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[b][u][center]Smoothing Things Out

Part 2

For Harute11 and Libra-11

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

Blake and company were quietly nervous the next day, and none more quietly than Cancer. Nobody made a comment about the red wolf’s uncharacteristic nervous vibrations in the back of their head, but they could all feel it. They were all feeling the same sort of thing, too, and nobody wanted to admit it. Not Blake, not Aries, not Ryder or Toy. Ptolemy quietly marked it down somewhere, they were all sure, but nobody asked him about it, and he didn’t bring it up. It was an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t comment on one another being this shaken up by someone else.

Yet, for all their nervous worries, there was an undercurrent of want. Not just for the sexy things that seemed possible in Libra’s company, but also for the gentle, unassuming companionship that the other man offered. There was an understanding mind there, and it made them all feel as if there was something better possible with the other man. Something that they wouldn’t get from the average person.

Was that enough to make them be honest with him during the first two days of the convention? No, no way in Hell. Cancer had overridden most of the different horny things that both Aries and even Blake kind of wanted to do, and Ptolemy had backed him. In a surprising shift, Ryder did the same, saying that it was better to wear a costume for the moment until they were sure that Libra could handle what lay beneath.

It was oddly silly coming from Ryder, considering that he had been born out of a costume bit of play, but that was a different thing.

They remained more or less at a distance during the first and second full days of the convention, watching what Libra said at the different panels that the rabbit had been called for. The demonstration of rubber and latex suits that the public would soon have available to them was quite stunning, but more interesting to the group of them was the way that the disguised rabbit continued to talk on stage.

It wasn’t just that he maintained his disguise – and did it very well, for that matter – it was the fact that he was so…so direct, they supposed, and that interested them. He always had a pointed, practical thing to say, didn’t waffle, and made sure that the audience kept its attention on the stuff that was important to him.

That was rare. Most people really did have a tendency to wander around, and for them, they needed someone that could keep them focused.

[i]Particularly me,[/i] Aries admitted with a giggle.

The days went like that, with the group studying Libra at a distance, and then meeting up with him for dinner at night. The rabbit would always be open for that, and they started to wonder if it was something that the rabbit felt for them in return. They didn’t dare hope for it, but they really wanted it.

It was mid-afternoon on the third day of the convention that things took a turn for the more…intimate.

#

“Are you sure that you want to give it a try?”

Libra’s question was the same one that they had been noodling around ever since they knew that it was on offer. The suit that the rabbit wore on the daily had been something that intrigued them. Rubber always had, for that matter, considering that it was as tight as one could get a piece of clothing to be, but it was more than that. Rubber had a way of either hiding or showing off whatever you wanted it to. You could get a rubber suit that made you look completely normal, even now, while hiding everything that you didn’t want the world to see. When it came right down to it, rubber was one of those perfect materials for those that wanted to be something different to what they were born as.

They had their own collection back at home, though nothing as advanced as the rubber human suit that the rabbit hybrid had been wearing. They sat there on the hotel couch, holding the synth-flesh across their lap, barely believing that it felt this good to the touch. Aries wanted to strip down and hop in, while Ptolemy was wondering if it might be better if they sanitized it first. Cancer wanted to run it through some sort of scanner so that they didn’t have to make sure that it wasn’t drugged, and Ryder wanted to see if he looked as good as a different human as he did as a different species. Blake just wanted to know how it felt, and how it fit on him…and whether it was as advanced as he thought it might be.

Toy, as ever, was silent, save for a low, rumbling approval.

“Blake?”

“I want to try it, yeah.”

“Well, alright…it’s easier if you’re naked, if you’re, um, comfortable with that.”

The rabbit wasn’t quite embarrassed by asking that, it seemed, but rather was more on the shy side of things. It was rather cute in its own way, though he had to admit that it was also rather…odd. For him, shyness and embarrassment had always gone hand in hand. In Libra’s case, it was more like the rabbit was a little shy about talking about it, but more because he wasn’t used to other people being interested, or willing.

Well, they were willing. Very willing, even if they were also as red-faced as one could imagine them being.

They stood up and stripped down, slowly taking off their shirt, their pants, their socks, even their underwear. The feeling of their dick flopping out in the open was a little bit weird, but they managed to keep from reacting and hiding it the way that Blake, at least, immediately wanted to. They took a few short but deep breaths, trying not to blush even worse as they picked up the suit.

“I just…put it on?” he asked.

“Yep.”

“And that’s going to…”

“It’ll fit to you. Don’t worry about that.”

He hoped so. They all did.

As they slid their legs into the rubber suit, it was all too familiar. The soft, smooth sensation of the rubber itself, the impending tightness when they would have it wrapped around them, the way that the suit itself was just…warm. Impossibly warm, for that matter, as the rubber shouldn’t have held body heat for that long. Was that something else that made it more advanced, and if so, why?

They ignored the questions, shoving their feet down into the ‘socks’ of the suit, where their toes slipped into the little ends of the legs. They sat down, pinching out the air bubbles at the bottom of the legs, and then started the slow process of rolling the rubber up their lower limbs.

It was easier than usual, surprisingly. Their legs were easily slotted into place, and while they did shimmy back and forth to get their legs all the way in, it wasn’t like putting on a fussy pair of pantyhose. The rubber stretched easily, and even without powder or oil, they slipped in with ease.

In short order, it was up to their crotch, and they blushed as they had to hold their cock in an upright position to keep it from being locked down against their groin.

“How do you, um…”

“Oh, there’s a mode where you get a sheath down there,” Libra explained.

“A sheath?!”

“It’s, um, a little messy at the moment.”

“Oh, um…”

Was that okay? Ptolemy said no, not with that kind of mess. Aries thought that it was kinda kinky, but still would prefer to wait on it. The others agreed. It was fine enough to just have their dick against something rubbery and slippery, anyway.

They pulled it over their groin, then stood up to pull it over their backside. After that, it was easy to just pull the sleeves on, and then they turned around, offering their back and the zipper to the rabbit. Libra did the honors, slowly dragging it up.

The sound of the zipper coming together, rasping against itself, sent a shiver down their spine. A very happy shiver, but a shiver, nonetheless.

“And now, the head.”

Right. The head. The part that would be the most difficult to get used to, considering the sheer amount of identity that the head represented. They shuffled back and forth, tapping their hands together. Just the feeling that they got from that was more than they usually got from the rubber suits that they wore normally. It transmitted sensation in a very different, very powerful way, and if it was that good already…

Blake reached back for the zipper, telling himself that he was doing it just to make sure that it was still there, and had a harder time than he expected finding it. There was no obvious seam in the back, nothing that made it possible for him to find something there, but there was a little lump right in the collar at the back of his neck. He rested his hand there, fighting his own nerves.

And then, Libra tapped his shoulder. He brought his hands down, and the head slowly rolled over his.

It was like a mix of a mascot hood and a rubber mask, something that had the tightness of the latter but the softness of the former. He knew that it would get very warm inside, but that was not the thing that really held his attention.

What held his attention was the fact that the mask molded to his face perfectly, grabbing hold of his cheeks, pressing against his jaws, making itself just right for him. Somehow, it had hidden the fact that Libra had a muzzle, and yet, the mask fit him as well as it had the rabbit hybrid.

And it pressed on him. Pressed firmly, almost like it was trying to assume its own identity over his.

“Ah…ah…”

He stumbled, his hands against his face. Oh, there was a realness there and no mistake. There was a softness that most rubber didn’t quite get right. It was soft, yes, but there was something missing when you compared rubber to skin. This felt closer than anything else that he had ever experienced, which only disoriented him further.

He stumbled again, leaning against the wall, looking at the mirror that was right by the hotel room door. He stared at himself, seeing the same human that Libra had been posing as staring back. He looked perfectly real, save for the fact that his dick was rendered as nothing more than a bulge down between his legs.

“Oh fuck…”

Blake felt his head splitting right down the middle, his eyes rolling back, his various headmates scrambling as they pressed against the shattering reality all around them. Toy, Ryder, Ptolemy, Aries, Cancer, they were all throwing their arms up against the collapsing reality. Words and different voices spilled from his lips all at once as the barriers came down, something else trying to slide in and take its place when their head was already full up.

[i]No, no, no, no![/i]

“This will not happen,” Ptolemy’s voice muttered.

“Get this fucking thing off,” Cancer growled.

“This isn’t fun!” Aries protested.

And more, and more, and more –

POP!

And then the head was off. He saw his own face again, and Blake was able to slump forward, falling to his knees and trembling from head to toe. Everything, [i]everything[/i] felt like it had come apart in that moment, and he hugged his arms tightly around himself in a desperate attempt to keep from falling apart even further.

Then, Libra was there beside him. The rabbit hybrid pulled him back, and he leaned against the other male’s furry chest. He snuffled in humiliation that he had let it all out like that, at how close he’d come to a breakdown. He expected all kinds of anger, or confusion.

Instead, he got a hug.

#

It all came out over the next thirty minutes over a cup of tea and under a blanket. The rubber suit was kept on the other side of the room, and Libra listened quietly. Silently, as a matter of fact, which was even better.

Blake let it all out, with occasional corrections and refinements from the others. They stepped forward – well, all of them except Toy – to introduce themselves in their various ways, giving Libra a minute or two with each of them before they pulled away, giving him the chance to see that they were real and not just a…a problem, as some of the therapists out there might have called it.

When it was done, the rabbit hybrid nodded his head, booting the human suit – and the head in particular – further away.

“Well, we’re never doing that again.”

“What?”

“That hurt you. Even if it’s something that I couldn’t have known about, I should have thought about something like that. Considering what rubber does, how it lets you hide or be something different…”

“…You get it.”

“Of course. This is my job.”

He smiled, though it was something of a weak smile compared to what he had had just an hour ago. Sighing, Blake looked down at his hands, feeling a little embarrassed that it had gotten to him like that. More, that Libra had needed to tend to him like that.

“It’s not…bad. Most of the time.”

“Considering the stability that the bunch of you have, I’m not surprised.”

“It’s just…it was so real. And it made it feel like that new one had to be in there, if it was that real.”

“It seems that there’s a pretty easy solution, then.”

“Wear sub-par suits?”

“Goodness, no,” Libra said, shaking his head rapidly. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I mean, I understand a budget, that rubber’s expensive, but I would not want someone to wear something cheaper than what they could actually afford.”

“Then…what do you mean?” Blake asked. “The…the rest want to know, too.”

All for different reasons, of course. Aries was all curious and keen, like one of those boys in school that couldn’t help but wait for the next interesting thing. Ptolemy was academically curious, taking this as another chance to learn about their potential benefactor. Cancer wanted to know what kind of possible benefit the other man might have in mind. Ryder just wanted to talk about suits in general. And Toy…

Toy was excited for rubber.

Libra smiled, nodding down at the rubber suit that had been kicked away. Kicked away like something cheap, for that matter.

“I don’t have the same problem as you do, so I enjoy pretending to be something else. It allows me to be what I want to be, and makes it easier to interact with other people. You, though…you need to be you. You can’t afford to be anything else. So, you need a rubber suit that reflects exactly what you are, as high quality as you can get.

“And I think I can help you with that.”

“You don’t – ulk!”

He had to pause as the rest of his headmates, en masse, grabbed hold of the vocal cords to stop him from saying anything else. They could only do that with full group consensus opposing his, which meant that this obviously had grabbed their attention if they didn’t want him to turn it down.

“…One second,” he asked.

“Take what you need.”

He slipped into his own head, and the conversation flew quickly through the shorthand that they had developed over the years. The objection was, surprisingly, that he was getting rid of an opportunity for them to all be better, whether in private or in public. The fact was, he could have some new suits here, something that would make it so that he could feel like himself…not just his human self, but [i]himself.[/i]

That in and of itself was something that he hadn’t considered, but more than that, he hadn’t thought that the others wanted to be something other than human, too. It would mean that he could put on a suit that would allow Aries, or Ptolemy, or any of them to come forward for a while, to enjoy themselves, and…

And it would be…

It would be like having their own bodies, something that none of them had ever really imagined having before. It would mean that they could walk the earth while pretending that they were in their own body, rather than time sharing the same human one between them.

It wasn’t the same, but it was something.

Blake understood better after that, and he blushed as he opened his eyes to find Libra still waiting, the rabbit hybrid smiling over a book at him. He rubbed the back of his head.

“Um…so…”

“Did you decide that you did want my help?”

“They all do…”

“And you?”

“I just…it feels like a lot of trouble to go through for someone that you don’t know that well.”

“I have learned how to tell whether someone’s a good or a bad person pretty quickly. When you have a business, when you work in this sort of field, you have to learn how to tell if someone’s good or bad for you very quickly. And…you seem like a good person. A very good person, as a matter of fact, and…and I want to help you. I really do.”

It left them all blushing this time, their faces burning as they imagined just how Libra must be feeling. They were all…well, maybe the best thing to call it would be a crush, even for Ptolemy – at least on an intellectual level, appreciating someone that had done so much – but it felt like it could be more than that. They reached out together, all of them extending their hand to take the rabbit hybrid’s and give it a gentle squeeze.

“I’d like to…we’d like to get to know you better.”

“Then maybe we can…skip the rest of the convention?”

“A day in?” Blake asked.

“I think that we can do that…and a night, too.”

#

It was little more than touching each other, but it was still something that lingered the next morning. Blake and the rest of his headmates felt like they had gone back to the clubs, in some ways; they were as satisfied as anything extreme that Aries had dragged them into before, more exhausted than when Toy had taken charge and gotten them into the orgies of the past, more fulfilled than the time that Ryder had come out and made a team of people happy with the whole ‘team spirit’ thing and gotten railed in the locker room.

Yet, they had done nothing more than touch. They had stroked, submitted, teased, been measured and examined, but that was all the lengths that they had gone through during that night with Libra. They didn’t even know what the rabbit hybrid had planned for them, just that he was attached to all of them.

Ptolemy, in particular, found that strange the next day as they took some time off, lying down in their hotel room and staring at the ceiling.

[b]I do not know what to make of him,[/b] the ‘brain’ among them admitted.

[i]What’s to make of him?[/i] Aries asked. [i]He’s fun, he’s hot, he’s kind.[/i]

[b]I am used to those with such outward qualities having ulterior motives.[/b]

[i]Me too,[/i] Cancer agreed.

[i]But you guys wanted to get the suits from him, too.[/i]

[b]I do not deny that there’s a powerful opportunity here, but I believe that it will be…difficult…for us to entirely trust him. He is…too good.[/b]

[i]But –[/i]

“They’re not wrong.”

Blake grumbled as he admitted that, shaking his head as he rolled onto his stomach, staring at the wall. He’d been thinking the same thing.

“He’s too good. But that might be…real.”

Any other time that they had looked for someone to spend time with, someone to enjoy, this had been the thing that scared him off. He had always wanted someone that would care for him and the other headmates in total, not just one or some of them. Libra was better than he could have ever expected, particularly coming out of a convention where the only real hope was getting a little physical intimacy with someone, rather than getting a relationship. It felt like he had struck gold, and that was what terrified him. What if he hadn’t?

Or worse, what if he had? What would it mean for their life?

[i]It’d be worth it.[/i]

Ryder’s chiming in was something that surprised them all, again. While not as quiet as Toy, Ryder tended to be somewhat background compared to Cancer, Ptolemy, and Aries. He didn’t say much, but when he did, they listened, because it usually meant something.

[i]It’d be worth it to be happier, wouldn’t it?[/i]

They sighed. They hoped so, but the whole thing was terrifying, regardless.

#

The convention wrapped up a day later, and they were all packing up when Libra knocked on their door. The rabbit hybrid was back in his suit, but it was a handsome suit, so there were no complaints there.

He helped them pack up, and then they were down to the train station. Whether through chance or device, they got seated together in the same little cabin, away from the various rows of seats in third class, and they sat together with the rabbit’s arm over their shoulders. Blake hadn’t really been cuddled that way before, but he liked it.

He looked out the window, watching as the landscape passed in the distance. He shook his head.

“Where are you heading?” he asked.

“Out east.”

“Oh. I’m, um…I’m heading more, uh, north-east.”

“I think that we can make that work.”

“I don’t know. Are you sure?”

“I think that we can make it work. Anything that’s worthwhile is something that we can make work.”

There was a devotion and dedication there that he still wasn’t used to, and he almost flinched away from it, feeling like it was something that he didn’t entirely need, or deserve. The others kept him there, though, keeping him giving up and giving in right there. He needed to be more…more focused, he supposed.

Libra nodded out the window.

“Lot of trees going by, aren’t there?”

“Yeah.”

“Kinda hypnotic, isn’t it?”

“Heh…don’t tell me that you’re going to try that.”

“Oh? Would you like it if I did?”

He chuckled, shaking his head.

“The last time that someone tried to hypnotize us, he got as far as me and halfway through Aries before Ptolemy shut him down.”

“Well, I don’t think that I’d be that good at making you do things that you didn’t want to do. But what about the things that you did? What if I just went with that sort of stuff? Do you think that you could let me in, then?”

The idea…wasn’t a bad one, they would be quick to admit. Most of the time, hypnosis had been rather difficult for them, because trying to tell one of them what to do tended to create friction between them and the others. That meant that the vague peace that they had, the stability that they had worked so hard to create, would start going down the tubes.

However, if they were only doing the things that they wanted, tranced to do things that they’d like to do anyway…

[i]Ptolemy?[/i] Blake asked.

[b]It is a sound argument. And one that we can agree to terms and conditions of over the course of the train ride.[/b]

[i]Cancer?[/i]

[i]I’ll watch him like a hawk with you, and if he’s not breaking the rules, I’ll let him have a chance.[/i]

That was better than anyone else would have gotten. Clearly, Libra had made something of an impact on even the guard dog. He shook his head, looking back at the disguised rabbit.

“We’re willing to try…if you agree to a few rules.”

“I’m always willing to do that. Rules form the baseline for any experiment; otherwise, you can’t control for variables.”

Either he had been a good study, or Libra just fit perfectly with what Ptolemy wanted to hear. The more the rabbit showed a respect for rules and guidelines, the more that the logical center took kindly to them.

“So, what might your rules be?”

They were clear and specific about that. They would not be made to do anything sexual when there was any other audience than Libra, and even then, nothing that involved penetration of living with living. They would not be made to humiliate themselves. They would not be made to do things that involved total and utter submission, with lasting consequences. And it had to be things that they would want to do.

With that said, and agreed on, Libra patted his chest. Blake and the rest leaned back, their head pressed against the rubber. Even through it, they could hear Libra’s heartbeat thudding away, guiding them down as the disguised hybrid rubbed their head, gently guiding them into a slow sleep.

“Just listen to the world…the soft thump of the train…the gentle whoosh of the trees…”

There were attractions aplenty for the headmates, but Libra seemed to know the perfect thing for each of them to focus on. Some took in the sound, some took in the sights, and Toy even went so far as to just focus on the scent that came from the suit. It was all perfect for them to slowly drop deeper, deeper, deeper into trance.

#

They were so out of it that they had to be woken up when they reached Chicago. The ultimate splitting of the lines, Chicago was where they had to say goodbye. The two of them hopped off the train that had brought them up from the south, exchanged an embrace, and then waved goodbye.

“See you soon,” Libra said, and then the rabbit was gone.

They looked after where he had disappeared, wondering if he would appear in the crowd again, but the grouping of passengers was too thick to make out anyone specific. And besides, they had a train of their own to catch.

Hurrying aboard and settling into a chair in a row of seats rather than in a cabin, they looked out the window as the carriage departed from the station. The massive building quickly fell behind, and the city almost seemed to blur past their vision as they stared out the window at it, the train picking up more and more speed as it reached the outskirts and turned towards the northeast.

[i]We’re not going to see him soon,[/i] Blake thought.

[b]We may be surprised.[/b]

[i]Come on. We used up all our savings to go to the convention.[/i]

[b]I know.[/b]

[i]Then why do you think we’ll see him anytime before next year?[/i]

[b]…A feeling.[/b]

None of them knew what to say to that, considering that Ptolemy never went by feelings. They all metaphorically looked at each other in their mental headspace, wondering just what had happened while they had been tranced. Libra had agreed to the rules, and Cancer agreed that nothing bad had happened while they were tranced – the guard dog having been watching for some time before allowing himself to be tranced, as well – but that didn’t mean that they weren’t affected by something.

Just what had the rabbit hybrid wanted from them?

#

They returned to their apartment, only to find that there was a package waiting for them just outside. It was big, heavy, and without a return address, the sort of thing that most people would have thrown out the moment that they saw it in this day and age. Blake and his headmates considered that, but decided against it, pulling it into the apartment and mostly just hoping for the best.

As soon as they’d shut the door, however, the phone started ringing. Not their cell phone, either, but their landline. It was such ridiculous timing that it was almost tempting to let it ring through and just listen to the message, but good manners demanded that they pick it up and answer properly. Blake walked over, pulling it up and holding it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“[i]Ah, good. I timed it perfectly.[/i]”

“Libra?”

“[i]Heh, yes. You told me about when you expected to be home while you were under trance, so I wanted to see if I could guess it right. Looks like I did.[/i]”

“Yeah, apparently. And that’s not creepy at all.”

“[i]Oh. I guess it might be, yes. I’m sorry about that; I hope that it’s not putting you off me here.[/i]”

“No, no. It helps that you told me what’s happening and all that,” he said, leaning against the wall. “Would that mean that you sent this package here, too? It’s huge.”

“[i]Yes, that would be me. I thought that you might like a little gift to remember the convention by. And to get comfortable with, all things considered; it seemed like a good way to test the theory that we talked about, too.[/i]”

“What theory? Wait, you mean – you mean the one about me having a suit that is exactly me?”

“[i]That’s the one.[/i]” He could almost hear the smile in the other man’s voice. “[i]We talked while you were under trance about the way that you see yourself, and I thought that you might like to give that a try. After all, Blake. If you imagine yourself one way in your head, and your body is something else entirely, it’s probably going to contribute to instability no matter how well you deal with it. Perhaps this will make things a little easier for you.[/i]”

Blake’s eyes went wide. He almost dropped the phone as he whipped his head back to the package against the wall. He hadn’t…well, he thought that he hadn’t seen himself as anything but human before, but…

“Can you hold?” he asked.

“[i]How about you open the box, and then call me back?[/i]”

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“[i]I don’t. It’s important that this works for you. I want you to be happy.[/i]”

“…thank you. So much.”

He hung up the phone, and with shaking hands, opened the box. What lay inside shocked him to the core, and left him crying happy tears.

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: The budding relationship between Libra and Blake gets rather interesting when the truth starts to come out.

Tags: M/M, Off-Screen Intimacy, Touching, Learning, Multiple Personalities, Headmates, Rabbit, Human, Hypnosis, Gentle, Series,