Starting Over

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Returning home from yet another failed date, Wade is confronted by someone from his past.


(There is a single use of a very particular, very vile F word that I'm sure most of you are familiar with. It is a very small part of the story, but i felt it added impact. Please don't hate me for using it.)

Wade parked his car with a sigh, taking a moment to lean back and wipe his eyes of frustrated tears. Wiping his face clean on his shirt and staring at his front door, he flicked off his car's high beams. A drizzle of rain soon covered the windshield, mimicking his mood and filling the car with soft tapping noises.

Another date ended with a kiss, followed by a guy freaking out, claiming he wasn't gay (usually in less agreeable terms), then running off and leaving Wade to autopilot home while holding back the urge to scream. What the fuck was wrong with the dating pool? Was it so much to ask to date a masculine guy that wasn't so deep in the closet he was finding Christmas presents? It's not like dating a guy would neuter them.

It was starting to feel like maintaining Wade's physique was a wasted effort. If he wasn't going to make it past a single date, why not eat whatever he liked? The fennec swung open his car door, silently saying goodbye to any semblance of trying and patting his smooth belly through his button-down shirt. Tonight, his date would be a massive tub of brownie ice cream and a bottle of vodka.

Before he could swing open the door to his empty house, a rustle in the bushes next to his front door perked his ears, and the drizzle of rain stopped as a shadow fell over the fox's back. Something warm and furry clamped over his mouth. Kicking wildly with growing panic, he felt the ground fall away, and his body lifted, dragged through the open door. Was it a rapist? A murderer? What a fucking end to a horrible night.

A familiar voice chilled Wade's ears as his assailant set him down, loosening his paw hold on Wade's mouth. "Sorry. Please don't scream. I knew you'd never let me anywhere near you. Fuck, what am I doing?" Loosening his grip and letting his paw fall away, Finn Jones, Wade's high school bully, stepped back, pushing the door closed with his bulky body between the heavy-breathing fennec and the door. Vague memories of beatings rushed through the fennec's head, and he silently wished that the cheetah was some random creeper. At least then, he wouldn't feel like a terrified teenager.

Taking a deep breath, Finn continued, nervously wringing his hands. "I've recently come to terms with some parts of myself, and I realize I was a monster." Smoothing back a shock of short hair with an ashamed expression, the massive cheetah seemed to struggle with his words. "Is there someplace we can sit down? I promise I won't hurt you. Or I can leave, and you'll never see me again."

The cruel expression on Finn's face as he would beat Wade until he passed out, shove his head in a toilet, or steal his lunch money almost drove Wade to throw the former bully out. He owed Finn nothing, and in fact, Finn likely deserved to suffer for what he did, but as Wade looked over the strangely humbled man, he sighed. "Yeah, let's go into the kitchen. You're dripping all over my carpet."

"Thank you. I promise you won't regret hearing me out." Showing excitement, the big cat followed him through the hallway, his t-shirt, and jeans squishing wetly with every step. "I'll, uh, try not to ruin your floors." Sitting silently in one of the wooden chairs, the cheetah seemed to gather his courage, his mouth opening and shutting as if he couldn't figure out how to continue. Where self-confidence once oozed from the cocky asshole, now he seemed like a completely different man.

"I hated you, but I didn't think there was any reason for it. I was such an asshole back then that I was sure I was entitled to act however I wanted." Drumming his fingers and refusing to meet Wade's eyes, he sighed. "Fuck, this sounds like I'm making excuses for myself- I'm not. I don't deserve forgiveness. I don't deserve anything from you."

Retrieving a towel from a nearby cupboard, Wade tossed it at the cheetah, taking a seat across the table. "Good. I'm glad that you realize the hell you put me through. Are you going to sit here apologizing for hours, or is there a point to this?" Trying to hide the sympathy creeping into his voice, Wade fixed the apologetic cat with an icy stare, flicking the top button of his shirt open and scratching at his neck.

"Yes, there's a point. Sorry. I'm just trying to figure out how to say it." Gratefully drying his poof of head fur and draping the towel around his shoulders, Finn took a deep breath. "I didn't understand how I felt back then, so I channeled it into violence and ruined your life in any way I could. It wasn't until I moved out of my parent's house and spent a few lonely months exploring who I was that I realized. I'm gay. I've always been gay, but I repressed it and channeled all that anger, sadness, and confusion into abusing you."

"What does that have to do with me? I was trying my best to figure out who I was. The number of times you called me a fag, the number of times you held me down and beat me until I could barely walk, the number of times you spit in my face while your cronies held me down, are you trying to say that all of that was because you were CONFUSED?" Standing and crossing the distance between them, Wade bared his teeth, his paws clenching into fists. He didn't appreciate being a stop on a confused jock's pity train's route.

"No. It was because I was in love with you. You were so confident in who you were, so happy in your skin. I hated you because you were everything I couldn't be, but I loved you so goddamn much for having the courage to show who you were." Finally meeting Wade's gaze, the cheetah's brown eyes were swimming with tears and strangely vulnerable. Soft paws reached out, cradling the fennec's face and burying fingers in tufts of sand-colored fur as he continued, his voice breaking. "I couldn't live with myself without telling you how I feel- Showing you how I feel. So here I am."

Before Wade could process Finn's confession, the cheetah darted forward, his muzzle meeting the fennec's. A taste like sweet coffee greeted his tongue as the gentle rasp of the cheetah's oral muscle explored his maw, and the paws on his cheeks swirled through his fur, coaxing him closer. Unbridled passion filled every movement, determined to take his breath away.

Before long, he returned the kiss, a haze covering rational thought and blocking out their past. Years of bullying faded away in a moment of passion, his eyes drifting closed, and for a moment, he could almost believe that Finn was another date. One that didn't pull away or run for their car as soon as Wade's tongue slipped into their muzzle. Someone with needs as desperate as his.

Breaking their kiss with his grip slackening and his arms around the fennec's neck, the cheetah panted softly, his eyes still fixated on Wade's. "There. Hit me, throw me out, or whatever else you feel you should do. I deserve it all. I've said what I needed to say." Releasing Wade and looking away, the muscled cheetah placed his paws on his lap as if awaiting Wade's fist.

"Well. Maybe we can-" Reeling from the kiss, Wade tried to still his pounding heart, his rationality dueling with his stupid heart while his dick screamed over them both. Eventually, his insides came to a compromise, and he continued. "We can try to start over? Put all that shit behind us and get to know each other as we are now. As adults, instead of stupid angsty kids?"

"You mean it?" With a smile breaking out across his toothy maw, the cheetah seemed barely able to contain himself, enfolding Wade in a wet hug. Moist pecs squeezed either side of the fennec's face while bulging biceps nearly crushed his body, only stopping once the cheetah heard the fennec's muffled protest. "Sorry, I'm not used to this physical affection thing. Used to think it was too gay for me. I guess I don't know my strength."

"It's okay. It's been a while for me, too." Awkwardly, Wade stared down at the wet spot the cheetah left on his shirt, patting at the soaked fabric. "You want to run those clothes through the dryer? You look like you fell in a pool." How long had he waited in the rain for Wade to return home? In a way, it was sweet, though a bit creepy. As grand gestures went, at least it wasn't something that would piss off his neighbors, like sitting outside with a boombox.

"Oh, sure. I barely noticed." Following the fennec through a nearby door after politely wiping down his seat and placing the towel on the table, Finn fidgeted with his skin-tight, soaked shirt, drawing attention to pebbled nipples beneath the fabric. Soft padding footsteps followed behind the fennec, creaking the stairs and stopping in his laundry room, just outside the finished basement where he set up his gaming equipment.

"I'll, uh, be in there if you need me. I'll give you some privacy." Despite his best efforts to ignore Finn's physique, Wade couldn't help but notice the muscles under the wet fabric of his shirt and the barrel-like curve of his stomach. It was the kind of body that could get Wade into a lot of trouble if he let it. Already he couldn't stop imagining the press of those soft pecs on either side of his face, taunted by his earlier taste of the feline's touch.

"Wait." Reaching out to stop the fennec, Finn looked away, raising his shirt to show off his padded abs. "You don't have to go." Trailing off, he continued the slow peel of the fabric, revealing spotted yellow fur slickened by rain. Two perfect pecs clenched as he raised the shirt over his head, then relaxed, wobbling pleasantly with two pointed pink nipples. "I don't have anything to hide from you anymore, and I've made it clear how I feel."

Transfixed by the erotic sight, Wade could only stare at the mouthwatering flex of masculinity, his pants growing tighter and his heart beating out of his chest. "You sure?" He asked, his fluffy tail unintentionally swaying from side to side like an excited canine. Why did he feel like he knew the feline for years already? Was it their past or the frank honesty the cheetah showed moments before?

"It's all for you, anyway. I started going to the gym obsessively after I came out of the closet. I don't know if I thought I'd run into you on the street or we'd cross paths in some gym locker room." Mumbling softly, the cheetah unbuttoned his jeans, starting the slow shimmy of revealing the rest of himself. Before long, he stood in front of Wade, bare and damp with a pair of spotted balls hanging heavily below his peeking pink tip. "I thought if I got myself in shape, maybe you could look past how I was. Stupid, right? Like abs were going to erase the past."

Feeling as though steam would rush from his twitching ears, the fennec blinked his blue eyes and pinched himself to rule out a dream, crossing the distance between them without a word. Reaching out, he let his claws graze the cheetah's pec as though afraid his fingers would pass straight through. Instead, fluffy, slightly moist fur met his fingertips, and relaxed muscles accepted his touch with a gentle twitch. His chest was softer than the fennec expected, and his fingers sank nearly an inch before they found hardness beneath.

Breath hitching in his throat, Finn pressed into Wade's touch, guiding the fennec's other paw to his unattended pec as if offering himself for groping paws. Fluttering heartbeats pulsed through the connection, and his peeking maleness extended by the second, bouncing excitedly. "Can I see you, too?" He asked, his clawed fingers clenching and unfurling as if he was resisting the urge to grab for what he wanted.

Taking a moment to trail his paws down the cheetah's chest and marveling at the breathless sounds he wrung from Finn's lungs, Wade wrestled with indecision. They were moving too fast, but it had been forever since he felt another man's touch, and his cock was screaming at him to seize this opportunity. Former bully or not, the cheetah was ready and willing, and he couldn't deny his desire. "Yeah. I should return the favor." He murmured, fumbling with his buttons.

Strong paws gripped his hands, moving them away. Finn's paws slowly unbuttoned the line of buttons until the cloth fell to either side, taking over for the excited vulpine. "You're beautiful. I can't believe I ever tried to hurt you." With worshipful paws stroking through sand-colored fur, Finn leaned in to nuzzle against Wade's navel, his sandpapery tongue dipping into the sensitive divot. Soft licks teased at his stomach while the feline explored, the pads of his paws roaming over every inch of exposed fur as if memorizing his body.

Following Wade's shirt to the ground, his pants dropped under the cheetah's influence, flopping his pointed cock against Finn's cheek. With a dreamy expression, he eagerly followed the bounce of Wade's manhood, capturing it with his lips and dragging it into his drool-dripping maw. From the slight tickle of teeth and the gentle gag, Wade could tell that the cheetah was inexperienced, but he nuzzled into the base of the vulpine shaft soon enough, staring up the fennec's face as his tongue gently lapped at the underside.

"Fuck, that tongue." The fennec felt his legs buckle, falling backward with a groan and coming to rest on the wooden steps. Still sheathed in Finn's maw, he reached out with shaking hands, rubbing the cheetah's rounded ears as he worshipped. "Won't last very long. I've been in a bit of a dry spell. I'll try to let you know when I'm about to finish."

Grumbling and shaking his head, Finn pulled back until he could speak, the tip of his tongue teasing Wade's cock. "I want to taste it. Don't hold back." He murmured, pressing a kiss to the fennec's above-average shaft, then diving back down and setting an eager rhythm, his paws sliding under Wade's balls and cradling them in a tender massage. Pretty brown eyes begged him desperately, fluttering closed as the cheetah tried his best to please.

Melting backward into the stairs, Wade could only helplessly thrust against Finn's eager suck, wincing whenever the inexperienced feline scraped a tooth across his underside. Still, he couldn't deny that the cheetah had talent, and before long, his balls drew up, and his stomach fluttered. Letting out a deep groan, he squirmed, drawn over the edge by the eager lick of the feline's sandpapery tongue.

With Wade's knot bulging against his lips, Finn gulped dutifully, a deep rumbling purr coaxing shots from the exhausted fennec's bouncing dick. Weeks of sexual frustration provided him plenty to swallow, but he didn't complain, his throat working overtime. Once the last few drops spilled across his tongue, he slipped from Wade's cock, resting the spent shaft against his cheek and trailing his drooling tongue over the sensitive expanse of the fennec's knot.

"How is your fur so soft?" The smitten cheetah raised his head, abandoning the fennec's wilting cock and burying his face in Wade's stomach with a happy sigh. Revealing a small puddle on the concrete below where he finished hands-free while his tail lifted, twitching from side to side to indicate his contentment, he showed a level of snuggliness that Wade would have never expected from someone of his size. How had the cheetah managed to become the perfect man?

"It's nothing special. Just leave-in conditioner that I rub in on my day off, then rinse off before bed." Slipping his arms around the cheetah's back once his purring face slid up to the fennec's neck, Wade trailed clawed fingers up and down his spine. "You ARE a different person, now, aren't you?" Feeling the soft press of pecs against his flatter chest and Finn's paws resting on his thighs, the fennec relaxed into the cheetah's growing purr.

Sighing, Finn walked his fingers across Wade's thigh, pressing another kiss to the fennec's chest. "As much as I'd like to deflect all the terrible things I've done onto some mythical person that no longer exists, that would be stupid and reckless. The boy I used to be is part of who I am." Shaking his head, Finn recoiled as though remembering his past transgressions. "I can make you one promise, though. I remember every minute of what I've done, and the thought of returning to that person makes me sick. I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for what I've done."

Pushing past the cheetah with a stretch, Wade contemplated his clothes, then mopped up the cheetah's cum with his shirt, gathering Finn's sopping pile and tossing it all into the washing machine together. Turning back to the rising cheetah, he took one soft paw into his own and tilted his head toward the stairs. "Well, maybe you don't have to remember all of it. Sometimes it's okay to let go of the past, as long as we learn from it." He mused as they started up the stairs, intertwining his fingers with his former bully's. "Or we could always try to make new memories."

At Finn's questioning look, Wade stuck his tongue out, leaning against the cheetah and heading toward his bedroom. If Finn wanted to atone for his past transgressions, Wade would welcome every minute of the smitten cheetah's efforts. Wasn't it ironic? The first person comfortable enough to admit his attraction to the fennec was the one he least expected.