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“What?” The Lupyn glared at Gem, then at Rusty. “Who’s this guy?”

“Gem, I can go.” Rusty jerked his thumb toward the door. “Seriously, I didn’t mean to… interrupt.”

“Oh shush. You’re not going anywhere in this condition,” he said to Rusty before smiling demurely at his hook-up.

“I really am sorry. I’m fully aware this is poor manners, but my friend is legitimately in need of medical care.

So we’re gonna have to take a rain check on this.

Okay, Drak? Dru? Shit, what was your name again? ”

A growl vibrated in his chest. “It’s Brad.”

“Brad? Really? Are you sure?” Gem asked.

“Yes!” Brad shouted, and Gem took a half-step back.

“Um, okay. There’s no need to get snippy.

” He sent Rusty a can-you-believe-this-guy look.

Instead of immediately validating him, Rusty just blinked, and Gem pouted.

“Okay, well, Brad , again, a thousand apologies, but I really do need you to get dressed and vacate my flat. My friend is about to bleed out. ”

“It’s not that serious,” Rusty grumbled, and Gem told him not so subtly with his eyes to shut the fuck up. The Pyclon huffed but heeded the wordless command.

“Unbelievable,” Brad—okay, but for real, he did not look like a Brad—grumbled under his breath as he dressed.

Since Rusty was still dripping blood and rain onto his floor, Gem rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a fresh towel. Upon his return, he handed it to Rusty, who took it with a soft, “Thanks.”

Now dressed, Brad stomped to the entry and snatched his shoes from the shoe rack, not bothering to put them on. Gem followed him, feeling a tad awkward as he watched the Lupyn yank the door open with a furious grunt.

“Thank you for your understanding,” Gem said, and Brad glared at him.

“It’s not like you were that good anyway,” he spat out, and Gem’s jaw dropped in offense.

“Excuse you? I had you begging like a bitch not five minutes ago.”

“I’ve had better mouths on my dick,” he said, and Gem made a rude noise.

“Well, I’ve had better dicks in my mouth!”

“I don’t want that rain check.”

“Good, because I’m taking the rain check back.”

“Good,” the Lupyn snarled as he stalked out of the flat.

“Good!” Gem slammed the door with a frustrated cry.

“Can you believe him? What an asshole.” Rusty’s fuzzy, mauve eyebrow arched, and Gem waved his hand, as if to erase the last few minutes from his memory.

“Right. Medical emergency. Sorry.” Gathering the clothes he’d discarded when Brad had first arrived, he fought a blush as he motioned for Rusty to sit.

“ I’m gonna get you some dry clothes and my med kit.

And now that I’m thinking about it, I should probably put on pants. ”

Rusty’s pale eyes lowered to Gem’s bare legs, and he looked away with a strained cough, his ears twitching. Seeing as Rusty had seen him in less before, Gem didn’t even bother with shame or embarrassment. If anything, Rusty’s reaction made him snicker.

“Sorry for messing up your date,” Rusty murmured, and Gem scoffed.

“Oh no, that was not a date. That was a straight-up booty call. And clearly”—Gem waved a hand in a flourish—“he was a douchebag. So really, you did me a favor. I don’t want a douche in my ass.

” The moment the words left his mouth, he cringed.

“Uh, that’s not what I meant. I always keep a douche on hand, just in case.

But I eat a pretty fibrous diet, so I don’t always need one.

Not that I don’t take hygiene or bottom-prep seriously.

I do! But I also acknowledge that, sometimes, shit happens, and it’s not necessarily anyone’s fault.

“Though, I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you,” he said with a manic titter. “You know what I’m talking about ’cause you’ve done butt stuff.”

“Oh my gods,” Rusty groaned, and Gem worried his left fang with his tongue.

“Sorry, was that TMI?”

The Pyclon’s shoulders slumped in resignation as he said, almost mournfully, “At this point, I don’t know if TMI can exist between us.”

Oddly touched, Gem pressed a hand to his chest and smiled. “Aw, is it weird that I love that for us?”

“Gem!”

“Shit, you’re still bleeding. Sorry, I’m just all discombobulated.” He patted the back of the couch. “Sit down before you pass out, and I’ll—”

“I’m not sitting there. Your booty call’s naked ass was there,” Rusty said, horrified.

“Oh for deities’ sake, he had, like, so much fur.”

“Yeah, and I don’t know where that fur’s been.”

Somehow even more offended, Gem gasped theatrically. “Excuse me, are you insinuating that I bring dirty-furred people into my house?”

“How am I supposed to know? You didn’t even know his name.”

Throwing up several hands, Gem barely resisted the urge to pull his hair out.

“I’m so sorry that I was too busy checking for basic hygiene—because I do, in fact, have standards—that I didn’t catch his name.

It’s not my fault that he didn’t look like a Brad.

Now,” he said, slamming a palm on the back of the other end of the couch, “sit over here, where Brad’s naked ass hasn’t been. ”

Rusty’s lip curled. “Someone else’s naked ass has been there, hasn’t it?”

Gem’s leg fur hummed in aggravation. “I think you know the answer to that.”

“Are there any surfaces in your house that haven’t had a naked ass on them?” Rusty asked skeptically.

“Probably,” Gem said, faltering before he added, “though, I’ll be honest, none currently come to mind.”

Without waiting for Rusty to actually listen to him—because when had Rusty ever actually listened to him?

—Gem ducked behind the room partition and dug through his dresser.

He pulled on a pair of capri sweats before searching out one of Toni’s old shirts that he’d left here once.

He found the smallest pair of sleep shorts he owned and tested the elastic.

They’d have to do. Anything bigger, and they’d fall right off Rusty’s flat ass.

Not that Gem had ever paid attention to Rusty’s ass.

Not really. He’d just noticed in passing, as one does.

He’d also noticed Rusty’s cute, chubby belly, but that made more sense.

Gem loved a boy with a belly. They were soft and squishy and snuggly.

Big boys were just the best, and while Rusty was fun-sized, he was thicc in all the right places.

Not that Gem cared about his… places. That would be weird.

A pained noise from the living room cut through Gem’s musings, and he found himself still staring at the sleep shorts. Shit, he’d gotten distracted again. Curse Rusty and his wonderful, little pudding pouch!

“Okay, so I don’t have many options for clothing, but…” Gem trailed off as he stepped back into the living room.

Rusty sat on the coffee table, his shirt in a wet heap at his side. He was rubbing the towel over his head, drying the thick fur between his ears. His chest fur was pale pink, nearly matching his eyes, and Gem was granted a lovely view of his belly pooching over the band of his jeans.

The Pyclon lifted his head, meeting Gem’s gaze fleetingly before he scrutinized the clothes in Gem’s hand. “It’s Toni’s shirt,” Gem said, and Rusty made a face. “I would get you one of mine, but you know, all the arm holes.”

“Fair enough,” Rusty conceded, taking the clothes Gem offered.

“I’ll get the med kit from the bathroom while you change.” Gem was already backing toward the bathroom. “Just let me know when you’re… decent.”

Rusty snorted derisively. “I hate that this is a true fact, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, remember?”

Yes, Gem did remember that fateful weekend over a year ago, but, more than the image of Rusty’s naked, albeit fur-covered body, Gem recalled his discomfort.

And as much as he enjoyed teasing Rusty, he never wanted to actually make him uncomfortable.

He had fought fang and tarsal claw to earn some semblance of trust and friendship with the Pyclon, and he wasn’t going to risk that for the sake of a lewd joke or an easy laugh.

So he said, “Be that as it may, I’m trying to be respectful.”

With an unamused huff, Rusty lifted the shorts and displayed them for Gem to see. “Really?”

A giggle burst from between Gem’s lips as he read the word scrawled across the ass in sparkling glitter: Juicy .

“As unbelievable as it sounds, that was unintentional,” Gem said, trying and failing to swallow his snickers. “But it will be no less appreciated.”

Rusty scowled deeply, a low growl rumbling in his chest.

“Oh, get over yourself, Care Bear,” Gem cooed as he shimmied backward toward the bathroom. “Remember what we’ve been practicing lately? Laughing at ourselves because most things just aren’t that deep.”

“My foot in your ass will be deep,” Rusty offered conversationally as he dropped the shorts to the coffee table and resumed drying off.

“Mmm, someone’s feeling flirty tonight,” Gem teased and was rewarded with a flip of Rusty’s middle finger.

“Eat so much ass,” Rusty said flatly.

Hovering in the bathroom doorway, Gem pressed two hands to his chest and simpered. “It’s so precious that you think that’s an insult and not an invitation to a super fun night.”

“Slut,” Rusty grumbled.

“Prick,” Gem slapped back.

They made eye contact as Gem slowly shut the door between them, but before it closed completely, they broke into laughter, Gem’s loud and boisterous, Rusty’s rough and reserved.

Gem adored the Pyclon’s laugh, even more so given the rarity of it.

But in the moments Rusty did laugh, it filled Gem with gooey warmth, like Rusty was sharing a special piece of himself with Gem, however small and, on the surface, meaningless.

In mixed company, Rusty was quiet and guarded, keeping his emotions and reactions under wraps.

Even with Gem, he hardly ever dropped the sarcastic mask, spurning any type of sincerity or vulnerability.

He was always tense, coiled tight as a spring.

It used to stress Gem out being in the same room as him, like working beside a ticking time bomb.

Even so, he’d come a long way from the malnourished, half-rabid nineteen year old that had skulked into the cafe nearly six years ago.

When Gem had first laid eyes on the Pyclon, he’d been dressed ear-to-paw in heavy, black clothes three sizes too big for him, like he was trying to disappear inside the fabric.

He’d been so skinny then too—like, concerningly skinny—which was why his precious, little pooch was such a wonderful thing.

In the beginning, Gem and Glyma, their boss, had teamed up to sneak food into Rusty’s possession in whatever way they could.

Glyma ensured that she “accidentally” made extra scones or kriltcake , which she then offered to the employees in the morning.

Since Gem was not a cook by any stretch of the imagination, he kept his handbag stocked with snacks so that anytime he “got peckish” at work, he could share with Rusty.

Since food was the one thing Rusty could never resist, he’d always accept, however grudgingly, the snack of the day Gem provided.

Nowadays, Rusty didn’t need Gem to feed him, but sometimes, he would do it anyway. For nostalgia’s sake. And whenever Rusty accepted the granola bar or packet of crackers from Gem’s purse, it made Gem feel hot and squishy inside for reasons he’d never been able to pinpoint.

“Gem?” Rusty said, and Gem blinked all eight eyes, refocusing on the present .

“What?” He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Sorry, did you say something?”

Rusty shook his head, eyes crinkled in amusement. “No, you’re just standing there, staring at me. Like a psycho.”

“I was not,” Gem denied, even though he realized that he hadn’t actually closed the bathroom door at all and had, in fact, been staring at Rusty while his mind had been miles away. “And I don’t appreciate the name-calling.”

“Lost inside your head again?” Rusty asked, and had his tone been mocking or sneering, Gem may have taken offense. But there was nothing unkind in Rusty’s expression or voice. Instead, he sounded almost… fond, and Gem tongued at his right fang as he shrugged.

“Maybe,” he finally admitted. “Or maybe I was trying to sneak a peek at your juicy ass. Oh wait, you don’t have a juicy ass.” He sucked his teeth. “Bummer.”

Apparently, Gem’s teasing didn’t deserve a verbal response, because Rusty snorted and flipped him off again. But he was chuckling under his breath, so Gem knew he was forgiven. When the door clicked shut between them, Rusty was still snickering, and Gem took it as a win.