The Lakehouse Chapter 2: The Morning After

Story by SolidFox on SoFurry

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#2 of The Lakehouse

The second installment in the Lakehouse. Hope y'all enjoy


In a house set apart from everything, against a beautiful and serene sky vibrant with oranges and purples, there lived seven males just trying to get on with their lives. A mechanic, two soldiers, a secretary, a bookie, a stripper, and a waiter; all just trying to make ends meet and do better for themselves. At the moment, here at seven in the morning, all but one was asleep, staring out over the water, watching the sun rise. Alto always got up early; usually to finish a chapter in a book or finish some work on his laptop without the usual buzz the house was filled with. Though, now that the two soldiers were home, he didn't have to worry much about Weylin, or deal with Jamie's continual worrying, and that lightened his load a bit. He smiled; Jamie was a worrywort, but his concern was understandable. Josiah and Dimitri had been in several engagements since the start of the war in the middle east, and Dimitri had taken bullets three minutes into the first engagement. The Corpsman just patched him up on the field and sent him out to fight again, since no medivac was availiable at the time. When Weylin heard he demanded to talk to the tiger, storming into the recruiter's office and, rather flamingly, asked to speak to his friend. The recruiter kindly(ish) pointed him in the direction he needed to go, explaining that the recruiter's office wasn't the place to call into Iraq.

Alto chuckled at the memory, recalling Weylin's irrational behavior. Granted the fennec had overreacted, but what good boyfriend wouldn't? He had just heard that his mate had been shot, possibly seriously injured, and he was expected to just take it all in stride?

At least, that was his argument as he stood in front of Allen, fists balled up furiously, his cheeks red with rage, as the collie chided him for being so irrational. It took one of Jamie's rare outbursts to stop them from fighting. At the time he had no idea what had become of Josiah, and was sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket, sobbing and waiting for the casualty list. He barked at them both, eyes filled with tears screaming that arguing wouldn't make anything better; then he collapsed into broken sobs, curling up and holding his head in his hands, apologizing for his outburst. Both Weylin and Allen felt terrible, but attempts to comfort Jamie were met with hollow assurances that he was okay, and that they should leave him alone. A few hours later Josiah had called in for both of the soldiers, assuring Weylin and Jamie that they were perfectly fine, not a scratch on them; blatantly lying about the seriousness of Dimitri's bullet wounds, which was being treated next to him.

Alto smiled, recalling the look on the two foxes faces when their soldiers came home, showering them in kisses and hugs. Josiah spent a lot of his time that week telling Jamie that he didn't have to worry, and not to stop eating when he heard about a battle. He made his annual promise of "I will not die, you'll see. I'll come home every time, I promise." This always reassured the smaller fox, who spent the second week of Josiah's leave making it up to him... noisily... You couldn't here them in the sunroom, or in any of the bedrooms; but anywhere else in the house you could hear the mattress springs straining and the headboard slamming against the wall. Weylin and Dimitri were no different, and Alto swore that the Rangers were having a damn competition to see who could last the longest, much to the soreness of the two small foxes. Not that they minded much.

Before the husky knew it, Cody, the young white wolf, poked his head into the sunroom "You up, Alto...?" he yawned. "I'm always up this early." Alto answered, bookmarking the page he had only gotten to read half of. "You, on the other hand, usually aren't up for another two hours."

Cody smiled sheepishly "Well, I guess it's just a little residual excitement from last night. They did arrive unannounced." "Not on purpose."

"But still." The wolf began to make coffee, straight black, the way he liked it. "You can't say you weren't surprised."

Alto only grunted in return. Unwilling to answer the question. "Can you get me some of that coffee, please? Two scoops of sugar." He smiled at Cody,who stuck out his tongue and swished his tail.

"Why don't you come get it?" he asked "The kitchen is like, fifteen feet away."

"But... I don't wanna get up..."

Cody poured his mug of coffee and sat next to the husky, savouring the black liquid, drinking it slowly. The scent was tantalizing, and Cody slumped against the couch, purposefully moving the mug under Alto's nose as he shifted position. Alto whined as the mug was taken from under his nose "Fuck you, man..." he muttered, getting off the couch and heading to the kitchen to get a mug of his own to the sound of the wolf's giggling.

Upstairs, Allen had had enough of the sound of headboards banging against the wall echoing through the hallways, and walked downstairs to the basement, waving his greeting to Alto and giving Cody a kiss. As he walked through the door Alto called after him "Rent's due this week."

"Okay." Allen called back. Retreating into the basement, which had been converted into a gym and gaming room. Here Allen stripped, walking over to the pull up bar and starting his workout. Down here was his sanctuary, away from all the noise. The only time that it was disturbed was when the other residents had time to come down here and play videogames. He didn't have to worry much about anyone walking in on him, not that anyone would care anyway. Jamie didn't work out, Josiah and Dimitri did their exercises in their rooms, not having any need to use the equipment. Alto only came down here twice a week when Allen forced him to, and Weylin only came down here on the off chance that Dimitri wanted to do something kinky. So, Allen had the basement to himself most all of the time. Every now and then Cody would 'check on him', but that was it, unless the wolf had time to stay for a while.

He finished his reps on the pull up bar, falling forward and catching himself and instantly doing several push ups; stopping once every twenty five for a quick breath and a drink of water. Cody smiled from the staircase, watching his collie exercise. He was a really good guy, and just... perfect. He had protected him through high school, and decided not to go to the college he wanted to take care of his boyfriend, choosing instead to take his classes online so he could spend more time with Cody. The wolf meant everything to him.

Cody walked into the room, shedding his bathrobe. The collie had done everything he could to make him happy, and this one was of the ways the wolf paid him back...

***

Upstairs Dimitri detached himself from Weylin, cursing himself for being so rough. Weylin didn't seem to mind, but the fennec's yips of pain fell heavy on his heart. True he hadn't had sex in a while, but in his mind that didn't give him an excuse to be rough with the fox. He nibbled one ofWeylin's ears a little, scraping his teeth lightly across it.

Weylin smiled, murring as he turned to face his tiger, licking his neck and yawning. "G'morning..." he whispered, turning his body to face Dimitri's. "That was..."

"I am sorry..." Dimitri interrupted "I hurt you..."

Weylin plants a soft kiss on Dimitri's lips "I understand, hun. Over there you-"

"No." Dimitri insisted "That is no excuse."

Weylin sighed. "I forgive you, but I promise it wasn't so bad. I just had to get used to you again." In truth he was a bit shocked at Dimitri's ferocity; the tiger was never rough with him in any noticable degree. Dimitri sighed and accepted that Weylin had forgiven him, nuzzling the fox's neck. Outwardly he looked assured, that military discipline kicking in, but inwardly he would be torn up for two or three days.

He and his fox lay until the smell of coffee finally drifted up to their room, and soon after that they knew it would drift into Jamie and Josiah's: and together those two practically breathed coffee. If they wanted any, they would have to go down now. "D'ya smell that...?" Weylin asked, shivering slightly as the smell arose a need in him to obtain whatever was making it. That was one of his weaknesses: if it smelled good, he had to have it. His shelves were lined with scented candles and incense, with the occasional small plant.

"Yes..." Dimitri answered. He shared Weylin's love for good smells, though not nearly to the degree the fennec did. Nevertheless, he felt the urge to go to it, more so for the sake of getting some before the two foxes did in the next room did. He threw on his army fatigues and smiled slightly as Weylin whimpered when his chest disappeared under the grey shirt. He sat next to the fox and rubbed his face. "If you want coffee, you need to get dressed." They may have all been guys, but there were still firm house rules; one of which was to at least have on underwear when not in your respective room. This rule, as well as several others, were spelled out by Alto the first day they all moved in. It was only fair he should have ground rules; he was the house owner after all.

"I wish I didn't." Weylin reluctantly started put on a pair of black briefs, leaning against Dimitri for support. "It'd be so much easier if we could just walk around naked..." The tiger smiled, stopping them at his knees and nibbling the base of Weylin's tail, a weak spot almost no one knew about. The fennec couldn't suppress a slight yip, or the obvious heat in his cheeks.

The tiger pulled the fox's underwear all the way up, feeling a little sad that to go anywhere outside of this room they had to be dressed. "I agree. But I promise-" he embraced the fox from behind, nibbling one of the fennec's large ears "-I'll make it up to you tonight." As an afterthought, he added "And I'll be gentle."

"Mmkay." Weylin smiled as Dimitri picked him up, his imagination more than running away with thoughts of what the tiger would do with him.

***

In the room next to that one, two foxes slept peacefully, tangled within a mess of pillows and blankets but as close to each other as a couple can get. Jamie was lying on top of Josiah, resting his head on the soldier's chest. Josiah was comfortably nestled in an area of the bed where a bunch of the pillows and blankets made a sort of modified armchair, and thus he slept propped up against the wall at an angle, embracing the smaller fox in a warm, tight hug. Both males were fast together and not coming apart anytime soon. They hadn't seen each other for months, and both just wanted to feel each other's warmth again. So, when the small of coffee filled the room it did nothing more than disturb their dreaming, and leaving them to gaze into each other's hazy, tired green eyes.

"G'mornin'" Josiah murmured, and gave his young boyfriend a kiss. Jamie returned it, murring happily.

"Good morning." Jamie nuzzled Josiah's neck, his cheeks turning a little pink with embarassment. "I love you."

"I love you too." Josiah yawned, and proceeded to scritch Jamie behind the ears. The fox in question murred happily, leaning in so Josiah could get just the right spots. The small of coffee had filled the room for while now, and Josiah's stomach growled.

Jamie giggled "I'd help if I could, hunny, but I'm a little... Tied up at the moment." Josiah smiled at Jamie's pun. They hadn't finished more than an hour ago, and got less than that of sleep, so his knot didn't have much time to shrink. He just tried to tell his gut to shut up so he could snuggle with his boyfriend, reminding himself that he had eaten only three hours ago. His stomach, with a twinge, kindly reminded him he'd been having sex for an hour of that. Jamie licked Josiah's neck in an attempt to make him feel better, and for a minute it worked, distracting the soldier fox enough that his stomach twinges were nothing more than a dull ache. But the smell of coffee was pervading, and kept bugging him. He was so hungry...

Jamie layed his ears back. He should probably be cooking for the rest of the house by now, he thought about how essentially none of the others here could cook, and that they must be hungry. He felt bad, a little selfish, albeit unnecessarily so, and began to pull himself off his boyfriend's knot. It hurt, badly, and he clutched Josiah's shoulders, burying his nose in the soldier's chest fur. Josiah quickly stopped him after his first yip of pain, sitting the fox comfortably back on his lap. "Hun..." he wiped a tear from the younger fox's cheek. "Why did you do that? You knew it would hurt..." He kissed Jamie's forehead and rubbed the fox's ears, calming him down.

"I have to cook for everyone..." Jamie answered "They can't j-just not have breakfast..."

"I'm sure they'd understand, sweat pea. They can wait about half an hour to eat, and so can I." He nuzzled Jamie's shoulder "Don't hurt yourself, okay?" Those words carried further meaning than applicable to the current situation. If ever Josiah was to die over seas, he didn't want Jamie to be so depressed that... he didn't even want to think about it.

"B-but-!" Jamie tried to protest. Josiah responded by pressing a finger to his maw, indicating 'shush'. Jamie did, a his ears drooping a little.

"Stop trying to please everyone." Josiah whispered "It won't get you anywhere." He pressed his boyfriend against him, rubbing his back so he would stay relaxed, at least until his knot had shrunk enough for Jamie to get off easily. Then after that there would probably be walking issues...

Lost in his train of thought he barely realized the half hour go by. Jamie had actually fallen back to sleep, a rare, peaceful look on his face. Josiah smiled, glancing at the clock and slowly, gently pulling out of Jamie, but leaving the fox to rest on his chest. The only reaction he got was a slight flutter of Jamie's eyelids, and then the younger fox dozed off again. It was another half hour before Josiah needed to get up, the smell of coffee suddenly dictating his actions. He stood up, careful not to wake Jamie, and got to putting on his pants before a slight, almost unnoticable knock came at the door. The soldier covered his boyfriend with one of the many blankets, opening the door wide enough to poke his head out. "Yeah?" he yawned.

Alto was holding two mugs filled to the brim with hot coffee, and offered them to the fox. "Here, this was all I could save for you. And Weylin complains about you two breathing down coffee. Hah!" He motioned to Jamie "Is he doing alright?" Josiah took the mugs, setting one down on a bookshelf and drinking deeply of the other. He sighed contently, savoring the taste and feeling the warmth flow through his body. Yeah, he's doing okay. Oh, and thank's, Alto. I-, we, needed this."

Alto nodded, walking into the room. "This place needs febreeze... or one of Weylin's candles. It smells like sweat and sex in here."

"You aren't far from the truth, my friend." Josiah chuckled, taking another deep drink of his coffee.

"It's strange actually."

"Hm?"

"I usually don't have to worry about dents in the wall or the sound of headboards and springs for the first week; only the second. Is something going on?" Alto inquired.

"Naw..." Josiah looked lost in thought. "I guess we just... nevermind. Don't worry."

Alto placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "But I do, Josiah, we all do. Not a day goes by we don't worry for you and Dimitri."

"I know, I know." Josiah said, brushing Alto's hand off. "I guess it was... just our latest brush with death."

"Do you-"

"No." Josiah finished his mug, burning his mouth a bit. "Fuck..." he swore, holding his jaw in pain. "No I don't wanna talk about it."

Alto sighed. "Alright. I understand."

"No." Josiah retorted, a bit sharply. "You don't. You can't." then, seeing the hurt expression on Alto's face, he pulled the husky into a tight hug. "I'm sorry... I'm just stressed."

Alto hugged back, though not as zealously as Josiah. "It's alright." he dare not say 'i understand' for fear of further offending the soldier. He broke the hug, taking the empty mug with him as he went back to the kitchen. Josiah sighed, and turn to see Jamie stirring, his sleep disturbed by the smell of ceffee and Josiah's outburst. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Did i doze off...?" he asked, staring up at Josiah with tired, foggy green eyes.

"Yeah." Josiah answered, sitting next to his boyfriend and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And Alto brought coffee."

"How kind of him." Jamie yawned, sipping from the mug Josiah offered him.

"Yes." Josiah smiled "Very kind."