Together at Last
#1 of Gifts
This is a Christmas Present for my wonderful and handsome boyfriend, Lance25. Merry Christmas! Apart though we may be, we'll be together soon. And this is how it might look. Enjoy!
I stared out my hotel room window at the blinking lights of Detroit's skyscrapers as streaks of grey clouds slid lazily across the great black yonder. A plane's lights blinked red and green overheard as a smile struck me in the muzzle. I glanced over to the clock at my bedside table. 5:57. My heart vibrated like a sound wave, my legs giving way as I laid back onto the soft, cream-coloured bed sheets, my form sinking into their comfort as my foot paws hung over the edge.
I stared up at the ceiling, exhausted from the seven hour flight. I yawned, arms outstretched as I flipped over onto my stomach, worming my way over to the bedside table to start the coffee maker. I needed to be awake. Lucidity was a necessity for the meet and greet I had planned. After downing a bitter mug of coffee, I reached over the side of the bed to where I knew my messenger bag had been placed, opening the zipper and removing my laptop from within. I grinned like a greedy child on Christmas as I opened the device, gazing at my reflection as it booted up. I saw an unreasonably giddy snow-furred husky with black-tipped ears that matched the colour of the hoodie that wrapped around his form. He wiped the sweat forming on his paws on his jeans, nervousness mixing with joy to make an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach that somehow felt so right.
I booted up skype immediately, the conversation from four weeks earlier flashing into my mind.
'Have you got anything planned from the twenty-eighth to the second?' I had typed, hopes high.
'Not a thing,' he responded quickly, a smile gripping my face, refusing to let it go. 'Why?'
'That's my weekend off. Be on skype, okay?'
Just like he promised, after the login process in my hotel room, the name Lance was seen on my list of online contacts. I felt my tail attempt to wag beneath me. Everything was going perfectly today.
'How're you today?' I typed. He took a while, and the reason why was clear after he replied.
'Relieved. I was... starting to think you wouldn't show. What do you want to talk about tonight?'
'Actions speak louder than words.'
'That'll be difficult, lol.'
'Not as difficult as you might think.'
'?'
I was giggling from sheer happiness. He had no idea what he was in for. This was going to be too good. I was so jittery I couldn't stay sitting down. I stood up and started pacing, balancing the laptop in one paw and typing with the other.
'Come and get me.'
It typed in the address and the room number of my hotel. I never got a response. He went offline and my heart bounded. Either he thought it was a joke or he was on his way. I couldn't sit still for a moment. I was pacing all over the place, heart thumping as I anticipated any and all possibilities. The most likely was that he was on his way, but that just increased the volume of sweat dampening my shivering fur. I shouldn't have been nervous. We had "talked" so much on skype, so many hours ticked away as we just sat there typing our innermost feelings to one another.
Of course, the counterargument was that I wasn't very good with face-to-face. I had admitted this fact early on. We had never even heard the other's voice. I was suddenly nervous as blood rushed to my face. Had this been a bad idea? Being spontaneous like this? You are dumb Zack! Such an idiot. Maybe he was insulted and went offline out of disgust.
However, I calm down and realize that that just wasn't him. Not the cutie-pie boyfriend I had met online. Not the bear who had charmed me over to him in this way. Anxiousness bounding around like a kit on a giant sugar rush within me; I leapt onto the bed and squeezed the daylights out of one of the pillows as if it was him. I couldn't help myself. The sweet, caring words I had read off that screen ran through my brain so many times that I imagined him before me now, being crushed in my embrace like the pillow I had coiled within my arms.
And then the imaginings dissipated, replaced more with reality for every rap upon my hotel room door. My ears perked and I bolted from the bed as if it were composed entirely of needles. I rounded the corner and pulled the door open without a second's thought.
A smile took hold of my face and refused to let it go. My hands shook as I stared unblinkingly at the picture on my desktop background come to life. There he was. My bear. The one whom my heart yearned for, despite him being two feet in front of me. In the real, solid flesh. His brown-furred muzzle smiled back at me, a tinge of red sneaking through the forest of fur on his face. I stared into his eyes, my green ones reflected back to me through those endless brown pools. He wore a baggy green t-shirt and black jeans. Between his two ears sat a baseball cap I had seen before, the triforce symbol embroidered upon its front. That was all I registered before I went into autopilot and wrapped my arms around him, my head landing on his shoulder like it was almost meant to. A warm, euphoric feeling spread through me like a liquid, starting from my throat as my face burned. He wrapped a pair of shaking arms around me, caressing my back as his warmth surrounded me. I pulled him into the red-carpeted room for privacy, shutting the door behind him.
We hugged again. It might have lasted forever were our arms more capable. He had tilted his head placed on mine. I could feel him breathe over me. It was such a hypnotic sound. First in, then out. The tempo of this exchange of air sped up as my wagging tail tapped his legs repeatedly.
However, like I said, our arms lost their strength and instead we broke apart, staring awkwardly at each other. The millions of words that we had typed to each other online held no sway over us now. I had never blushed so intensely in my life. We looked away for each other, still smiling as if we'd won the lottery. I might as well have. He is the greatest prize I could win. No words were spoken for so long, we might as well have met in a library. I finally worked up the courage to look up bashfully at him. He still couldn't bear the thought of glancing at me. We had wanted this for so long... but now that we had it... it was a strain to even summon the strength to speak. My heart was beating so fast I was afraid I would faint.
I took one of his hands into both of mine, squeezing it in an attempt to transfer my feelings to him. He somehow became ever redder, looking me in the eyes.
"I... I... um..." I had tried to talk, I really tried. I started giggling at my own stupidity. It was terribly unromantic, but soon I had burst out into a chuckle at the thought of this. Two furs, talking about something like this for... months, now unable to even muster anything beyond a stuttering when the dream becomes real. I was laughing like a schoolchild who had gotten away with some immature prank. He followed suit and we relaxed into each other's embrace once more, our arms gaining their second wind.
"Ha ha... ha... that's... we are so..." I managed to get those words out. How, I will never know since that was all that broke the confines of my muzzle.
He attempted to stifle the laughter by kissing the top of my head ever so softly, running his hands down my back. Melting was mandatory.
On an impulse, I broke apart from him and yanked him by the arm towards the bed, collapsing onto it and dragging him down with me. My bear landed next to me, still grinning with that infinitely long grin of his. I grasped his paw in mine and with a renewed vitality, I spoke.
"I... I want you to know that I've been waiting way too long for this," I said, gripping his paw tighter.
"I can't believe-" he finally responded in a voice that made me ears melt along with the rest of me. They went flat as the dumbest look of pure happiness washed over my face. He paused when he saw that, letting loose one last chuckle for the road. "I can't believe you did this without telling me. I..."
He stopped talking when he saw the unleashed interest radiating from my eyes. I gave him a smug look.
"Hey, where's the tease of a bear who kept telling me how much he wanted this?" I winked at him and released a playful smile as I unzipped my hoodie. His face went into surprise. My ploy having succeeded, I snickered and zipped it back up, sticking my tongue out at him.
"Now who's the tease?" He joked. "You did this so suddenly. I didn't even think before I came over. I didn't even..."
"... shower?" I finished his sentence, embarrassment striking him. I chuckled again and pounced. He jumped in surprise as I pinned his shoulders to the bed, smiling down at him maniacally as my tail wagged behind me. "I could smell it when we hugged. I don't care. In fact, I prefer it. I like my male smelling like a male."
He looked so embarrassed that I thought he would try and run away, afraid that I had actually been a creeper looking for a victim this entire time. To rectify this fear, I relaxed my grip on him and placed my head under his, my ear on his chest. His breathing slowed as did his heartbeat, his hands eventually coiling around me once more. I did the same, wrapping ourselves in one another.
"Sorry. That was too forward." I explained right away. Now it was my turn to be hopelessly embarrassed. "I'm not sure how to do this. I mean this is my first time I've ever had a boyfriend and-"
"I know. It's fine... I... I'm nervous too."
"No kidding?" I asked sarcastically.
"No kidding. You... You've made me so nervous with how amazing you are. You've been so sweet to me, so kind, so... cute." I felt his face increase in temperature. "I was so nervous of what you might think when you opened that door. Truth be told... I was standing out there for five minutes thinking about it."
"Hey!" I shouted, genuinely insulted. "We talked about this. Talk about yourself like that and you're gonna get it, boy!"
"Get what?" He asked, half-expecting the answer with a hint of glee in his voice.
"This!" I squeezed my arms as tight as they would go. I heard him gasp as lungs emptied. "Heh, this is what you get! Bad boy! And I'm gonna keep 'cuddling' you like this until you say a nice word about yourself!"
"Not... sure... if I... want... that... or... not..." Lance explained, struggling for air. I moved upward on his body for more leverage, squeezing him slightly tighter. "Okay... Okay... I'm... handsome."
"There we go," I said, loosening my grip fully without removing my arms from his body. "You told the truth. There's a good boy."
I playfully scratched behind his ears before returning to snuggling. He grinned bashfully, taking me into his arms once more. I kissed his cheek, giving his muzzle a flirtatious lick. He blushed again. There was no stopping it. It made me feel so wonderful to be able to bring these reactions out of him.
The rest of the evening was spent watching James Bond movies I had brought over. We sat at the head of the bed, my head resting on his shoulder and his head resting on mine. Neither of our arms had left the other's body in hours. They probably wouldn't even if we tried to remove them. I'm not sure how many movies we burned through. Mostly because I wasn't paying attention to them. There was a far more beautiful and interesting sight than that. It started innocently enough, just watching his ursine toes curl occasionally in the comfort of this bed. The shadows of the unlit room danced in the light of the television, my boyfriend's handsome face silhouetted just right. I nudged his leg with mine, continuing to stare at the movie as if it didn't happen. I repeated the act, a little more forcefully each time. Until, at last, my bear fought back, his hand gripping my side. The tickling sensation sparked a laugh inside of me that I could not contain.
"Oh?" Lance said, his head turning to me, his teeth sparkling in an evil grin. "Is someone... ticklish?"
Uh oh.
There was no escape. The bear tickled my sides without mercy, sending me into an irresistible fit of laughter. I tried to shove him off me, but he was already in control. He pinned me down, with one arm, reaching over to my footpaws and brushing his fingers against them with no remorse. I resisted and squirmed but it was no good.
After what felt like an eternity of torture, he relented, leaving me worn out, huffing from all the laughter with my bear still pinning my arms to my sides.
"Heh heh," he laughed. "Well, you wanted to play."
"You're evil..." I responded, still breathing heavily.
"Mwahaha. Yes, I am. And you know what evil thing I'm gonna do next?"
"No... please... can't take anymore."
"Mwahaha! You can't escape!" He wrapped both his arms around me, squeezing my arms to my sides, leaving them useless. "Now you have to stay next to me all night long! No breaks!"
I pretended to think for a minute, weighing my options.
"Ehhhh, okay!" I said, an ecstatic smile taking command of my face. I looked up at him as he smiled back at me. I had never felt so happy. Before I met him... I was so unhappy. I was afraid. Afraid of my life's possibilities. Then I saw that Personal Message in my Inbox. And I never looked back.
This was the first night. But I hoped... I hoped with all my might that there would be more. I wanted him to have this feeling. This feeling of sheer happiness at being in the mere presence of another soul. I wanted him to know just how much I wanted him in my life forever.
I wanted this weekend with him to last for all eternity.
There was no looking back. I had to take this chance. If it was too forward, then I didn't care. He had to know how I felt.
His muzzle was mere inches from mine. I could smell his scent on me. It just intensified his handsome face and the caring arms now holding me in their tender embrace. There was no choice. Even if I wanted to... I wouldn't be capable of stopping myself.
I kissed him on the lips for the first time. His reaction... I would find out when it ended. But I didn't plan on that for a long time.