Daryl sat on the bench next to Keith shoulder to shoulder, both teens dressed in the all boys boarding school's basketball uniform in navy and grey. They were laughing over something teens laughed about, the joke was lost to time. Practice was over but coach had given them permission to practice a little more before dinner. A break for water had turned into goofing off, and in the empty gym there was no one to stop them.
Daryl smiled over at Keith. He had been coming to figure something out about himself. He liked Keith, his gentle brown eyes, the way his floppy brown hair refused to sit flat on his head, the easy smile he had for pretty much everyone, and the way he got excited over the stupidest shit. He was starting to think Keith liked him back. He seemed to have a different smile just for Daryl that he's give him when their eyes met, the way he'd touch Daryl on the shoulder when he wanted his attention.
They stopped laughing, looking at each other. Kiss him. Daryl leaned forward, pressing his lips against Keith's. They lingered there for a moment, a hand against his chest. Then he was shoved to the floor.
"What the fuck, dude?!" Daryl looked up into that friendly, familiar face, only it wasn't anymore. It was sneering and angry. "Freak."
Daryl buried his face in his paws, the fur on his cheeks damp with tears as he dug his claw tips lightly into his forehead to feel anything other than mortification. They were laughing at him now, he could see them between his fingers. The rest of the school. The classmates he had had since then. Those he had known in his failed attempts at college last year. Even Ollie and Curtis, Todd and Sam, Stripes, Grayson, and his own family.
He felt two hands take his as the laughter slowly drifted away, pulling his paws away from his face. And there was Milo, his gentle brown eyes, the way his floppy brown hair refused to sit flat on his head, the easy smile he had for pretty much everyone, and the way he got excited over the stupidest shit. Kiss him. He leaned forward..
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Daryl sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air, his heart pounding away in his chest as he eyes shot around the room. Unfamiliar in that moment of panic, but soon he calmed himself back down. Five stupid years he'd been having that dream and always the laughter woke him up. Damn pig, won't even stay out of my nightmares.
A soft snoring came from the other bed. That was different. Milo didn't snore. But it wasn't an unpleasant sound, like chainsaws or ripping cloth like some snorers. It was a soft rumble, like having the sound of the ocean nearby, or the purring of a large cat. The sound relaxed him as he looked over at his roommate.
He saw the reason for the change in sound, silhouetted against the wall, Milo's face now pulled into a snout, complete with upturned nose that seemed to twitch. The tusks fit that face so much better, they looked right, rather than awkward. He could see the brown fur creeping down his forehead and over his nose, and along his cheeks. But he could still see Milo in that face. The way the corners of his mouth curved just so, the line of his jaw, the way he seemed ready to burst into a grin, even sleeping. He could see every line as if it were day, just drained of color by the night.
You can kiss this one. He won't push you away.
Daryl felt his lips pull back in a snarl. Shut up. He'll learn to hate me, everyone does..
Only because you make them. He looked down at his own hands, his finger tips and palms had thickened slightly with pads, short black fur sprouted on the back and up past his wrists.
"Dare." The voice was soft and he looked over to see Milo had turned to him. "Are you okay?" Dare opened his mouth to tell him to mind his own business and go back to sleep, but he shook his head instead. "Do you want to talk about it?" Another shake of the head. "Need a hug?" That got him to bob his head in affirmation.
Milo lifted an arm and his bed sheet with it. Dare crawled out of his own bed, across the space between and into Milo's, sliding in under the sheet as an arm even stronger than it had been yesterday settled around him, pulling him close, he could feel the bristly fur that covered Milo's strong chest pressed against his back. It was like the more Dare was coming to rely on Milo, the bigger he was getting. Despite saying he didn't want to talk he found the words flowing out of him.
"First boy I liked, I kissed. He told the whole school and they made my life hell. All boys and I had to live there, too. Dad wouldn't take me out so I got myself kicked out." The arm pulled tighter around him as that snout buried itself in the fur at the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that. But you have friends here. None of us are going to hurt you like that." Least of all me, the silence after seemed to say.
"It became a habit, a way to get away. I'm tired of running."
"So, stop." Milo said softly. Simple as that. Just stop.
"Milo?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell anyone about this and I'll kick your ass."
"I know." He didn't need to sound so pleased by the threat. Soon, the soft rumble of Milo's snoring started up again. It was like having a giant cat pressed against his back. Reassuring in its just being there.
Daryl felt the urge to crawl out of that bed and out of his own skin.
Instead, Dare settled back against Milo, resting his head on his pillow. Dare slowly drifted off back to sleep. His dreams came right back. These ones were full of kissing a guy with floppy brown hair that refused to sit flat on his head, but had a much better ending.