The Trouble With Furries

by David Sharp

  *

  The bar was stocked, trash taken out, and cash pocketed. Daniel and Chad sat on top of the first bar downstairs, one behind the other. Daniel folded his hands on Chad's lap. The rest of the Trade staff had left for the night, with the exception of Stina and Rory, who were in the office drinking and counting money. The heavy sound of boots echoed in the empty club as Patrick walked toward them. He stopped before them, put his hands on his hips, and tilted his head.

  "Well, what have we here?"

  Daniel hugged Chad tighter and said with mischievous intent, "Can we give him a ride home?"

  Patrick looked Chad over and noticed how sweaty he was: in fact, how sweaty both of them were, their clothes a bit out of sorts. "Where are you going?"

  Chad put his hands over Daniel's and slid them toward his crotch. "Wherever you are taking me, daddy."

  Patrick looked on as Daniel put his head on Chad's shoulder and he had a flash of anger at the sight.

  Daniel recognized the warning and turned on the charm, "Please."

  "I'll be as good or as bad as you want," Chad sultrily said.

  Patrick's look melted in realization that he was the center of attention. "Come here."

  Daniel obeyed, and in one move he disengaged and jumped off of the bar top. "Yes sir."

  Patrick kissed Daniel slowly and passionately. He said between breaths and lips, "You too."

  Chad slyly smiled, came over, and let Patrick kiss him. With open eyes he watched Daniel and then kissed back in force. Patrick held out an arm and Daniel joined them. The threesome kissed together in a strange exciting moment that was broken by shattered glass. They pulled apart and saw a sequined cape turn the far corner.

  *

  In the darkness of the bedroom, the animals stirred. They came to Daniel in flashes as he was met with the desires of his pack. Half awake, he felt the covers pull back and the draft of the cold air conditioning of the loft. Chad, a flash of fox, pawed at his nether regions. Daniel saw another flash of canine and realized that Patrick was watching. Daniel put his hand on the back of Chad's head and imagined the fur beneath his palm.

  "Get on your side," Patrick whispered in a low growl.

  In the turn, Chad rose up and flipped, the three of them now back to back to back. Sandwiched, they pumped in and out together, lost in the ecstasy of their bodies in the depths of a dog pile.

  Chapter Eight:

  The sun beams came into the bedroom through the slats of the Venetian blinds. Shafts of light crossed the three nude bodies sprawled out on the bed. Daniel awoke and pulled his arm free from underneath Chad. He sat up, watching Patrick and Chad at rest for a moment before rising to the call of the bathroom. The idea of his new living arrangement struck him as strange, but cool. In a deeper truth, he felt the thought to be an underworld sentiment. The mirror never lied, but on that day Daniel was unsure of what it was telling him from the tea leaves of reflection. He was surprised when Patrick's strong arms grasped and held him from behind.

  "Morning, baby," Patrick kissed Daniel's neck. "Are you okay with this?"

  Daniel looked at Chad's naked backside on the bed and then back to the mirror. "Sure, it's different."

  "Well, we will see how it goes." Patrick kissed him on the neck, slid out of bed, and turned on the shower. Waiting for the water to heat up, he also turned on some music. On the click, his favorite band, U2, performed Lemon.

  Daniel admired Patrick's muscles as he went into the shower, and he fought the urge to join him.

  "What time is it, dude?" Chad stretched and turned over, not shy at being stiff in the morning light.

  "Ten or so - it's early." Daniel sat down next to him, legs touching legs.

  "Wow, at least he has a king sized bed." Chad looked at the room for the first time in the daylight.

  "No kidding," Daniel felt excited by Chad's visible excitement.

  "Hey Dan, what is it?"

  Daniel tried to cross his legs, but gave up on that notion. "What are you talking about?"

  "You look like you wanted to ask me something." Chad absently stroked himself.

  "Yeah," Daniel helped him. "When can we go to the furry shop?"

  "You really want to go, huh?" Chad reached out and stroked Daniel.

  "I do." Daniel spread his legs.

  "I have to get the rest of my stuff and then I will show you something."

  Daniel's eyes lit up and he pulled away. "Cool, there's something I want to show you."

  Chad watched him bend over and look under the dresser. "You show me a lot," he said and slapped Daniel's rear.

  "Hey, cut it out." Daniel turned, bouncing, with a notebook in hand. He opened it proudly. "These are mine."

  "Let's see it." Chad warmed to Daniel's enthusiasm.

  Daniel sat down on the bed next to Chad and passed the book over, happy to share his visions. Nervously, he waited for a sign of approval.

  Chad took the notebook, adjusted his balls, and propped the notebook against his shaft. He thumbed through the pages, all of them covered in pencil drawings of people with animal traits. A wolf-man with the head of a lupine and the body of a jock was drawn on one page. Another image had horse attributes like a centaur, another bullish like a Minotaur, and another feline: all of the drawings similar in human masculinity, but mythological in design. The wolf images were prominent in the latter entries. Some drawings were of the forming of a pack, a lone wolf joined by another, and then the two joined by a third.

  "Wow, you are good." Chad was genuinely interested and had even forgotten his cock for the sketches.

  "I told you I was into it."

  Chad smiled slyly like a fox. "I will take you to this thing at afterhours called: Furry Fridays. You'll love it."

  "Which afterhours is it at?"

  "Steam," Chad thumbed through some more pictures, stopping on one of a fox. With a curious finger, he traced the male form and the fox tail.

  "I haven't been there."

  "It used to be a leather bar. Now it's...something else."

  Neither of them had noticed that the shower had stopped and both were surprised by Patrick standing tall, refreshed in a towel.

  "I see that he showed you his animals."

  "Yeah, they are cool." Chad set the book down carefully on the bed.

  "Where are we going to get your stuff from?"

  "It's not far, just in the neighborhood over at this guy Paul's place."

  "Paul, huh? It's good that you're getting out of there."

  Daniel gave them both a look as he got up and slid on some Calvin Klein underwear. "What is he - a bad guy?"

  Chad lowered slightly. "Nah, he's cool. I just can't stay there."

  Patrick ran a hand through his dark hair. "Paul is a drug dealer."

  Daniel kneeled down on the bed and took his notebook back to a safe place on the nightstand. "Were you dating him?" he asked Chad.

  "Not really. It was just a place to crash."

  "No worries, you're with us now." Patrick let the towel drop. Fully aware of what he was doing, he came closer, dangling over Chad and winking at Daniel.

  Chad looked over the prospect, "right on," and swallowed him.

  Daniel rolled his eyes. "You guys." He knew there was no stopping them once they got started, so he joined in.

  *

  Paul's apartment was in the Montrose, about five blocks from Patrick's loft, according to Chad. The silver BMW 3 series cruised down the streets toward it. The engine sounded clean in the silence, without the usual radio or CD.

  Daniel watched the world of the gay neighborhood go by through the tinted glass. A collection of bars, clubs, some restaurants, a diner, a bookstore, leather shop, and a convenience store made up the insular community. He broke the dreamy quiet.

  "How come we never go to your bar, Straps?"

  Patrick gripped the leather wrapped steering wheel tighter. "Because that's where I work."

  "So - you could go where we work and it would be cool."


  Chad laughed at a private joke in his head.

  "We all work on the same days." Patrick felt as if that ended it.

  "Well, if I get a day off, I'm coming to see you," Daniel ribbed.

  Patrick glared into the rearview mirror and addressed Chad next to him, "What street is Paul's apartment on again?"

  Chad shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat. "Up there at Hyde Park and Taft - on the right."

  "Oh yeah, he lives in that place." Patrick put a hand on Chad's upper leg for emphasis.

  Daniel leaned forward. "What happened to you, daddy-o, in that place?"

  Patrick paused at a stop sign, and then continued driving. "There was a guy I met one night who lived there...let's just say he was into slings and things."

  Chad mocked a horrified look. "You, Pat, were in a sling?"

  "I thought you were a top," Daniel chimed in.

  "Hey, hey, hey, it was just one night...never again."

  "Never say never...again." Chad groped under Patrick's crotch and made him flinch.

  "Sean Connery said that, and he made another Bond movie," Daniel said in Patrick's ear, reaching around and pinching his right nipple hard.

  Patrick laughed and jerked the BMW to a stop in the apartment complex lot. "Enough! Get off of me, the both of you! Get out and get your stuff, Chad."

  Chad turned moody and hopped out of the car. Through the windshield, he could be seen meandering toward the iron black gate.

  "And now you are going to get it." Patrick lunged halfway over the seat and tickled Daniel until he could barely take it.

  "Okay, okay, okay, I can't breathe."

  Patrick relented and Daniel caught his breath in shallow gasps. The stereo was turned to U2, the title track Zooropa, from the same titled CD that had not left the player since Patrick bought it at the local record store. Patrick craned his neck. "Kiss me."

  Daniel kissed him and pulled back, short of breath.

  "Are you going to stay around more now?"

  "I rarely go home."

  "You know what I mean."

  "Yeah, I'll stay with the pack."

  A loud rusty squeak announced Chad coming out of the gate. He carried an extra large duffle bag and a bundle of clothes, all of which he set down on the pavement. Chad shot a look to the car, and then, head down, he went back inside.

  "I'll get it." Daniel left Patrick to Bono and went to fetch Chad's stuff. He leaned over, trying to get a grip on the bundle, when a shadow crossed him. Daniel looked up and saw a once jock, shirtless and shoeless, wearing only boxer shorts. Hovering over him, the man's cold blue eyes estimated him from a dark complexion, crowned in shaggy brown hair. The guy was still in good shape for his age, which Daniel guessed to be pushing forty.

  "Let me give you a hand with those."

  "You must be Paul."

  "And you?"

  "Daniel."

  "Nice," Paul casually flexed his muscles to show off, "...to the Beamer over there?"

  "Yeah, that would be nice." Daniel was taken with Paul. His blessing, or sometimes a curse, was his sexual magnetism.

  The clothes and cumbersome bag were deposited in the back seat. Daniel bent over to make room for his own place to sit and felt the momentary warmth from Paul behind him. The feeling of a phantom hand touching his rear made him shiver. It suddenly went away as the music's volume lowered.

  "What's up, Pat? It's been a long time, buddy."

  "Not long enough, Paul."

  "Are you going to take care of that wild one for me?"

  "Looks like it. Patrick suggested in a cool manner, "Why don't you get into the car, Daniel?"

  "I am," Daniel plopped down and shut the door.

  "Alright then - you take it easy, Pat," Paul seemed momentarily viscous, then calmed like a cool breeze. "And you, I'll be seeing you around." Paul smiled and raised his bushy eyebrows to Daniel.

  Daniel smiled back until he felt the cautionary look from the mirror and shrugged. Ahead of them, Paul purposefully bumped into Chad. A soundless argument, concealed by the insulated car, spontaneously occurred. Daniel and Patrick looked on their own private theater with nothing to do but watch it play out before them.

  "You should stay away from Paul. He's trouble, always has been," Patrick said from the confines of the mirror.

  "I'll remember that," Daniel nodded in agreement as the fight unfolded.

  The body language of Paul and Chad intensified and the two seemed close to blows. Patrick turned up the music, making the scene more surreal. Daniel repositioned the stuff on the backseat to make room and noticed a red and white paw poking out from the duffle bag. Ignoring the world, he leaned over and unzipped it: The snout of a fox greeting him, the whiskers played over his hands. Daniel pulled it up and realized the bag housed an entire fur suit. Reverently, he stroked its soft hide. Lost in the fur, he was oblivious to the chaos out of the windshield view screen of the BMW. The animals were getting closer.

  Chapter Nine:

  The tinsel sparkled in the twinkling lights. David Bowie and Bing Crosby sang a duet of The Little Soldier Boy from the stereo in Patrick's loft. There was a knock at the door and Patrick jumped up from a box of decorations, barely fastening his robe before opening it to a bewildered Chinese delivery man. He rifled through the bills in his wallet and settled on a twenty to pay for the food, giving a generous holiday tip. Daniel, in Calvin Klein underwear and a t-shirt, and Chad, in boxers, circled a fir Christmas tree with ornaments, searching for empty spots to place them. The colored lights played off of their bodies, the decorations strewn about the carpet.

  Patrick cleared a spot on the coffee table for dinner. "Both of you sit down and eat while it's hot."

  Chad stumbled coming out of the corner from behind the tree. "Okay, last one." He put an icicle on a branch beside the window.

  Daniel backed up, admired the tree, and wondered what it looked like from the street below. "Do you like it?"

  Patrick looked from Chad, who hobbled from a stubbed toe, to Daniel. Daniel, looking childlike, adjusted a blue light on the fir tree. "It's beautiful."

  Daniel sat Indian style on the carpet and tore apart his chopsticks while Chad plopped down on his knees in front of his food. Patrick was content with the moment and took a mouthful of Chop Suey.

  "This is the best holiday," Chad said nonchalantly to his partners.

  "I think I can make it better for one of us."

  "Awe, you are going to give it to him now?" Chad opened his box of fried rice.

  Daniel slurped down a noodle of Chow Mein, wide eyed at Patrick as he pulled out a wrapped gift from behind the couch. "No, it's not even Christmas yet."

  "Open now, for me." Patrick gave Daniel a version of his own puppy dog look.

  "Guys," Daniel shook his head in disbelief as he tore the wrapping paper. His heart caught in his chest at the sight of the fur. It was a wolf tail in shades of grey. "Oh my god, you didn't." Daniel was ecstatic and rubbed the fur on his face, forgetting everything but the wolf for that moment.

  "I knew he would love it," Chad beamed, digging a silver metal cock ring out of his pocket. "You are going to need this to wear it or at least to wear it right."

  Daniel snatched the ring and nearly jumped into Patrick's lap. "Now this is the best holiday ever."

  "Let me help you put that on." Patrick took the ring.

  Daniel dropped his underwear and let Patrick place his balls and cock through the loop. "It's cold."

  Chad tied the elastic band to the ring, and then pulled it back, placing the wolf tail on Daniel's rear. The motion stretched Daniel's sex as the elastic pulled back and snapped into place. "There, now you are an animal."

  Daniel pranced around the living room proud of his tail, so soft and furry. "This is too much."

  Chad excitedly placed his fox tail on and pranced with Daniel. Pawing at his partner's wolf tail, he said, "It seems right to me."

  Patrick chewed and leaned back to watch the situation he had created. "I
guess I do have a pack," he watched them circle the tree in a psychedelic array of color, "And it is beautiful."

  *

  Daniel and Chad slowly shambled into the Trade building, leaving their sunglasses on. Dowdily dressed in dark shirts and jeans, they joined the others sitting on the dance floor. The bar crew of fourteen looked bored, most seeming to want to be somewhere else. Daniel cradled his head in the nook of Chad's back. Chad leaned into it, propped up by his elbows. Someone in the group whispered something about them.

  A man in his late thirties walked out center stage wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and looked over the assembly. "My name is Jerry and I'm the promoter of Trade. God, I love saying that. I know most of you...except for you two." He pointed.

  Daniel said in a low, but audible voice, "I'm Daniel and this is Chad." He reached around and thumped Chad's chest.

  "Hello, boys." Jerry struggled to take his eyes off of them and it took a second for him to switch gears. "We are going to decorate the club before the employee Christmas party tonight."

  Jeff spoke out from upstairs in an unusually cheerful, yet sarcastic tone. "So, you are going to have us decorate our own party?"

  "No. Decorate the club for the season, miss thing."

  "Watch it girl, I know where you live," Jeff snapped back twice as cattily.

  Cowboy as usual, George pushed out his broad chest as he stood up. "Now, now, no catfights until I have had a drink or two."

  Jerry and Jeff half circled like mad jungle cats from a National Geographic Special.

  Rory took the floor. "Listen up, we can knock this out in a couple of hours and be done with it."

  Ned, all bleary eyed, muttered, "I doubt it."

  "We will because I don't think I want to be here doing this one second longer than necessary." Rory pressed back his glasses that made him look odd, especially with the lights on.

  Stina playfully pushed Ned aside. "Back to business everybody. Max, you, Eddie, Jeff...and yes you, Ned, handle the main stage."

  Max quietly replied, "No problem, ma'am."

  Gangly, yet sure of himself, Ned spoke, "Can Marie help us?"

  Marie, wearing a smart blouse and pillbox hat, subtly curtsied.

  "Sure, you breeders can stay together." Jerry made a fish face. "Gus."