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Cal opened the door to his hotel room and found his friend in a compromising position.

"Oh, fuck." Cal whispered to nobody. He stood in the doorway, unwilling or unable to walk any farther into the room.

His long ears, ashen furred, visibly twitched. Gray eyes were fixed on the scene in front of him, and he found himself drawn to it. He didn't want to look away. Given what he was looking at, Cal couldn't leave the door open for long. What if someone happened to walk by?

Though they were in a hotel that wasn't unknown for compromising situations, so it may not have been all that uncommon, after all. At the risk of a stranger walking by, looking in and seeing what he was staring at, Cal was still unable to close the door. If he closed the door, he would have to know what he planned to do next.

A week prior, Cal and his friends decided on a whim to travel together to a hotel casino and give it everything they had to win big or get laid. Times had been tough lately, and they decided that they needed a getaway. A bunch of hot-blooded animals, that was what they were, and they figured a trip to Odysseus Casino, center for depravity and debauchery, would help to take their minds off of their troubles. It was an upscale casino, pricier than Cal would have been able to afford, but he wasn't the one paying. Just because it was a fancy hotel didn't mean that what went on behind closed doors was anything of the sort. It was the sort of hotel where businessmen took escorts. There just so happened to be a lucrative casino and bar strip on the ground level.

A guest at the Odysseus could stay for an entire trip and never leave the hotel grounds. Cal had been on board with the idea (it was a mostly free vacation), and so everyone packed their bags, withdrew their savings, and they went all in.

Sticker shock had set in when Cal looked up the room prices online, but since he wasn't the one paying, all he could do was feel guilty about it. Since the rooms were so expensive, and only two of the six were gainfully employed, the group settled on getting three rooms and splitting up into pairs. It wasn't as convenient as having six different rooms, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Sharing a room with another guy gave better odds of bringing someone back to bed than a single room, jam packed with dudes.

Cal wished now, with his gaze locked on his roommate, that they had all shared one room. Then he wouldn't have been stuck standing in the open doorway, feeling the way he was feeling. His ears twitched again.

The room assignments had ended up as such.

Bennett, a successful restaurateur, owner and head chef of Cafe Horizon (and in Cal's eyes, the only reason the group existed in the first place), was paying for one and a half rooms. A tiger with light fur, stripes that looked more pencil marks than ink, and more muscles than a chef needed, Bennett was one of the kindest people that Cal had ever met. He was too kind, sometimes, as when he agreed to take six people on vacation and pay for half of it. The tiger's muscle came in handy when a belligerent customer needed to be bounced, though Bennett never used his fists. Usually, a condemning look on his face was enough to turn anyone white as a sheet.

Cal had only been slightly hurt when Bennett chose Fay, real name Morgan, as his roommate. Fay was an 'in between opportunities' actor, which made him every bit as unemployed as Cal, even if he insisted otherwise every chance he got. He was also without a doubt the cleanest member of the group, which was the reason that Cal assumed Bennett chose Fay over himself, there would be no worries about the room being a mess. Besides that, it also meant no competition, because Fay wouldn't be interested in the same people as Bennett. He would make a great wingman, though. A spike horn buck, Fay stood out from other white-tailed deer in more than a few ways.

The trip's other financier was an Egyptian mau, and Cal wasn't sure what his job was, save that it made enough money to live very comfortably. Kent was the cat's name, and he was possibly a more fashionable dresser than Fay. For work, he wore finely tailored suits, but in more casual situations, he wore outfits with articles of clothing that Cal didn't know the names of. Scarves, sweaters, coats, shirts and pants always well-coordinated and looking sharp. Kent was never caught off guard, or if he ever was surprised by anything, he never let it show. He was cool and collected, and Cal believed that he helped to keep the group grounded.

Kent's roomie was Stewart, a rat who was an on-again-off-again waiter at Bennett's establishment. It wasn't permanent employment because Stewart was a rat and people had a problem with a rat serving them food for some reason. Besides that, Stewart could manage to find a way to screw anything up. He'd regularly get himself fired for a mistake, and then later, when Bennett felt bad for him, he would rehire him. Cal was surprised it didn't cause tension in the group, but Stewart was aware he was a screw-up, and he didn't hold that against Bennett. He was just glad for the opportunity, as Horizon was fast becoming one of the most popular spots to eat in town. The rat was the youngest of the group, and Kent had taken him in to try and help him improve his social game.

With the distinct feeling of being picked last on the playground, Cal was left in the third room with no choice of who he would room with. His partner-slash-wingman for the trip would be Kip, which by itself wasn't a problem. Kip was the most unemployed of the guys, Cal hadn't ever seen Kip work a day in his life. What Kip had going for him, instead, was a particular zest for life. He knew how to make the most out of any situation. If Kent was never surprised, then Kip was never disappointed. He seemed to have no fears, no worries, and no regrets.

"Fuck." Cal whispered, eyes on Kip.

Kip was an ottsel, and Cal would have usually described him as 'orange' or 'mildly infuriating'. The moment that Cal opened the door to their hotel room, that description changed, and Cal could only partially attribute that change to his intoxication. It was hardly possible, the situation that Cal had walked in on, but there it was, in front of him.

Cal squirmed, he swallowed, he took a deep breath. His whiskers twitched.

Kip was a complex mix of ochre and pumpkins, which were the only descriptive words that Cal could wring out of his mind in the moment. The ottsel's face, belly, and as Cal could currently see, underside, were colored cream, and had the texture of peaches, looked every bit as soft to the touch. Feeling an urge to reach out and touch Kip, to see if he truly was as soft as he looked, Cal was lucky that he was still standing in the doorway. Kip was out of reach.

It would only take a few wild guesses to figure how Kip had ended up as he did, doubled over on the floor in the middle of the hotel room. The whole group had been getting drinks downstairs, losing what little money they brought to gambling, and taking their chances with getting laid. Cal and Kip had been sitting side by side on barstools, watching Kent try to teach Stewart how to play Blackjack at a table across the game floor.

"I think it's almost time to call it a night." Cal took a sip of his drink, far from his first, probably his last.

"Not a chance! Call it a night, buddy? I made you a promise." Kip was particularly good at talking clearly, even when he was heavily intoxicated. Kip was also heavily intoxicated. "I promised to be your wingman. You can't call it a night until the night is over, or until you get some tail."

"I'm not hiring a hooker, and at this point, I think that's about the only option left." Cal finished his drink in a single gulp, holding the ice in the glass with his paw.

"They're escorts when you are staying in such a fine establishment, Cal." Kip winked at him. "Can we charge escorts to the room account?"

"No, I don't think you can. Come to think of it, Kip, you're broke. Did you put all your drinks on the room account? Bennett and Kent have to pay for that, you know." Cal rolled his eyes at Kip's suggestion of paying for hookers.

"Nah, I told the bartender to put it on your tab." Kip shrugged, held up his empty glass to the bartender.

Cal's ears flopped down over his face. "If I were sober, I'd be angry. My credit card has a limit on it."

A slight orange paw patted Cal on the back. "Don't worry about it. I'll pay you back."

"How are you going to pay me back?" Cal asked. "You don't have a job. No Ponzi schemes, either."

"Nothing like that at all, pal." Kip said. The ottsel grabbed Cal's ears and pulled them up out of the way.

Ordering a drink at the bar just a few stools down was a buxom vixen, wearing a blue sequin dress that had declared war on the imagination and wanted there to be no question as to the fox's intentions.

"Her, all or nothing." Kip said.

"Are you kidding? It's practically one in the morning, and she's getting a drink at a bar in a casino. She's either some mobster's arm candy, or she's a hooker." Cal said.

"Escort. You sure are talking about escorts a lot. Are you sure you don't want to hire one, buddy?" Kip asked, quickly downing his fresh drink. With his glass empty, he waved at the bartender, and then pointed at the vixen. When the bartender told the fox that her drink had been paid for, she turned a wry smile to Cal and Kip, and she winked at them.

"It isn't paying me back if you make me pay for a drink for her." Cal smiled an awkward smile at the fox and waved at her.

"She's coming over here!" Kip squealed, excitedly.

Cal watched the fox walk, she stepped with a sultry rhythm, her chest pressed outward to highlight her finest attributes. She smiled at Cal as she approached, took the stool next to him. When Cal turned to look for Kip, the ottsel was already gone. Cal then awkwardly fumbled his way through a conversation with the vixen, and evidently there hadn't been a spark. Having struck out with his last chance for the night, Cal decided to call it a night. He expected that Kip was still out and about, hunting for prospects or drinking with one of the other guys.

Kip was in the hotel room when Cal had gotten back, and Cal had no idea what happened in the hour or so since he had last seen the ottsel.

Ass up, passed out on the floor of the room, that wasn't how Cal expected to find Kip. The ottsel had blacked out in the middle of taking off his pants, and they were bunched up around his knees. Somehow, his tail was hiked up and hanging over his back, giving Cal a magnificent view of his nether regions. Before the trip, Cal had never once thought about what Kip's parts looked like, but now he was intimately aware. The puckered hole at the base of the tail. The taut balls and sheath between his legs. The balls were what brought the peach imagery to Cal's mind. A pink tip was peeking slightly out from the end of the sheath. Overall, the whole thing looked staged, a set up.

It couldn't have been on purpose. Could it?

Kip was definitely passed out. His head was resting on his arm, and he was drooling prodigiously. The digits on Kip's paws wiggled absently. The bedside lamp was providing murky light to the room, and there was no sign of anyone else. Maybe Kip had brought someone else back to the room, but passed out before anything happened. Cal's lips cracked into an involuntary smile. That was something he could make fun of Kip for until the end of time. Though if there had been someone else there, they had left him as he was, prostrate with his ass in the air.

If Kip hadn't brought anyone back with him, why had he come back so early? The ottsel had spent the night helping Cal find someone, and he hadn't had time to find anyone for himself. Surely Kip would have wanted to go hunting on his own, but instead he had come back to the room. For that matter, the ottsel had been drinking pretty heavily. He'd have been lucky not to get whisky dick, even if he had found a partner.

All in all, it made no sense.

Cal whispered, "Fuck."

Not as drunk as Kip was, Cal was still sufficiently intoxicated, and he had already struck out with his last chance for the night. The right thing to do now was pick Kip up, put him in bed, and get some sleep. Cal could feel the warm cloud of butterflies filling his stomach, telling him not to do the right thing. He bit his lip.

He bit his lip harder.

The butterflies weren't going away.

Everything in his body was telling him to make the wrong decision, to do what he knew rationally was a bad idea, but he suddenly wanted to do more than anything. He knew it was a bad idea, but it didn't feel like one. He searched frantically for a rationalization, something to make it okay. Cal remembered something Kip had said to him on their way to the Odysseus.

The guys were piled into Bennett's SUV for the drive to the Odysseus Casino. It was to be an old fashioned road trip, even if everyone besides Stewart was already a few years older than roadtrip age. Cal and Kip were crammed into the back seat with some of the luggage. Kip was the smallest of them, so it made sense to put him in back. Cal's ears, on the other hand, were bent against the roof of the car, but that would have been a problem wherever he sat.

A suitcase was sitting in the middle seat, between Cal and Kip.

"Why don't you take some of these up there?" Cal gestured to the ample room in the middle and front of the SUV. The only thing other than the bodies was a cooler within easy reach (of course it was). Soda and snacks were important on a long drive, after all.

"Luggage doesn't go in the front, silly." Fay stuck his tongue out from the passenger seat. There was a skylight window, and Cal could've stuck his ears outside through it if he'd been sitting in the passenger seat. Fay's single horned antlers didn't even reach the roof of the car.

"There is plenty of room around Kent and Stew." Cal complained.

"I purchased most of the suitcases, remember? You and Kip _were_lacking." Kent added with a confident smile. "I think I've earned a comfortable ride."

"Why isn't Stewart sitting in the back? Sorry, Stew." Cal asked with a remorseless shrug.

"We've been other this. Stewart needs to sit in the middle where everyone can keep an eye on him." Fay answered, settling into his seat. He was wearing a teal and white sweater, and even still, he was testing the seat warmer feature of the SUV. He let out the sound of a creaking door as he relaxed.

"He's right." Stewart added with a touch too much enthusiasm. "I've fallen out of moving cars on three separate occasions in my life."

Cal shook his head, he had no response for that.

"I've been thrown out of a car once. Just couldn't keep my hands off of her." Kip added, which earned him a sideways glance from Cal.

"Shocking." Bennett boomed from the driver's seat. "Seeing as it's my car, I'll be driving the most. If we need to switch out, we'll move from front to back, skipping over Stewart, of course."

"I'm second driver! Watch out, other deer!" Fay cried.

Bennett sighed a 'please don't crash my car' sigh.

"See, it ain't so bad, Cal." Kip was currently struggling with the suitcase in the middle seat.

"What are you doing?" Cal asked, still looking askance at Kip.

"Moving. Urgh. This thing out of the way." Kip managed, with a bit of a struggle, to swap places with the suitcase, and was sitting in the middle seat now. His leg, covered by khaki shorts, brushed against Cal's leg.

"Why?" Cal blinked. It had been cramped before, now he couldn't move without touching the ottsel.

"So we can talk. I could hardly see over the suitcase. It's gonna be a long drive." Kip said.

"We could've talked around the suitcase." Cal said.

"What, and make me fight to get around it at every rest stop? Nah, trust me, it's better this way. Yo, Bennett, I've got a small bladder, so we're gonna have to stop a lot. Fair warning." Kip said.

"Fair warning would've been before I let you come on the trip." Bennett said.

"Anyway, if you don't wanna be close to me, Cal, buddy, it's gonna be a long week. You're going to be seeing a lot of me." Kip laughed cryptically.

Fay turned and looked back at Cal and Kip before settling back into his seat. Cal wasn't sure what Fay's glance was all about. "You were easily my third choice for roommate." Cal said.

"At least I made the list!" Kip said.

"I was first and second choice, right?" Fay asked from the front.

"No." Cal answered, still smiling.

Kip was right, if Cal was uncomfortable, it was going to be a long week. The reason the six of them were going on a trip was to forget their troubles at home. It wouldn't do to find new troubles on the trip. Cal took a deep breath and forced himself to feel better. He flinched and tensed up when Kip's arm draped over his shoulder.

"You may not have chosen my as your roommate if you had a choice, Cat, but, buddy boy, I am gonna make you a promise. I'm gonna be the best wingman money can buy." Kip leaned in close as he talked.

"I don't think I'll need your help. I've got my guitar in the back for a reason." Cal boasted confidently.

"Cal, Cal, Cal. You're not in college anymore. Women won't swoon over your serenade. You'll need more than that." Kip said.

"He's right. More mature women have more refined tastes." Kent said.

"I'm still in college. Can I get women with a guitar?" Stewart asked.

"No, Stewart. The strings would snap the second you picked it up." Kent said.

"Yeah." Stewart agreed with a nod.

"Just follow my lead, and you'll be fine." Kent said.

"Same goes for you, Cal. You stick with me, we're going places." Kip said.

"Places like the outside of a moving car." Cal said.

"Only once. And I got to second base before." Kip said.

"You all suit yourselves. I'm not going to have any trouble getting lucky, in the casino and out." Fay said, winking at everyone.

Bennett coughed conspicuously. "You're my wingman. You can't go off on your own until I...uh..."

"Don't worry! You'll be fine. I know it's been a while for you. You're a hunk, though, no worries." Fay said.

"I've just been focused on Horizon." Bennett defended himself.

"And it's a good thing you have been. Otherwise, where would we all be?" Fay asked.

"That's no mystery. I'd be living at home, Kip would be passed out in a gutter..." Cal said.

Kip nodded in definitive agreement.

"I would have less friends. I'm uncertain of what would become of Stewart, however." Kent said.

"Oh, who can say? It wouldn't be good, I can tell you that much." Stewart said.

As the scenery outside flew by, and the car's AC warmed up enough for sweaters and jackets to come off, sleep eventually came. Fay snored innocently in the front, while Kent slept sitting straight up in his seat. Stewart was leaning with his face plastered on the side window.

"Look at them. Bennett, Kent. Even Stewart. Do you know what they are?" Kip asked Cal, who had been happily staring out the window, waking him from his doze.

"Our friends. Who we are lucky to have." Cal said.

"Wrong! Our enemies. There are only a finite number of women available to sleep with at any given time. For each time they succeed, we have failed." Kip said.

"I...hadn't thought of it like that." Cal said hesitantly.

"That's why you need a wingman! Someone to be on your side, to make sure you are the winner. By day, those schmucks might be our friends, but by night, they're our nemeses." Kip insisted.

"What about Morgan?" Cal asked.

Fay is a wild card. He could help us," Kip said, staring intently at Fay, "he could hurt us. Women find him nonthreatening."

"I wonder if he really will have an easier time..." Cal whispered.

"He absolutely will." Kip said. "Less competition. But besides that, some stereotypes are true."

"What would you know about stereotypes?" Cal asked.

"I know! I've got experience." Kip said.

Cal's ears twitched, his whiskers twitched. "Experience?"

Kip shrugged. "Yeah. Went out with Fay to a club once, one thing led to another...no big deal. I like to try new things."

"Wait, with Fay?" Cal asked with wide eyes.

"Oh, no, not with Fay. Just nobody." Kip corrected him.

I like to try new things.

Cal couldn't fall asleep after that, even with Kip having gone out like a light, leaning sideways with his head resting on Cal's shoulder. Bennett and Fay had switched out driving, and Fay was the only other passenger awake. Cal didn't wake or move Kip, though he wasn't sure why, especially since the ottsel was warm, too warm with the car heater on. He let the ottsel sleep against him and simply stared out the window thinking about what Kip had said.

The door to the hotel room was still open, and Cal was still staring at his friend's upturned rear end. Kip was smaller than the rest of the guys, head at Cal's shoulders, and he must have been drinking to keep up with the rest of them. Then he passed out in the room before anything else could come of it. There was definitely no secret, hidden meaning. The ottsel had just passed out with his pants down.

Until the moment that Cal had opened the hotel room door, he had forgotten about what Kip had said during the drive. As soon as he saw Kip on the floor, it changed what he thought and what he felt. It brought to mind questions about why Cal had let the ottsel sleep sidled up against him, and other thoughts that Cal dared not think. It brought a warm feeling to his stomach, and a haze to his head. Well, that was the alcohol.

"Fuck." Cal said.

It was because it was that instant, as he found the compromised ottsel, his friend, that he realized there was something he wanted. He was confused, certainly, but he was also drunk, which was clouding his judgment. The butterflies in his stomach were the sort that pushed him to do things that he wanted to do, even when he shouldn't. After all, the opportunity might never present itself again. He wanted to ottsel, and he might never have the chance.

Cal was sure it would never happen, it would definitely never happen, if he let the moment pass, that he would approach Kip and proposition him.

What Cal needed to know was how deep his feelings ran. Was it purely physical, or a mistake? They may go away as soon as he lay a paw on kip. Maybe it was more than that, maybe he had been blindsided by real feeling for his old friend.

Kip let out a loud yawn and shifted, causing Cal to flinch. The door was still open, meaning Kip's rear was still on display for anyone walking by. It would really only be polite to close the door. Cal was just afraid of what he might do if he closed the door and gave himself privacy. Cal shook his head, whipping his ears around. Even if he felt more than just a drunk, physical attraction, there was no way Kip would be interested. He claimed to have had one experience, because he liked to try new things. That didn't mean he wanted to try anything with Cal, and it wasn't like the ottsel had admitted to being bi.

Cal wasn't sure if he was bisexual or not, either, so that reasoning didn't get him anywhere.

With a hefty sigh, Cal stepped in and closed the door behind him. The room was quiet, he could hear the ottsel's breath as it pulled slowly in, let gently out. Kip's body moved slowly along with the breathing. Cal put his key on the TV stand and stared down at Kip. It was adorable. Bending down, Cal placed his paw on Kip's tail, satisfying his curiosity of feeling the ottsel's peach underfur.

"Hey, Kip. Wake up." Cal touched the ottsel's back, but Kip didn't stir.

Carefully working his paws under Kip's belly, Cal lifted the ottsel up into a sitting position. He was heavier than Cal expected, given his size, but not more than he could handle. Without Kip sitting ass up, Cal thought that he desire might fade, but he found it stayed just as strong. It took a little more effort to raise Kip off the ground, and as he did, the ottsel's half removed pants slid over his feet paws and onto the the floor in a heap. Dragging just the ottsel's paws on the carpet, Cal tried to pull his friend towards the bed.

As he struggled, that was when Kip stirred. He said something that wasn't a word, and Cal looked down to see the ottsel's eyes gazing up at him. "Didja get lucky, Cal?"

Cal smiled and shrugged, leaning Kip against the bed so he could lever the entire body onto the mattress. "Yeah, Kip. You could say I got lucky."

Kip's eyes closed and he smiled broadly. "Good, good."

"Enough talking. We need to get you to bed." Cal insisted, but it wasn't what he wanted to say. He wanted to confess his feelings, go all in and see where it landed.

Kip was already asleep again. He was sprawled out on the bed, atop the blanket, with his arm draped over his peach belly, legs and tail stretched out to length. Cal watched the ottsel's belly rising, falling softly with each breath. He was watching for a few minutes before he realized he was just standing in the middle of the room, staring at his friend sleep.

With a small head shake, hoping to do away with his impure thoughts, Cal slipped into the chair in the corner of the room. Sitting next to it was his guitar, which he picked up and readied. Plucking on a few strings, he took a moment to tune it. Trying to play a song he knew well to warm up, to calm down, he found himself unable. His fingers wouldn't have it. They were distracted, there was something else they would rather be plucking. He was distracted. As he half played songs he knew by heart, he half watched Kip sleep.

His mind wandered to other places, and he found himself thinking about how he and Kip had met.

It had been when he was in college, and he had been living in an apartment near campus. Living on campus cost more than he wanted to afford, and he liked to save money when he could. It wasn't much money that he saved, paying for an apartment of his own near the college, but at least he had his privacy. If ever he wanted to bring someone home, there was no need to worry about roommates screwing things up.

After Kip showed up, privacy was a foreign concept to Cal.

Cal had made a breakfast spread, and was looking forward to enjoying it. Bacon and eggs, toast, orange juice, and banana slices. Cal didn't always cook a full breakfast, usually just having cereal or a pastry, but he had time before class, and he had woken up hungry. Feeling brave, he cooked the bacon without putting on a shirt, taunting the universe. Once his breakfast was ready, Cal felt the need to go to the bathroom.

So he did.

After he finished his business, he danced his way out of the bathroom, checking himself out in a full length mirror as he passed. The dancing continued through the bedroom, all the way back to the kitchenette slash living area. He was in a particularly good mood that day.

His mood soured and he stopped mid-moonwalk when he saw there was someone in his apartment.

"Awesome dance moves, buddy!" The intruder said around a muzzle full of bacon.

Instead of asking who the Hell he was, Cal stammered, "That's my breakfast!"

"You just left it sitting out in the open. It was up for grabs." The orange weasel said, chomping down a mouthful of eggs.

"It was not 'in the open'. It was in my apartment." Cal looked around. His ears were flushed, he felt more embarrassed than angry for some reason. The fact that the guy broke into his apartment and stole his breakfast made him angry, but he was flustered that he'd been caught dancing around his apartment in his underwear.

"Sorry." The orange weasel offered without guilt. "I was on your balcony, and I caught a whiff of this bacon, had to have it."

"That makes sense, I could see where you got confused. Why the Hell were you on my balcony?" Cal crossed his arms over his bare chest, his cotton tail twitched in frustration.

"You live next door to a girl." The orange weasel said, raising his eyebrows, as if that was all the explanation that was needed.

Cal stared, ears twitched.

The orange weasel raised his eyebrows again, slowly, noticeably.

Cal shook his head. "Get out."

"Can't." The weasel said, biting a piece of bacon in half. "I'm hiding."

"From my neighbor." Cal said. "You were over there, and you came over onto my balcony, to steal my breakfast."

"Oh, no. First, I was over there, and I needed to sneak out She wanted to get coffee." The weasel said, "Can you believe that? I'm not a relationship type of guy. So I snuck out onto the balcony, climbed over here. That was when I smelled your breakfast, really great, by the way, and that was when you came dancing on in."

Cal made frustrated noises that weren't words. He was flabbergasted.

"Okay, alright, calm down, buddy. Let me buy you breakfast to make it up to you." The weasel offered.

"What if I had been some jock tiger who beat the shit out of you for breaking into my apartment?" Cal asked.

"I didn't break in. Your balcony door was unlocked. Anyway, I saw you last night on my way in. You looked like a nice guy, I wasn't worried." The orange weasel finished the breakfast, looked at the glass of orange juice, and then into the kitchen. "Got any milk?"

"Fresh out." Cal lied. "You want to buy me breakfast? Then just leave the money and get out of my apartment."

"Nah, nope, can't. I don't have any money to leave you." The weasel turned out his pockets, they were empty. "I'm, how do you say, unemployable. But I know a place we can go, the food'll be on the house."

"So in order to get back the breakfast you owe me because you ate mine, I have to go hang out with you." Cal threw his paws in the air, turned on the spot.

"You got it." The weasel said with an indefatigable smile. "I'm Kip. Now, lets go get breakfast. I'm starving."

"Cal." The rabbit said wearily and he went to go get dressed.

The restaurant they had gone to was Bennett's, and it was because of that trip that the group came to be. Cal and Kip didn't become instant friends, but over the following weeks, Kip kept finding his way onto Cal's balcony, no doubt looking for more food to steal. Against his better judgment, Cal didn't lock the door. Eventually, Cal came to expect to find Kip in his place when he got back from classes, and he got used to having the ottsel around.

Cal put his guitar on the floor a bit too hard, and the strings let out an off tone. Kip was sleeping on top of the blanket, and Cal thought at the very least, he should cover him up. He was naked, after all. Cal didn't want to cover up the sight, he wanted to look at his friend. He walked slowly over to the bed, arms crossed over his chest, eyes guiltily watching Kip's chest and belly rise and fall.

Against his better judgment, Cal reached his paw out and placed his palm against Kip's belly. He wanted to feel the fur again, and it was as soft as it had been half an hour ago. He brushed his fingers through Kip's belly fur, and then pulled his paw away. A yawn overtook him, and he figured it was time to get to sleep.

A glance to the empty bed behind him, then back to Kip's bed, Cal stood between the two, unsure of which to choose. Cal was drunk, as was Kip, which gave him plausible deniability in the morning. Being drunk was a good excuse to get away with things you secretly wanted to do. Cal sat on the empty bed, took off his shoes, and unbuttoned his shirt, all the while keeping his eyes on Kip. He tossed his shoes across the floor, followed by his shirt. He hoped that it made it look like he stumbled into the room, undressed while drunk, and fell into bed.

His pants presented a problem, Cal couldn't decide whether to leave them on or take them off. Would it be weirder if he took his pants off? Kip was naked, too, and likely wouldn't remember how he had gotten that way, so he couldn't hold it against Cal if they were both naked. Then again, if he took his pants off, he may have been too tempted. A stray thought occurred to Cal, he realized that Kip had been going commando, and he smirked. Was that always the case?

Making up his mind, Cal tossed his pants to around the same place on the floor as his shoes and shirt, though he decided to keep his underwear on. He clicked off the lamp and walked around to the far side of the bed. The room was furnished with a pair of double beds that were just big enough to fit two if they were close. Kip took up more than half the space in his drunken sprawl.

The two had already been close, physically, during the car ride to Odysseus, so it was no big deal. Cal found a satisfied warmth spread through his belly as he climbed into the bed and lay sideways, his back against Kip's side. It was an innocent, honest mistake. He'd just climbed into the wrong bed when he got back in the middle of the night. Cal smiled, enjoying the feeling of Kip's rhythmic breathing behind him.

Cal was taller than Kip, so with their heads in the same place, Cal's feet reached the end of the bed, whereas Kip's tail tip hardly reached that far. Though he was satisfied being close to Kip, Cal still couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, trying to keep his back against the ottsel. In the end, it was to no avail, and Cal rolled over to his other side. His face was close to Kip's muzzle. The ottsel's tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth, and he was still drooling. Cal chuckled, shook his head, and tried to stay stiff as a board, so he didn't reach out and grab Kip.

That proved not to be very comfortable, either, and Cal was just about ready to retreat to his own bed with his metaphorical tail between his legs and put the entire mess behind him. Before that, he wanted to give it one more shot. Letting his tension go, he let himself lay how he wanted to. Arms spread forward, one draped over Kip's chest, the other under the pillow, below Kip's head. One of his legs slid forward, pressed against the lower of Kip's body.

Finally, Cal was comfortable, and sleep came.

"Housekeeping!" came the knock at the door.

Cal woke with a start, confused by where he was. Over the night, as he had been sleeping, he had pulled Kip's smaller form into the rabbit version of a bear hug. His arms were wrapped around Kip's waist, and his legs were tangled with the ottsel's. They were asleep on top of the blankets, and Cal was in his underwear. Kip was naked, but (adorably so) he had pulled his tail up between his legs and tucked it against his stomach.

Housekeeping knocked again, and Cal still hadn't said anything. If he didn't speak up soon, they'd let themselves in to turn down the room.

Kip was awake, he was staying stock still and his gaze was locked forward. He didn't move, and he didn't protest. "Make them stop knocking...hangover." Kip whined.

Cal struggled to pull his arm out from under Kip's body, shook the tingle out of it, and ran to the door before it opened. After arranging to have housekeeping come back later, Cal put the 'Do Not Disturb' tag on the handle, and then ran his paws along his ears, pulling them down and letting them snap back up.

A groan came from the bed, and Kip pulled a pillow over his face. Mercifully, Cal shut the curtains as far as they would go, bringing sweet darkness to the room.

"Must've been a doozie of a night." Kip muttered from under his pillow.

The ottsel's face covered up, there wasn't much for Cal to look at except the rest of Kip's body, neck to toes, and everything in between. Oranges and cream, scruffy and soft. "Uh, yeah. You could call it that."

Kip slowly slid the pillow off of his face and looked at Cal. "Wait."

"What?" Cal asked, glancing sideways at the perfectly made extra bed.

The ottsel looked all around the dark room, saw Cal's clothes and shoes tossed about randomly. "How drunk did you get?"

"How drunk did I get? I should ask you that. I came back and found you...passed out. It's like you didn't even try to get lucky last night." Cal accused, taking the attention off of himself.

"I was more focused on you, buddy. Getting you a date, I mean. Not you personally." Kip said. "What happened with that?"

"Eh," Cal waved a paw in the air. "I just wasn't feeling it, so I came back to go to sleep. We can try again tonight, right?"

"And then you accidentally got into the same bed as me?" Kip asked, not accusatory, only curious.

Cal smiled and pulled a single ear down, held it in his paws bashfully. "I guess I got pretty drunk myself."

"That's that, then. We'll both have to give it our all tonight!" Kip said, and then he stuffed the pillow back over his face and groaned. "Shouldn't have talked so loud."

Cal stared at the ottsel, huddled under the pillow, tail stretched out long, no longer covering the bit between his legs. He couldn't believe that Kip was just ignoring that he woke up literally in Cal's arms. "Kip, you're...um...poking out a bit there."

Kip swatted at the air. "I told you you'd be seeing a lot of me this week. Did you seriously not take phys ed in school?"

"There's a difference between sleeping naked and spreading your legs." Cal said, snatching a pillow up from the extra bed, dropping it on Kip's crotch to cover what he truthfully did want to look at.

Kip snickered. "You should try sleeping naked." He peeked out from under the pillow. "Then again, rabbit shaped underwear is more common than ottsel. I've gotta get everything made custom, ya' know?"

"I had honestly not thought about your underwear." Cal said, sitting down on the bed.

"I guess it's a good thing you didn't sleep naked last night." Kip had the pillow covering his eyes, but he made sure that Cal could see him smirk.

The rabbit frowned, crossing his arms again. "I told you, I didn't really know what I was doing. I was drunk. I barely remember it..."

"I remember." Kip said, which sparked worry in Cal's belly. "I mean, I remember a little bit. I heard you playing guitar. That's all, I remember the guitar."

"I sure don't. I must have been pretty drunk to forget playing my guitar." Cal forced a fake smile.

"Must've." Kip agreed.

Kip was willing to let it go, to not talk anymore about waking up with Cal's arms around him, nearly naked in the same bed. Cal could drop it, the ottsel would let him, and he knew that it wouldn't ever come up again. He could push the memory down, not think about Kip's ass anymore. He could let it all go.

Cal couldn't really do that.

"Kip, can you sit up for a minute?" He asked, and he walked around to the side of the bed he had slept on.

"What's up?" The ottsel sat up, letting the pillow fall off of his face, joining the pillow on his lap that was covering his privates.

Cat sat on the bed, a thousand different words trying to say themselves, he couldn't make his mouth move. Kip waited patiently, hung over eyes enjoying the darkness of the room, but he watched Cal as he waited.

"When I came back to the room last night, I found you passed out." Cal said.

"You already said that, pal." Kip said.

"Shh. Just...shh. Wait." Cal took a deep breath, bit his tongue, steadied himself, and then he grabbed his ear with both paws again. He sat sideways on the edge of the bed so that he could look Kip in the eyes when he told him the truth. "I found you passed out on the floor, with your ass in the air, pants around your ankles."

Kip laughed at himself, but if he had been embarrassed, he didn't let it show. "Okay, you got me. I was more drunk than you were. Thanks for putting me in bed, then, buddy."

"No." Cal sighed. "I stared. For a while. I don't know why I think this, but I can't help thinking it. I need to say it, so that if it's going to mess up our friendship or whatever it is, it can do it sooner than later. Nothing had to come of it, but Kip, your ass is magnificent. And I was thinking about it all night."

"Oh." Kip said. "I didn't know you..."

"I'm not. I mean, I wasn't. I didn't think I was. But I didn't accidentally choose the wrong bed. I got in with you on purpose." Cal choked out, twisting his ear in a tight coil.

"Nothing has to come of it." Kip said, looking into Cal's eyes. "But then, what do you want to come of it?"

"I don't know. I just want to stop thinking about your body." Cal said.

"Obviously a night's sleep hasn't helped with that." Kip smiled.

"I guess not." Cal nodded, unsure how Kip could keep smiling.

"You haven't told any of the other guys about this?" Kip asked.

"What do you mean? No, this just happened last night. I've never thought about it before." Cal said.

"Okay." Kip was still smiling. The ottsel was always smiling.

"Alright, so I told you. Let's go get breakfast." Cal stood up quickly.

"Wait. Do you think it'll go away on its own?" The ottsel asked.

"I don't know. I've never had thoughts like these before. They're just there, and I can't get rid of them." Cal said.

"We can go get breakfast, if you want." Kip offered, and after a pause, "Or we could stay here. Get it out of your system."

"Get it out of my system? You mean..." Cal took a step back, his head beat picked up, his stomach turned over. The same feeling from the night before, the butterflies, filled his entire body.

"Come here." Kip patted the foot of the bed, just past his feet.

Cal didn't say anything, he didn't argue, he just walked over and sat where his friend had ordered him to.

"I don't think it will go away. I think it'll get worse. So we just get it over and done with, and we move on." Kip said.

"I don't..." Cal said, but he didn't know what he wanted to say.

"Kiss me, buddy." Kip said nonchalantly, as if it were the same as asking Cal to grab him a beer. When Cal didn't answer, he rolled his eyes. "Neither of us got lucky. We're just two horny guys."

"Two horny guys..." Cal repeated.

"Kiss me, pal." Kip commanded.

Once again, without argument, Cal reached his paws over and placed them on his friend's shoulders. Leaning forward awkwardly with his mouth open, he tried to kiss the ottsel.

"Oh God, is this how you kiss women?" Kip chided. "Like this, buddy." The ottsel had to lean up slightly, but he pressed his own lips against Cal's and closed his eyes.

Kip leaned back, and he pulled Cal down with him, who followed willingly, so that the ottsel was against the bed, and the rabbit was looming above. Their lips pressed against each other, the breathed each other's air. That was all, no tongue, no more touching besides paws on shoulders. Cal pulled away from the kiss and stared down at the ottsel, who was pinned to the bed by the rabbit's paws.

"So what do you think? Still got the bug, or is it gone?" Kip looked up at the breathless rabbit.

"I think I want you." Cal whispered.

Kip smirked, and when he smirked, Cal only wanted him more. "See, I promised I'd make sure you got lucky."

Cal leaned down and kissed Kip again. This time, the ottsel opened his muzzle, and the rabbit opened his. Their tongues met, and now Cal was pinning Kip to the bed by his shoulders. They kissed deeply, Cal was desperate to get his tongue inside the ottsel's muzzle. Their whiskers tickled against each other. After a minute of passionate kissing, Kip reached his fingers up and pressed them against Cal's chest. He pressed until the rabbit let up on the kissing and leaned away slightly. Then Kip placed a finger over Cal's lips.

"First things first. I've said before, I'm not a relationship kind of guy." Kip said.

"I said your ass is magnificent, not your personality." Cal clarified.

"Glad to hear it. Second, don't tell the guys, okay?" Kip said with a nervous expression. To wit, it was the first time that Cal had ever seen worry in the ottsel's eyes.

"Kip, are you sure you're okay with this? If you're just doing this for me..." Cal said.

"No, I'm not doing it just for you." Kip smiled and winked, looking as joyous as ever. "I like to try new things. You're new for me."

"Alright. I'm not going to tell the guys. What would I say? 'Hey, guys, I accidentally screwed Kip instead of a lady!'" Cal joked.

"You're screwing me?" Kip asked.

"Quiet." Cal shushed Kip by filling his muzzle with his tongue again.

The rabbit's paws let go of Kip's shoulders and brushed through his soft fur, feeling his chest and neck. Kip let out a soft moaning sound through the kiss which served to spur the rabbit on. Cal was familiar with Kip's scent, ottsels were weasels, and weasels were musky, but he'd never found it to be intoxication before. Now, he couldn't help but take in the ottsel's musk as he breathed through his nose during the kiss.

Kip wasn't content with only having things done to him, so hit ottsel paws started to stroke against Cal's stomach, digits running through the fur. The orange fingers found themselves at the waistband of Cal's underwear. They stroked along the edge, but they didn't intrude. The rabbit's belly twitched involuntarily as it was stroked.

Kissing and stroking, feeling claws against flesh and teeth on tongues, the friends enjoyed each other. Cal's underwear and the pillows between them protected both of the guys' nethers from creeping paws. Cal breathed deeply through his nose, enjoying the scent of the ottsel, and through his mouth to share the ottsel's air. If the mental image of Kip's ass had disappeared while they were making out, Cal could've stopped.

The thoughts didn't go away, and he wanted to look at it again.

Fumbling for the pillows, Cal tossed them aside, they bounced off the wall, something broke, neither noticed. The rabbit sat up and scooted back, wanting to look Kip over properly, instead of furtively and in secret. As he remembered from the night before, his friend's body was bafflingly attractive. The ottsel wasn't in shape, but he wasn't unhealthily large either. He was just...average. His cream underfur ran from his face down his neck and belly, between his legs and up to the tip of his tail. Everything else was a mix of light and dark orange. His feet paws each had three wiggling digits, enticing Cal to come back.

Kip waited patiently as Cal looked him over.

The rabbit wallowed and his ears twitched as he looked once more on the ottsel's sheath and balls. He'd wanted to touch them since the night before, and here they were, on display specifically for him to touch. They did feel like peaches after all, Cal learned as he brushed his fingers against them. The squeaking noise that Kip gave served as further encouragement. As Cal cupped the balls in his hand, he realized he had no idea how to handle them. He'd handled his own balls before, but not another guy's. Gripping them ever so gently, he moved his paw up to Kip's sheath, and emerging from that, Kip's cock. Cal was not traditionally attracted to guys, or cocks. At least, he had never been before, that seemed to have changed. The butterflies in his stomach urged him on, revealed the truth, that he was attracted to Kip and everything that came along with him.

Cal was unfamiliar with cocks other than his own, including ottsel ones. Because of this, Cal had no idea if Kip's cock was an average size for an ottsel, or larger or smaller. No idea at all. It was about the same size as his own, which Cal thought was an average size for a rabbit, but Kip was much shorter than him. That made it relatively larger. It was slick, pink and red, with a pinhole at the top that was dripping drops of precum, making it glint in the low light of the room.

Having gotten a good look, Cal descended on the ottsel again, kissing him while his paws caressed the sheath and the cock that emerged from inside. As they kissed, Kip's paws were suddenly less concerned with Cal's underwear. The small hands worked their way down from the rabbit's twitching belly to his groin, grabbing at the bulge in the fabric. There was a wet spot on the underwear, and Cal's cock had already come out of his sheath, dripping as much as Kip's was.

It felt good, Kip's paws on his parts, and Cal made noises so the ottsel was aware that he enjoyed it. Cal's junk didn't care if it was a guy or a girl grabbing at him, both felt great. They didn't feel the same, Kip's paws had a different grip than a woman's might, but Cal wasn't going to complain. Sparks were flying, he didn't want Kip to ever let go.

Kip reached his paw inside the underwear and grabbed onto Cal's cock without the fabric in the way. Cal shuddered and made a noise caught between a moan and a grunt. Rabbit paws worked furiously to push the underwear out of the way, legs struggled to kick the garment off. They caught around his ankle, and he ignored them.

Cal lowered his body down on top of Kip, and because of their height difference, Kip's sheath was pressing against Cal's belly. Like this, Kip's paws couldn't reach Cal's cock anymore, but the rabbit didn't mind. He had other plans. As Cal began to grind his cock against Kip's tail, the ottsel's cock pressed against his belly, and the ottsel gave another approving squeak. Pressed body to body, grinding a kissing, Cal enjoyed the ottsel's warmth and softness. The orange fur was slightly rougher than the cream underfur, but all of it felt blissful in the moment. Still, there was something on Cal's mind that he couldn't get over.

Fighting off his urge to hump Kip's tail until he came, Cal stopped and sat up. Kip's mouth followed his up, tried to keep kissing even as the rabbit pulled away.

"What's up? Change your mind?" Kip smiled up at the rabbit, and the smile drove Cal crazy.

"No. I just need to see your ass again." Cal's ears were flat against the back of his skull.

Kip chuckled and flipped himself over obediently. Laying on his belly, his figure was flat except where his tail base jutted up over his rear. Cal nearly reached out to forcefully pull that tail up, but he waited to see if Kip would do it on his own. The wait was excruciating. Instead of just lifting his tail, Kip rested his head on his arm so he could look back behind himself. Then, he shifted his legs to his ass was propped up, and he was on his knees. He raised his tail up and hung it over his back.

"Wait." Cal's eyebrow raised, and his ears perked up. "That's the same way I found you passed out last night." He had to fight the urge to dive onto the ottsel's back.

"I know." Kip simply shrugged.

"You bastard. You absolute bastard." Cal said.

The ass swayed back and forth in the air, and Kip smiled toothily.

Cal didn't hold back anymore. If the ottsel was asking for it, he was going to get it. Scooting forward, the rabbit lined his cock up with the ottsel's pucker at the base of his tail. Cal's cock was slick from the dripping he was doing at the mercy of Kip's paws. Pressing his tip to the tight hole, Cal looked worryingly down at Kip's face to make sure it was okay. The ottsel was still smiling.

Cal pressed into the hole, and there was resistance at first. He kept pushing, and he gasped loudly as his tip finally disappeared under his friend's tail. He closed his eyes and groaned. The ottsel's insides were warm and tight, unlike anything he had felt before. Cal's closed eyes kept him from seeing Kip grinding his teeth, but the ottsel didn't complain out loud, he let the rabbit keep on pushing in. Cal's jaw went slack and he pushed in absentmindedly, forgetting to worry about his friend's comfort.

The rabbit's paws held tight to Kip's thighs, pulling the ottsel closer as Cal pushed forward. The rabbit leaned forward, his muzzle resting on Kip's back, smelling him. The musk had intensified as they had gone on, and the ottsel smelled even more strongly now than he had before. When their balls were touching, Cal opened his eyes and looked down on Kip. The ottsel was smiling back at him around his gritted teeth. The ottsel gave a weak thumbs up, and one of his eyes twitched.

Cal would've been happy to stay there forever, but housekeeping would be back eventually. Not to mention if they took too long, the rest of the guys would wonder where they had gotten off to. Also, Cal was actually hungry, and did want to get breakfast. The rabbit was already close to the finish line, it wouldn't take long for him to get there. He didn't know how close Kip was, or how difficult the ottsel was to get off in general. His paw wrapped around Kip's cock and he decided to make sure he got there. It was only polite.

Enjoying his own cock pressed deep into the ottsel's body, Cal pumped Kip's cock as if it were his own. It was the only way he knew to get a guy off, the way he got himself off. It seemed to work, the ottsel's breathing began to change. He would inhale sharply, then let out a slow breath. As he got closer, Kip started to squeeze his read on Cal's cock, though Cal wasn't sure if this was reflexive or on purpose. Either way, the rabbit couldn't wait any longer.

Cal tried to keep his paw stroking over Kip's cock as he started slow, steady thrusts. He knew as soon as he sped up, it would be over, and as much as he wanted to finish, he didn't really want it to come to an end. Kip was squealing now, but he wasn't complaining. The rabbit humped like a rabbit should, the bed squeaking and rocking beneath them. Kip let out a long moan, and Cal felt a warm wetness fill his paw. The ottsel's cock twitched as he came, filling Cal's paw and soaking the bed beneath. Cal drove deep into the ottsel, pulling out and pushing back in quickly until he reached his peak. Forcing deeply once more, Cal felt himself spilling his seed in sprays deep inside of his friend. He kept stroking Kip's cock absentmindedly as he came, until Kip laughed and desperately swatted Cal's paw away.

After, there was quiet, the two friends close to each other, each thinking about what had happened. It was dark, and only occasionally did sounds wander by outside their door. Cal slid off of Kip eventually, and they looked off in different directions, pondering the darkness. By the time they got showered and dressed, it was lunch time.

Bennett was arguing with Fay about something when Cal and Kip joined them at their booth at the Odyssey, the not-creatively-named restaurant inside the Odysseus. The place was decorated with gaudy Greek decorations, but Cal noticed a few details that were more Roman than Greek. The joint didn't sell Greek food, either, just normal bar food during the day and a pricey plated meal at night.

The tiger was sitting across from the buck, and Kent was sitting across from Stewart. Kip and Cal forced themselves onto the edge of both seats, squishing everyone else in.

"This booth isn't big enough." Cal complained.

"We would've gotten a bigger one, if we'd seen you two since last night." Bennett said, pressed against the wall. Whatever he had been arguing with Fay about was apparently over now.

"Don't you two check your phones? I was starting to think you got Hostel'd." Fay said, less squashed, since he was sitting next to Stewart and Kip, the smallest members of the group all on the same side.

"We didn't get...Hostel'd." Cal assured him.

"Nah, guys, have you ever gotten so lucky, they wanted it again in the morning?" Kip gave the group a voracious grin.

"Maybe, maybe not. But there is no way that happened to you." Kent said.

"Believe what you want." Kip said, inspecting the claws on his hand.

Cal looked at Kip across the table, they made brief eye contact, and Cal looked away when his stomach was once again consumed by butterflies.

"I don't believe most of what you say." Kent said.

"Whatever. If you two did get so lucky, you know what that means." Fay leaned onto the table so he could talk to Cal and Kip at a normal voice level.

"What?" Cal asked.

"It means you've got to be wingmen tonight. If you did get any, you were the only ones, so it'd be selfish for you to only worry about yourselves." Bennett said.

"What happened to everyone else? I thought you all had fool-proof plans. Especially you, Kent. No offense, Stewart." Kip didn't sound too broken up about it, though.

"None taken." Stewart added cheerfully.

"I got distracted." Kent said. "At the tables."

"I was on my own." Bennett glared at Fay. "My wingman ran off on his own. I haven't tried to flirt with anyone in years. It was a total disaster."

"Don't be too hard on him Bennett." Kent said. "Morgan couldn't help himself, right?"

"I ran into someone I used to know." Fay said. "Then I had to spend the rest of the night hiding from him."

"He could have at least explained as much to me." Bennett appealed to Cal and Kip to take his side.

"It was one hundred percent a huge emergency." Fay insisted.

"Drama queen." Bennett said.

Fay stuck his tongue out at the tiger.

"Sounds like things only worked out for you to." Stewart said.

"You got it." Kip smiled.

Cal watched the ottsel's eyes and lips as he talked. He didn't know how Kip could lie so easily. The rabbit was fighting a battle with himself, against urges to be closer to Kip, or to tell everyone what had really happened. Neither would serve any purpose, they were stupid urges. Kip's lies made more sense, but Cal still didn't understand how it came to him so easily.

"I think the casino is cheating." Kent said.

"If you weren't winning, that's the only possibility." Stewart said.

"You should really be angrier with me for ditching you." Kent said.

Stewart stared at Kent for a moment, and then faked an angry expression.

"That is not working. Angry does not suit you, Stew." Cal said.

"Eh, Calvin's right. Don't be angry." Kent said.

Stewart sank back into his seat.

Cal still watched Kip, and he caught the ottsel looking at him. Their eyes met again, and they both looked away quickly. They didn't speak about what had happened. Kip had made it clear that he wasn't the type to have a relationship, and what happened had only been done to satisfy Cal's curiosity. Even though he understood that, Cal couldn't stop thinking about it. He thought about what they had done, and why they had done it. As the days passed, he was worried that what happened at the Odysseus would truly stay at the Odysseus.

The rabbit wasn't even interested in a steady relationship, he didn't want to introduce Kip to his parents or build a life together. He just wanted Kip in his bed at night, and he was surprised that he still felt that way after what they had done. He had expected the feelings to go away afterwards, and though they didn't talk about them, the feelings remained. Kip made no indication that he was interested in Cal any further, though the rabbit did catch the ottsel glancing at him every so often. Cal convinced himself it was his imagination.

The end of the vacation came soon enough, and the six friends stood outside the SUV in the parking structure. Everything was packed inside, it was time for them to return to the lives they had been avoiding. Cal hadn't expected things to change while they were away, it was just meant to be a way to forget rent and debts for a week. A gift from Bennett and Kent, really, since they bankrolled it. Cal hadn't expected anything from the trip to follow him home, and now he was disappointed that something was being left behind.

"Do you want to sit up front this time, Cal?" Fay asked, though he was already leaning on the passenger door.

Cal looked inside, saw the same cramped conditions as the drive up. "No, it's fine. I'll sit in back again."

Fay was inside the passenger seat before Cal finished talking. Stewart and Kent too the same places as before, leaving Cal and Kip in the very back once again. Cal climbed in first and pushed the suitcase from the middle of the seat to the far side.

"We've got to do this again sometime." Kip said.

"Easy for you to say, you didn't pay a dime." Kent said.

"Part of why I think we should do it again." Kip clambered over Cal to the middle seat. Everyone was bundled up in jackets, it was cold outside, but as with the drive up, they would shed the extra clothing when the SUVs heater caught up with them.

"What I think he wants to say is 'thank you'." Cal said.

"You're going to be paying me back. Especially you, Fay." Bennett said.

"What did I do?" Fay asked. He saw something out of the corner of his eyes, and he sank down into his seat, hiding. "Shh, he's out there."

Bennett rolled his eyes and started the car. It meant the end of their trip, and as soon as they were home, everything would be back to normal. Except for how Cal felt.

They drove, and it was quiet for a long time. Everyone was exhausted after the trip, Cal wasn't sure if there would be much talking during the drive. Evidently everyone had their own adventures during the trip, but no one seemed in the mood to share. Cal and Kip certainly weren't. The quiet soon gave way to sleep, and like before, Cal stared out the window while Bennett drove. Everyone else was asleep. Fay snored, Kent and Stewart slept leaning against each other.

"It's cold." Kip muttered sleepily, leaning against Cal, trying to leech his warmth like a parasite. The ottsel absentmindedly pulled his coat on top of himself, and it covered both the ottsel's and Cal's laps.

"It's not cold." Cal whispered. The heat was on and everyone had taken off their jackets hours ago.

Kip was smiling, and one of his eyes opened, looking up at Cal. The ottsel was leaning the entire side of his body against the rabbit, the same way he had done on the trip up, but it felt different this time. Under the coat on their laps, an ottsel paw shifted.

Cal smiled down at Kip, and then he turned, smiling out the window instead. They had gone on the trip to get away from their troubles for a few days. Cal hadn't expected much to change, maybe things hadn't changed as much as it seemed. He had no idea what this meant, or where it would lead. The future wasn't important. Kip's paw found Cal's, and finger threaded through finger, hands held tightly, hidden under the coat. It wasn't cold, but Cal was willing to put up with the jacket on their laps if it meant he got to hold Kip's paw in his own.

Cal didn't know what Kip wanted, he didn't know what he wanted. What he did know was that Kip wasn't the type of person for a relationship. Kip's eyes closed, and he fell asleep. Cal lightly squeezed the ottsel's paw. Maybe Cal didn't want a relationship. This was all new to him.

In time, he became tired, and he dozed off. His head leaned left, resting on top of Kip's head, which was leaning on his shoulder. Their paws were still wrapped tightly around each other.

In the passenger seat, Fay opened his eyes and quietly turned to look back at the sleepers behind him. He saw Cal and Kip leaning on each other, and he smiled before settling back into his seat.

"About time, Kip." He whispered.

"What?" Bennett asked in the suddenly broken silence.

"Nothing." Fay said, and he went back to sleep.