Their Labors of Love | Chapter 3

Story by Alflor on SoFurry

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#3 of Their Labors of Love

When the love he thought would last forever runs its course, Sirius learns the meaning of heartbreak. But in his languish, the young raccoon makes a friend in a fellow palace servant named Kaarper. The rabbit is eager to help in any way he can, and soon hatches a plan for getting Sirius back together with the love of his life. Sirius follows blindly for the sheer hope and possibility of having Alir in his arms again. As the plan slowly comes to fruition, however, the young raccoon may realize that not all the choices he will make are as clear as his love had made them seem.


S irius threw open the closet door and ran inside, closing it just moments before the bedroom door creaked open.

The young raccoon held his breath and waited, praying the prince not decide on a quick change of clothes. He strained his ears, taking care not to miss a single pawstep. The dull thud of the mattress put some of his fears to rest - the prince was abed. For now.

He sighed with relief, but remained vigilant; good luck had a nasty habit of turning bad when no one was watching. He sat down on the spotless hardwood floor and continued to listen carefully for even the slightest hint of movement.

A faint sound he barely even registered reached him through the cherry-wood door. Sirius held his breath and perked up his ears. At first, he thought it was scratching, but one sound louder than the rest proved him wrong - the prince was crying. By complete instinct, Sirius reached for the doorknob. He wanted to go out and comfort the fox, but stopped just short of opening the door. He wasn't even supposed to be in the room. A strange raccoon appearing out of nowhere would doubtless only make matters worse.

Sirius sat back against the wall and waited. Several times he caught himself just shy of falling asleep. To combat the impending drowsiness, he stood up and began pacing. The last thing he wanted to do was fall asleep in the prince's closet. He walked several lengths of the small room, examined all the clothing and even refolded a few of the garments that were improperly placed. Keeping track of time was impossible in the windowless room and Sirius had to go with his gut. He walked over to the door and inched it open. His eyes stung from the light of several dozen candles arranged around the chamber, but Sirius couldn't waste any more time. A quick glance at the bed confirmed that the prince had fallen asleep. The young fox lay fully-dressed atop the sheets, whimpering softly with his arms wrapped around his large russet tail.

Sirius felt such pity for the creature that he couldn't help but shed a tear. Being as gentle as he could, he removed the prince's shirt. The fox was quite well-built. Sirius couldn't resist tenderly running his paw down the broad, white-furred chest. He caught himself just as his paw reached the navel. If the prince awoke to find himself being groped by a servant, the consequences would be severe. But he couldn't just leave the fox half-undressed.

Sirius adjusted his pants to better-accommodate his arousal and began undoing the buckle on the prince's pants. The buckle opened with a soft click. To Sirius's paranoid ears, the click sounded just short of deafening. He froze. The young fox sniffled and murmured something in his sleep, but didn't wake up. Sirius pulled the pants all the way down, revealing a set of blue silk undershorts. Again, his curiosity was piqued. He pulled the drawstring on the shorts and slowly slid them down. Like most foxes, the prince was very well endowed. The plump sheath practically begged to be touched. Sirius moved his paw carefully and placed it on the fox's leg, right where the white fur blended seamlessly into the russet and yellow. He kept his paw there, feeling the warmth and the tense muscle underneath the soft fur. He slid his paw higher and cupped the snowy-white sac. He massaged it with his fingers watching a slow smile spread across the fox's muzzle.

His member was well out of its sheath by that point. Logic did its best to hold him back, but instinct pushed forward. Sirius moved his fingers up to the sheath, giving it a small squeeze. The reaction was instant. The sheath expanded and a glistening red tip emerged from the opening. Sirius continued squeezing. Soon, the entire shaft was fully engorged. Sirius put two fingers on either side of the sheath and pulled down, exposing the already-swollen knot. He grasped the shaft in one paw and began stroking it - his logic had completely given up. Several stokes was all it took to elicit a low moan. Sirius smiled and pressed on, varying his rhythm and squeezing the knot occasionally with his other paw.

Moans gave way to panting. The prince rolled over onto his back, his muzzle curled in a blissful smile. He breathed more and more rapidly with each stroke of the raccoon's paw. The pitch of his moans rose as well. The young fox began to thrust his hips into Sirius's paw. His knot had swollen to almost twice its original size. Sirius smiled - he was getting close. He sped up, taking his other paw off the knot and using it to tease the sac. With one last moan, the prince tensed up and climaxed.

Sirius had just enough time to put out his paw and catch the warm seed before it spilled all over the fox's belly. He kept stroking until his paw was drenched and sticky. The prince finished and slumped back into bed, a blissful smile playing across his muzzle. Sirius also smiled. If anything, the prince was now dreaming happier dreams. He wiped his paw on a spare sheet, rubbing it gingerly in an attempt to get clean again. Satisfied, Sirius pulled up the prince's shorts and tied the drawstring. He tucked the fox in, drew the window curtains and padded silently out of the room. He pushed the bedroom door closed and heaved the biggest sigh yet. Somehow, he'd made it out alive. If not for losing Alir, he would have unhesitatingly named it his luckiest day.

He waited by the hallway door, listening carefully for pawsteps.

Not hearing any, Sirius opened the door and went outside.

"What, may I ask, were you doing in there?" Kaarper stood in the doorway across the hall with a broad grin on his muzzle. He walked over to Sirius and embraced him. "I thought they'd captured you."

Sirius returned the embrace. "Almost. I hid in the closet and snuck out when the prince fell asleep."

Kaarper hugged him tighter. "Don't ever do anything like that again." He sniffed the air. "What is that smell?"

Sirius noticed only then, just how strongly his paw smelled of fox. "I-It's-It's nothing."

Kaarper sniffed again. "Wait a moment." His eyes widened. "No. No you did not."

"Didn't what?" Sirius clung to the feeble hope that Kaarper would just let it go.

Kaarper's grin broadened. He dropped his voice. "Did you sleep with him?"

"Well..." Sirius scratched the back of his head, feeling the familiar hot flush in his cheeks. "Not quite."

"You pawed him off." Kaarper gave him one more glance and broke into a fit of silent giggles. He put a paw into his muzzle and bit down, wincing at the pain, but continuing to laugh.

"Let's get to the servants' quarters." Sirius put his arm around the giggling rabbit. "Before someone hears you." They walked down the hall and down several flights of stairs. Kaarper closed the stairwell door behind them and finally burst out laughing. "You pawed him off!" Tears of laughter coursed from his eyes. "You pawed off the p-"

Sirius put a paw across Kaarper's muzzle seconds before his father came walking in the opposite direction.

Werill folded his paws and looked at them reproachfully. "Do I want to hear this?"

Sirius picked the worst time to catch Kaarper's giggles. He shook his head, shaking with silent laughter.

Werill sighed and rolled his eyes. "Off to bed with you then, both of you."

"Yes, sir!" Kaarper saluted smartly and led Sirius off to the dormitory.

He made sure Werill was out of earshot and turned back to his friend. "So, why did you do it?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. I walked out of the closet and there he was, sleeping. I guess I was just too tempted." He chuckled. "When else would I get a chance to do something like this?"

"Yeah, but you could have gotten caught."

"I know." Sirius's tail drooped and his ears folded back. "I just-"

"Oh, don't worry." Kaarper put his arm around the raccoon. "If it makes you feel better, I would have done the same thing. Besides, you didn't get caught, so who cares?"

They walked into the dormitory and found two adjacent beds. The mattress was far less comfortable than the one at Erg's inn, but Sirius was too tired to care. With everything he'd gone through, he was just grateful to lie down.

Kaarper got under the blankets and turned to face him. "So, how was your first impression of our prince?"

Sirius shrugged and pulled the blankets over his snout to hide his shameful grin. "Well, he's really well-endowed."

"Mm. That's good." Kaarper inched closer and dropped his voice. "What about everything else?"

"I don't know." Sirius remembered the tears. "He seems troubled. He was crying before he fell asleep and then while he was sleeping before..."

"Before you helped him out." Kaarper giggled. "Well, better sad than oppressive and nasty, right?"

Sirius lay on his back and put his arms behind his head. "Could he be both?" Somehow, he couldn't see someone so gentle being mean. Alone and in a false sense of privacy, the prince appeared very vulnerable. When Sirius thought about all the things the young fox had to face, his troubles with Alir lost some of their gravity. Rumors often spread and outgrow their seeds, but even a few of the harrowing events the prince was rumored to have withstood were enough to make Sirius pity him. And yet, despite all he had to face, the prince made it through and emerged on the other side. If that fox had it in him to get past the difficult times in his life, then so did he. With this new resolve, Sirius felt an immediate flush of relief. Things would work out. He had a true friend by his side. All he had to do was push hard enough.

"Good night, Kaarper." Sirius smiled, realizing just how lucky he was to have happened upon the rabbit.

"Good night." Kaarper rolled over and almost immediately began to snore.

It took Sirius markedly longer to fall asleep. He lay in bed, staring at the warped wood on the ceiling and listening to Kaarper's discordant snoring. When his eyes did close, the dreams that came were far from pleasant.

Sirius stood in front of Alir's bed at the Silk Peony. He tried to lift his left paw, but it felt heavy. He looked down and saw that he was holding a large sack of gold coins. "I've come to free you, Ali."

"Aww, that's so nice of you." The rabbit rolled over, but it wasn't Alir.

"Kaarper?" Sirius squinted, trying to make out rabbit's features through the veil of darkness. "What are you doing here?"

Kaarper chuckled. "Why, waiting to be freed, of course." He got up from bed and walked slowly over to Sirius. "Now come on, lover." He gave the raccoon's sheath a sharp tug. "Free me."

Sirius pushed Kaarper's paw away. "I'm here for Alir."

Kaarper shrugged. "Fine." He nodded towards the bed. "There's your Alir. Question is...will he want to be freed?"

"Well, of course he will." Sirius nudged Kaarper aside and walked over to the bed. "Ali?"

The rabbit didn't respond.

"Ali, I'm here to free you." Sirius put the gold on the bed and sat down next to it.

"What makes you think I want to be freed?" The voice was distinctly Kaarper's, but it was coming out of Alir's muzzle.

"But we could run away together." Sirius placed his paw on Alir's thigh. "Isn't that what we always wanted?"

A deep bass voice sounded behind him. "Yes, but he's already been freed, I'm afraid."

Sirius spun around. A tall, muscular wolf stood in the doorway, his features bathed in shadow. "I have freed him." His voice was dark and menacing. "He's mine now. You've had your chance and you ran away."

"I didn't run." Sirius turned to Alir. "Ali, I didn't run. I just had to figure out-"

Alir turned around then, fixing him with an icy stare. "You ran, Sirius."

Fear enveloped Sirius. It suffocated him. It deprived him of all his senses. He ran.