Fighter and a Lover

Story by bsaxagent on SoFurry

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Ah, yes. Time for another story.

This ones takes from my Tae Kwon Do hobbies rather than music, but there is a little bit of self promotion in the middle of it that is musically related.

Disclaimers and stuff: Don't read if you aren't legal or like gay stuff/themes, all characters, plot holes, errors, and typographical mistakes are mine, etc etc.

And of course, I hope you enjoy (And if you don't, tell me what I could do better)!


"Come on. Even a well-trained five-year-old could kick better than you. You're still nowhere near being considered good."

Those stinging words from my instructor still rang in my ears as I made my way home. It had been a brutal week for my Tae Kwon Do training, and my instructor had no sympathy for my exhaustion. My last day consisted of four sparring matches (each match being three two minute rounds a piece), followed by two hundred roundhouse kicks per leg on the bag. I could barely manage that last part, and my instructor does not tolerate showing weakness, even if you're exhausted to the point of being sick. But, I do pay to have one of the best athletes in the sport train me, so it's not like he doesn't know what he's doing to me. I just wish he'd be a little more sympathetic.

I soon arrived at my apartment, which, to my current dismay, was on the fourth floor of the complex. My legs were shaking as they climbed upwards, threatening to give out from beneath me. I finally reached the front door, and opened it.

"Hey! Look what the cat dragged in!" My roommate exclaimed from the other room.

"Shut it, Neil," I said as I crossed the small living area and collapsed on the couch.

"Tough day, eh?" Neil asked as he appeared in the doorway to his room. The tall, brawny, brown horse leaned up against the doorframe with his arms crossed, and a smirk on his muzzle.

"Tough is an understatement...do you mind getting me some water? I'm afraid I might pass out if I make the trip," I asked.

"Sure, sure, anything for the fallen fighter," he said sarcastically and laughed. I gave him a small glare as he crossed the room. He can as ass sometimes.

Actually, Neil's the best friend I've ever had. He's the one who got me started into weight training, and he's always been kind of an idol and mentor of mine. We get along well, and he is very supportive of my Tae Kwon Do training, as well as the weight training I do with him. I don't want to be a body builder like he does, and he understands that. He returned with a glass of water, and sat down on the far side of the couch, causing it to sag underneath his 6'5'', 260 pound frame.

"So what was it today? Pyramids? Footwork? 360-roundhouse kicks followed by a jumping spin kick every two seconds?" he asked as he handed me the glass.

"Four sparring matches, followed by four hundred roundhouses with no break. I could barely manage two hundred of them before Master Tull called me weak and had me leave."

"Damn, that's tough. As for Tull calling you weak-sauce, that's expected. I mean, he asks for a lot of shit from you."

"I know, but he has no sympathy. The other four days weren't helping either."

"He won't make you any better by being nice to you."

"I know...it's just frustrating at times. I feel like he has it out for me and nothing I do can make him happy."

"He has it out for you cause you're the best damn fighter than school has had in a good while, and frankly, you shouldn't trying to please him. You should be concerned for making yourself happy, not him."

I sighed again, knowing that Neil was right. Master Tull knew how to get under my skin, and he knows that I'd use his insults to fuel my training. I love proving people wrong. No one can tell me I can't do something.

"Thanks for the consultation, doctor," I said as I got up from the couch and hobbled over to the bathroom.

"Anytime, Adam."

I walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. The white and grey wolf in the mirror looked just as bad as I felt.

Well, let me rephrase that. I don't think I'm a bad looking wolf. But damn, I looked like I got hit by a bus. My usually bright green eyes were somewhat hazy, fur matted everywhere, and a large bruise was forming on left cheek where someone got me with a back kick. I was lucky my face didn't break on contact.

I sighed once more, and stepped onto the scale: 200 pounds. Not bad for a fighter that's six feet tall. Though I would be classified as a heavyweight, I still had speed and power which can be a pretty deadly combination. Turning the hot water on, I began to strip out of my sweaty clothes.

As a daily habit, I've always admired the hard work I've done through the years. Again, I wasn't a body builder like Neil was, but that doesn't mean I was small by any means; I just preferred functionality of my muscles over aesthetics. Even then, I was larger than most people.

My paws rubbed over my round pectorals, feeling the hardness of the muscle as I flexed. The inner part of the muscle was still sore from Wednesday's workout, but the results were showing; I could easily see where the muscle attached to the chest plate, in both the middle of my chest, and towards my neck.

My paws moved south, rubbing over the eight-pack that supplied most of my flexibility. Despite their hardness, they were amazingly supple, allowing my body to truncate, flex, rotate, bend, and whatever else I needed it to do in order to execute complex maneuvers to attack or avoid attacks. The core is an amazing thing, and it's a pity most people do not know how to use it.

I rotated my upper body to the right and checked out my back. All the appropriate grooves were showing, from my lats to my rhomboids, all the way down to my spinal erectors. I didn't have wide lats that gave me the envied V-shape, but that doesn't mean they didn't work. I've been able to do 40 dead hanging pull ups in a row before stopping, so that should give a good impression on how strong they are.

I turned my body back, and flexed my right arm. Compared to everything else, they were somewhat small, but the sinewy tissue was trained for function and not size. A common belief is that large arms equates to powerful punches, which isn't necessarily true. Actually, that power comes from the back and the serratus anterior. These combine to provide the arm with a forward thrusting motion. The biceps are designed to pull towards the body, and the triceps are designed to push away from the body. I traced the vein that snaked from my shoulders, down through the biceps, and into the elbow, before it branched off into several more vascular networks that went into my forearms. My forearms had large cords of muscle, giving me fantastic grip and twisting motions with my paws, perfect for self-defense.

I stepped back a bit, and flexed my quads. Two large heads popped up beside my kneecaps, and a distinct V shape appeared in the middle of my thigh. I held them for a little while before fatigue set in. They were still sore from today and yesterday; Neil's leg workouts are nothing short of brutal. But leg workouts have to be since they are the second most used muscle group, besides the core, in everyday life. Regardless of the brutality, I actually do enjoy leg days, mostly because they are my strongest muscle group, and I like using my legs. I turned to the side and stood on my toes, causing my claves to flex. They were probably the leanest part of my body. For as large of quads I have, my calves almost seem undertrained. But, they are trained mostly for speed and footwork, so I kind of don't push them are hard weight wise. As long as they can carry me from point A to point B, I'm satisfied.

I stopped my episode of narcissism, and the musk that had slowly permeated through the room reminded me of my intent to take a shower. I stepped in and allowed myself to soak under the soothing warmth. There isn't anything quite as welcoming as a warm shower, and there isn't any better way to finish my day, regardless of how tough it was. IT only made me better.

I stepped out after 20 minutes or so (thank you, fixed rate water bill), and toweled off. I looked a lot better, now that my fur wasn't matted all over the place, but that bruise still looked pretty bad. I'd probably feel it tomorrow morning. The only thing I could do about it was to not get back-kicked in the face again, which was an easy fix. I just wasn't paying attention, distracted by the slight ache that was entering my legs, when suddenly I found my opponents heel in my face. I got my revenge by jump spin-kicking him in the head, but at least I hit his head gear gaining me points.

Towel wrapped around my waist and dirty clothes in hand, I left the bathroom (with a "Finally..." from Neil) and walked in my room. It was pretty spartan; I don't spend much time in here between school and training as it is, so it was frivolous for me to decorate it. It had my bed in the corner, my dresser right next to it, desk and computer across from both of them, and a dusty kick bag in the other corner. I thought I would need it at some point, but it turns out I didn't need it, so it's just taking up space right now. I may have a use for it later, so that's why I keep it around.

The white towel dropped on the floor, and I kicked it towards my closet where all of my other dirty clothes were. I deposited the clothes I had worn today in that same pile, and began to open up various shelves searching for clothes I may wear for tonight and tomorrow. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty disorganized when it comes to my own belongings. I found some decent clothes, put them on, and flopped down on my bed. Even after a rejuvenating shower, exhaustion was still present. I yawned and closed my eyes for a moment, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

If there is anything I hold above my education and training, it would be sleep. There is nothing like the rehabilitation of slumber; a peaceful state or the utmost relaxation. Vivid dreams flashed before my eyes, and yet, I would remember none of them in detail when I woke up. I would only remember how they made me feel. As I entered the dormiveglia, there was a subtle feeling of soreness as I tossed and turned, slowly waking me up. Soon, as all good things do, a ray a light entered my room, and struck me on the face, ending my sacred slumber. I opened my eyes wearily, and glanced over at the alarm clock. It hadn't gone off yet, so that meant it was before 9am. The clock read 8:45. It was almost unusual for me to wake up before it went off, but I'd almost rather wake up without the annoying buzzing sound.

I stood up, and almost immediately fell over. I groaned, and felt the back of my hamstrings. Two giant knots formed on the back of both legs, prohibiting comfortable movement. Oh, this was not going to be a fun morning. I stood up, and placed one heel on my desk's chair, and leaned on it. I hissed from the soreness, and I could feel the knot tighten within the muscle stands. I rubbed my thumb along, trying to force it to relax, but my efforts were futile. It's hard to massage yourself, I've found. That meant I had to get Neil to do it, and that could create an awkward moment.

You see, Neil has a particular way to massage people, being a Kinesiology major. He works with the heads of the muscles to relax the entire muscle. This meant he would have to work with the back of my knee cap, which is an extra sensitive area, and where the part where the hamstring meets my ass, which could be awkward as hell.

It's not awkward because I'm straight and don't want people touching my ass. It's awkward because I'm gay and Neil not only knows it, but frequently exploits it (not in a malicious way, of course). He's not afraid of touching people despite his sexuality; since he is going to be a physical therapist, he has some sense of sadism, so I'd be "accidentally" touched somewhere where I don't necessarily want to be in that context. Of course, it's all in good fun, but still awkward sometimes. But Neil is also one the best at giving massages, and since he practically knows how my body works, it'd be for the best for him to work on it.

I stretched out the other leg as best as I could, and hobbled out of my room. Neil was already up, and it looked like he just finished his morning sprints. He was sweaty and the room was slowly filling up with musk, but with two athletes in the house, this was a common odor, so neither of us complained too much. He was cutting up fruits for our morning smoothie as I entered the kitchen.

"Morning," he greeted with a hint of tiredness, most likely from his sprints.

"Eh," I greeted back. I don't exactly say good morning anymore; I'm not a morning person by any means. 'There is no such thing as a good morning' was my mantra in high school. I often started becoming truly awake at around noon or so, but I forced myself to get up "early" in order to go to school. I may hate mornings, but I can still at least function; I just don't like them.

"Standard smoothie, yes? I mean, I'm already making them, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Better late than never, you know."

"Sure," I said as I sat down at our two person table. I began rubbing my hamstrings, hoping that he'd get the hint that they were sore and needed attention. It's always kind of awkward to ask him for a massage, even though he's been giving me them for the past three years. I don't know why that is, to be honest.

"Something bothering you?" Bait taken.

"Yeah, I have a knot on my hamstrings, and it's freaking annoying me."

"One knot on each? That's not too bad. When do you need it done?" The whir of the blender stopped, and he grabbed two cups from the cupboard, and poured a serving in each cup. He sat down and handed me a glass. It smelt of blueberries, strawberries, bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate protein mix.

"Oh, I'm in no hurry. Whenever is fine, as long as it's before Monday. Master Tull won't put up with knots as excuses." I took a sip from my smoothie.

"How about after breakfast? I got nothing on my schedule, and you'll want them to recover somewhat before you resume training."

"True, true." We stopped the conversation, and finished off our meal. Neil stood up, and went to go retrieve his massage bed, butt swinging all the way to his room, knowingly teasing me. That bastard.

He walked out with what seemed to be a large black suitcase, and set it on the floor before opening it up, and pulling the collapsible legs out and setting on it the ground upright. The table was now ready as he pulled over a simple white bed sheet "So people's sweat won't get on my pretty table". He gesture for me to lay down on the table, face down.

As I settled my face on the ring of absorbent material that was not only for comfort, but support as well, Neil began prodding the backside of my legs.

"Ouch!" I yelled as he found the knot on my left leg.

"Yeah, yeah...." He unsympathetically responded as he prodded my right left.

"Owwww..." I let him know that he had found the other knot, which was on the same location on my right leg.

"Yes, I don't need your acknowledgement that I've found them, you know..."

"But it fucking hurts!" I complained through the face mask.

"No shit." Bastard.

"We will start with the back of the knee and get most of the pain out of the way. Do you need a towel to bite on?"

"No, I'm good-FUCK!" I yelled as he jammed his thumb along the back of my kneecap. Well, jammed is an over exaggeration. But it still hurt like hell.

"Yes, it hurts. I know. Your other leg it twitching. Just don't kick me, ok? It makes my job difficult."

He continued to move his thumbs along the tendon of my hamstring, and I got used to the pain over time. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt anymore, it's just that my endorphins had kicked in and nulled the pain slightly. He slowly moved up my hamstring, and I prepared myself when he reached the spot where my knot was and- he skipped over it. Good. Well, I mean, he'd have to touch it sooner or later, so it wasn't that good.

Suddenly, I felt his thumbs on the lower part of my left butt cheek. I tensed up involuntarily, and I could feel the grin he was spotting on his face at my reaction. He pressed downwards, and I could feel the muscle shift underneath the pressure.

"Hmmm..." he said to himself.

"What-ow!" I asked as he moved down my cheek.

"Oh nothing, just making a note to myself to check out something after I've dealt with the knot," he said.

"You mind telling me what that is?"

"You'll find out, don't worry."

Bastard.

He continued down, and soon reached the knot again. It had deflated somewhat by now, but was still very present, even without me moving.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Just go for it, I still have another leg to deal with..."

"Alrighty then..."

"God-DAMMIT-FUCK" I yelled. It wasn't really in pain, to be fair. Neil wasn't hurting me. It was just stupidly uncomfortable to have two thumbs stick themselves in your muscles, and especially with them being somewhat sore. I writhed underneath him, but the pressure on my leg kept it there, which was probably a good thing; I might have kicked him out of spite.

"There we goo, just a little more..."

I continued to thrash, almost on the verge of tears. Now, I have a pretty decent tolerance for pain. I've gotten kicked, punched, limbs twisted, elbowed, palmed...you name it, it's happened. But none of those compared to the searing discomfort I was feeling.

"Almost done..."

I was breathing heavy now, trying to focus on something else so that he could be done with that leg.

"Bam," he said, running his thumbs around the spot where the knot was. It was still very tender, but at least it was gone. I was sweating slightly from the exertion.

"Don't forget to drink lots of water after this, otherwise you'll have to go through it again," he reminded me.

"Yeah yeah..."

"Are you ready for the other leg?"

"I don't think I'll ever be ready but-DAMMIT NEIL!"

He didn't wait, and proceeded to treat my other leg.

Ten minutes of swearing and prodding later, the other leg was finished. I was sweating profusely by now, and was still breathing heavy, like I had just finished an intense sparring match.

"Now, about the thing I was worried about earlier..."

"And....what would that be?"

I tensed up once more as he placed his thumb against my inner thigh, getting really close to my balls.

"Move your leg towards the other for me, please," he asked. I complied, and felt his thumb move downwards.

"Got it. Want to know why you had knots this morning?"

"Why did I have knots this morning, Neil?"

"Your inner hamstrings and adductors need some more strength training. Some part aren't firing like they should, so your hamstrings involuntarily compensated for that."

"I'll keep that in mind..."

"I'll get you started."

"How-SHIT"

Suddenly, his thumbs were jammed again into the back of my leg, but due to the proximity to my balls, I was already really uncomfortable and tense, and this really didn't help. Fortunately, he started high and moved lower down my leg, allowing me to mentally relax from the fear that he was going to strike my balls, or "unintentionally" grope them.

"Alright, move it inwards again."

"I can't with your thumbs in the way..."

"Yes, you can. Stop being a pussy and move it."

It was a struggle. Not only with the discomfort and his thumbs in the way, but a simple maneuver was never so difficult. But, I moved it the way he wanted.

"There we go. See, wasn't so bad, was it?"

I grumbled some empty threat into the face mask.

He released the pressure on my left leg, and I knew he was going to move to the right. I felt one thumb on my inner thigh, when he suddenly caressed my balls through the fabric of my sweatpants. I nearly jumped off of the table.

"Dammit Neil, if I wanted to you to molest me, I would have asked for it!"

He laughed.

"It was an accident! I swear."

"Right...."

He claims he's straight, but I know he has some homosexual tendencies in there somewhere. I mean, he has to appreciate the male body to some degree, being a body builder and all.

The same treatment was applied to my right leg, same struggle and all. Soon, it was finished.

"See, it wasn't that bad. Now, don't forget your water, unless you want to go through this again."

"Yes, mother..." I grumbled as I got up, face covered in drying sweat from the exertion. Suddenly, the phone rang. Neil picked it up as I was still recovering from the treatment I had received. I walked into the bathroom once more and washed my face. As I finished, Nail walked in.

"Hey, friends are having a get-together at a bar tonight. You want to go?"

I pondered this for a moment. I don't drink, and Neil only drinks on the rare occasion, so that means he probably wanted me to drive. I guess I'd have to return the favor for the massage.

"Sure. What time?"

"They'll be there at around 10 tonight."

"Do you know who will be there?"

"Jason, Ryan, Jackie, Kelly, and some other guy I don't know."

They were a good group of people. A little on the loud side, but not obnoxiously so.

"It's a plan then. And...thanks for the massage. But if you want to grope me, all you have to do is ask, you know..." I said with a wink. His response was a mock vomit. What a confused bastard.

Today went by slowly. I finished various bits of homework, and even managed to find time for a nap before it was 9:30. I was wearing a tight burgundy T-shirt and some khaki colored cargo shorts. Neil was wearing a blue muscle shirt with some blue jeans. We headed towards my car, a nice black Mazda 6. IT wasn't considered a luxury car, but it allowed me to drive as aggressive as I wanted, so I could care less if it wasn't the hottest ride in town. We drove to the bar, which was conveniently named "The Bar", and parked outside. It was pretty packed, being a saturday night. I don't normally like crowds, but at least I knew who I was hanging out with. As it should be, Neil and I were the first to arrive. We grabbed a large table and waited. Within five minutes, a white fox sat down at our table.

"Hey, Jason! How's it going?" Neil asked.

Jason was probably the smartest kid I've ever met. I'm not talking about that he has good grades and whatnot (cause he does), but he just immediately understands everything. One semester, he only attended one lecture for an astrophysics class, and still passed with a perfect score. Crazy smart guy. The best part was that he wasn't an annoying brat that paraded his intelligence around. It's rare to find a smart guy with social skills.

"It's going alright. Sorry for the short notice; glad you guys could make it!"

"It's not a problem. I wasn't doing anything anyways," I laughed.

Soon, a buck and a doe sat down across from us. Ryan and Kelly were twins, and if you only looked at their face, you could tell they were related. Ryan was about 6'5'', and Kelly was about 5'6''. They were both really slim build-wise, and both were aiming to be doctors in pediatrics. They were both somewhat jovial all the time, almost to the point of being really annoying in some instances. But if you needed a lift, they were the ones to go to.

"Hey," I acknowledged them as they sat down.

"Dang, what happened to your face?" Kelly asked with a large look of concern on her face.

"It still looks bad? It was just your standard back kick to the face. Nothing major."

"I still don't know why you fight, man. Seems dangerous," Ryan commented.

"To each their own. I don't know why you'd want to work with kids, especially in regards to their health either."

"Fair enough," both of them said simultaneously.

Idle chatter broke out once more. I tend to hold a policy not to talk unless spoken to; beyond my education and TKD, I don't have much going for me.

Soon, a female cheetah sat down at the end of the table, angrily shutting off her cell phone.

"Jesus, those idiots couldn't anything without me!"

Jackie was our business women, boss, CEO, queen, whatever you'd want to call her, bitch included. She always meant business, and she was not someone you'd want to cross. However, if you needed advice on anything business related, she's the one to go to. If you need someone to play lawyer, she's the one to choose. She lets no one run over her, or her friends. Right now, she's the district manager for a chain of stores, so it's actually kind of lucky that she's in town.

"Troubles on the home front?" Neil asked.

"You have NO idea. We are having a corporate visit next week, and our lowest ranking store is going to be their first stop, which means I have to go in there and show them how to run the damn place, because they haven't done as I have asked them to do for the past three months. God, I need a drink," she said, slouching back in her chair.

"I'll go grab them," I offered.

"Let's see: Shiner for Ryan and Kelly, frozen margarita with no salt for Jackie, White Russian for Jason, and a rum and coke for Neil, correct?"

"If there's salt on my margarita, I will kill you!" I heard as I went to go grab the drinks. I ordered them and stood by the bar waiting to pick them up. I really did have a good group of people to hang out with. All of them were Neil's friends before they added me to the group, but they were equally supportive of me in my endeavors. They were the first people to know that I was gay, and helped me deal with telling my parents, who were also surprisingly supportive of that. But if that had gone to hell, I knew that Jason would have given me room and board, Ryan and Kelly would give me emotional support and try to make me happy, and Jackie would have found me a decent job, or at least, given me a good recommendation. Neil would still help me be the best I can be, and would stick with me to the end.

As I was reflecting on the friendships I had made, the bar door opened. Normally, I wouldn't care, but something caught my eye. A panther stood in the doorway looking for something. Again, normally I wouldn't care about other people entering rooms, but there was something about him that drew my attention. He was certainly my body type: tough looking, medium height (probably 5'10''), somewhat of a bulky build (around 200 to 220 lbs, he certainly worked out, judging by the bulge his biceps were making inside his shirt)...nice broad shoulders, too. Man, it's unfortunate that I couldn't talk to him. He's certainly good eye candy. He looked around a bit before walking off in a seemingly arbitrary direction.

"Hey, are you just going to stand around, or are you going to actually take these drinks?" the gruffy bar tender asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I got distracted a bit," I apologized. I temporarily ignored the panther crossing my mind, and focused on getting the drinks to the table without spilling them. I walked back, weaving in and out of the misplaces chairs and tables, and looked at my table of friends and-

There he was, sitting right next to where my empty chair was.

This could get interesting, or it could get very awkward, very fast.

"Oh, now that you're back, this is Ian. Ian, this is Adam," Jason introduced us.

"Nice to meet you, Ian."

"You too."

"How'd you meet him?" I asked Jason.

"He's in my biomechanics class. We worked together on a project, and I figured he had earned a drink with us."

"I see."

I set the drinks down, and gave them to their respective drinker ("Thank god there's no salt"), and sat down between Neil and Ian.

"Nice bruise there," Ian said, looking my cheek.

"It's not all that bad," I replied, taking a sip of my water.

"Hmm...must have been a back kick, am I right?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, the bruise itself is entirely vertical, with no angle on it at all. Most good back kicks are with the entire foot pointing downwards."

"Very nice deduction."

"It was probably the winning kick, though. Am I right on that, too?"

"Nope."

"Really now? I have to hear this," he said, shifting his entire body towards me. I couldn't help but steal a glance at his crotch.

I almost wish I hadn't, cause he was certainly packing something down there.

"Well, after he kicked me, I was actually in the process of hopping back. So, because it was with hisleft foot and he had to reach, he had to put it down in front. I took advantage of this, and pulled a jumping spin kick to the open side, scoring me four points."

"Damn, and you figured all of that out in that half second of impact?"

"Technically, no. But with years of training, my body reacted on instinct."

"What do you train in? Wait-let me guess."

He looked me over a bit. I couldn't help but think he was really checking me out, but I didn't want to bring it up.

"Hmm...Tae Kwon Do. You muscles are built primarily for speed, but you also have a bit of power with them. Your legs are lean as fuck, but you have decent sized quads."

"You should be a detective or something. Spot on."

"Not exactly my ideal job choice," he laughed in his smooth baritone voice. God, I could listen to him talk all day.

"I see. I can tell you're a fighter. Based on your shoulders and upper body size, probably some sort of grappling art. I'm just going to give it a shot and say Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, possibly?"

"You're just as good," he said after a momentary pause.

"Hah, it's nice to see both of you are friends already," Kelly commented from across the table.

"It's only one common interest. What are you majoring in?" Ian asked me.

"Biology. What's yours?"

"Music composition."

We all stared at that. Here was this bulky panther who was a fighter-and probably a good one, and he was a music major.

"That's...a bit surprising," Ryan commented.

"How'd you get involved with that?" Jackie asked.

"With music, or fighting?"

"Both," Neil laughed.

"Well, I always had an interest in music since I was a kid. I've been playing piano for well since I was five, so that makes about 17 years of playing piano for me. I began writing my own pieces when I finished elementary school. They weren't very good, mind you. As for fighting....well, I've always had the desire to stay in shape."

If I hadn't been paying attention, I wouldn't have noticed that long pause. I also noted the slight bitterness in his voice. He wasn't being entirely truthful about something, but I'm sure it was nothing. After all, it'd be kind of weird to tell strangers your life story.

"So what kind of music are you interested in?" Ryan asked, probably sensing the same desire to quickly change the subject.

"I tend to lean towards 20th century works. Hindemith, Messiaen, Bartok, Shostakovich, Carter, Danielpour...those tend to be my favorites."

"I haven't heard of any of those guys."

"That's not a terrible surprise. Most people don't even realize that symphonic music is still being written today. They just stop at Brahms or Debussy, and have no knowledge of music past that."

"That's mostly due to symphonies not playing their music. 20thcentury music tends to be controversial because it's a somewhat new system of tonality," Jason chimed in, sipping on his drink.

"Exactly. It's not 'pretty' music, but I've always been fascinated by it."

"Damn it!" Jackie suddenly exclaimed from the end of the table.

"What, another store caught on fire or something?" Kelly asked.

"Not quite. Shit, corporate is visiting on Monday, which means I have to take over store control tomorrow. That means I have to drive five counties over....fuck me. Alright guys, it's been fun and all, nice to meet you Ian, but I gotta go, or I won't make it the store tomorrow." Jackie hurriedly drank her margarita and left.

"She's a feisty one, isn't she..." Ian commented.

"Yeah, she's a district manager or something like that. She holds this area's stores together. She takes everything really seriously, meaning everything has quality, but she can't ever seem to relax," Neil explained. "Don't worry; she's a great person to know. She knows everyone, and if she doesn't know someone, she knows ten people that know them on a personal level, so if you need connections, she's the one."

"I see..."

"Damn, it's 11:30 already?" Kelly looked at her phone.

"Yeah...sorry guys, we gotta go, too." Ryan stood up and pushed in his chair.

"Nah, it's fine. Good to see you all again, drive safely," Neil said.

"Psh, with her driving we would be lucky if we reached the speed limit-ow!"

Kelly punched him on the shoulder. "I'm not that slow!"

"Alright, alright...anyways, once again, good to meet you, Ian, pleasure to see the rest of you!"

Now we were down to Jason, Neil, Ian, and I. Neil was always the last one to leave; he always felt bad if he left the festivities early. This meant I had to stay as well, since I was driving.

"So...since both of you are fighters, who do you think would win if both of you fought?" Jason asked us.

We both looked at each other, sizing each other up and probably thinking the same thing.

"I would," we both said simultaneously.

"Well, actually, I'm not sure," I qualified myself. "I don't know what he's capable of, and if he's taking BJJ, which isn't sparring, I might be in trouble up close."

"Well, you'd win speed wise, but who knows. We might have to set something up."

"Whoa now, don't want you two fighting in the middle of the bar," Neil added in, noting the subtle increase of testosterone in the air. I do take my challenges seriously, and I'm sure Ian did as well.

"Nah, I wouldn't fight him in the bar. Too many people around."

It's good that Ian also saw reason in this situation.

"It'd be an interesting sight to see, though," Jason added, drinking the remainder of his third drink. "Alright boys, I'd love to stay, but I'm getting tipsy, and we don't want that to happen."

Besides being stupidly smart, Jason also has a tendency to drink everything in sight when he starts getting drunk-not that's he's an alcoholic, mind you; he doesn't drink because he has to.

"Are you taking a cab, or do we need to drive you?"

"I gotta cab waiting for me right now. It's my sister, so it's free," he said with a grin. He also doesn't like to spend money, which is why I usually get footed with the bill. He stood up and said his goodbyes, and that left the two of us, and a stranger.

"But seriously. Who would win?" Neil asked as soon as Jason was out the door.

"The TKD school isn't too far away. I do have the keys to the place, if you're so curious."

"Nah, not tonight. I don't want to get too scuffed up before my interview on Monday," Ian said.

"What are you going for?"

"I'm interning as a librarian for the local symphony. It's an interesting job, I think."

"Nice. Well, Neil and I are just about done here. You got a ride?"

"I don't. I walked here."

"You live close?"

"I live 4 miles away, nothing too major."

"What the hell, man! We can't let you walk that far at night!" Neil exclaimed.

"Shit, man. Which direction do you live in? We will take you there."

"I live on of fifth and Main. Pretty easy to get to."

"Our apartment is on the way there. Adam, I've been up for a while, so why don't you drop me off, and drive him home?"

In hind sight, that probably wasn't a great idea.

"Sure. You ready?"

Too late for reconsideration.

Five minutes later, we were in my Mazda, and on our way. We laughed at some stupid joke Neil made before we ended up at out apartment. Neil left the backseat, and now it was just us. I was getting slightly nervous. I actually kind of liked this guy; not only was he great eye candy, but he was a pretty nice guy that I could talk to about fighting. None of my other friends cared. Neil would listen, but he didn't know anything about fighting other than not to get hit.

"So, the other guy comes in for a grab, and I somehow got him in an arm bar. I honestly have no idea how it happened, but that's how I won. Submission at its finest," Ian told me his last match, which was over a year ago. He has trained since then obviously, but not for actual tournament for some time.

"So what rank are you?" he asked me.

"Second degree black belt," I responded.

"Nice! When do you test for third?"

"At the end of the summer. I still have one more form to learn, and I'm good to go."

"Is it difficult?"

"No, it's just confusing. It basically combines all of my previous colored-belt forms into one form, so it'll take some un-learning to do. I'm not worried though. Forms have never been my strong point."

"I see."

We sat in silence for a bit, except for the hum of the car passing over the asphalt. The tension I was feeling was increasing steadily, but I didn't want to react to it. It hate to scare him off so soon.

"Turn right at the next intersection," he commanded.

"But isn't fifth to the left?"

"Scenic route. I want to show you something."

Now things were getting a little weird. I was slowly growing slightly paranoid, but I went with it anyways. 'I could take care of myself', I reasoned.

We drove down a little bit, and he instructed me to turn down another street. This was getting me into unfamiliar parts of town, and I noticed that the quality of buildings was slowly decreasing. This probably wasn't a good part of town.

"Turn into here," He said, pointing out a large empty parking lot. I pulled in and parked the car.

"What did you want to show me?" I hesitantly asked, turning towards him.

"This," he said, and then mashed his lips up against mine. I was so taken aback by this action, that I accidentally let him have his way with me.

Well, accidentally quickly turned into intentionally. This was very erotic, and I felt no malicious intent from him. So I went with it.

His tongue was a delightfully rough texture as it slid across my own, and mapped out the rest of my mouth. There wasn't a particular taste to him, just textures. The sensation was enough to drive me wild, and I mapped out his mouth as well as I could while colliding with and avoiding his tongue. I found that he had a missing molar in the back; probably from a previous fight...I might ask him about that later.

We pulled out, both of us breathing heavily.

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do that," he panted.

"You wanna bet?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Heh, who cares if we both win?"

"True that."

Suddenly, my phone rang. Ian got back to his seat, and waited for me to answer. It was Neil.

"H-Hey! What's up?" I asked, still somewhat shaken by what just happened.

"I just want to know if you're on your way back."

"Oh yeah, I was just about to drop him off. There was....traffic. Yeah, lots of traffic on Main."

Oh God, that sounded dumb. I could almost see the disbelief on Neil's face.

"Uh-huh, sure. Well, see you in ten minutes or so."

"R-Right."

Click.

I sat back down for a moment before turning to Ian.

"Well, I guess I have to be dropped off now, don't I?" He asked, with a little bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Well, we got passed the awkward phase of 'I like other men, you included', so I mean, it's not all bad."

"I guess that's true," he laughed.

"Alright, I guess I'll get back to my place."

He instructed me through the neighborhood, and we eventually made it to his place, which was a rented house. He unbuckled his seatbelt, and opened the door.

"Wait-here's my number," I said, quickly writing down the 10 digit number.

"Ah, that would have been bad if I didn't get at least that. I'll send you a text later tonight. Have a good nice, Adam," he said with a wink and shut the door. I pulled out of the driveway, and headed home, my erection distracting me the whole time.

Eventually, hazily, haphazardly, I made my way to the front door and walked inside.

"Finally!" Neil called from his room. "Was traffic really that bad?"

I ignored him and headed for my room, and as I did almost 24 hours ago, flopped on my bed. I wasn't really sure how to handle the past hour or so, but I met a hot panther, made out with him for a short bit, and gave him my number. I mean, how often does that happen? The worst part of this whole situation was that I had an erection that would not go down. I felt it pulse through the hem of my pants, and felt the slimy sensation of pre falling on my belly. I guess I'd have to take care of that before it got too messy.

I reached the bathroom and shed my clothes. My nine inch long, five inch thick red rocket of an erection was pointing towards the ceiling, heavy balls throbbing underneath. A small rivet of pre was leaking out of the tip, and some it had pooled slightly in my sheath, creating a gooey sensation every time my dick throbbed. I turned on the water, and stepped inside. I quickly shampooed my body, getting the actual cleaning portion of my shower out of the way so I could attend to my other needs. A quick rinse later, and I had all the time in the world to jack off.

I gently squeezed the base of my cock, causing it to swell slightly. A few large drops of pre emerged from the tip and cascaded down before being swept away from the running water. I rubbed my balls with the other hand, and slowly moved my hand upwards. A shiver traveled down my spine, and my hips involuntarily thrust upwards. This actually might be over with quicker than I want it to...

I stroked my cock once more, relishing in the wonderful sensations my callused paw caused. I imagined it being Ian's paw, rhythmically moving up and down my now slickened shaft. I tried my best to imagine him naked, wondering what he looked like under that shirt of his, all ripped and muscular, and his package...oh, it was probably huge, definitely in my size of cock, maybe even larger...oh I could imagine a large and thick cock on him, probably has huge balls, too...

My partially involuntary thrusts sped up as I began to climb closer to the edge. I braced myself against the wall because I was actually getting somewhat light-headed from my session. Ian was all I could think about, nothing else mattered. I didn't care if Neil walked by and heard me in here, I just needed release, and to have Ian near me. Just thinking about him was almost sending me over the edge.

Soon, my knot swelled up, causing two more inches to be added to my cock. I grabbed the knot, causing my legs to almost buck underneath me from the sudden surge of pleasure. Electric pulses shot through my body and I stroked upwards slowly, savoring every single shock of pleasure I was receiving. I imagined Ian's mouth around my cock, all wet, hot, and humid, and that's all it took to find myself in the bliss of orgasm.

My dick throbbed, and my balls pulled upwards, and a large rope of cum shot from my tip and splattered on the far wall. Another throb from my prostate caused another rope to launch out of my cock, this time landing on the tiled floor. A third shot poured out, and soon all that was left was a steady stream of semen. I was breathing rather heavily; this was definitely one of the more intense orgasms I had, all thanks to a certain panther. I stood underneath the now lukewarm shower, and let the remnants of cum wash off before turning the water off and stepping out of the stall.

I toweled off, and headed to my room. I glanced over at Neil's room, and found no light coming from it, telling me that he had gone to bed, which was probably a good thing. I wasn't sure how much noise I made, but it was obvious it didn't disturb him. At least, that's what I told myself. I put on some clothes once inside, and checked my phone one last time before heading to bed. Ian had texted me just to let me know that the phone number was indeed his, and not a random number anymore. I entered him in the address book, and connected it to the charger. I looked at my clock, which now read 12:42, sighed and decided not to set my alarm. I had nothing planned once more, and Sundays are considered my really lazy days for me. I laid down on my bed and before I knew it, I was off to sleep.

He was naked. I was naked. His breath was hot, but even then, it was causing goosebumps to form on my skin. We ground our crotches together for a bit, causing various moans and murrs from both of us. His dick was hot. I couldn't see it, but I didn't need to. I could feel every inch as he frotted with me. I was close, oh so close. His face was contorted with pleasure. "Oh god, Adam, I'm gonna...I'm gonna-"

"Wake up, Adam! God dammit, it's noon already!"

Wait, what? That's not what he said next, I'm sure of it.

"I will bust this door down and get you out of bed if you don't wake up!"

I opened my eyes, and was immediately disappointed with my surroundings. It had all been a dream. The hottest dream I had ever had, and my bastard of a roommate ruined it for me. Damn it all.

"Adam!"

"I'm up! Shut up Neil, and let me wake up!" I yelled, headed still in my pillow.

"You got five minutes to get ready! Landlord's coming in today!"

Shit. Now, I was awake. I jumped out of bed, and quickly pulled on some presentable pants. Fortunately, my potentially wet dream was only potentially one; I had the fortune of not making a mess in my undergarments. Maybe waking me up was a good thing.

I stepped out of my room, and quickly brushed my hair and teeth in the bathroom, trying to make myself somewhat presentable before I tended to the house. You see, our landlord is a frumpy old bitch that has her panties tied in such a large knot, that it literally holds her together. Actually, I kind of didn't know where that thought was going, but you get the idea. If anything is out of line in her apartments, we were going to get chewed out for a good thirty minutes. Not fun, and highly embarrassing because she makes sure the whole complex knows if someone is out of line.

I started tidying up my room, making sure nothing was on the floor, bed made (yes, she even cares about that), and clothes placed in my hamper, before moving on to the living area. All of the cushions were in place, the rug was straightened, coffee table and TV dusted (I don't even know why we have a TV; we never use it), dirty dishes moved to the sink, and dining room chairs pushed in. Neil usually gets the kitchen and the bathroom, and he was busy washing the dishes and I pulled out the vacuum. Ten minutes later, the entire place looked like it belonged in a magazine... kind of. We just sat down to breathe when sudden rap on the door interrupted our temporary break. I looked out the peephole, and there she was: our bitch of a landlord. I inhaled, preparing myself for what was to come, and opened the door.

Ms. Jenkins was a cow, in the literal sense of the word. She was about 80 years old now, and stood over a cane. She was flabby, reeked of old-people smell, and wore flowery dresses that were very outdated. Her horn rimmed glasses were reminiscent of old 50's soap operas.

"Ms. Jenkins! How nice to see you! Why don't you come inside, out of the heat?" I greeted in the best cordial manner I could muster. It was very hard not to kick her or something. She stepped inside as Neil grabbed the prepared glass of water for her. He waited for her to stop inside before offering her the glass.

"How very kind of you, young man. I see this residence is looking lovely now that I actually warned you I was coming over today. But, if I do say you would need some decorations; this room is awfully bare," she commented, motioning towards our blank walls.

"Have a seat, please," I politely requested, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. The odor was causing my nose to itch.

"If I wanted to sit down, I would have asked, Mr. Greenwood," she suddenly snapped at me. I kept my composure. Neil rolled his eyes behind her.

"I see you vacuumed, too." She leaned in to glance at the coffee table.

"But, you didn't wipe down the coffee table. There a smudge here, probably from a beer can or something...who knows what crazy concoctions you kids drink up here."

I kept my mouth shut.

"I would almost hate to see your rooms, it'd probably give me a heart attack," she spat.

"Now, Ms. Jenkins, we do keep our residence orderly you know," Neil said, trying to give me some time to regain my composure.

"Obviously not, based on hastily this place is cleaned. Young people don't know how to properly tidy things up. You could stand to use some cleaning lessons."

"We will attend to that as soon as we can. Now, is there anything else you'd like to discuss?" I asked, trying to hurry the visit along.

"Oh yes. One of you will have to attend the mandatory emergency preparedness meeting tonight. We've updated some of the procedures from last year. It's at 7:00 in the commons area. You'll have to pay a $250 fine if you're absent. Now, I might show up a week from now, so you'd better make this place clean. It isn't yours to mess up."

"Yes, Ms. Jenkins," both Neil and I responded.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving now. Have a good day, you two," She bid us farewell, and left. As soon at the door shut, I flipped up my middle finger.

"God damn bitch," I said through gritted teeth.

"It wasn't that bad. I'll go to the meeting tonight since you went last time."

"Still, I hate her guts. And they probably only changed one thing from last time."

"No one said it would be entertaining..."

I went back to my room and checked my phone. Ian had texted me, asking me if I was doing anything later that day.

"I got nothing but homework to do, and I should be done with that by dinner time," I sent to him. Surprisingly, he got back to me immediately.

"Nice! I figured we could probably get something to eat tonight, talk a little more, that sort of thing."

"Sure, sounds good. Any time in particular?"

"7:00 would be perfect for me."

"It's a date then!"

I hit send too late. I didn't really want this to be a date, I mean; we weren't even officially dating yet. I didn't want to send the wrong message. I mean, I liked him, but...I just wasn't sure what to do. I don't know why I was getting so flustered over this. Oh goodness, I wanted this to go well, but-

Ah, I'm worrying too much. It's just dinner, right?

As much as I told myself not to worry about it, I was still really nervous all day long. Even Neil took notice, as he constantly asked me 'what the hell was wrong with [me]'. Eventually, 6:30 rolled around. I made sure my clothes were decent, a slight step up from the clothes I wore yesterday. Actually, they were in the same style as yesterday; I just made sure they weren't wrinkled or anything unsightly.

I drove over to the nearby Mexican restaurant, and waited in my car for him to show up. He'd probably walk, and since the restaurant was between my apartment and his house, it shouldn't take him too long to get there. Right on cue, I saw him walk up. He was also wearing casual clothing, so at least we mentally agreed on that aspect. I stepped out of my car and flagged him over.

"Hey! Good to see you! How was your day?" he asked.

"Besides the visit from our landlord, it was alright."

"Dang. How'd it go?"

"She's kind of a fickle bitch, you know? Can't please her at all. But, nothing bad, yet."

"I just did homework all day, which means I just stared at a blank sheet of staff paper for hours until I finally got a decent idea to put down."

"Is being a composition major difficult?" I asked with some interest. I had never met a composition major since there are so few of them.

"For me? No, the hardest part is coming up with good ideas to write down. Once that happens, the music tends to write itself. As for classes, I mean, I have ten classes per semester, but only so many of them are actual busy work. There are a lot of concepts to cover, but most of my homework is manageable, until you get to Bibliography or Music History. They tend to be the most involved."

"Sounds awful."

"Bibliography is. History isn't, there's just 1000 years of music to cover in three semesters," he laughed. "I haven't had to write a research paper that was more than 10 pages long."

"Lucky bastard. My senior report has to be at least 50 pages. That's going to be a bitch next semester."

"I couldn't even imagine writing on one topic for such an extended period of time. I'd get bored of it really quick."

"I just use really long words and provided multiple examples. We are allowed to use graphics, so that helps."

"I see. Well, shall we head inside?"

"Sure."

He opened the door for me, and the host sat us down in the patio area. We were the only ones surprisingly, but I think that the host knew that we were here for more than just dinner conversation. Our food and drink orders were placed ('I love a good margarita'), and soon were deep into conversation. Naturally, we were talking about fighting.

"So this one guy, he's kind of a really jumpy guy, bouncing all over the place, he goes in for a roundhouse kick to my open side. Well, I quickly turned my back to him and kicked him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Easiest match ever."

"What rank was he again?"

"At the time, I was just a red belt, and he was a second degree from our school. It was an exhibition match, so we both won."

"Dang, that sucks, but it's awesome that you could take out a black belt before you even got yours."

"Nah, belts just show the minimum amount of material someone has learned, not just experience. To give that guy credit, he was freaking awesome at forms and other traditional material that makes Tae Kwon Do its own art."

"Yeah, but forms can't help you in a real fight."

"I wouldn't want to fight him. He'd kick my ass."

"You? Mr. I-got-second-at-nationals-due-to-a-broken-elbow? Yeah, I'm sure he'd kick your ass if you had no legs or something."

"Nah, he wasn't good at sparring. He learned how to fight on the street when he was a kid, so he's had to relearn how to fight. Plus, you know as well as I do that sparring is more about points than anything. If you kicked me three times in the chest, no matter the power or speed, all I'd have to do is land two head shots, regardless of power or speed, to catch up to you. Add in a single punch, and I'd win, no matter how really good you were. It's the unfortunate truth. Now, I'm not saying there isn't a correlation, but it isn't an entire accurate measure of one's fighting skills. Same probably goes for BJJ, right?"

"You have a point there. I guess when rules don't matter; it really shows your skill."

"And your integrity, something not easily learned on the street." It was just for a moment, but I sensed of bitterness on his face when I said that. I probably would have said something if food hadn't arrived and distracting me from that feeling.

"Oh, geez, this is good," Ian said, biting into his fajita. "A bit salty, though."

"The meat?" I asked.

"No, the vegetables. Well, it's probably the oil they used. Oh well, nothing a good workout can't fix," he said, giving me a very subtle wink, causing me to blush slightly.

"You're cute, you know that?" he told me.

"Not really...?"

"Look at you. You get all flustered when someone flirts with you. It's really cute. Well, at least I think so."

"Well, uh..."

"See?"

"Yes, I do. I can't really help it when a hot panther is trying to get into my pants, you know?" I gave him a wink as well. I felt that it was slightly forced, but we will see how it goes.

"Hey now, I actually do like you for you, and not just for what I think you're packing."

"Well that's good, cause I would have kicked your ass otherwise."

"You'd like to think you'd kick my ass," I heard him mutter. I gave him a serious glare, and we both busted out laughing.

We continued to eat, discussing various fighting techniques and such.

"Well, I tend to attack. If you don't give them an opening, they can't do anything."

"I tend to counter those attacks. I like to find patterns, and use my opponent own skills against them."

"You know that wouldn't work in a real fight, right?"

"It works for sparring."

"Whatever."

All too soon for my liking, the meal disappeared, and was paid for (by me). We made it outside, where nighttime had arrived.

"Here, I'll drive you home," I offered.

"You know I can take care of myself, right?"

"Yeah, but it's less stressful not having to worry about you."

"How sweet of you," Ian commented, giving me a small kiss on the cheek, causing me to blush.

We drove to his house, chatting about various things other than fighting ("I don't play piano that well, I mean, I hate practicing. It's boring."), and I pulled into his driveway.

"You know what, why don't we go for a walk?" Ian asked as the can shifted into park.

"Uh...where to?"

"Around. Sometimes it's better to have no destination."

"That could be awfully sketchy..."

"Psh, not in this side of town. Nothing bad ever happens here."

"If you say so," I opened the door and stood outside while waiting for him to get out of my car.

We didn't say much as we wondered the streets. As we turned a street corner, Ian surprised me again by grabbing on to my open paw. It was a small gesture, but it made my heart flutter.

Aw, look at me getting all mushy.

We held paws for a bit, and I savored the texture of his palm. Like mine, it was riddled with calluses, but there was a soft touch to it as well. The heat was astounding; I almost let go because my palms were sweating. But I thought otherwise, as it was a small discomfort. Somehow, we made it to the central park. I glanced upwards and admired the open sky. There were no clouds and the moon was full, shining brightly on us as we traversed the green lawn. We found a park bench and sat down. He snuggled up against me at we glanced up at the vast universe. It was kind of a poetic sight. I was probably one of the happiest people in this vast universe right now, and it's all thanks to the panther next to me.

"I don't know if it's appropriate to say this now, but I think...I think I love you," he said to me after some time, bringing me out of my partial trance.

"I don't know if it's appropriate for me to respond this way, but I think I love you, too," I said, leaning down for a kiss. His warm lips met mine, and though it lacked the lust of last night's kiss, the warmth and passion was still there. The tent slowly forming in my pants could attest to that. I could really get used to this, though. I don't know how long our kiss lasted; time didn't matter. All that mattered, as silly as it sounds, was the panther next to me. I couldn't think of a better person to spend-

"Hey, faggot!"

We abruptly opened our eyes. My heart was racing as I glanced towards the voice that rudely interrupted us.

"Yeah, you! Faggot! You want to suck my dick as well?"

Two large figures were walking towards us. The moon's gaze gave some light, but it was hard to see them. They were both obviously male, and judging by the way their outlines looked in the distance, I'd say one was a lion, and the other was probably another wolf or something. As they walked closer, my suspicions were correct; we were now face to face with two large men, one was a tall golden lion, and the other was a stouter wolf, black in color.

"God damn, I hate faggots like you. There's nothing more disgusting than a man trying to get into another man's business," the lion snarled. I was about to point out the slight hypocrisy of that statement, but Ian beat me to the punch. Well, not literally. At least, not yet.

"Yeah, asshole? Want to say that to my face?" Ian yelled angrily.

"Huh, so he must be the pussy in the relationship," the wolf pointed at me as the lion laughed at his joke, which I thought was strange since the lion was a big cat, and...never mind.

"Actually...." I had started, trying to at least try to get away from the situation without having do anything drastic, but Ian threw the first actual punch, landing right on the jaw of the lion.

"You want to start something, you got it, fucker!" Ian charged.

"Ian, don't-!"

The lion punched back, hitting Ian in the chest.

"You call that a punch? My grandmother hits harder than you!" he taunted.

I really didn't want the situation to escalate, and as I tried to get in between them, the wolf struck me in the back. So much for that.

I turned to the wolf, readying myself in a fighting stance with my right foot back.

"Huh, guess I'm going to have to deal with you," he snarled.

"You picked the wrong guy to fight with," I taunted, trying to get him to attack me again.

It was successful. He threw a right punch, and that was all I needed. I grabbed his wrist with my left, and stepped underneath him, and then behind him. He stopped for a moment, and that moment of hesitation was the key to my victory. Still holding his right hand, I placed my right hand on his elbow, and forced my paws together.

A resounding snap! told me that I had broken his wrist. He howled in pain, trying to swing his other elbow back. I quickly proceeded forward, swinging his right elbow so that it lined vertically on my chest placed, hand still on his broken wrist, and pressed down again. Another loud snap told me I had broken it twice now. He was in tears, but still dangerous as he was still trying to flail around. I placed my right root way behind me, levered him on my elbow and spun outwards, and smack! hit him square in the face with my elbow, knocking him out cold. I dropped him to the ground, heart racing.

I looked over at Ian. He was dancing around with the lion, but the lion had gotten a punch to Ian's nose, and it was bloody. It didn't seem broken, but I couldn't tell in this light. I had to end this now, and call an ambulance and the police.

I made up my mind and charged for the lion. He didn't see me until it was too late. By the time he turned his head, I was already in the air, right leg curled towards my chest. I extended my leg, and my heel made contact with his face. When I think back on it, it was pretty comical to see his face in disbelief. But at the moment, this was no comedy. The lion flew backwards, landing straight on his back. I was mostly sure he was unconscious; not many could take a flying side kick well to the head. I landed on my ass, and quickly pulled out my phone, dialing 911, and throwing the phone to Ian.

"Tell them what happened, I have to stop the bleeding on the other guy; I hurt him badly," I ordered. He gave me a confused look.

"Why would you make sure he's ok? He attacked you!"

"Don't give me that shit! Just do it!"

I rushed over to the wolf who was thriving around on the ground in pain. I took off my shirt, and wrapped his wrist in it. I knew it would hurt more, but I didn't need him to actually die of infection. I held the pressure tight as Ian came up to me.

"They're on their way, police as well."

"Awesome. Go the other guy; make sure he isn't dying or something."

Ian stood his ground with an angry expression on his face.

"Why do you care? They attacked us!"

"That doesn't mean we kill them! Now go!"

"This is bullshit!" He threw his paws up and ran over to the lion.

"There isn't anything wrong! He's just unconscious!" he yelled.

"Good!" The wolf began waking up.

"Hey, don't move too much, you'll make it worse, the ambulance is on its way."

"Why...why are you doing this?"

I stared at him for a second, not really sure how to answer.

"Cause I didn't want this to happen, so I'm going to help the situation as best I can."

The ambulances arrived, and both of our attackers were carried off. I was given my bloody shirt, but I didn't want it. Not after that. Two police officers, an otter and a dalmatian, walked up to us after the ambulances left.

"Care to explain what happened here?" the otter asked calmly.

"We were snu-"

"We were walking through the park, when they started to harass us," I interrupted Ian, probably a little more rudely than I had intended. "The lion attacked Ian, and Ian defended himself. The wolf attacked me."

"Obviously, they weren't successful." There was a temporary moment of silence. "Breaking a wrist twice is a little excessive, don't you think?" the Dalmatian consoled me.

"I-I wasn't thinking. It just kind of happened."

He gave me a chastising look before continuing.

"Alright. Well, I believe you. People usually don't go around breaking wrists randomly. I personally would have handled the situation differently, but I'm a cop. As for citizens, you did well all things considered. Next question would be: would you like to press charges?"

"No." I said instantly.

"What?" Ian yelled in surprise.

"They will already have to pay medical bills. I hope they learned something from this, and I'd hate to add salt to their wounds, Ian." He frowned, made an aggravated noise, and angrily walked away. I'ddeal with him in a moment.

"Very well, we will let them know. Do you guys need a ride to your residences?" the otter offered and then handed me a white shirt. "That's from the EMT's."

"No, I think...I think we will be fine." I said, and they left.

I turned towards Ian and found he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere in the park that I could see. A sudden depth appeared in my heart, hoping he didn't just leave. I searched for a bit, hoping that he had gone somewhere to cool off, but he wasn't anywhere. I pulled out my cell and dialed his number. It instantly went to voice mail, and I hung up. A sudden realization made my heart stop. There was a painful emptiness now, and all of it pointed to one fact.

He left me.

He fucking left me. All for what, a fight that didn't go his way? Showing mercy to your opponents? Was he mad that I yelled at him, told him what to do? I didn't understand. None of this made sense. Surely, he'd stay to walk us back to his house, but he wasn't here. My mind was racing with all sorts of reasons and answers, and more of the lead to more questions, and nothing, nothing would let me realize the simple truth that he left me, abandoned me.

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I tried to hold them back. I gave myself every reason why I shouldn't cry. Why did I care? I only met him, what, 24 hours ago? It didn't matter, it wasn't a serious relationship. At least, it hadn't been. But, I knew that there was something we had, and now...I couldn't find it.

The walk back is house was was bitter. It felt a lot colder than it should have, and the unsettling feeling of numbness was quickly settling in. My body moved on its own accord. Thousands of thoughts were swimming through my head, and none of them were good. I knocked on his door to see if he'd answer; maybe he got here before I did. But there was nothing. No lights were on. I tried to call again, but got the same result. I sighed bitterly, and got in my car and headed home. All I could think about was how Ian left me, even after he told me he loved me. I think that hurt the most. I loved him, so why did he leave?

I eventually made it to my apartment and opened the door, head swarming with nauseating thoughts. I just stood on the threshold as the door swung open, eventually resting against the wall, a tear silently rolling down my face.

"Hey where have-" Neil rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Are you ok, man? Did something happen?"

I stumbled through the doorway, and collapsed on the floor, bawling. I didn't know what to do. I felt Neil's warm, firm embrace surround me, but even with all of that physical support, it did nothing for my now empty heart.

The week was painfully empty. A lot of my anger got flushed out during the night, but the emptiness still hurt. Neil was still supportive, though he never asked me what happened. He probably figured I'd tell him at some point, which I would, but I'd need to deal with it a little bit on my own.

School trudged by. I couldn't concentrate in my classes, and even with midterms coming up, I had no desire to study. Several people asked if I was alright, but I couldn't tell them what was going on. It was hard to get out of bed every day, and it was difficult to go to bed. What little dreams I had all had Ian in them. It a plague of bad memories, though I only had one. I tried calling several more time earlier in the week, but I gave up on him answering. After classes finished, I resumed training for TKD. It offered a little bit of solace during this dark period. However, even then, it was difficult to find the motivation to do well, and my performance suffered quite a bit.

Eventually, Friday arrived. It had been five days since our...break up? Were we even really dating? I didn't know what to call it. Regardless of what other euphemism I could come up with, it still hurt like hell. Classes came and went, indistinct faces ran by me, and I was still haunted by the lack of Ian's presence. As I did every other day of the week, I ended up at the gym I took TKD at. I opened the door and was greeted by Master Tull.

Well, greeted is probably an understatement. He just loomed over the front desk and gave a grunt as an acknowledgement. Master Tull is an intimidating soul. He's a 6'8'' tiger, probably about 260 pounds now. He's been through the mill and back (as he constantly reminds us), even at the ripe old age of 45. Back in his day, he not only competed and won the national tournament seven years in a row, but also traveled to Korea and became the first American to win a national competition there. He knows what he's doing, and even though he hasn't competed in twelve years, he could kick anyone's ass without much effort. I guess that what happens when you're almost a seventh degree black belt, which usually is achieved by the time someone is at least 55-60 years old.

I changed out quickly. Not even my depression was worth angering Master Tull. I pulled on my uniform, tied my belt, and entered the Do-Chang. Meditation, stretches, and basic kicks all passed without me realizing it. It wasn't until I was working with Master Tull that things began to slightly fall apart.

"Now, you're going to work on Taebaek today. It's not a difficult form, but if you aren't concentrating, you will not do well. Do you understand?" he stood over me, arms crossed with a stern expression on his ragged face.

"Yes, Master Tull."

"Shijak!"

I began my form. The beginning was easy, nothing I haven't done before. It wasn't until about halfway through when I lost my concentration. My body moved correctly as I pulled into the side kick with a back fist on my left side, followed by an elbow. Suddenly, something changed. I knew it changed, but I didn't know to stop it, really. I stepped forward, and executed a knife hand block out of habit.

"What are you doing?!" Master Tull yelled at me. I dropped my arms.

"I'm sorry; I lost my concentration, and proceed with another form."

I tried again from the beginning, making sure just not to do anything extra after the elbow. I past that point of the form and proceeded onward. Spear-hand thrust, break away from the opponent's grip, turn around into a back fist, step forward, punch and yell. No problems again.

But nothing came next. I couldn't think beyond this point. My fist was still out, and it began to shake. I dropped it and relaxed my stance. Ian's punches came to mind as I performed them. The feeling of last night returned, and even though I was in a safe environment, my heart rate still increased. I heard the sigh of disappointment behind me.

"Adam, come into my office after class. It's obvious something else is on your mind. You're dismissed." Master Tull walked away from me and tended to another student.

"Yessir..." I muttered. I returned to the changing room and sat down in one of the chairs, head in my paws. Along with feelings related to Ian floating around in my head, the sounds of the wrist snapping and the wolf crying out still lingered as a distant echo. Beyond the heartbreak, I hope to never hear those sounds again.

Class had ended, and I was back into my street clothing. I stood at Master Tull's door, waiting for him to summon me inside. Soon, my presence was requested, and I stepped inside his small office. Various trophies and awards of personal and scholastic achievements lined the walls. Several picture from various fights when he was younger (and much thinner) decorated the back wall. His sat behind his desk, typing something up on his archaic computer ("I don't need any fancy technology; this is a gym, not a library!"), and then motioned for me to sit in the chair placed in front of the desk.

"So, Adam. What's been up with you this week?" He asked as he sat back in his chair, causing it to creak.

"I'm just...slightly stressed from school. Mid-terms are coming up and-"

"You can't lie to me, boy," he said bluntly.

I hung my head, knowing it was true. Master Tull has seen me at my best, my worst, and almost everything in between. If there was anyone who knew me better than Neil, he would be it.

"I heard about last week's incident," he said, after a small moment of silence. I glanced up in shock.

"Officer Bates, the otter you met at the scene, works out here. He told me he might have met one of my students. He described you, and I told him that was you."

"How did he know I went here?"

"It's not often to find someone who was attacking someone ending up with a wrist broken in two different areas and the defender unharmed." I gulped.

"Also, he noted that you showed a certain amount of discipline in regards to treating your attackers well after defeating them, unlike your friend." So the officer told him about Ian. My heart plummeted at the mere reference to him.

"Officer Bates also mentioned that the other guy, a panther was it? He mentioned that he didn't have nearly the same discipline or skills as you did. Sounds like you took care of both attackers." A small thought budded into my head as I heard those words. Something didn't quite add up. Ian shouldn't have any problems with a single attacker given his martial arts training. Maybe...

"But, regardless. Are you still nervous from then?" I swallowed.

"A-A little. I mean, it just happened so fast. I really didn't mean to hurt him that badly, I just moved on reflex." Another bout of silence.

"I'm not here to chastise you, boy. You did what you could; you defended yourself. Survival is never paraded as glamorous. You're going to have to take some hits, and do some damage, even more so than in a sparring match. After all, there are no rules and regulations keeping you safe. But, what you did afterwards is a sign of compassion. You tended to the wounded, even if he was your enemy. That, I'm proud of." His face split into a smile. You rarely see that out of Master Tull, and it was always a good sign.

"Now about your friend, how's he holding up?"

The good mood dissipated. I hung my head down again. He sighed.

"Talk to him. I guarantee you; he's just in bad of shape as you are, and probably more so due to his pride being hurt."

"What makes you say that?"

"From the officer report, he had more injuries than you, though none were bad enough for a trip to the hospital. I assume you took out his opponent, and if he's a fighter just like you, that probably hurt his pride. He might not have told you, but it did do some damage."

"I see..."

"Go now, get some rest. Defending yourself is never fun, or easy, but you're at least okay now. That's all that matters."

"Yes sir." I stood up and left the building. It felt as though the winds were siting a bit, though I couldn't tell if it was for better or worse. Ian hadn't entirely truthful about something...maybe he was scared that I would find out? I mean, that's kind of shallow, but I mean, it would make sense if it were true.

The drive home was eerily silent. Despite the turbulent storm of thoughts clouding my head, there was a way out, or so it seemed. It was getting dark out, and if I wanted to do something, now would be the time to act. Gripping the steering wheel, I forced myself to turn left, towards Ian's house. I didn't care how long this took; I was going to sort it out right now.

I drove past Ian's driveway the first time. I had my tail between my legs; I wasn't ready to face him. But I knew I had to eventually. The second time around the block, I pulled in. My paws were shaking, I had no idea what to do, or how to handle it, or what he was going to do, is he even home, does he hate me, and of goodness, I was going to throw up. I was still holding the steering wheel, and opened the door to my car. I was still seated. I didn't want to move, but I had to. I had to talk to Ian. Letting this continue was not going to help anything, and I didn't want to sever my relationship with him, not just yet. I stepped out of the car, and my legs began to shake as I neared his door. Just as I was about to knock, I heard it.

[Author's note: This next part is based on a piece I wrote (Reflections of Navy). The piece can be found on my profile page.]

There was a dull sound, but it was unlike anything I had ever heard. Someone was playing the piano inside, but it was nothing I knew. It had such a melancholy tone, thin chords, and yet it flowed smoothly from one chord to the next, almost as if it was yearning for something. The chords were allowed to blur together, creating a somewhat dull atmosphere. I sat down next to the door and just listened. It was a beautiful piece, whatever it was, and it was very soothing. A somewhat optimistic melody now played, giving the feeling of being uplifted. There was hope. That feeling welled up in side of me, and I could almost feel the desire for reparation from the performer. The section ended after some time, and the opening material returned. The same kind of melancholy sound appeared once more, but this time there was a sense of maturity to it, kind of like the aftermath of a storm. You're alive. You may be in pieces, but you can still pick those pieces up and continue on with your life. The music slowed down, and it reached its final cadence. The last chord was struck, and resonated within my soul like no other piece had done before. I heard the sound stop after some time, and I took in a large breath, not realizing I was holding it. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek, and felt it pool at the base on my jaw before dropping off onto the porch below me. I bowed my head into my elbows, not even noticing when the front door opened. I heard a creak of the porch next to me.

I opened my eyes. Still staring at the ground, I could see a pair of black feet standing beside me. It was Ian. I knew it was. It was beginning to smell like him as well, but even then, I dared not to look up.

We stood there, slowly re-familiarizing ourselves with each other's company. To some, it would seem stupid. Here we were, almost a week ago, meeting each other for the first time. We got into an actual physical fight, got slightly mad at each other, and we were torn apart. Kind of dumb, really. But I never had such strong feelings for someone regardless of how long I had known them. I heard feet shift besides me, and the shadow next to me grew thicker. He sat down next to me in his doorway.

I really didn't know what to say. I wasn't sorry. Not in the whole "It was my fault" kind of way. I hadn't done anything inherently wrong. But I wasn't going to hold my anger on him. He didn't deserve it, at least not for this. A gust of wind blew across the porch, and I held my knees tighter. Suddenly, I felt his head lean on my shoulder. I withheld the instinct to turn him away. I knew most people would have in my shoes, but something told me that there was something more. I hadn't heard his story, and I'd need to hear that before I made any rash decisions.

"I-..I'm sorry for this week," Ian apologized after some time. I sat quietly, waiting for him to at least give me a little more.

"I know I shouldn't have left after that, but...I had...I had to rethink some things."

I remained silent.

"You see, I lied to you. I'm not a trained fighter."

"I know."

Silence.

"How?"

I took a deep breath. My suspicions were correct, but it allowed me to proceed forward.

"Master Tull talked to me tonight about the fight. One of the officers works out at the same gym, and told him about it. Basically, he said something was off about your scuffle compared to mine, and that's when I figured it out. But that doesn't matter. I don't care."

"What?"

"I said I don't care. It doesn't matter. I can live with that."

"Wait, are you-"

I lifted my head and met his troubled gaze. Now it was my time to surprise him. I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

"I forgave you a while ago. I don't care that you lied. It wasn't about something important enough to get work up over." Another deep breath. "Yes, I was mad that you left. But, over time, I couldn't hold on to that anger. It's much better to be with you than without you, you know. You may have your reasons, but I forgive you. Nothing else matters now," I explained, and kissed him again. His lips met mine, and the simple touch was electrical. The kiss was unlike any other we had. Even in just the past week, we had been through a lot, and the storm had finally begun to clear. Tears began to drip from his eyes, but they seemed to be from relief rather than sadness.

A strong breeze whipped through the porch, and I shivered.

"Come on, let's get inside before we get sick or something," Ian said as he stood up, and held my paws to support me as I stood up as well. We went inside, and he pulled me down onto the couch, kissing me passionately. Tongues made contact, mouths were mapped, hips grinded against hips....I felt like I was on a strange wave of ecstasy. Every touch was sending electrical sparks through my nerves, all focusing on my cock, but there wasn't any lust involved, just pure passion.

"I never told you, but you're beautiful," Ian commented, giving me a look over.

"Yeah? I'll probably look better when I haven't been crying my eyes out for a week," I teased, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Look, I said I'm sorry. I'll make up for it-Gah!" I silenced him by groping his crotch. I think at that point he finally realized that I didn't care anymore, and there were other matters that needed to be tended to.

I put my paws under his shirt, feeling up an impressive six pack. Deep grooves of muscle danced under my paws as he breathed. I ghosted my paws up and down his core, stimulating the thinner fur along his black belly before finally revealing his abdomen to me. It was even more beautiful than it felt. I blew butterfly kisses up to his nipple line. I saw one of his pink nubs right underneath where the hem of the shirt ended up, and latched my lips on to, eliciting a moan from Ian. He began to scratch that erogenous area behind my ears that all canines had, causing my leg to twitch. I ran my tongue of his nub, and gently grazed a tooth over it, causing him to hiss in pleasure. I pinched the other nipple, feeling it harden in my fingertips.

"Oh, that's nice..." he cooed.

I let go of the nipple in my mouth and blew fast air across it, knowing that he was definitely going to feel that. The shiver his body made was the response I was looking for. My other hand slid down his abs, trying to touch every single spot of flesh that it could.

While I was playing with his nipples, Ian took off his shirt, revealing his sculpted torso to me. I stopped my ministrations to admire his handiwork. Beyond his awesome abs, his pecs were wonderful globes of muscle. They were much thicker than my own, creating a pectoral shelf that left a shadow over the first row of abs. There wasn't any space in the center of his chest, so it was a constantly battle over room between his pecs. Slight traces of veins laces the surface of his skin. He flexed one slowly, and I watched the muscle roll up and down hypnotically, just like watching the tide.

Even with just that show, all of the visual stimulation went straight to my cock, making it painfully hard in my pants. I squeezed his chest, reveling in the hardness of them. I moved my arms outwards, and rested them on his biceps. Large mounds flared up as he flexed them as well, making my mouth water. They weren't nearly as large as Neil's was, but still. They were hard and compact. I could actually feel the blood pump into them as he flexed, and I saw the vein rise to the surface, coasting along the upper layers of skin. I slapped my hands on them. Not hard, mind you, bust just enough to test the hardness of them.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

I kissed his navel again, and began moving south. I reached around his waist, and groped his ass for a bit, feeling the firm yet soft muscle underneath his pants. Oh, what a fine ass it was. I began to strip as well, seeing as how he probably wanted to play with me as well. As soon as I removed my shirt, he leaned down and kissed my stomach. He kissed downwards, rubbing his paws from my stomach to my chest just the same as I did to him. He soon reached my pants and unbuckled them, and pulled them off.

He nuzzled up against my clothed crotch, purring lightly. Paws glided up and down my thighs as he rubbed his warm face along my boxers. He teased my balls through the fabric, taking his claws and gently caressing them. I could feel my dick start to harden, and soon, it popped out of my sheath, and began to press against the hem of my boxers. He carefully pulled the hem away, letting my hardening cock free. He continued to pull, and I lifted my butt again, allowing him to completely remove the garment.

"Wow....I got lucky, didn't I," he breathed, taking in the full view of me naked and completely erect. "You're large too...that's even better."

"I guess we're both lucky in that regard," I said, eyeing the impressive bulge in his pants. He leaned down, and began to lap at my cock. Sparks of pleasure shot through my body as his sandpaper-esque tongue danced around my flesh. I had never felt anything like this before, and I almost shot my load right then and there. He took a large slurp from base to tip, before suddenly engulfing half of my dick in his mouth.

I cried out. I couldn't help it. The sudden sensation of having my turgid cock surrounded by his hot, wet mouth was indescribable. I could feel a slight tingle in my balls, letting me know that if he kept this up, there would be something else in his mouth.

Ian started to bob his head on my cock, taking in a little bit more each time he moved down. I rested my hand on his head, scratching his ears. I don't know if cats had the same love spot as we did, but the sudden rumble of purring surrounding my cock let me know that he was enjoying it. His tongue danced along the underside of my shaft, further heightening my pleasure. I bucked my hips, careful not to lodge it too far down his throat. He reached around, and rubbed my balls. The tingling sensation grew even more present, and I felt my knot inflate.

Ian pulled off, and stood up. He glanced down at my fully engorged dick, and gave it one final rub. Pre was leaking by this point, as it trickled down and pooled at the base. I looked in Ian's eyes, those blissfully blue eyes, and knew I found the perfect lover for me. He smiled once more, and began to remove his pants and underwear.

I gasped when I saw his cock. It quite literally flopped out of his pants. It was already as large as my own, and yet it was still growing. The large pink shaft couldn't even lift itself up since it was so heavy and thick. I glanced at his balls, as saw that they were proportionally as large, both resting in a surprising taut sack. Finally, I saw the head flare out slightly, signaling the end of a glorious erection. A vast network of blood vessels lined all sides of his cock. It throbbed, and a glob of pre leaked from the tip, fell, and splattered on the ground.

"Oh my god....how big is it?" I asked in disbelief.

"15 inches long, 7 around."

"I don't know if I can take that to be honest..."

"That's fine. I'm a bottom anyways," he said with a smile and another glob of pre feel from his dick.

He gave me another kiss on the lips before maneuvering on the couch so that he was squatting right above my aching cock. His own was touching my chest, and droplets of pre landing on it, making it a slick surface. My heart was racing. I was a virgin, so this was all very new to me. The excitement and anticipation were fueling my lust, and before he could lower his hips on his own, I involuntarily thrust my hips upwards. His hole opened up for me as I slightly penetrated him.

"Oh, eager are we?"

"You have no idea. You're driving me crazy."

"I'm glad I have that effect on you. Well, it'd be rude of me to keep you waiting."

Suddenly, he impaled himself on my cock, taking the entire thing to the knot.

"Oh, fuck....." he exhaled, seeming like he wasn't in too much discomfort.

I, on the other hand, was speechless. The sudden tightness and heat around my dick was so pleasurable, I'm sure I suffered a mild orgasm right there. He pushed upwards, not taking a lot of time to adjust before he fell down again. The force was enough to make my legs tremble slightly as he fell. I could feel the weight of his balls on my lower abs, and his cock, being so heavy, struck my upper abs and chest with a sick thwack. The heat from his shaft radiated outwards, warming my belly.As he lifted back up, there was a sticky trail of residual pre that linked out bodies.

He gripped my shoulders and shifted his weight forward slightly, and then continued to slam his hips down. There was no stopping this time; he continued upwards after he hit his mark, and slammed down again, accompanied by the slap of his dick on my chest, which was getting quite messy right now. Up and down, up and down he went, gliding effortlessly along my turgid length. His pattern became familiar, and I began to thrust my hips upwards when he went down, causing him to moan in pleasure.

"Yeah, man...keep doing that...feels fucking great..." he panted. His encouragement pushed me to thrust harder, threatening to push my knot in as well.

He increased his frequency once again, and we became a synchronized fucking machine. The tingle in my balls was still present, and based on the amount of pre that he was leaking on my chest; I would guess that he wasn't far behind.

"Ian...I'm almost there..." I barely spoke. My mouth was really dry all of a sudden, almost like a mild case of cotton-mouth.

"Yeah, me too...you ready to tie me?" he asked.

"Let's do it," I said, thrusting my hips upwards one last time as he slammed down on my hips.

Pop!

Time stopped. I couldn't think; the pleasure was so intense. The tightness of his ass surrounding my over-sensitive knot was indescribable. I'm sure he was thinking along similar lines of having my knot suddenly stretching out his hole. We just kind of stared at each other, glazed looks in our eyes as our bodies connected, not only physically, but on a deeper level as well. I could feel his heartbeat pound around my cock, and I'm sure he could feel mine as well since it was beating so hard.

"Holy shit...." Ian exhaled, momentarily adjusting to the protrusion in his ass.

However, I was becoming antsy. It was becoming unbearable with release being the sole thing on my mind. I pumped upwards, hoping that Ian would take the hint. He complied by grinning at me, and then swirling his hips in a wide circular motion, creating a whirlwind of pleasure. His cock head continuously grazed along my chest, spreading the pre around.

Suddenly, I got a wicked idea. Still pumping my hips upwards creating a delicious friction as Ian swirled hips around, I grabbed his cock at the mid-way point to hold it steady, and began lapping at the tip.

The results were instantaneous. He cried aloud, gripped my shoulders, and thrust forward causing more of his cock to enter my mouth. I was so close. My balls were growing tight, and I could tell that Ian was just about as close as I was. A few more thrusts, pumps, swirls and--

"Oh, FUCK!" Ian cried out. His anus tightened, and I could feel his cock get slightly thicker in my mouth. Taking his cry as a warning, I leaned back. His cock throbbed once, twice, and then it exploded. A giant rope of cum splattered all along my face. A second one quickly followed; then a third and a fourth rope landed on my already messy face. The last bit is what set me off. His hole clenched each time, and each one was tighter than the previous, and I humped him as hard as I could during that time. I felt my knot expand slightly, and then the bomb went off.

I cried out. I don't know what I said, to be honest, but that's beside the point. I didn't come in ropes like Ian did. Rapid-fire shots spewed out, coating his insides. My hips spazzed uncontrollably, and Ian stayed put, barely holding on as his own orgasm finished. I had never had an orgasm as electric as this one had been. I fired probably a good 20 shots of semen in his ass before my hips managed to control themselves, and I slouched back in the couch, Ian falling on top of me.

"Dear god...that was...I mean fucking hell..." he breathed, barely able to form a complete sentence.

I had no words to offer. That was the most incredible thing I have ever had happen to me, and the fact that I did it with someone I love made it that much better.

He leaned in for a kiss. Our lips collided, mine still covered in his spunk, and we kissed. My body was still on its chemical high, and everything was blissfully calm and I fell into a light slumber in the arms of my love.

A couple hours later, I woke up still on the couch, covered in a blanket. I was mostly clean, surprisingly, but the smell of Ian (and his musk) still remained. I sat up and looked around. Ian was on the other side of the couch, still sleeping. He had cleaned himself up; I figured he had taken a shower while I slept because he was spotless and had clothes on. He probably cleaned me us as best as he could. He probably didn't want me to get terribly sticky, or maybe he felt bad about making a mess out of me. I eyed my own clothes on the floor, stood and picked them up, and headed for his bathroom, wherever it may be. I figured he would mind me taking a shower as well, since you know, he took one while I was sleeping. I stepped into his bathroom and turned on the light. On the mirror was a note:

Adam,

Wake me up when you're done. Also, don't use the shampoo on the right; that's my roommate's. Don't worry; he's out for the weekend, so we won't get caught.

-Ian

I smiled, and turned on the hot water. The soothing water washed over my fur, relaxing me even more than my nap did. I reached for the shampoo on the left, and began to lather myself up. Suddenly, I felt an extra pair of paws on me, also rubbing the shampoo into my fur.

"I figured you'd need an extra paw," Ian said as he pressed his body against mine, wrapping it in his arms.

"So much for waking me you when I'm done," I said as leaned back against him. We embraced for a short while. I closed my eyes. I could feel the heat from his body, especially in his groin. All of the ridges and curves of his body formed a perfect mold for my own. It was all very sensual, and my sheath began to plump up a bit in anticipation for sex. But, there'd be more time for that later, I told myself as I pulled away from the hug. I continued to shampoo myself as Ian stepped back out of the stall.

"So, I got thinking a bit," I said, now rubbing my head.

"About what?"

"So, if you're not a trained fighter, how did you know I took Tae Kwon Do? And how did you know I get hit with a back kick?"

He laughed.

"Well, I learned how to fight on the street. I didn't have to money to take martial arts, but I'd watch video's online of various kinds. Your build was similar to the fighter I watched when I went through a TKD bit. As for the back kick, well, that was based on personal experience."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Well, you already heard the first half. I got into a fight with a guy, and I ended up executing an arm bar on him. Unfortunately, he got out of it when I let my guard down, and I ended up behind him after a brief scuffle. He shot his foot back, and it caught me in the face."

"Ouch! I know how that feels," I laughed. "What happened next?"

"That was it. I fell back and ran for it. It wasn't worth it after that. I thought he broke my face."

"Well, I'm sorry that happened to you."

"It's alright. I'm alive, and I'm with you, so that's all that matters."

"Aw, you're making me blush," I said sheepishly as I finished rinsing the suds off.

"Not that it's hard to do," he smiled, and handed me a towel as I stepped out.

Suddenly an idea struck me.

"Hey, do you like fighting, right?" I asked, toweling off.

"Well, I mean, I don't want to say I desire fights, but...you know, there's always something ...relieving about them. Why do you ask? You're not going to fight me, are you?"

"No way! But, you should TKD with me."

"That's a great idea... but, I can't afford it."

"I'll strike a deal with Master Tull. I'm sure he'll allow it. He always likes bringing people in to teach, especially given your conditions."

"You sure?" he asked with some doubt.

"Well, no, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Come with me on Monday. We can talk to him then."

"Alrighty then."

I cried for joy as he said that, and we embraced each other once more.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too."

2 days later

"47...48...49...50!"

Ian stopped kicking the bag and placed his hands on his knees, sweat pouring off of his face.

"God damn, how do you do this every day?" he asked me.

"Well, when you've been at it for as long as I have, 50 roundhouse kicks are nothing. Master Tull does 200 every day as a warm-up."

"Well, shit man...." He sighed. "Well, if you can do it, I can too." Ian regained his composure and wiped his face.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I couldn't even do thirty when I was started, so at least there's that," I laughed.

"True, but I don't like being compared to you when you were a kid," he grinned, punching me on the shoulder. We both laughed.

"Take a break, and we will work on something else when you're done. I'm going to talk to Master Tull for a sec."

We bowed to each other, and he headed for the water fountain while I went and knocked on Master Tull's door.

"Yeah," he grunted, allowing me permission to enter.

"So, how's our new guy holding up?" he asked as soon as the door closed.

"Better than I was when I started."

"Older students tend to learn faster. They may not have flexibility, but that's at least workable to an extent." I nodded my head in agreement.

I stood for a moment, trying to think of what I how I was going to ask my next question.

"Something on your mind?"

I gulped. I guess it was better to be straightforward about it.

"He won't be able to pay full price to train here. You see he-" Master Tull raised his hand up, and I stopped talking.

"It's fine."

"What?"

"I have other students. One student not paying isn't going to bankrupt my business. I know he's a fighter just like you, so I trust that he will work his ass off. Plus, we could always use the extra hands around here, if he needs a job or something."

I knew the Master Tull would allow it, but hearing him actually say that was music to my ears. But, I didn't break my composure when I heard it.

"Thank you, Master Tull. I'm sure he will happy about it."

He grunted again, and I returned to the Do-Chang.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I've got good news and bad news," I said, trying my best to look somewhat grim. He sighed.

"What's the bad news?"

"You're going to have to work your ass off every day." He gave me a confused look.

"The good news is that you don't have to pay," I grinned, breaking free of my fake expression.

His face lit up and he hugged me abruptly, causing me to squeak.

"That's fantastic news! Of course I'll work hard! I mean, I have to catch up you, right?"

"One step at a time," I replied, grinning back at him. "But you know Master Tull isn't going to go easy on you, right?"

"Who cares? I can take it."

"Glad you have the enthusiasm for it; let's see if it holds up in a month."

We laughed as we headed off to the changing rooms.

Ten minutes later, we were back on the road, chatting about what exciting things could happen in the future. I knew that when we actually would get into our first match, regardless of who won, we still love each other.

After all, who says a fighter can't be a lover?