Torao took the story from the bed, handed it to Grey-Son. Grey-Son talked him the story at night. It was a story about a tiger.
Grey-Son smiled and added the story to the bag. "Okay, we just need stuff from the bathroom, and we can go." Grey-Son looked at the band on his wrist. "Yeah, we should get out of here now."
"It is good? Good to go?"
"Yeah, T. We're good to go." Grey-Son bit his lower lip, looking around. "Yeah, let's go. Wait. Is he still gone?"
His nostrils flared, trying to scent the Keeper. "Gone. Gone, Mate."
"Okay, let's go." Grey-Son kept saying they would go, but so far they had not gone.
"Yes. Go." Mans were so odd.
Grey-Son nodded and took his hand, squeezing it. "Okay."
Then, finally, they moved to the front door, Grey-Son grabbing a ring with shining things hanging on it. From there they went out a small door on the side and into the stinking room with the metal Car and he growled, nose wrinkling. Stinky. Stinky.
Grey-Son froze. "Do you smell the Keeper?"
"No. Room smells bad." He sighed, looked at Grey-Son. "You don't smell?"
Grey-Son made a show of sniffing. "Um... a little?"
Grey-Son shrugged and tugged him over to the metal Car, opening the door for him.
He crept over, peered in. It looked like a cage.
It did.
"It's okay, T. I'm a good driver." Grey-Son pushed him gently, trying to get him in.
"Not a cage?"
"What? The car? No, no, not a cage." Grey-Son walked around to the other side and got in from there. "See? We sit here and close the door, put on our seatbelts and off we go." Grey-Son pulled a belt down across his body.
"I. I." He growled and shook, but trusted. Grey-Son. Mate.
When he sat, Grey-Son pulled the same kind of belt across him. "Sorry--it's mandatory. In case we have an accident. But we won't because I'm a good driver."
Grey-Son patted his knee and gave him a smile. Then turned something by the wheel in front of him and the Car roared.
Torao whimpered, cowering in the chair. Scared. Scared. Out. Out. OUtoutoutoutout!
Grey-Son's hand slid over his leg again, squeezed. "It's all right, T. It's just the engine. It won't seem so loud once we're out." Grey-Son pressed something near the top of the car and the wall in front of them started lifting.
"Grey-Son!" His eyes rolled, and he shifted, getting out of the belt and curling down on the floor and panting, hiding. Grey-Son's hand slid over him, petting him, letting him lick the fingers, the scent good, right, his mate.
"Okay, you stay there. You can't come up while you're the tiger; you have to stay out of sight."
The roaring noise changed and the metal cage-car started to move. He growled back, face hiding in Grey-Son's thigh.
"Would music help?" Grey-Son asked and suddenly there was a drum beat and singing.
Oh. Singing. He vocalized along. He knew singing, it meant happy, it meant good.
"Yeah, that's it." Grey-Son moved in his seat, singing, too. Grey-Son sounded good singing.
Torao dozed off, watching, easing into sleep as the Car motion rocked him.
The sound of the Car changed, and that brought him back awake, the smells and sounds from outside also changing. He rumbled, nose lifted to the air. Trees. He smelled trees.
Grey-Son's hand moved on his head when he moved. "We're out of the city. You need to be a man though if you want to look out. Just in case."
He nuzzled the touch, taking Grey-Son's hand so carefully in his mouth, loving his mate.
Grey-Son's fingers wriggled, tickling his tongue. "There's trees and fields. I think there's a motel coming up in a few minutes."
Chuffing he stretched over the seat, paws batting the air idly.
"Careful," Grey-Son murmured. "If someone sees you like that we're in trouble."
His tongue lolled. His mate worried and worried.
"What?" Grey-Son's fingers slid through his fur again. "If someone reports seeing a tiger that man is going to be all over it." Grey-Son's mouth moved and moved and he listened, purring and grooming before curling into a ball in the floorboard.
"Oh! Motel Six. That'll do us. I need you to change now, T. You can stay in the car until I've booked the room, but there might be people wandering about." The engine noises grew quieter, the car slowing.
He frowned, tried to think of himself as a man, stretching and easing into it. It was easier now. Better.
Grey-Son smiled at him and encouraged him to put the torn shirt he’d been wearing back on. Silly Man coverings. Then Grey-Son leaned over and kissed him quickly. "It's going to be okay, T. I promise."
"Okay. Mate. O. Kay." His mate did not lie. His mate knew the truth.
Grey-Son nodded, getting out of the car. "Wait here, I'll be back in a minute."
Waiting. He could do Waiting.
Mostly.
For a few minutes.
Look at the flashing lights...
He was starting to get bored when Grey-Son finally came back, waving one of those little metal things. Getting back into the car, Grey-Son smiled. "We're in the last room. I figured it would be quieter. "We can get a good night's sleep and then figure everything out in the morning."
Oh. Sleeping. "I like sleeping."
Grey-Son laughed; he liked that sound, it was better than the worrying. "I know. You're good at it. There's no sunbeam for you tonight, but we can probably make our own warmth, yeah?"
"Yes. We sleep together?" He didn't want to nap alone in this strange place with so many smells.
"Of course. I won't leave you alone." The Car roared again and then purred as it moved to the end of the low building. He purred back, patting the Car. Good Car.
Grey-Son grinned at him and made the Car stop making noises and stop moving.
He got out, Grey-Son giving him the pants to wrap around his waist and going around to the back of the car to pull out the bag. Then they went in the door that Grey-Son opened with the piece of metal he'd collected earlier. The room they went into was small and smelled of dust and mold and old air.
His nose wrinkled and he paced. So many smells. So many.
Too many.
Grey-Son stopped him, eyes looking into his. "Hey, what's the matter?"
"Smells. So many people. So many." Couldn't Grey-Son smell?
"No, I don't think there's very many people staying here. Especially down at this end." Grey-Son sniffed a few times. "Can you really smell all the other guests?"
Of course he could. There had been many, many people here, sleeping, mating, living.
"We'll try to find a solution quickly, T. So we don't have to stay here long." Grey-Son sniffed again. "I just smell that it's musty. Come to bed. We'll put the blanket from home down, that will help, right?"
"Home. Home." Torao nodded, nuzzling Grey-Son's hand. "Home. Home."
Grey-Son nodded and pulled the blanket and pillow out of the bag and threw them on one of the two beds. "Our own nest, yeah?"
He nodded and pounced, bouncing in the center of the nest and holding his arms open for Grey-Son. Grey-Son laughed softly and pounced onto the bed as well, landing against him. His Mate was not so worried now, happier.
"Better. Better." He pulled Grey-Son in tight, wrapping around.
"Mmm. Does it smell like us yet?"
Torao's nose pushed into Grey-Son's throat, sniffing. "Smell like mate."
"Good." Grey-Son's fingers slid over him, pushing at his clothes to touch his skin. He stretched, tugging the clothes off and tossing them away before settling.
"Mmm. Your skin is so soft." Grey-Son leaned up and licked his neck. "You taste good, too."
He brought his paw up, licked it. He tasted like him.
Grey-Son laughed, and licked his paw as well, then his Mate held a paw out for him to lick. "My turn."
Torao purred, licking and lapping at Grey-Son's paw.
Grey-Son jerked it back, laughing. "Tickles!"
Oh. Laughs. He liked laughs.
Torao did it again and again, nibbling at Grey-Son's skin, finding more and more laughs. Grey-Son retaliated, fingers of his other paw digging into Torao's side, rubbing lightly along his ribs.
Oh!
Oh, tickles!
He chuffed and rolled, paws batting at Grey-Son.
The tickles and laughs continued until Grey-Son, collapsed against him. "Stop! Stop! Oh, man, my belly hurts."
No hurting. He leaned in, lips brushing Grey-Son's belly, licking and lapping at the warm skin.
"Oh... Oh, T. That's good." Grey-Son moaned softly, shifting, moving into his licks.
Torao could no more stop his happy sounds than he could stop pulling Grey-Son close, fingers rolling and rubbing and tugging his Mate closer. Grey-Son moved against him, pushing into each touch. And Grey-Son’s paws and mouth moved on him, too, sliding, making him feel good.
The more they touched, the more the room smelled of them, of sex, of mating, of good.
Much better. Much.
"I thought that guy was gonna see you," murmured Grey-Son. "I thought he was gonna take you away and hurt you again. He didn't want to believe me that I hadn't seen you." The words were spoken between kisses and licks, soft touches and hard.
"You did see me. I will die before I go in the cage." He would kill.
Grey-Son shivered and wrapped around him. "I won't let them have you. We'll find a way to be together and for you to be free." His Mate's kisses became hard, almost desperate.
Oh. He growled, pushing back, wanting his mate to give him more. Taste him more. Grey-Son rolled him over onto his back, paws holding him down at Grey-Son's mouth moved on him, tongue tasting his skin, teeth testing it.
"Mate." It was easy to ripple and rock, eyes rolling as his mate loved him, drove him mad.
"Yeah, and don't you forget it, T. Not gonna let anyone take you away. Not going to let anyone else have you."
Grey-Son's lips closed around the skin where his neck and his shoulder met, sucking, pulling the blood up. Marking him. Grey-Son's mark, on his skin. He stilled, shaking a bit as he stretched, allowing Grey-Son to mark him. Yes. Yes, more. Mate.
Yours.
Grey-Son moaned, lips sliding away from the mark, tongue playing with it a moment before Grey-Son's mouth slid over more skin, slowly working toward one of his nipples. Grey-Son tasted him there, over and over again.
His cock throbbed, belly and balls tight, as heat flooded him. "Grey-Son. Grey-Son. Mate."
"Uh-huh. Mates." Grey-Son nodded and nipped his skin, teeth sharp, but not breaking the skin. "Want you, T. Want to be inside you."
"In. In. Touch, mate. Please." He turned, hind end in the air. Offering what he would never offer another.
Groaning, Grey-Son's fingers slid over his spine, and a bite was taken from his ass. Grey-Son licked it immediately, and then Grey-Son's tongue slid across his hole. Oh. Hot. Hot. Please. Mate. Sounds poured from him, deep and rough and hungry. He was hungry.
That hot tongue pushed inside him, making him roar and pushed back, demanding more. Grey-Son gave it to him, tongue pushing in over and over again, making him wet, making him feel so good.
When Grey-Son pulled away, cock pushing into him instead of that tongue, the pleasure was huge, filling him.
"Oh, T." Grey-Son moaned, and began to push into him over and over, paws hard on his hips. "So tight. So hot. Please."
"Mate." He bowed his back, begging Grey-Son for more, for marks.
"Mine," growled Grey-Son, leaning over him and biting his neck, breath hot on his skin.
"Yes." All of his muscles tightened, jerked, balls drawing tight.
Grey-Son's hips pushed against his buttocks, the hard shaft nudging that place inside him that made everything become sparks. And Grey-Son's teeth dug into his neck.
Seed poured from him, marking the sheets, the blankets, his skin. The scent of them overwhelmed Torao and he roared, shaking the walls.
"Oh God! T!" Grey-Son's cry was sweet, his mate's seed hot as it filled him, marked him deep inside.
Then Grey-Son collapsed on him, panting, fingers moving softly on his skin.
Oh.
Better.
So better.
Torao purred, nestling into the blankets.
Grey-Son stayed curled around him, heavy and good on his back.
"Sleep, love. We'll figure everything out tomorrow."
"To. More. Row."
Yes.
Sleep was good.
***
By the time they woke up, the urgency had dialed back some, but Greyson still wanted to get away from people. His instincts were telling him to take T and get themselves lost in the country.
So he checked them out of the Motel in the morning and convinced T to give the car a chance as a man rather than the tiger. They picked up camping equipment at a little fishermen outfitter's shop and headed for the forest to camp.
Leaving the car at a secluded parking lot amongst the trees, they moved into the forest, pack heavy on his back, T practically vibrating next to him.
When they hadn't met anyone for an hour, he stopped and put a hand on T's shoulder. "Okay. You can change. Just make sure you stay out of sight if we come across anyone."
T kissed him, eyes dancing, then he was face-to-face with an excited black and white tiger playing in the grasses.
He laughed, and watched for a few moments, before deciding T had the right idea, and with a whoop he ran toward T. T leapt into the air, paws batting harmlessly, teeth gleaming as T grinned.
God, T brought out the kid in him, and it was fun, just letting go and chasing, mock fighting, playing with T in the grass. And his lover, his mate? Torao was ecstatic, bounding and playing, chuffing and completely at home.
And the solution was as simple as that.
They'd find a place out here--some land that backed up onto trees, a place where T could be himself, could play and roar and be safe from people. Okay, so there were probably a thousand little details to take care of, but he'd do a lot to keep T as happy as he was right now.
The rough tongue slid on his arm, his fingers, distracting him. Tickling him. He laughed and pounced, landing on T and running his hands over the soft, white fur. That deep, rolling purr made him smile, satisfied him to the bone.
He kept petting and then slid off T and took off, knowing T would give chase. The feel of T hitting his back was sort of like being hit by a train. A big, soft, fuzzy train. He went down with an oof, laughing, and trying to catch his breath.
T nipped his shoulder and then went bounding off, spooking a flock of birds and sending them flying. Breathless, but happy, he sat and watched T play. It felt good, to not worry for awhile, to just enjoy the happiness that poured from Torao.
He eventually wandered over to where he'd left the backpack; this was as good a place as any to put up the tent. He'd do that and then have something to eat. They had sandwiches from the little restaurant they'd eaten breakfast in.
It might have been an hour, maybe more before T wandered back toward him, panting and covered in grass and dust and flowers.
He laughed at T and rubbed all that fur, getting rid of the worst of it. "Hey do you like being brushed?" He supposed he could use T's hairbrush on his fur, too...
T shivered, stretched way out.
"Oh, that was a yes." He went through the bag, finally finding the brush at the bottom. He supposed if T the man didn't want T the tiger to share the brush, he could go buy a new one, but this would do for now, and would get the rest of the crap out of T's fur.
He sat next to T and started sliding the brush through the fur on T's back. Torao's purrs were loud enough to make the leaves on the trees tremble.
"Oh, man, you should have told me earlier you liked this." He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it earlier, except that he'd never had a cat as a pet.
He kept brushing, T's back and the long sides, getting all the vegetation and dust off and making T's coat
just gleam. "You want me to do your belly, too?"
T rolled with a thump, spreading out wide. He'd take that as another yes.
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