A sudden buzzing sound jolted Curtis out of his thoughts as he sat naked on the bed with his tail draped over the side. He looked over to the nightstand where Ollie's phone lay face up. From where he was sitting, he could clearly see the text flashing on the screen as the call continued:
FAKE MOM - DO NOT ANSWER
He felt an impulse to answer and even started to move, but stopped. The phone continued to vibrate, each time further deepening the frown on the dog's face as his ears splayed on his head. Mercifully, the call finally went to voicemail as he sighed with relief. He was once again plunged into the deafening silence of his thoughts as his head pounded with the consequences of his actions the night prior.
Lately, I've been, I've been thinking
Curtis didn't sleep well, and he woke up still feeling drunk. They had adjusted their position on the small bed during the night but his legs were still sore from conking out bent over the side of the bed. After carefully extricating himself from Ollie's arms, he'd already snuck out to shower but he felt far from clean as his emotions were so mixed. Now he waited for Ollie and the thought of the sheep's parents taunted him. He considered his own parents and his siblings--his loving canine family. The thought of what he might do killed him, but if it helped Ollie...
I want you to be happier, I want you to be happier
...it would be worth it.
He dragged his blunt claws through the white fur on his stomach. It had come in overnight, though he hadn't noticed it until he saw it in the mirror as he stood under the fur dryers. There he was in his full glory. Even in his funk he couldn't help but admire his beautiful patterning. The black of his ears draped down his back with tan trimming while the white covered his front. Tan and black dappled fur covered his face and seemed to highlight his features--black spots around his eyes, tan on his eyebrows and the sides of his muzzle, and white along the top of his snout and brow. His bright blue and brown eyes stared back at him. Was he done changing? How could he know for sure? Wasn't it supposed to feel special or something? Because it fucking didn't.
'Cause this just don't feel right to me
He didn't realize Ollie had returned until he felt the sheep kiss the top of his head. "Hey Pup. You doin OK?" He rubbed his hooves through the fur on the dog's shoulder and back supportively.
Curtis nodded. He considered telling Ollie about the call but decided against it. "Yeah. Just hung over. I'll be good after I eat something," he lied, "We should have time to grab some food before we have to meet up with Milo for pictures."
"Sounds good to me!" Ollie's forced positivity wasn't helping at all, but Curtis smiled at him and moved his tail slightly in effort to appease his boyfriend. This was probably just as hard for him as it was for the dog, though he didn't want to talk about it at the moment because then it would be real. He wasn't ready for that yet.
I wanna raise your spirits
I want to see you smile but
Know that means I'll have to leave
He stood and pulled on a pair of shorts. With his fur and especially his sheath, any underwear beyond a jockstrap just felt constricting so he'd taken to going commando. It was also warm out, so he decided to forego a shirt. He understood now why so many of the students on campus wore so little clothing beyond the required minimum.
Ollie's other foot had finally changed and he appeared to be mostly finished as well, though he still had bald spots here and there, especially on his chest. He pulled on shorts and a light button-up shirt and they headed out to the Quad, paw in hoof.
-
Sam opened the door to Milo's dorm immediately after they had knocked. Over the last week the small dorm had felt smaller and smaller as the six students had grown into their forms. In the case of Milo, Sam, and Ollie, they had literally grown larger as their forms took on bouts of muscle. Even Todd had grown, primarily in height though he had an impressive build. Dare seemed to be the only one to get smaller, if barely. Curtis wasn't entirely sure if the skunk had shrunk a couple of inches or if it had just been his own growth. Visually the skunk was definitely the most twinkish of the group, though his loud personality more than made up for it.
Milo leaned back to look out the door. "Sorry, guys. I think we're going to need to do these one at a time. We'd do them outside, but we can't for obvious reasons. You guys OK with waiting in the hall?" The guys nodded and shuffled out of the room. "OK, who wants to go first?"
"I will." Curtis slipped past Todd as he stepped into the room and closed the door. Dare was sprawled on his bed surrounded by notes and textbooks as he was deep in his homework. He hoped the skunk might be willing to take a break once the pictures were done. Without really thinking, Curtis stepped out of his shorts. As he tossed them to the corner, he remembered for the first time how shy he had been just a week ago. And here he was, naked but for his fur. He'd come so far and now he was on the cusp of giving it all up.
Then only for a minute (only for a minute)
I want to change my mind
"Ok, Dog. You know the drill." Milo grinned tuskily from behind his camera. "Though this time let's get some good shots of your new chest fur. I'm going to have to adjust the white balance, it's so bright!"
-
"Yeah, apparently they play every Wednesday night on the Great Lawn. Just look for the dogs running around chasing the frisbee. Tell Jackson I sent you if I'm not there. He's the Yellow Lab." Curtis grinned as he sat against the wall as he, Sam, and Todd sat in the hallway while Ollie took his turn in front of the camera.
"O-OK. That sounds fun actually," Todd smiled, "I've been r-running a lot more and it sounds like some g-good exercise. D-do you think I could invite my c-cousin, Dan?"
"I don't see why not. Honestly they just enjoy playing. Apparently there's a college team, but I haven't looked too much into it yet. I bet they'd even be cool with you joining too, Sam, if you want."
Sam held out a paw as he laughed, "Thanks but I'm more interested in the heavy lifting than the running around. I might watch Todd play though. You know how much I like watching him move." He winked and squeezed the wolf's knee. "Your fur's looking great, by the way. When did you finish changing, Curt?"
Curtis shrugged, "I don't know. How did you know that you were done? You are done changing, right?"
"Honestly, I just k-kind of knew," said Todd. "It's hard to explain, b-but I did. Right, Sam?"
The white tiger nodded. "Don't think too hard about it, dude. You look good though. The two of us finished around the same time. Maybe you'll feel better once Ollie's done too?"
Lately, I've been, I've been thinking
Curtis nodded. "You two look great as well. I'm happy to see that you're both doing so well." He hoped his smile didn't look too sad. "You're cute together, you know. It's crazy how quickly this week has gone by, right?"
-
"Thank you. Can we get another order started now?"
"Sure. 2 more?"
Curtis looked at Dare who nodded as he pulled his strawberry milkshake towards him, "Yes please."
It had been hard to convince the skunk to leave his reading, but Curtis was insistent. Besides, he probably needed a break anyway. It was just the two of them as Todd and Sam had to go. They'd left Ollie and Milo to talk as the Barnyard Buddies while the boar looked over the pictures.
"What's up, Dog? You wanted to talk?" Dare eyed Curtis over the table.
Curtis made a show of getting a chunk of strawberry unstuck from his straw to buy himself some time. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You know, check in? We've both been really busy with classes and everything."
Dare narrowed his eyes but let it slide. "OK. How are your classes going? Still a prodigy?"
The dog rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Not a prodigy, Dare. I'm doing what I can to make progress. Just hitting a bit of a wall, you know?"
"Keep at it, then. Maybe you should spend less time drinking milkshakes. They're bad for you, you know." He winked and dipped a clawed finger into the pink cream before shoving it into his mouth.
"Yeah. How are things going with Milo?" Curtis hoped he wasn't being too obvious.
Dare shrugged, "Well, he let me back into his bed and he's not rolling over to crush me at night, so things could be worse."
Curtis laughed. Coming from the skunk that was basically a proclamation of love. Good. If he did have to leave, at least he knew his friends would be OK.
I want you to be happier, I want you to be happier
"Glad to hear." Curtis winked. "So...if you had the choice to go home, right now. Would you?" It was astounding how much had changed since the last time he'd asked Dare that question.
"Hmmm. Well these would be hard to give up." He bounced his straw on the empty glass in front of him. "Plus I've gotten used to Milo's snoring so...How about you?"
Curtis shrugged. He didn't want to ruin the moment, and actually saying goodbye to his friends would only make things harder. "Ask me again tomorrow. And the next day after that."
-
Ollie was busy packing things into his backpack as Curtis came back to the dorm. As soon as he noticed, the sheep stood up and came to give the dog a hug and a kiss. He smiled, though his eyes betrayed him. Curtis could tell that he was worried. He'd given him the day to think, as promised, but time was growing short and it was time to make a decision. The pain behind those beautiful square pupils was palpable and made Curtis' heart break.
I wanna raise your spirits
I want to see you smile but
Know that means I'll have to leave
Curtis bumped their noses together as he smiled at his sheep. He grabbed his hooves and pulled him into another kiss and then another hug as they held each other. Ollie always made him feel safe as they rocked together slowly. The room could have been burning and he wouldn't have wanted to leave those arms.
Ollie pulled away and gave Curtis a look that spoke volumes. He didn't have to verbalize anything though the question screamed in the dog's ears: Will you come with me, Puppy?
Curtis gulped and let out a deep breath before answering the unspoken question. "I'm going to go pack." Ollie's immediate and obvious relief cemented the decision. Though in the end it hadn't been a decision really, had it?
So I'll go, I'll go
I will go, go, go