Sam was tired, sore, and ready for bed. Working all night on road construction was probably his least favorite part of his job, but some roads simply couldn't be worked on during the day. So he spent the night under glaring lights, the sound of construction equipment loud in his ears and the acrid smell of asphalt in his nose. He could still smell the stuff. He was just looking forward to a good morning's sleep until that wee hours of the afternoon where he could lounge around with beer and his video games. So of course he was less than pleased when he got home and there was scaffolding up outside his apartment building and a few trucks in the parking lot.
"Shit.." He muttered, rubbing his face and grimacing at the beard stubble scratching against his calloused hands. "At least I have ear plugs." He pulled into a parking space and got out of his car, squinting at the work crew unloading equipment from the trucks. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight, not to Sam. Hard hats, and hi-vis vests. Something was off about the crew he couldn't quite place his finger on. Every time he thought he had an answer it slipped from his mind. Though that one buff wolf checking the scaffolding looked cute.
He shot the wolf a grin in passing and was pleased enough to get one back, along with a wag of the tail. The skunk next to the wolf gave him a solid nudge in the ribs with his elbow. They're not human.. that was the problem, why did he think th.. and like that the thought was gone again, mist burned off a morning pond. It left him rubbing his temples as he took the brief elevator ride up to his floor and right to his apartment. The units next to the elevators were always cheaper. He kicked off his muddy work boots right inside the door, leaving them there before venturing further into his unit.
He headed straight to the bathroom, peeling out of his clothes and turning on the shower. As the water warmed up he leaned on the vanity, peering bleary eyed at his own reflection. Buzzed black hair, stubbled and a bit scruffy, but not terrible looking if he did say so himself. Though his tan needed work, he had the way too obvious tan lines of someone who did labor outside. He wasn't bulky, but his job at least kept him fit, and at 30 he managed to stave off the gut some of his coworkers had. Once a good steam was roiling off the shower he stepped inside, letting the hot water just rinse off the night's grime and sweat. He barely had the energy for his usual before bed jerk-off session, though thoughts of that hot guy he saw on his way in made it tempting. Though when he tried to bring up a memory of the face he couldn't, it was just.. blurred.
With an annoyed sigh, Sam lathered up and rinsed himself off, finishing his shower almost mechanically. After a quick dry he dragged himself into his bedroom and fell into bed to sleep off the night. Even forgetting the ear plugs the sound of the workers in the building weren't enough to stir him from his stupor. The heavy knocking on his door did however eventually wake him up.
Groggily he rolled over to peer at his clock as the knocking continued. Two hours of sleep, well, it was something. With a sigh he got up and grabbed the shorts he kept by his bed for such occasions. Slipping them on commando and walking out to see what the problem was. He opened the door on a familiar looking duo of a skunk and a wolf. The skunk was grinning, and the wolf looked startled at first, and then was getting himself an eyeful of Sam. Next to them was a large crate on a dolly.
"Morning, sorry to wake you." The skunk said apologetically, and with no little sympathy. "I'm Hank, this is Gio," he added with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder at the wolf, "we're with Anthro Renovations, Inc., to do the upgrades on your unit."
"Upgrades?" Sam asked, confused. "What upgrades?"
Hank looked aside to Gio, then back to Sam. "Shit, they didn't tell you? Well, you know the building got bought out by a new property management company, right?" Sam just nodded his head. "Well, they want to upgrade the units to all be anthro friendly. Even those occupied by humans."
"Anthro friendly?" Sam repeated, his brows pulling down in confusion. He couldn't even place the word for a moment, what the hell were anthros? Then looking at the skunk and the wolf the answer hit him. They were.
"Yeah, you know, more moving into the area, not enough housing to meet demand, so.." Hank sighed and shook his head. "Listen, we're just supposed to do the upgrades." He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it over to Sam, who read through it. It pretty much stated what the skunk had said, though in more formal language, and cited some part of their rental contract to enforced it. His jumbled thoughts cleared as he read it though, there did seem to be more anthros and less humans in the area as of late, he guessed it did make sense.
"It'll take us just a little over an hour then we'll be out of your fur." Gio added in a deep growly voice as he crosses his heart with a clawed finger.
"Guess they couldn't wait until I moved out, huh?" Sam said stepping aside.
"Probably easier and cheaper to do it all at once than wait. Besides, you should be happy you're getting the upgrades free of charge rather than putting them in yourself." Hank said with a shrug as he took the invitation to come inside, Gio followed wheeling the crate. "We'll have to move some furniture about for the floor treatments, but it dries quick and we'll put everything back where it was before we leave."
"Floor treatments?" Sam asked, only slightly wondering why he would put in such upgrades himself.
"Protects wooden floors from dings and dent from claws and hooves, so you don't have to wear those rubber caps." Gio said, motioning to his pawed feet where each of his claws were tipped in a dull, black, rubber cap. "Either that or carpeting, and you know how it is vacuuming fur out of that."
"Right..." Sam said, scratching at his chest, his fingers going through a few short black hairs that hadn't been there a moment before, slowly growing out across his chest. He needed to trim it down again. Though the thought was a fleeting one.
"I'll take the floor on this one, bud. You can go install the bathroom upgrades." Hank offered to Gio, who gladly opened the crate and pulled out a smaller box.
"Happily. Where's the bathroom?" Gio asked, fixing Sam with a toothsome grin, verging on the flirty. Sam felt himself smiling back and motioned Gio to follow. The apartment only had one bathroom, with a door off the hall and the bedroom. So as Sam motioned to it he sat down on the edge of his bed as Gio hunkered down and got to work. "Long night?"
Sam looked up as Gio started working on the shower drain. "Yeah. Road construction."
Gio winced in sympathy. "That's rough, much prefer the building thing, especially renovations. At least sometimes you get to work inside, and night work is rare."
Sam felt a grin coming across his face as he watched the wolf work. He was well muscled, and even under that thick grey fur he could see the physical bulk of the lupine. "Well, it's what I could find. Bit of an outsider, so some crews don't like me around."
Gio looked over at him. "Yeah, I get that too. You know, we have a lot of work coming up, if you want I can put a word in with the boss. Maybe you can join on with us." Something in Gio's voice sounded like he'd like that in more than one way.
"Wouldn't I stand out?" Sam asked with a laugh, scratching at his stomach as more short dark hairs started growing in.
Gio just shook his head. "Nah, I think you'd fit in well. Besides, we could use a few more heavy lifters on the crew." Sam grinned at the compliment, even as his muscles began to bulk up slightly. His shoulders growing broader as his arms and chest thickened, his shorts growing a little tight as his thighs grew.
"Well, the new drain trap is just about in." Sam stood up and stepped into the bathroom, getting a look at what Gio was doing over the wolf's shoulder. Gio quickly showed him how to open the drain. "So right under here is the fur trap, make sure to empty it out regularly, the building is getting a plumbing upgrade but even then you know how fur is." Gio lowered his voice. "It's also a bit of a cum trap, so if you like jerking off in the shower it's even more important to empty it. I know some anthros are extra leaky.." Gio snickered. "Big guy like you.." His eyes drifted to Sam's crotch.
Sam's bulge was swelling, and with nothing beneath his shorts to confine it, it was obvious. He adjusted the waistband of his shorts a bit, he should have grabbed a larger pair. Any more flirting from this wolf was going to get him hard and then there would be no hiding his endowment from the lupine. Something in the back of Sam's mind began to panic. Something was wrong. He didn't know what, but it was just wrong. In the mirror he caught sight of his ears, their tips pointed as they drifted up the side of his head a few inches. No.. they're supposed to look like that, he thought. And his heart racing? Obviously that was just the flirting. He looked back to Gio who was picking up another piece of equipment. "Fur dryer." He said, as if staving off something else he wanted to say.
"Can I get some help out here? Couch is too heavy." Came Hank's voice from the other room. Gio sighed but Sam waved him off.
"Finish up in here, I'll help him." Sam felt like he needed to get out of there in that moment anyway. He couldn't explain it, but that panic was still sitting in the back of his head.
Gio nodded. "Like I said, we need more heavy lifters." Sam returned a weak smile and headed back out into his apartment, only making a short detour to his closet to pull on a black tank top. Oddly, that was too small too, and hugged his pecs, but he felt like he needed something more than his flimsy shorts at that moment.