Time For A Change Of Pace – Chapter One: The Meeting Of New Friends
Early June and the trees were rustling with the gentle summer breeze, each shift of the branches like heavy rain hitting metal sheets in the dead silence of night. That cooling wind was a blessing on a day like today, the temperature in the high twenties and not a cloud in the sky made for a sometimes unpleasant experience for most of the townsfolk. Their coats of fur and clothing stuck to them with the sweat of the day, giving most a ragged, almost unkempt look about them.
A fair few had flocked to the beach and quite rightly too, it was a perfect day to visit the soft sands and quietly lapping waves that the beach offered. Some escaped the heat into the cold, salty waters; others simply chose to relax on the sunbeds under the shade of a parasol with their shirts off. One of the people that had chosen the latter was a twenty year old fox by the name of Nate.
Nate was a rather simple fox, adorning sleek brown and white fur all over his body in the typical vulpine way. He was about six foot tall, giving him at least a couple of inches over most of his own species, leaving him in an almost literal world of his own. With a rather lithe body he wouldn’t really be able to hold much of his own in a fight, nor did he need to fight mind you. Right now all he was wearing were a slightly loose pair of dark grey shorts; his sky blue t-shirt was neatly folded under his feet paws; acting as a rest. As per usual his foot paws were bare, then again a lot of people walked around like that; it wasn’t at all an uncommon sight at all in these parts. When you were able to see them, he had a set of deep, hazel shaded eyes.
His brown eyelids were covering those eyes however, the fox being careful not to ruin his sharp eye sight in the bright summer sunlight. The splashing of the sea was soothing on his ears; even so much as to make him nod off every now and then. When he did slip into sleep he was always awakened by the same thing, the smell of the burger van nearby scorching another slab of beef on the grill. Even the taste of that juicy meat filled his mouth as he awoke each time, despite the inevitable realisation that no actual food had passed those lips. All the while his paws lay by his sides, idly stroking through the soft white fur that covered his sides with their fingers.
It was during one of the cycles of sleeping and awaking to tempting smells that the fox opened his eyes to see something odd. An unfamiliar shadow loomed over him, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the sunlight once again. Once he could focus he could see it was a smiling, shirtless bear; looking over him with a slight questioning air to him. What the fox didn’t realise was that he had drooled a bit as he awoke, once again craving those enticing patties.
The ursine just chuckled and helpfully wiped the mouth of the other male clean with a spare handkerchief he just happened to have in his pocket. His name was Josh and he was just a little older than the fox at twenty two years of age, his black furred body contrasting with the sand below. He was wearing navy blue swimming shorts that were dripping around his large foot paws and clinging to him slightly. Also a towel and a white shirt were tucked under his arm, making them easy to carry. Like most bears he carried that extra bit of belly that was so useful in winter months of hibernation, yet it suited him well and made it hard to imagine him any other way.
Josh was still smiling and wiggling his small tail about, seemingly a rather happy, carefree individual. When he decided to speak it was a deep, not quite gruff voice that somehow echoed his mood and stabilised the view of happiness that surrounded his whole being “Those burger vans are mean if you’ve got no money huh foxy hehe?” Unknowingly he’d hit the nail on the head right there, giving an educated guess and getting lucky straight away.
All Nate could really do was nod, showing his surprise to the bear’s immediate knowledge of his mind. But somehow, the usual annoyance he’d have towards strangers approaching and touching him didn’t come to him this time. Hell even if it had he could never have expressed it to someone with that much natural charisma about them, he doubted anyone could. Blinking, he watched as the other male reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, looked inside and then offered a paw to the fox “c’mon, I’d hate to see you go without something your body clearly wants”
The vulpine tilted his head a bit, but decided to take the offer even despite its strangeness on the surface; this guy did seem genuinely nice after all. As he reached out and gingerly took the warm fuzzy hand of the other male, something about them made him tingle With a strong pull he felt himself lifted completely up, stumbling a bit in surprise and crashing into the arms of the bear. Blushing, he almost immediately stepped back a bit, their paws separating as their bodies did and the awkward situation only heightened by a short silence between them.
Forever seemed to pass in those few minutes, but the bear just laughed it off, giving that fox a careful pat on the back “Sorry ‘bout that, forget my own strength sometimes haha. Anyways…how about that burger?” Nothing seemed to shake that ursine’s enthusiasm, not even frankly awkward social situations such as the one they had just experienced. With little more than a nod from the vulpine they moved over toward the van in silence, the only sound from the surrounding beach goers.
After a short wait in line, they reached the side of the van, that tantalising scent so close now. Following a short discussion they both decided on cheeseburgers, quickly getting their order and getting out of the way of the rest of the hungry people. Finding their way back to the foxes chair, both males sat down and happily munched down their food, both careful to not let too much of the juices drip out over the sand below. It was a quick but very much necessary meal; that scent no longer able to hold their minds as slaves in its seductive grasp.
Once every last bite was gone from both burgers, the bear decided to exchange some pleasantries after the initial awkward meeting “ohh by the way, the name’s Josh, you got a name stranger?”. With a slight swish of his tail the fox looked at the bear, his stomach not being empty really helped with his mood a bit “It’s Nate, nice to meet you Josh…and thanks for the grub; I owe you one”. Blinking the ursine just stared blankly back at the other male “ohh don’t worry about it Nate, I did what anyone should.” But, that honest man that the fox was believed in an eye for an eye and so on “I’ll still owe you a burger for next time I bump into you, hopefully with money this time hehe”
There was no arguing here and the larger male eventually agreed to those terms, before looking at the slowly dimming sky “wow I didn’t think it was that late in the day already, won’t be long until I need to go catch the bus home”. Nate tilted his head a bit in surprise and in slight wonder “bus? Which number are you taking?” Josh looked at the other and smiled, chuckling a bit “The number one is the only one I can get from here to home pretty much so it’d be that one”.
That slender fox tail only proceeded to sway a little faster behind its owner, a small, shy smile painting itself across his lips “Ahh that makes two of us…perhaps we should continue this chat on the bus?” Now it was Josh’s turn to be surprised and made to blush slightly, but he nodded and smiled also “sure thing; we’ll go over there now, I’m not sure what time the number one runs until so it’s best to be safe.” This time the fox was first to his feet, quite eager to get going as it was quite a ways back home for him.
As he grabbed his shirt, so did the bear rise up and stretch a little. With another tilt of the foxes head came another question “do you have a shirt somewhere on the beach Josh?” It was with quick, gentle denial that the bear shook his head “nope, even if I did someone would have most likely ran off with it by now haha”. For the first time the fox laughed, that simple joke breaking the ice even more so between the two. Not too long after that they both head off towards the bus station, chatting and generally getting to know each other a bit.
Even once the bus arrived it did not cut their conversation off in the slightest, they paid their fares and sat down only to keep talking more. They were getting along swimmingly, finding out they had similar hobbies other than beach going of course and also that a lot of their tastes in things were matched. The only problem with what they discovered was that there was a bit of distance between these new friends, not too much mind you but enough to warrant a good near hour of travel by bus. In fact, as a result of that the bear soon found himself approaching home and it wasn’t long before one of his thick fingers hit the button and set off that buzzer.
It wasn’t an awkward goodbye, not at first anyway. The bus slowly rolled up to the stop as it would any other and the bear shouted down quickly “just give me a sec please driver!” Wondering what the ursine next to him could possibly need a ‘sec’ for; the fox soon got his answer. Before he knew it he was surrounded by a tight warmth, the amazing feeling surrounding him almost completely for a good minute. But just as soon as it happened, it stopped and the bear made his way down and out of the bus; giving the fox a happy and somewhat blushy wave and then disappearing past the window as the driver pulled away and sped off.
Sometime in the next hour of bus ride it caught up with the fox and he finally realised what must have happened, the bear had hugged him just like that. That incredible feeling was one he simply couldn’t fault and even as he pressed the buzzer for his own stop and escaped the metal trap of memories the now cool air almost burned at his overly hot, tingling fur…
~~~End of chapter 1~~~
