Gold Standard

by Kyell Gold

  “How does it not flood?”

  Kory waved a paw through the air. “Pressurized. We have it checked once a year.”

  “Wow. You have such a cool house. What do you use this room for?”

  “Sal and I used to play secret base with it when we were X-Force. Those boxes were our fort, and we’d retreat here to plan our attacks on the enemy.”

  Samaki grinned. “Who was the enemy?”

  “Jeff Barnes, across the street and down one.” Kory chuckled. “Dunno what happened to him. He went off to some military academy or prep school or something.”

  “Nice.” Samaki rested on the edge of the floor, his body still in the water, and looked around. “Kinda chilly down here,” he said after a moment, and sank back into the water.

  Kory nodded. “We don’t heat it. Back to my room?”

  “Sure.” But when Kory swam back, the fox split off from him, headed for Nick’s room, and Kory had to grab his foot to stop him. When they surfaced under the bridge leading to his mother’s room, Samaki shook the water from his head and looked sheepish.

  “Sorry,” he said before Kory could say anything. “I was curious.”

  “That’s my brother’s room.” Kory pointed. “That’s my mom’s room.”

  Samaki nodded. “I like these bridges, too. Perfect for hiding stuff under.”

  “Your house must be full of little hiding places.” Kory remembered all the levels and stairs and angles.

  “Oh, definitely. Got to be able to hide things from the others, and Mom and Dad.” Samaki grinned.

  Kory wanted to ask what kinds of things, but he knew what was in certain files on his computer, and hidden in a small file behind some boxes in his closet. He suspected he knew what sorts of things Samaki had, too, and grinned a conspiratorial grin. “So. ready to dry off yet?”

  “Yeah.” Samaki shook his head, spraying Kory with water.

  “Oh, don’t even think about trying that.” But the fox had already plunged back under the water. Kory followed him, catching him easily and yanking on his tail, then spinning around as the fox tried to turn and intercept him, grabbing the fox’s sides from behind, and whirling him around and around before letting him go. Samaki flailed in the water, and it occurred to Kory that, unused to the water, the fox might not be used to the kind of playing he and his brother did. He backed off and watched, but Samaki righted himself quickly and surfaced in Kory’s room.

  “Whew,” he said with a grin and another shake. “Remind me never to fight with you underwater!”

  “You okay?” Kory hung next to him in the water.

  “Yeah, just a bit dizzy. Can you teach me that move? That was cool.”

  Kory laughed. “I dunno if it’s a move or what. Just something me and my brother do when playing around in the water.”

  “I see.” Samaki flicked his ears. “I guess I’ll have to come over here to play more often, then.”

  Kory wasn’t sure what to say to that, but his heart jumped when he heard it. “Uh.we don’t really have dryers, but we have nice towels.I think you can get mostly dry.”

  Samaki laughed. “Should’ve known otters wouldn’t have dryers. That’s okay.” He got out of the pool and stood there dripping, blue bathing suit clinging tightly to his body. Kory didn’t remember it being so revealing. He wasn’t as shy about looking as he’d been at the pool, but he still didn’t want to stare. He did get a good look, though, and it was enough to keep him hanging in the water for a bit longer.

  “Can I shake in the bathroom?” the fox asked.

  “Sure.” Kory grinned and pointed. “Out there and to the right. The towels are in the cupboard just outside the bathroom.”

  “Will I have any trouble finding it?” Samaki looked down at him.

  Kory shifted in the water, not quite ready to get out. “Nah, it’s right there.”

  “Okay.” The fox padded out with his tail arched, giving Kory a nice view that he could appreciate, since the fox couldn’t see him. Fluttery echoes of the worry he used to feel danced around, but he told himself there was nothing wrong with looking. The black-furred legs with the white patch right up where they met were as nice as any girl’s he’d eyed.

  He got out of the pool himself and lay on the drying mat, stomach down. He closed his eyes and felt the mat slowly leach the water from his fur. After a few minutes of thinking about the fox and trying to make himself relax, he turned his thoughts away and tried to just blank out his mind until he felt comfortable enough to turn over.

  Samaki came back several minutes later, still in his swimsuit, fur sticking up every which way. He was trying to smooth it down with his paws, and when Kory grinned up at him, he said, “Don’t laugh. I tried to use one of your brushes, but it kept catching in my fur and I couldn’t get it to work.”

  “You didn’t use my mom’s brush, did you?”

  “Heck no. I can tell yours by the scent. I tried to clean it out, but there’s probably still some fox fur in there.”

  “No problem,” Kory said. He looked up and watched the fox watching him, and liked imagining that Samaki was eying his swimsuit, and then imagining that made him feel tingly, and he got up abruptly. “So, want to, um, play on the computer a bit?”

  “Nah, I’m okay.” Samaki yawned. “Ready to lie down, actually.”

  “Okay.” Kory turned down the sheets on the air mattress, then padded to the doorway as Samaki got into the bed. He turned out the lights and found his way to his own bed.

  His fur was still damp. He listened to the fox breathing in the next bed, and all his tensions returned. Looking was all well and good, but now they were lying a few feet away again. He was more determined than ever to initiate some contact, but rather than giving him courage, his resolve just made him more nervous.

  “Thanks for having me over,” Samaki said, and Kory heard him yawn again.

  “Oh, I’m glad to. I had fun. Hope you did too.”

  “Definitely. I like your mom and Nick. They’re nice.”

  Kory smiled. “They seem to like you, too.”

  There was silence in the room. Kory stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.

  “Kory?” Samaki said into the darkness.

  “Yeah?” He wondered if the fox could hear his heart pounding.

  “What happened to your dad?”

  The otter exhaled. “Oh. He left.”

  Samaki sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry. You talk to him at all?”

  “Nah. He lives out on the west coast.” That was already as much as Sal knew, and more than he told most people.

  “How old were you?”

  “Nine.”

  The room was quiet for several minutes. “When was the last time you talked with him? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be asking all these questions.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” And he didn’t; the usual sharp corners of those thoughts now padded by gentle black fur. “I talked to him when I was fourteen. Tracked him down and called him. I’d just gotten my cell phone.”

  More silence, then the fox, softly. “Didn’t go well?”

  Kory shrugged. “It was okay. Awkward, you know? I wanted to tell him all about the stuff I’d been doing, and he...didn’t really care, I know now. I tried calling him back later and he never picked up. So I stopped trying.” He’d never told Sal, or Nick, or anyone else about that.

  “I’m sorry, Kory,” Samaki said again, and Kory felt fingertips brush his shoulder. He reached his paw down and the fox grasped it gently.

  Kory remembered the dark street they’d walked down, the warmth of Samaki’s paw then. It was just as warm and comforting now. He sighed. “It’s okay. I’m over it, I really am.”

  “Still.” The fox seemed to be groping for words. “It just sucks.”

  “Thanks,” Kory said.

  “Your mom seems okay.”

  “Yeah, the church really helped her.” There was a time when he would have felt teenaged scorn, saying that. Now he under
stood it, and not only meant it, but felt an odd sympathy.

  “Glad you guys are okay.” The fox gave his paw a squeeze. “You take care of Nick?”

  “He pretty much takes care of himself,” Kory said. “But I used to, early on.” He remembered painful conversations when he’d been too young to understand how and why to cushion the truth for his little brother, nights when Nicky had fallen asleep crying in Kory’s bed, sullen evenings that stretched into weeks.

  “Glad he had someone to look after him.” For a long time, Samaki’s paw remained wrapped around Kory’s, the touch enough communication in the silence. Then Samaki spoke again, and Kory was surprised to hear anger in his voice. “Your dad is a jerk.”

  Kory didn’t move. The fox went on. “Look what he’s missing, what a great son he has and he doesn’t even care. He’s...” He went quiet, his breathing harsh.

  Go, you idiot.

  Kory slid easily down to the floor, crawled up next to the fox, and pulled the fox’s arm around him, then gently pulled his paw free and placed it right in the center of the white patch of fur on Samaki’s chest. The fur was still damp. He smoothed it down, letting his claws trail through it. “Thanks,” he said.

  Samaki’s arm tightened around him, and his head lifted slightly. His eyes shone in the dark. As the otter’s paw dug through his white fur, rubbing and letting his claws scritch the underlying skin, he said softly, “I thought you were interested in boobs.”

  Kory grinned, and then the perfect line came to him at the perfect time, and if that wasn’t a sign that he was doing the right thing, he didn’t know what else could be. “I am,” he said. “You boob.”

  Samaki laughed, happy and spontaneous, breaking the tension. Still smiling, he leaned his head forward until his nose was about an inch from Kory’s, searching the otter’s eyes. “Really?”

  Kory closed the rest of the distance, touching his broad nose to the fox’s narrow one. “Yeah. I...yeah.”

  Samaki rubbed his nose gently across Kory’s and then nuzzled across to rest his muzzle on the otter’s shoulder, pulling him into a closer hug. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything.”

  “No,” Kory breathed, “I’m just figuring things out.”

  The fox’s paw stroked his side. “I’m happy to help.”

  Kory buried his nose in the soft, damp black fur. “You are,” he mumbled. “You have.” The scent was strange, all vulpine, musky and unmistakably male, not at all what he was used to pressing his nose into. He breathed in and let the smell fill him giddily, and it wasn’t hard to put his arm all the way around Samaki and hug him back. No, not hard at all.

  And it wasn’t the fact that the fox was gorgeous, or hugging him back, or male, that made it easy, Kory realized in a flash. It was the fact that this was Samaki, his friend, someone who cared about him, whom he cared about in return. That had always been missing from his relationship with Jenny. He’d listened to her crises, told her about his, but she’d never said anything like what Samaki had just said about Kory’s father. He’d never said anything like that to her, either. The connection just hadn’t been there. It was here, in force, crackling between them, pulsing like a living thing. He felt thrilled, terrified, and happier than he’d been in a long, long time.

  He pressed his paw through the thick black fur, mimicking the trails the fox’s claws were leaving in his fur. Samaki rubbed down to the small of his back, further and further, but always stopping short of his tail. Kory let his paw wander more boldly, pressing into the curve between the fox’s back and his tail, feeling the bare fur and the reflexive push back against his paw. Then onward to the fluffy mass of tail, his paw sinking into it as the fox followed suit, his soft pads wandering over Kory’s thick tail. Twice, Kory tried to roll the lighter fox on top of him, but couldn’t balance properly on the air mattress. Finally, Kory murmured, “I think my bed is a bit bigger.”

  Samaki gave him a bright white smile. “Probably softer, too.”

  “Uh-huh.” He started to pull away from the fox, and Samaki grabbed his paw.

  “Kory.”

  He turned, and got a soft kiss right on his nose. Samaki’s eyes were reflecting the glow of his stars. He hesitated only for a heartbeat before kissing the fox back, his lips warming the cool nose. Then their lips touched, and he didn’t want to do anything else. His paws found the fox’s slender form again, pulled Samaki to him as he sat up and leaned with his back to the bed. The fox slid into his lap easily, strong arms sliding behind his shoulders to hold him in return, and the kiss seemed to go on and on and on.

  “Wow,” he said, when Samaki finally sat back and looked at him.

  The fox smiled, one paw tracing the curves of Kory’s chest. “Wow?”

  “So that’s what that’s supposed to be like.”

  Samaki laughed. “I liked it too. A lot.”

  Kory was aware not only of exactly how much the fox had liked it, but also of the fact that the fox could definitely tell how much he had enjoyed it. He shifted, found that the rubbing was pretty nice, and did it again intentionally. “So.up on the bed?”

  Samaki nodded, and got up. “Let me, um, do something first.” As Kory watched, the fox hooked his paws into the waistband of his swimsuit and slowly pulled it down. He watched Kory watching him, and said, “This was getting kind of uncomfortable.”

  Kory’s breathing sped up. Slowly, Samaki’s white fur came into view, as did its centerpiece, long and dark and very erect. The otter stared up at it, then up at the fox’s muzzle, smiling down at him. He struggled to his feet.

  “Yeah, uh.” It was hard to talk. “Mine too.” He pulled his swimsuit down, trying to emulate the grace Samaki had shown. As he kicked it aside, Samaki reached out and brushed claws through his stomach’s fur, one paw on either side of the otter’s stomach. Kory slipped his arms up inside Samaki’s and did the same, pressing his webbed fingers through the damp black fur, letting them stray down towards the white patch. As the fox’s paws roamed across the outside of his hips, Kory let his fingers tease the edges of the white fur, venturing ever closer to the center.

  Samaki seemed to be waiting for him. As Kory’s paw circled ever closer, the fox’s lazy caresses grew more intense, and his breathing quickened. Kory hardly knew what he was doing, but he couldn’t keep his paws away for long. He looked up into the shining eyes and brushed the back of his paw against the fox’s maleness.

  Samaki leaned forward and kissed him, and Kory could see the white tip of his tail swinging back and forth behind him. Emboldened, he turned his paw around and brushed the pads up the fox’s erection, feeling the curves and the slightly different shape. He smiled, and then smiled wider as he felt the fox’s fingers brush him, sending tingles down his legs. Together, they explored each other’s shapes, shivering at the feelings, until they ended up pressed close and hugging again, arousals buried in each other’s fur. Samaki pushed Kory backwards gently until the otter sat down, then lay down on the bed.

  The fox straddled him and then slowly lay down on top of him. Kory hugged the fox to him and they kissed again, while the fox’s tail swept back and forth over them both.

  “Mmm. What now?” Kory murmured, when they’d broken the kiss and were nuzzling.

  “Whatever you want,” Samaki said back softly.

  “Well, you’re the one with the experience.”

  Samaki laughed softly. “I just know what I want. I didn’t say I had any experience.”

  “You don’t?”

  The fox paused. His breath ruffled Kory’s whiskers. “Let’s just say that I know enough to know we should do what comes naturally. We can keep it simple this first time.”

  “Okay. That sounds good.”

  “I mean,” Samaki said with a grin, his tongue lolling to one side, “if we just keep doing what we were doing a minute ago, I think that will work just fine.”

  By way of answer, Kory brought his paw up between them, and did just that. Samaki panted over top of him, then squeezed
himself off to lie on his side next to Kory so that he could return the favor, their paws working in unison as their breath came hot into each other’s fur. Kory tried to keep quiet, a little self-conscious about his panting and grunts, but he felt less so as Samaki squirmed against him, making all kinds of little yips and squeaks. He kicked the wall once, and froze until Kory said, giggling, “That’s just the hallway.”

  It was strange, having another paw pleasuring him while going through the motions on someone else. It was wonderful, too, to feel the effect his paw was having on Samaki, and to feel Samaki’s paw and press against him to show how much he enjoyed it. Kory couldn’t remember anything so intimate, so personal, in his past anywhere. He felt his breath coming faster and harder, but it was Samaki who jerked against him first. Warmth coated his paw and the musky smell reached his nostrils.

  “Oh,” Samaki was moaning, “Kory.”

  He kept working on the otter while he moaned and climaxed, paw moving nice and quick, and Kory was so wound up that it was less than a minute before he was burying his muzzle in the fox’s fur and moaning, “Samaki.” It was an awkward name to moan, so he moaned again, “Foxy.” and that felt much better, a nice thing to moan as the fox brought him off.

  For a short span of time, they both just lay there. Samaki was the first to talk.

  “I think,” he said, “that was more than just fine.”

  “Oh, yes.” Kory pulled the fox on top of him, ignoring the stickiness in their fur. They hugged tightly and nuzzled again and again, paws stroking each other’s fur.

  “So can I ask you something?” Samaki said, and when Kory nodded, went on, “What made you decide to try?”

  “That’s easy,” Kory said. “You did.”

  “I hoped you might be gay, but didn’t want to pressure you.”

  “You didn’t. And I’m not sure I am gay.”

  Samaki tilted his head. “You know.I dunno how it is in Westmont, but back in the city, what we just did here is pretty gay.”

  “Well, I know.” Kory’s whole body felt like it was grinning. “I just meant, I didn’t decide to sleep with you because you’re unbelievably gorgeous and I’m attracted to guys. I wanted to sleep with you because you’re.because you’re you.”