Gold Standard

by Kyell Gold

  Gold Standard

  by Kyell Gold

  Published by 24 Carat Words at Smashwords.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

  Cover artwork by WFA. See more at http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/wfa/

  Heart and vines elements on cover by Rogue Design and Image. See more at http://www.clipartof.com/portfolio/pamela

  “Aquifers” originally appeared on Yiffstar.com (now SoFurry.com), subsequently as part of “Waterways.” © 2005, 2008 Kyell Gold.

  “In Between” originally appeared on FurAffinity.net, subsequently as part of “Out of Position.” © 2009, 2010 Kyell Gold

  “Secrets” originally appeared on FurAffinity.net, subsequently as part of “Out of Position.” © 2009, 2010 Kyell Gold

  “Don’t Blink” originally appeared in Heat #4 from Sofawolf Press, subsequently as part of an upcoming League of Canids collection (2011). © 2007, 2011 Kyell Gold

  “Jacks to Open” originally appeared on FurAffinity.net. © 2006 Kyell Gold

  “Race to the Moon” originally appeared in New Fables 2009. © 2009 Kyell Gold

  “Drifting” originally appeared on FurAffinity.net. © 2009 Kyell Gold

  “How to Get Through the Day” originally appeared on FurAffinity.net. © 2011 Kyell Gold

  “The Prisoner’s Release” originally appeared in Heat #1 and #2, subsequently as part of “The Prisoner’s Release and Other Stories.” © 2002, 2007 Kyell Gold

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Aquifers

  In Between

  Secrets

  Don’t Blink

  Jacks To Open

  Race To The Moon

  Drifting

  How To Get Through The Day

  The Prisoner’s Release

  Further Reading

  Introduction

  Thanks for picking up this collection! I put it together to be a manageable introduction to my work, with complete stories (there are stories that later became parts of novels, but they have endings) that won or were nominated for awards, either on their own or as part of a larger work. All of the larger works are available in print from Sofawolf Press or FurPlanet, and online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.

  Most of these stories have been available in various venues online for free for quite some time, but they have not previously been collected into a nice package. If you’re familiar with my work, you will find old friends herein, and maybe some new ones.

  If you are not familiar with my work, I should warn you that these stories contain varying amounts of gay sex in varying degrees of detail. If that sort of thing bothers you, then I encourage you to try out these stories anyway. You can always skip over the parts you don’t like. I have tried hard to construct good stories that include the sex, but don’t depend on it, and I’ve heard from many people who are not into gay sex who still enjoyed my stories.

  Each story has an introduction explaining where it came from and whether it’s part of or related to a larger work. You can find more about me and my work at my website, www.kyellgold.com, and I am also on LiveJournal (KyellGold), Facebook (Kyell Gold), FurAffinity (Kyell), SoFurry (Kyell), and Twitter (@KyellGold).

  Welcome to my worlds. Hope you have a long and happy stay.

  -Kyell, June 2011

  Aquifers

  In 2005, I had written a good number of short stories, and I was interested in doing a more in-depth exploration of coming out, and a romance that would be strong enough to pull someone out of his shell. I set the story in high school, where a lot of kids question their sexuality, and posted it to a free website in late August.

  Well, a lot has happened since then. The story was a familiar one—high school coming-out stories are perhaps the second most common gay furry story, after the “converting a straight friend” story—but “Aquifers” was a little more in-depth than the traditional one. I heard from hundreds of readers that they loved the story, identified with Kory, and wanted more. “Aquifers” quickly became my most favorited story on the site, and as I thought about it, I realized that there could be more story to tell.

  I wrote “Streams,” a much longer part, and posted it a year and a half later. And by then, I already knew that I wanted to finish the story. Since part 1 had been named for underground waterways, and part 2 for aboveground waterways, of course it made sense to call the third part “Oceans,” and the complete novel “Waterways.”

  “Waterways” was published by Sofawolf Press in 2008, and won the Ursa Major for Best Novel. It remains one of my most popular titles. I am proud to present to you the story that began the novel: “Aquifers.”

  [return to TOC]

  Under the water, everything else disappeared. The heavy, dry world dragged him down, but the water was his element. Kory wished he could go to school in the water; in the northwest, he’d heard, there were aquatic schools for otters, beavers, mink, and water rats. But he didn’t live in the northwest, and there were no aquatic schools in Hilltown.

  Only two public pools, even, and they were always crowded with non-aquatic kids, splashing around and screaming in the shallow water. He cut from one side of the deep end to the other, holding his breath as long as he could so that he could knife through the water, eyes open but unfocused, reveling in its rush through his fur, the low rumble that was all the outside world filtered through its insulating layers. In the water, he could go anywhere, do anything.

  He angled to the surface for only the space of a breath. The other swimmers in the deep end were laboring near the surface, struggling to do their laps. He slid under them with ease, swimming in circles, touching one wall after another.

  A shadow lurched towards him. He changed direction fast, and stars exploded around his head as he hit something much harder than water. He pressed both his webbed paws to his head, bobbing to the surface. Kicking to keep himself afloat, he leaned against the edge of the pool. The shock wore off quickly, letting in sharp, searing pain. “Ow. Ow ow ow.”

  “Man, I’m really sorry,” said a low tenor voice behind him. He smelled wet fur and musk. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” He found the spot on his head that had hit the wall, probed with his fingers, and winced. Experimentally, he ducked under the water, but the coolness only soothed a little, and his head started to throb from the pressure. Time to get out, definitely.

  He broke the surface again, hung there, and sighed. Behind him, the same tenor said, “It doesn’t look too bad.”

  Kory ‘d figured the guy would’ve taken off once he said he was okay. He turned and looked up.

  Crouched on the side of the pool, a young fox about his age smiled back at him. His fur was the color of night, glossy with water, except just under his throat, where a shock of white dripped. His long tail lay curled behind him, plastered to the tile around his long legs. “I mean, there’s no blood in the water,” he went on. He had deep, dark eyes, but his smile was warm and genuine.

  Reflexively, Kory sniffed his paw. “No, I’ll be fine. Just need some rest.”

  “If there was blood,” the fox went on, “you’d have to watch out for the sharks.”

  Kory blinked at him. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “Those pool sharks are bad news.”

  The fox laughed. “A sense of humor is a good sign. You probably don’t have a concussion.”

  “Concussion?”

  “My mom’s a nurse,” the fox said. “Co
ncussions can be pretty bad. And the victim might not know he’s got one.” He stroked his chin with a paw. “You probably shouldn’t swim any more. I know it’s not my business.”

  “Wasn’t planning on it,” Kory said. He rested his elbows on the edge of the pool, looking up at the fox.

  “Then, uh,” the fox looked away, “can I buy you a coffee or something? I feel really bad about that still. Besides, if you’ve got a concussion, you might lose consciousness in the next hour.”

  Kory was about to say no, but the clock on the wall behind the fox caught his eye. It wasn’t even three yet, and he’d hoped to stay out until at least four, which would get him home just in time for dinner. And then he looked at the fox again, at the deep black fur and the patch of white fur on his chest, and the smile under the dark eyes, and something made him say, “Sure.”

  “Great.” The fox stuck out a paw. “I’m Samaki.”

  “Kory.” The otter lifted a paw and grasped the fox’s. Samaki had a strong grip, confident, but not too hard.

  “I’m gonna hit the shower,” the fox said, releasing Kory’s paw and standing in a fluid motion. “Takes me longer to dry than it does you, I bet.”

  Kory just nodded. Now that the fox was standing, he could see two other patches of white on the nearly-nude obsidian form. Dangling just above the floor, the tip of the long black tail was white, though grimy from resting on the dirty tile. And beneath the trim stomach on the left hip, a small patch of white fur poked out above the dark blue Speedos the boy wore, matched by two triangles below, one pointing down the inside of each thigh. Kory blinked, abruptly aware that he was staring at another boy’s groin, and looked up. “Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’m done too.”

  Clambering onto the side of the pool, he cursed the clumsiness he always felt when getting out of water. He still had to look up at the fox, he found; Samaki was a good foot taller than his five feet one inch, which left Kory’s eye level right at the bottom of the white patch on the fox’s chest. He must be an athlete, Kory thought to himself. Good chest, good shoulders, good arms, good heavens, am I really thinking this? But it was natural, he told himself. Rivulets of water drew his eye to the curves of the chest, and the shoulders that flowed gracefully into well-toned arms. Kory wondered which sport the fox played. All of the foxes he knew were in track, but Samaki was tall enough to play basketball, if he wanted.

  “Haven’t seen you at this pool before,” Samaki said as they walked to the locker room. “New to town?”

  “Nah,” Kory’s short legs had to hurry to keep up with the fox’s long strides. “I usually go to the Caspian.”

  “Oh,” Samaki said. “I hear that’s nicer.”

  “It’s okay,” Kory said. “Pool’s bigger, and there’s a section just for aquatics there.”

  “Not many `quatics in this `hood,” Samaki said.

  Too late, Kory realized that Samaki must live around here. “This is a nice pool,” he said. “Water’s clean, and there aren’t too many guppies.”

  “Guppies?”

  They’d reached the locker room. “Non-aquatic cubs. Their parents bring them to the pool hoping they’ll learn to swim, or just to get rid of them, and they splash and run around and shriek and get in everyone’s way.”

  “Guppies.” The fox laughed. “I was one once. I think I’ll start using that.”

  “Be my guest.” Kory was oddly pleased by the approval.

  He hesitated outside the large group shower. Normally he’d take his suit off, but having met Samaki, he felt, ironically, shyer than he would if they were strangers walking into the shower together. He walked in with his suit, and was relieved to see Samaki do the same. They didn’t talk in the shower; Samaki rubbed shampoo all over himself, while Kory just rinsed. This pool didn’t carry the right shampoo for his fur, whose natural oils kept most of the chemicals off anyway, so a good rinse would have to do until he got home.

  The dryers were individual booths. Kory selected one of the two that was not occupied nor marked out of order, stepped in, and closed the door. Now he took his suit off, stood in front of the blowers at the back of the stall, and hit the switch. Warm air poured over him in waves. The throbbing in his head even eased somewhat as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth.

  He peeked out of the door when he was done before emerging. Samaki was nowhere in sight, but over the scented dryer air, Kory could smell the fox’s musk. He padded around a beaver who was cleaning his long, flat tail, and opened his locker.

  Just as he was getting his shirt on, movement caught his eye. He looked up to see the black fox emerging from the dryers, naked and holding his blue bathing suit in one paw. With dry (or mostly dry) fur, he looked puffed-out and comical, and he must have known it, as he smoothed down his fur with his paws. Still, he was as striking as he’d been by the pool, especially his long, fluffy tail with a newly-clean bright white tip. Kory could also see the full patch of white between his legs now, but didn’t allow his eyes to linger there long.

  Samaki waved cheerfully to him and walked over his way. “I’m right here,” he said, indicating a locker on the other side of the beaver, who was just finishing up. Kory turned back to his own locker, getting the last few things out of it, and when he looked back, the black fox was just pulling a pair of black briefs up his legs, hiding the white patch again.

  He wasn’t looking at Kory, but the otter didn’t want to just walk out without saying anything. On the other paw, he didn’t want to call attention to the fact that he was watching the fox put his underwear on. So he waited until Samaki had tugged on a pair of shorts that ended just above the knees, and then coughed and said, “I’ll just hang out outside.”

  “Hold up, I’m almost done.” The fox pulled out a white tank top and forced himself into it, then threw a light jacket over his shoulders. “Okay, let’s go.”

  “Getting too warm for this already,” he remarked, sliding the jacket off and swinging it over his shoulder as they stepped out into the street.

  The light breeze felt good against Kory’s damp fur, but the day was still surprisingly warm for late March. “It’s been warmer lately,” he said inanely.

  “So, where do you want to go?” Samaki asked, turning to him.

  Kory looked around the street. The half block between the bus stop and the pool entrance, which he’d seen for the first time that morning, was all he knew around here. He glimpsed a familiar green sign a block in the other direction. “Starbucks?”

  Samaki’s ear flicked. “Sure,” he said. “But that one’s kinda crappy. There’s a better one a block and a half that way.” He jabbed a finger towards the bus stop. “You mind?”

  “Nah, go ahead. I don’t really know the area,” Kory said.

  “It’s not quite Caspian around here,” the fox said as they started walking.

  “But you’ve still got Starbucks.”

  Samaki laughed shortly. “They’re pretty ubiquitous, don’t you think?”

  The four-dollar word surprised Kory. “Yeah, I guess they are,” he said. He rubbed his head.

  “Still hurt?” The fox’s ears sank.

  “Don’t worry about it,” the otter said. “Really, it’s just a knock on the head. I’ve had worse.”

  “I still want to make sure it’s not a concussion.” They rounded the corner onto a smaller street, lined with closed metal gratings and faded awnings. Only two stores looked as new as the Starbucks at the other end of the block, and one of those was an adult book store tucked into an alcove, set back from the street.

  They walked past a small pizza place whose smells made Kory’s stomach growl. He glanced around at the litter on the street and the faded window signs, then back at the fox. Samaki’s muzzle was turned slightly toward him, but even though the fox looked quickly forward when he saw Kory looking at him, Kory saw in the bright light that the dark eyes were not black, but a deep violet. He’d never seen eyes that color before.

  “So what’ll you have?” Samaki said as they pushe
d the door open and entered the cool, familiar coffee shop.

  Kory took a moment to look around at the art, the scattered chairs and tables, the rack of newspapers and the items for sale. This Starbucks was much the same as all the others he knew. They were a comfortable, known environment, and he felt safer here. Even if he didn’t know where he was when he walked out that door, he knew where he was in here. “Uh, just a tall coffee, I guess.” He usually ordered a hot chocolate, but that sounded like a kid’s drink.

  Samaki shook his head. “No caffeine.”

  “Oh. Decaf, then.”

  “Milk and sugar? I usually dump a lot in mine.”

  “Yeah. Lots,” Kory added with a grin. “Sounds good.”

  “Okay. I’ll get it. Go ahead and sit down.” The fox waved him toward the chairs and walked up to the counter.

  Kory walked slowly to the only padded chairs in the shop, fortunately empty now, and swept his tail aside as he sank into one. He watched Samaki order, smiling at the barista as he leaned against the counter, big fluffy tail arched confidently behind him, and thought about the midnight fox with the violet eyes. He was good with words, no question, and he seemed earnest enough about his clumsiness in the water. The thing that bothered Kory was that the fox seemed a little too solicitous, as though he expected something from Kory.

  Problem was, the otter had no idea what that might be.

  All he could do, he decided, resting his aching head against his paw, was find out more about the fox. It wasn’t as if he was fighting off friends with his claws these days, anyway. So when Samaki returned with two cups and set one down in front of him, the first thing he said after “Thanks” was “So what school do you go to?”

  “Hilltown P.S.,” Samaki said, blowing on his coffee. “You?”

  “Carter,” Kory said.

  “So what brings you to Hilltown Municipal? Caspian closed today?” The fox took a sip and leaned back.