It didn't look like it had just been slept in.

"So," Trevor leaned back and adjusted his jockstrap, "I hear you've been looking for some advice on something?"

"Yup."

"Well, that's fine. That's just fine." Trevor said, not sleepy at all now. "And I'd love to help. But you gotta do something for me first."

Jed frowned on one side. If Trevor noticed, he didn't say anything. "What do you mean?"

The rhino slid down his boxers and jockstrap in one slow, smooth motion. "Trade you advice for a blowjob."

Jed was suddenly paying very close attention. He let his eyes run up and down Trevor's body as the rhino peeled off the shirt. Not that he didn't know what it looked like already, but it was worth looking at. And he did need advice. And maybe he would have blown him anyway.

He lowered his head and wrapped his lips around the tip of Trevor's shaft.

It seemed like hours of the smell of the rhino's sweat in his nose, of the sight of his heaving chest overhead, of the feeling of his hands roaming over his head and shoulders, of the sound of him grunting and moaning, of the taste of him grinding and thrusting and leaking precum, before suddenly Trevor pulled back and then thrust in, pouring a flood of salty cum down Jed's throat. Jed swallowed it eagerly, advice forgotten by this point, and when Trevor flopped backward onto the bed, Jed pulled off his clothes and climbed up next to him. The rhino slid his hand over Jed's chest, teasing his nipples and moaning hungrily as he squeezed his pecs. They stayed like that for a while, Jed couldn't tell how long, Trevor enjoying him and Jed letting himself be enjoyed. Then suddenly Trevor was straddling Jed's chest. Jed looked up, confused.

"Do it again, man. Suck it." Trevor slid forward, brushing his cocktip against Jed's lips.

Jed opened his mouth obediently.

It was dark outside. Inside there was a rhino and an alligator, naked, sweaty, and tired. Jed was lying face down with his head on Trevor's thigh. Trevor was slowly kneading Jed's back muscles with one hand and stroking himself slowly with the other. The entire evening had passed in a torrent of sex. Trevor had put his shaft in every place on Jed's body imaginable, and every time he did, Jed could feel the rhino wanting him: wanting to have him, to keep him, and mostly to fuck him. And Jed let him.

This was it, he said to himself happily if a bit dazedly. This was what he wanted.

"You still want that advice?" Trevor asked.

"Nah," Jed answered vaguely, "I think I got it taken care of."

"That's good. Cause I heard another rumor. Heard you were looking for a boyfriend."

"Well, I was."

"That's good too," Trevor almost purred, his fingers brushing Jed's cheek. "Cause my folks are out of town for a few days. And it's after dark. If you wanted to stay the night, and really let me take you, then-"

Jed smiled. "All right."

Trevor smiled back. "Then get on your back and spread your legs. I'm ready to fuck you again."

Jed lay back, his legs wide open, grinning up at the muscular rhino whose cock was already stiff and ready and prodding him in the butt again. "And maybe if we've got all night," Jed said, "I can give you a ride or three too."

Trevor froze, his cockhead half into Jed's tailhole. "Whoa. No way."

Jed was confused. "Well, I know I'm pretty thick and not as long as most guys, but-"

"No way."

"But you let me mount you in the locker room."

"Feh. Yeah, once," like someone who'd tried pineapple on pizza and would never order anything but meat lovers ever again. "That doesn't count. But now, if you're gonna be mine? Then that means you're MINE, dude. That means I fuck you, cause I own you and your sexy body." Trevor thrust roughly into Jed's butt and started humping, "So just shut up and enjoy it. It's what you wanted."

Jed believed him.

In a rhino's bedroom there was an alligator. And in the alligator there were doubts. And a rhino's penis.

"Listen, Trevor, I should really probably get home."

Trevor was lying on top of him, sweaty and half asleep, and had been absent-mindedly nuzzling his back while his member softened under his tail. Jed had expected him to be hurt, maybe angry. He hadn't expected him to chuckle.

"Dude, it's ok. You're nervous. You're new to this. Just take it easy." Trevor rolled off of him and groped his chest. "We'll take a break for a little, and then you'll feel better and ready to be nicely fucked again."

"I'm not sure I wanna be fucked again."

"Sure you do, you're my boyfriend, you can't pretend you don't want it." Trevor's hand slid under Jed's weary body and gripped his cock, which was indeed erect and throbbing eagerly. "I'll have you moaning again in no time."

"But-" Jed's reply faded into a lustful moan. Trevor was stroking him again, and he couldn't think about anything else. "Do... do you love me, man?"

"Haven't I been doing that all night?" Trevor asked, chuckling again and teasing Jed's balls with one finger.

"Y-yes..."

"And you want more."

"Ohhh yes."

"Because you're mine. All mine. I own you, Jed, and I'm gonna fuck you all night as hard as I know you want it, as hard as I can. You said you wanted to be my boyfriend. MY boyfriend. You're not gonna take it back." Jed looked up. Trevor had moved around him and was squatting over his head. The rhino's hands settled on the back of Jed's head and gripped tightly. His ballsack was hanging onto the tip of the alligator's snout, and his cockhead was jutting directly in front of his eyes. A single drop of precum hung tantilizingly from the tip. "Isn't that right?"

Jed was too frightened to say yes and wanted it too much to say no.

He opened his mouth again.

"That's good," groaned Trevor as he slid in and Jed began sucking again, "That's real good."

The sun was just beginning to rise. Inside a sizeable, two-story house, there were six beds. In one of those beds were a husky and a tiger. In that husky, there was an idea.

Jed's problem had been slowly gnawing at Ed's mind for the majority of the time since Jed had come over during their Strip Nintendo session. It had kept gnawing at that bit of his mind, even when the rest was rather adamantly fixated on Wade's penis. But now, with him having awoken with the sun, the young canine had an idea.

Twisting in the bed, trying not to wake Wade with his head against Ed's abs, Ed groped around on the nightstand. Finding a cord, he tugged and followed it until he fished up his cell phone. He took the charger out as he flipped it open and held down the number six.

A ringing indicated the dial had been completed, and Ed held the phone to his ear, tail wagging just slightly in anticipation.

"Hello?" a rich, deep voice answered with the expectation of someone who had caller ID, but still enjoyed the formality of phone introductions.

"Hey, Mr. Barnel! It's Ed!" the husky chimed with an almost rehearsed tone. The lion on the other end chuckled.

"And what epiphany has my favorite student come across this morning?" Mr. Barnel asked warmly, and Ed suppressed the shiver that had become reflex to being called that by the elder feline.

"Wait..." Ed said slowly, "How'd you know I had...?"

"Well, it is about 5:30 in the morning...this makes, what, the fifth time you've called me at daybreak with some realization that couldn't wait?"

"Oh. Yeah. ...Well...there's a friend of mine."

"Wade?"

Ed stayed silent for the moment it took.

"Oh, you said friend, not boyfriend, of course. Do I know him?"

"You might."

"Are you going to make me keep asking questions?"

"I might."

"Edward..." Mr. Barnel's voice dripped with patience.

"Fine, he's a friend of mine on the JV team...Jed Bordelon? And he really needs some help." Ed spilled out, finally. "And I know I'm not qualified in the least, so..."

"Aah, I see. Don't you worry, my boy," the lion said with a small laugh, "tell me everything, and I'll see what I can do."

Inside an alligator there was a rhino. Inside the rhino was a consciousness just flickering its way out of sleep.

Trevor felt good. He felt very good. It hadn't even been all that long ago when he decided that maybe having a steady warm body to fuck would be a good idea. It'd been even less time since he decided he'd like that body to be a male. And only about a day since he decided Jed fit the bill perfectly.

There was so much he liked about the alligator he had his cock half-lodged in. He was tall, but not as tall as Trevor. He was muscled, but not as much as Trevor. He even had some fat to him, much more than Trevor, which gave the rhino ample places to grab and grope that warm scaled body.

But what Trevor liked the most was how he felt now. When he was balls deep in that plump, juicy ass, holding Jed bent double, thighs to eyes, and looking into those deep brown orbs, he felt like he really, truly owned something. Someone, rather. That Jed was his, marked with his name, within his power, all that jazz. He'd always been possessive, he would admit. Over the past few years, he'd only bought a few new pieces of clothing. Every scrap he had, he wore until it was too ratty to use outside the house, which took quite some time on its own, and then kept wearing them until he couldn't justify keeping them anymore. Hell, there had even been that one time where he'd needed to resist the urge to strangle Connor in the locker room for using his towel. It hadn't been hard, really. He was mad, sure. But he never got violent.

Jed snorted roughly in his sleep, and Trevor looked down at the gator. He might have to rethink the violent part. Not against Jed, oh no, never against Jed. He was going to take good care of his new boyfriend. But if anyone tried to hurt him, harm him in any way... well. Just the thought of it made his face flush and his jaw clench.

It had crossed his mind several times to ask the gator to move in with him while he plowed one end or the other. But he knew his gator pretty well from their time on the team, and he knew that Jed's mother was recovering from some injury or another, and Jed was left to care for his little brother. Maybe Trevor could offer his place for Jed to babysit? He'd like that, right? Put the little munchkin in the game room while the big boys played upstairs. Hell, if the little runt was old enough... Jed never had really specified his age.

But, even if he did that, even if Jed did move in with him somehow, he couldn't be with Jed all the time. Not yet, anyway. There would be times where Jed would be alone. And Trevor wouldn't be there to help his gator if anything went wrong. But he could be.

With a gentle tug, he extricated his cock from his new cock-warmer. Jed grunted a bit, but he stayed asleep. Trevor slowly crawled to the edge of the bed, groping at the floor until he grabbed at Jed's pants, and dug into the pockets. Finally, he found Jed's cell phone, and sat up on the bed. With a few button clicks, he found what he was looking for.

Without really paying attention to what used to be there, he began entering his own number into the #1 speed dial slot.

With a satisfied smile, he closed the menu and replaced the phone in the front pocket, crawling back over the bed to the sleeping gator and resuming his position spooning Jed's back. But... somehow he didn't feel right. He chuckled slightly as he realized, and reached down to slowly stroke himself back to full mast. It was pleasantly easy to slip his manhood back into Jed's ass, and still the gator grunted and didn't wake. Now it felt right.

Trevor held his boyfriend close as the sun slowly approached the horizon.

There was far too much rhino in the alligator at the moment to suit the alligator's mood. Both mentally and physically.

The sun was half a golden ball outside the window by the time Jed finally woke up, pressed into the mattress by Trevor's bulk. Not to say his own wasn't contributing. All the same, the sun was up a bit more by the time he had managed to roll the rhino off of his back. God, how had Trevor managed to stay in his ass all damn night?

With painful slowness, Jed sat up on the edge of the bed, stood, and began gathering his clothes and things. Trevor never so much as snored, the slow rise and fall of his chest the only indication he hadn't died from semen loss. But still, Jed held his belt in a deathgrip as he fastened it, trying his hardest not to let the buckle clatter. If he woke up the rhino now, if he had to hear that voice telling him he didn't have to go yet, that Trevor didn't think his boyfriend should be leaving without a good helping of cum... he would probably agree. And he didn't want to.

Jed shook himself and tiptoed rapidly to the door. He had a hard enough time with Trevor saying those things, he didn't need to imagine them preemptively.

He counted his lucky stars that he made it to the front door without getting lost, or falling down the stairs, or stepping on something that would squeak and wake Trevor up. He made it out the door, down the driveway, and onto the sidewalk with no problems. Well, no new ones.

Jed didn't know how to feel at that moment. He had been so sure. His cousin Jeb's advice had seemed so simple, so sound. And it had all come together. But... Trevor, as a boyfriend? It didn't work. It just didn't. He had never known the rhino to be physically violent, or even really get angry. Still, somehow Jed's mind spiraled into never being able to look at another man without getting dragged to the nearest available closet and fucked until he couldn't walk. Or going to sleep in his bed, alone, and waking up with muscled grey arms wrapped around him. Or...

He was being ridiculous. He would see Trevor at the next summer practice session. He wouldn't try to seek out the rhino before that. Then he could say that they were over. No, not even over, since they'd never been in the first place. That's what he would say, and Trevor would just have to accept that.

He realized he had walked at least three blocks from Trevor's house without really knowing where he was going. It was truly morning now, and his mother would be wondering where he had stayed all night. Reaching into his pocket for his phone, he held down the one key and held the phone to his ear. It rang a few times, which was odd, since Clark had always been quick to wake up on summer mornings and even quicker to answer the phone when he could. Finally there was a beep. But it wasn't his mother's voice that he heard on the voicemail.

"Hi, you've reached Trevor Smith's cell phone. I can't pick up right now, but I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If this is an emergency, you can-"

Jed's thumb pressed so hard into the red key on his phone that the plastic cracked. He had stopped walking as soon as he had heard Trevor's voice, now standing there with shaking hands and a grimace on his face. No, he thought. Can't be. He raised his phone and quelled his hands long enough to open his speed dial list. Surely he had just pressed the wrong button somehow. Trevor wouldn't have.

He did.

Anger boiled his blood, and he made several mistakes he had to fix as he re-entered his home number in the speed dial list. He was very exact, however, as he deleted Trevor's number from his address book. He wanted to scream. He even threw his head back and took a deep breath in preparation.

"Mr. Bordelon?"

Jed let all the air out in an awkward huff as he turned to look at the black pickup that had pulled up next to him. He hadn't noticed it at all. Sitting in the driver's seat, which he could see clearly, as the passenger door had been swung open, was a tall, proper looking lion, his long russet mane groomed with care, and thin wire glasses resting on his nose. He wore a short sleeved button-down shirt, light gray slacks, and a warm smile on his face. It took a moment for Jed to realize why he was familiar. "Uh...Mr. Barnel?" Jed asked hesitantly, stepping toward the door.

"Glad you remember me, since you seemed to glaze over during my Health class," the lion replied with a chuckle. Jed only blinked.

"What are you doing here...?"

"A little bird told me you needed a ride. Come on, hop in." He patted the seat next to him, that warm, fatherly smile still on his face. Jed could hardly refuse, and stuffed his phone roughly into his pocket before climbing into the truck, shutting the door behind him. Mr. Barnel only nodded as he put the car back into drive.

They drove for a few blocks in silence. Jed didn't even have the presence of mind to obliquely try to check the rather studly lion out, just biting his lip and staring out the window. Mr. Barnel's eyes, however, wandered rather freely. Jed didn't notice.

"So," Mr. Barnel finally broke the silence, "that little bird also told me you've been looking for some advice." Jed only sighed softly and hung his head, pressing his palms to his eyes.

"Yeah. I guess I have been."

"Would you like my advice, Mr. Bordelon?"

"...I...I don't know if I need it anymore, right now. It wouldn't help."

"That's ok, too," Mr. Barnel said soothingly, making a turn so that they were now going the opposite direction from when Jed had entered the car. Jed didn't notice. "Would you like to tell me what's bothering you?"

Jed hesitated.

"I don't know if I should."

"I can assure you, my boy, you needn't hide anything from me. Edward has been confiding in me for some time now, especially since he and young Wade became an item."

Jed began to nod automatically until he realized just what had been said.

"...Just how much did this little bird tell you?" Jed asked slowly, a blush creeping out from under his skin. The older lion chuckled.

"Never you mind. Does that mean you would like to talk now?"

Mr. Barnel turned the car into a driveway that led into the parking lot of an apartment building, and pulled into a space, parking the car. Jed said nothing.

"I need you to talk to me, Jedadiah."

"...I've been trying to get...a boyfriend." Jed finally stammered out.

"Is that so..." Mr. Barnel replied, stroking his beard. "Have you had any success?"

"..."

"Jedadiah?"

"Yes and no."

"And how is that?"

"...You know Trevor Smith?"

"I believe I know of the young man, yes. In fact, I believe he lives not far from where I found you."

"Yeah. I...was at his house all last night."

"Doing what?"

"...Being boyfriends, I guess."

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand."

"...Neither do I."

They were both silent for a moment, until Mr. Barnel opened his door and exited the car. Jed stared after him for a moment, but the lion turned and flipped a lever to fold down the driver's seat. Climbing in behind it, he closed the door and settled onto the backseat bench. He smiled at Jed and beckoned him with a hand.

"I think we'll both be more comfortable back here, don't you think?"

It wasn't long before Jed shut the right side door behind him, and felt a surprisingly solidly muscled arm wrap around his shoulder and pull him close. It was roomier in the backseat than it should have been, but Jed didn't linger on it.

"So. Is Mr. Smith your boyfriend, then?"

"..."

"It's a fairly simple question, Jedadiah. And I believe you already know the answer."

"...No. He's not."

"Good, we're making progress," Mr. Barnel said with a chuckle, giving Jed's shoulders a squeeze. "Now, if he's not your boyfriend, then why were you at his house all night?" Jed swallowed. His side was pressing into Mr. Barnel's now, and the lion was positively ripped underneath his clothes. Seriously, who the hell knew?

"Uh...I guess...well, I thought I wanted to be his boyfriend. But...now I don't."

"And it took you all night to figure that out?"

"...No. It...I figured that out pretty fast."

"...But?"

"...But he wanted me to stay. And...I did."

"Why?"

"..."

"Mr. Bordelon?"

"Because he told me to."

"Hm. I see. Well then," Mr. Barnel began, his hand tightening on Jed's shoulder. "What if I were to tell you to unbutton my shirt?" Jed stopped breathing for a sec. With a weird squeak, he remembered.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"I'm fairly sure you heard me, Jedadiah."

Jed swallowed. He gasped for air. Then swallowed again. After a few moments, he raised a hand toward Mr. Barnel's shirt, awkwardly feeling around for a button. The lion said nothing as he slowly popped the button out of its hole.

"Mmm. That's one down, Mr. Bordelon." There was a sudden grabbing at his shoulders, a rushing of air past his ears, and a warmth against his chest and stomach. Blinking, Jed was now laying with his stomach against Mr. Barnel's groin, the lion reclining against the length of the seat while smiling down at Jed. After regaining his bearings, Jed looked lower. The one button he had undone revealed creamy chestfur underneath, and the hint of pectoral definition. Licking his lips, he reached up and undid the next one, and the next, up to the top of Mr. Barnel's shirt.

Jed's eyes widened as he took in the sight unveiled under that shirt. Definition, nothing, his high school Health teacher was chiseled there. He was so busy staring that his hands went on without him, taking out every button down the lion's shirt and tugging it open.

"Very nice, Mr. Bordelon..." Mr. Barnel purred, stroking the back of Jed's head, "Now how about you show me what those wrinkled clothes of yours are hiding?" Jed didn't need telling twice. He practically tore his shirt off from over his head before tossing it onto the floor of the car, and fumbled with his belt for a good fifteen minutes before managing to wrench it open. The whole time as he awkwardly stripped down to his skin, Mr. Barnel laid with his hands behind his head, smirking and occasionally licking his lips with some soft comment. Jed couldn't hear any of them for the blood pumping in his ears.

"Now, here you are, in the back of an older man's truck, completely naked. And just because I told you to," Mr. Barnel purred, "Have you considered a career in the military?"

Jed just stared.

The big lion chuckled again. "Well, since you seem to be feeling so obliging, why don't you undo my pants?"

Jed let his hands slide down Mr. Barnel's chest, his fur was amazingly soft, and then froze when he reached the lion's crotch. It felt like there was a folded-up bicycle tire in the front of his pants. Or motorcycle tire. That was being inflated.

If he had known how hung Mr. Barnel was, he might have paid more attention in class.

The lion was sliding his pants off a few seconds later, and running his hands across Jed's chest as he did. More of the honey and cream colored fur was swimming into Jed's field of vision, stretched across muscular thighs. The only sound in the cab of the truck was a soft thump as the pants landed on the floor. Then powerful arms were laying Jed back on the seat, soft fur was rubbing against his stomach, and the older lion was straddling his chest.

Jed looked down his body at Mr. Barnel's shaft, nestling between his pecs and throbbing patiently. The lion was bigger than Trevor. The lion was bigger than anyone Jed had ever seen. After last night, just looking at it made him sore. But he couldn't resist. He wouldn't be able to say no. He'd learned that much about himself: Jed just didn't have it in him to back off once he'd gotten in this deep.

"Do you want to continue, Jedadiah?"

Jed hadn't been paying attention, and blinked confusedly. "Wha?"

"Do you want me to proceed to have sex with you?" he repeated, obviously amused.

Jed shrugged so slightly that Mr. Barnel felt it rather than saw it.

"I need you to talk to me, Jedadiah. Do you, or do you not, want to have sex with me?"

Jed took a deep breath. "...yes."

Jed opened his mouth, expecting it to immediately filled enough to stretch the tendons in his jaw, but then felt something soft and warm lowering onto his groin. He opened his eyes in surprise.

"Mnnph. Thick for your age, aren't you?" Mr. Barnel grunted as he settled onto Jed's cock. The older lion's soft, furry ass pressed down against Jed's taut ball sack, that huge cock pressed hard against his gut, and Jed was nearly driven to scream as he felt that warm, wet, velvety tube squeeze around his entire cock.

Since he'd first given his virginity to Ed, no one but that bubbly little husky had ever taken him balls deep before. Though, looking down at Mr. Barnel's cock leaking a bead of pre onto his stomach, he began wondering if he was even close to being the largest of Ed's conquests. Thoughts of Ed quickly evaporated as the lion's muscular thighs flexed, lifting that wonderful ass off his balls and dragging over the flesh of his cock.

"Mmm...very nice..." Mr. Barnel groaned out as he began to fuck himself on Jed's meat, making the young alligator gasp and writhe on the truck bench. The muscled high school teacher's hands roamed Jed's chest and gut, groping and pinching and squeezing in all the right ways, making Jed buck upward just as Mr. Barnel was coming down and tense as he pulled off. After some pointed groans and grunts, Mr. Barnel picked up the pace and leaned forward, shifting Jed's cock at a new angle in his ass. Jed has his nipples nibbled and his pecs licked and his belly humped into with that monster cock, and felt the odd cool wetness of a growing pool of precum on his skin.

"Ooooh this is a treat, Jedadiah," Mr. Barnel said in a breathy voice through gritted teeth, "Been, mm, too long since I had a nice, fat, warm piece of meat in me...Oh yes, you are a gifted lad indeed..." He put both hands on Jed's shoulders, holding his student down while he arched his back and began rolling his hips, moving that fat shaft with him. Jed wanted, tried to say something, that it felt good, that this was such amazing sex, but each time all that came out was another high-pitched squeal of pleasure.

It wasn't until Mr. Barnel let go of his shoulders and leaned back, positioned so that his chest and abs faced upward while he bounced on Jed's length, that Jed finally regained his power of speech.

"Muh-Mister Barnel..." Jed pleaded breathily, which somehow seemed to make the lion only go faster.

"Mmn, yes, Jedadiah?" Mr. Barnel replied, his voice deep and husky and filled with the effort of sex.

"I-I t-think I'm g-getting c-close, and- and- I-I d-don't want to make a m-mMESS..!!" The last word came out as a shriek, Mr. Barnel having slammed down so hard on him that it made him bounce against the bench. He worked hard to catch his breath as Mr. Barnel maintained that pace, and Jed could feel the entire truck rocking with the burly lion's movements.

"Oh, my dear boy, nnnf," Mr. Barnel cooed soothingly, "I assure you, there is only, mmng, one place you'll be making a mess...!" He laughed, and Jed believed him, the way the squeezing of the lion's ass making Jed wince every time. Even being able to take Jed's entire cock at once, the alligator had no doubt those powerful muscles could keep anything they wanted inside. And that thought, of a hungry, powerful, muscled ass taking his cock almost without his consent and keeping every bit of his seed inside it, turned out to be just enough to start that telltale crescendo of pleasure that meant Jed was about to cum.

"I, on the other hand...!!!" Mr. Barnel mused with a strained voice, barely registering in Jed's mind, and just that quickly Jed found himself throwing back his head to make a noiseless, gasping yell as his cock erupted harder than he had in a long time. His fat cock pumped load after load into warm, tight ass gripping it, feeling not a drop of the white fluid slipping past. His orgasm rode high and came down slow, leaving Jed panting and sweating and half-delirious against the seat. He laughed softly- both from the overwhelming pleasure of that ass still on his cock, and betting that if he looked at his cock and balls right now, not a hint of white fluid would be showing.

Which, of course, was why he was so confused to see white absolutely everywhere when he did open his eyes.

One more spurt from Mr. Barnel's cock got him right in the eye, making him squint as he took in the sight before him. His chest, stomach, neck and face were all warm and wet, and with his one un-spattered eye, he could see that every place that felt warm was because it had a large glob of semen sitting on it. Mr. Barnel himself was still leaning back, chest and abs heaving, hands nowhere near his cock, which still throbbed and bobbed to what he knew would be the lion's rapid hearbeat.

"Hufff....oooh yes...very, very good, Mr. Bordelon...so very...very good..." the lion gasped, slowly sitting up and placing hands on hips, looking down at Jed with a grin that belonged on a proud father. Jed could only grin back, his afterglow now taking full effect. He felt exhilarated and sleepy and affectionate and lethargic and ready to do absolutely anything the lion on top of him demanded all at the same time.

"And now," Mr. Barnel continued, heaving another heavy sigh as he leaned forward to look Jed in the eye, their muzzles almost touching, "I have two questions for you. The first: did you enjoy that?"

"Oh holy crap yes," answered Jed all in one breath.

Mr. Barnel smiled. "And do you want to be my boyfriend?"

A million reasons why or why not flashed through Jed's mind like machine gun fire in the movies, going everywhere and never hitting anything important, and then they were all gone. And all that was left was the one question it had never occurred to him to ask himself: did he, in fact, want the man he had just fucked to be his boyfriend. His lover. His significant other. His... what ridiculous thing had Jeb said? Homeskillet.

Did he want Mr. Barnel to be his homeskillet.

When his answer dawned on him, it was like stepping out from a waterfall that you had been standing in without realizing it. He almost kicked himself for not seeing it sooner.

"...no." Jed said softly. "I...I don't."

He wasn't sure how many reasons flashed through his head then, but he began listing them in preparation.

"Alright." Mr. Barnel said with a very satisfied smile.

"Because-..." Jed blinked and bit his lip. "...Alright? You...aren't going to ask me why?"

"No." Mr. Barnel replied, very slowly raising his hips and making Jed gasp as his cock popped out of the lion's ass. Still not a drop of cum.

"...why?" Jed asked instead. Mr. Barnel chuckled and produced a towel from... somewhere, and began wiping semen off Jed's chest and stomach delicately.

"Because your reasons are your own. Why you don't want to enter into a relationship with your high school health teacher after blowing your load up his rump isn't any of my business. Nor anyone else's. This may be different if you enter a relationship and then break it off... but really, you needn't explain yourself for not wanting to enter one in the first place, now do you?"

"I... guess not," Jed replied, lifting his chin as Mr. Barnel wiped the cum off his face and neck.

"You see, my boy," Mr. Barnel said in a lecturing tone as he climbed back up into the front seat, slipping his underwear back on as he did, "relationships are a funny thing. But, despite what anyone may tell you, they don't go hand in hand with sex. Not always."

Jed nodded in thought, actually paying close attention as he slipped his shirt back on.

"Everyone thinks they need labels and formality, simply because that's what everyone else has been doing. But the fact is, different things work for different people. Much like sex, obviously." He added as he began doing up the buttons of his shirt. "But there very well may be a person you find who you will be very happy to call your one and only. Your boyfriend, as you've been saying. But the thing is, Jedadiah...when you find that person, someone who makes you feel good in a way no one else has, who notices things about you no one else does, who wishes nothing more than to spend their lives making you happy and being made happy by you in return... If you went the rest of those lives without ever having sex, it wouldn't matter.

"I usually tell my students this. That sex isn't enough, and that they need to look for something more. They usually don't believe me at the time. But I think you already know that, Mr. Bordelon."

Jed nodded as he pulled his pants back on.

"Then I think that's all the advice I have for you," Mr. Barnel said with a smile, taking a deep breath and sighing contently. "Though I will add that you are a truly marvelous lay, and always welcome to drop in, if you wish." Jed couldn't help but blush and bite his lip again. "Now, may I drive you home?" Mr. Barnel put his hands back on the wheel of his truck. Jed thought for a moment, and shook his head.

"No thank you... I think I'll just take the bus. I have a lot to think about."

Mr. Barnel only nodded and waved as Jed closed the truck door and walked toward the bus stop on the corner.

On the bus stop bench there was an alligator. He was wearing rumpled clothes. His body was sore and tired. His mind was whirling, but in a way that a draining bathtub whirled: it felt like it was settling down and if he just waited things would fall near enough into place that it would work again. He was watching the sun come up through the trees. His mouth was turned down on one side, so that his lower teeth jutted up over his upper lip.

And then the ferret sat down next to him. "Hey," he said, "you're Bordelon!"

Jed looked up. The ferret was wearing workout clothes and looking at him like he was a celebrity. He looked vaguely familiar.

"I seen you at the games."

Oh, that explained it. "Oh, yeah, I'm on the football team. Yeah."

The ferret nodded. There was a long silence. Then he looked back up at Jed again.

"If you don't mind my saying so, that kinda grimace thing you've got there is real cute."

"...really?"

"Yeah." The ferret blushed. "The frown with the teeth sticking up. Makes you look, like, tough and vulnerable at the same time."

"Oh, I.... uh, thanks."

There was another silence.

"So," Jed asked, "where're you going?"

"Down to the school to use the weight room. I graduated last spring, so I'm getting all the use I can out of it this summer."

"Right. I see." Jed thought about it. "Need a spotter?"

"You offering?"

"Sure."

"Then sure. I'm Jed." He held out his hand. "What's your name?"