“How’s that angle look?”
“Great, I can see your whole ass.”
“These are supposed to be tasteful nudes, Dare,” Milo sighed as he let the camera take a few shots of himself from the backside. He wanted pictures from every angle he could, just for documentation’s sake, but Dare seemed to be enjoyed the show as well.
“Call ‘em whatever you want, but I’ve always thought that taking lots of pictures of your own butt was a little narcissistic,” Dare replied, casually filing down his new claws to safely dull their points. It had taken a few tries to get a hang of the claw clipper that Stripes had given him, but eventually they’d gotten shortened down to the point where he wasn’t in danger of a trip to the emergency room for scratching his own ass.
Milo turned and cocked an eyebrow at Dare. “Yeah? Then how about we take a few of you?” he smirked, getting the camera’s setting changed so he could photograph his roommate a bit more. “You ran out on me during our last shoot, so-“
Milo immediately regretted saying that. Dare bit his lip and eyed the door to their room nervously, clearly looking for any opportunity to make a break for it.
“Y-yeah… I’m sorry about that…” Dare replied quietly. “For running out and for… umm…”
“For kissing me?” Milo offered. “I guess I probably didn’t help things by grabbing your-“
“Can we just not mention it, okay!?” Dare growled. “It didn’t happen, as far as either of us are concerned. Is that fair!?”
“Sure, if you want,” Milo said. “Makes it easier for us to live together, I guess… You know, you’re not too bad, except when you’re sulking. You’re still cute, but it’s impossible to talk to you like that…”
“I’m outta here.”
Dare tossed his claw file aside and stormed toward the door, but Milo gently put his hand on the other man’s shoulder to stop him.
“Hold on, Dare… I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it…” he said quietly. “But, it’s just… I mean, this is still really weird for me, too. Yesterday was weird, today’s probably gonna be weird, and I bet this whole semester’s going to be really weird. So I guess, I wanna say I’m glad you’re here with me. Even if you can be a little asshole sometimes.”
Just let things happen. That was what Stripes had said, right? Don’t chase him. Milo was still new at all this, but he didn’t think this quite qualified as ‘chasing’. More of an offer to let himself get chased… right?
Dare bit his lip again and glanced around the room nervously while tapping his foot. He was clearly doing everything he could not to look Milo in the face after hearing that, but after a moment he turned and slowly walked back toward the bed and stripped out of his clothes.
“Okay, let’s get those pictures taken, Milo. Try to make it quick, please,” Dare sighed, trying to remember the poses he’d done for the camera the day before.
Milo silently picked up his camera and got into position, occasionally reaching out to adjust Dare’s arms or legs slightly but otherwise not saying very much. He could tell Dare was still shy about being so exposed, so he made sure to let his model cover up for a bit of modesty. He was more focused on Dare’s hands, hair, and chest at the moment anyway.
“The claws… I wanna get a few close-ups, if you don’t mind?” Milo asked, gently resting his hand on Dare’s and leaning in for a closer look. “Would have liked to see them before you butchered them like this…”
Dare could already imagine a million snide remarks he could have fired back at Milo, but he kept silent and let Milo do his work in peace.
“…Not too much different here. Just a little fur coming in on your neck, but you probably noticed that along with your stripe while you were showering…” Milo mumbled, but hearing that made Dare’s eyes fly open.
“D-did you say fur!? It wasn’t there this morning… And what fucking ‘stripe’ are you talking about!?” Dare exploded leaping to his feet and struggling to put his underwear back on.
“The stripe that’s been in your hair for a whole day! I thought you’d seen it! Don’t you ever look in a fucking mirror…?” Milo exclaimed in disbelief. “How didn’t you-“
“Because I’m not some fucking narcissist that takes pictures of his own ass! Normal people don’t look at themselves all the time, okay!?” Dare spat, dashing out of the room and off to the floor’s bathroom, pushing past the others who were leaving the showers. He stared at the mirror over the sink in complete astonishment, running his finger over the light coating of jet-black fur that had spread across the back of his neck and was beginning to encroach onto his upper back, with the telltale white stripe extending from his hair down the center of the spine.
------------------------------------------
“A skunk. I’m turning into a fucking skunk…” Dare groaned, his face in his hands as he rocked back and forth in bed.
“You don’t know that, right?” Milo offered quietly. “Umm… Black fur with stripes… A melanistic tiger?”
“Non-retractable claws, dude. Stripes already told me no felines. Also, that’s a fucking stupid suggestion.”
“Zebra, then?”
“Claws, not hooves! Are you even listening to me!?”
“…Black-striped wolf?”
“Those don’t exist! I’m gonna be skunk, okay!?” Dare shouted. “God, couldn’t I have been a pig like you? A skunk, fucking seriously!?”
Milo felt awful seeing his roommate like this. He didn’t have anything against skunks, but it was apparently quite a sticking point for Dare, and he had to admit that getting stuck with an animal form you weren’t fond of was probably not the most fun experience in the world. Milo knew he could easily start with the jokes. Well, your attitude stinks, so I guess it’s fitting, right?
Milo (quite wisely) didn’t try that approach.
“Dare… It’s gonna be okay,” Milo said quietly, putting an arm around his roommate’s shoulder and pulling him in tight. “Stripes said-“
“I don’t care what Stripes said. I’m sick of hearing about what Stripes says,” Dare whispered, sounding like he was about to burst into tears. “I hate this…”
“I like skunks, you know,” Milo replied. “They’re cute. Black and white is very stylish, too. Goes with just about anything.”
The dumb joke was enough to get Dare to smile the tiniest bit. He wiped off his eyes and gently rested his head on Milo’s shoulder, feeling the slight itch of his roommate’s bristly fur against his cheek.
“You know what? I kinda like pigs, too,” Dare said. Milo started to open his mouth, but Dare cut him off. “Yeah, yeah. I know. ‘Boar’, whatever. They’re okay too, I guess.”
The two of them sat in silence together, looking out the nearby window at the people enjoying the morning; half-changed freshmen chatting with each other on the way to breakfast, upperclassmen taking boxes out of their cars and moving them into their own dorms, just the usual college scenes you’d expect. Only a little fuzzier.
“I’m still not sure how I feel about… this,” Dare said, glancing down at his sloppily-manicured claws. “But… I guess I can give it a try. Not like I have a choice, right?”
Dare wasn’t sure what exactly came over him, but he felt an urge that he couldn’t resist; he began to lean over to plant a light kiss on Milo’s cheek, avoiding the tusk peeking its way out of his roommate’s lip.
But then, he stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, not like this. Milo was a surprisingly charming and friendly guy, and he was rapidly becoming quite a bit more muscular and handsome. Just Dare’s type. But he’d been down that road before, and he wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Milo noticed Dare moving in, and was a little disappointed when his roommate pulled away.
“…It’s okay, Dare. I understand,” Milo sighed with a small smile on his face that made his tusks protrude cutely. “I can wait… We already had our first kiss, anyway.”
“That didn’t happen. We agreed,” Dare shot back tensely, but then he relaxed seeing Milo’s smile. “…Besides, even if I was interested in you, I don’t know if I’d want a first kiss from some creep that can’t keep from pawing at my junk.”
“You know, I was lying when I said I liked skunks,” Milo teased lightly.
“And pigs stink. Wanna get some breakfast?”
Milo laughed and shoved Dare down onto the bed before standing and getting himself dressed for the day. He checked his phone for messages and grinned seeing the message from Todd and Sam about posing for photos later that day.
“Sounds great, Dare. And after breakfast, I’m finally going to get a full set of pictures out of you without letting you run off again. Even if I have to lock the door.”