The Stray

The sun had just started to set, although the trees and houses blocked where it kissed the horizon from anyone walking along the sidewalk. With the trees being brilliant shades of red, yellow, and orange, however, one still could observe beauty around them, especially when the wind pushed the loose leaves around, making them dance in the air to a silent waltz. It was the sight any photographer would love to catch; it was the weather that almost anyone would enjoy: not so cold you were uncomfortable, but not so cold you needed anything more than a light jacket to keep warm.

Julius hated autumn.

"Damn, it's cold," Julius muttered under his breath. He quickly zipped his jacket up before shoving his hands into his pockets, leaning over slightly to try to keep the wind out of his face. This had always been his least favorite season; he felt as though everything was dying around him, and hated how the weather could never make up its mind - at least in the spring, you had summer to look forward to. With autumn, there wasn't much else but freezing cold temperatures to be "excited" for.

The dark-skinned man swore to himself again as he picked up speed, wondering again why he had decided to

walk

to his friend's house earlier when he

knew

it meant walking home this late. Although, thinking of the beers he'd drunk and how he was still slightly buzzed, it was probably for the best that he was now walking home instead of driving.

Julius quickly crossed the road, seeing the little park and playground close by. Said park was right near the back of his house; it would make for a perfect little shortcut.

He crunched his way across the lawn, uncaring of the noise he was making as he did. It was only when he reached the small playground that he slowed down his fast pace.

The park didn't have much to offer for play equipment. There was a small swing set, a set of monkey bars, a see-saw, and a tall slide with a roof at the top. A smirk came to Julius's face as he remembered how he used to sit at the entrance to a similar slide at his elementary school's playground, demanding payment from his classmates - he had quickly been ratted out by one of his classmates.

Nostalgia -- or maybe the drinks from earlier -- had him changing his path. Temporarily forgetting that he was meaning to walk home, Julius jogged over to the ladder for the slide and climbed up, swearing only once at the freezing metal on his bare hands.

When he reached the top, he stopped just short from hauling himself onto the small platform when he saw a small figure. The person was huddled up against the wall of the slide, shivering horribly. They were wearing dirty sweatpants and a slightly torn long-sleeve t-shirt, paired with ratty sneakers. Clearly, this wasn't their first night sleeping outside.

"Are you okay?" Julius asked gently, not wanting to frighten the person.

It didn't seem as though he succeeded since they jumped, head whipping around to face him. Julius gasped silently at the sight of the milk chocolate eyes that met his own, sadly marred by heavy bags set underneath. After a moment, however, he realized they were filled with fear.

The person huddled on the platform turned out to be a stunning boy -- or was he a man? Julius couldn't tell his age, other than he was older than sixteen and younger than twenty-five -- who really needed a bath. His hair seemed light brown, though it was hard to tell seeing as his skin was covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust.

"Hey, don't worry," Julius murmured soothingly, "I'm not gonna hurt you."

A soft whimper escaped the boy's cracked lips and Julius's heart clenched at the sound. The fierce wave of possessiveness that shot through his veins shocked him; all Julius wanted to do in that moment was pull the kid close and promise him that everything was going to be okay.

Deciding to go with his instincts, he pulled himself up onto the platform so he was kneeling about a foot away from the stranger. He reached out a hand toward the boy, planning on cupping his cheek comfortingly, but drew his hand back immediately when a fierce growl erupted from the smaller figure. Julius was shocked at the noise, and even more so when he saw the pointy ears that were now peeking out of the matted hair on the boy's head.

Jesus, how did I not notice he was a dog before

? Julius thought to himself, keeping a safe distance away from the scowling boy.

As soon as he started growling, however, he stopped; he immediately seemed to collapse in on himself, as though trying to get as far away from the dark stranger as possible. Clearly, his bark was worse than his bite.

"What's your name?" Julius quietly asked, not wanting to give up on the beautiful boy just yet.

The hybrid stayed silent for several moments. Julius was about to repeat himself when the boy glanced down and back up into his eyes, licked his lips nervously and whispered hoarsely, "Cooper."

Julius smiled gently and shifted his weight so he was resting on his ankles, as his knees were starting to hurt.

"That's a great name," he said softly. "I'm Julius. Mind telling me why you're out here, Cooper?"

The boy still seemed completely terrified of Julius, so he decided to open up a little about himself, hoping the hybrid would then realize he truly meant no harm.

"I was walking home since I decided to visit my friend. Though, I don't think seeing his ugly face was really worth this freezing weather, now that I'm out here," Julius drawled with a smirk.

Pride flushed the older man when the boy giggled lightly, his cheeks puffing up with his smile, making him all the more adorable.

"Maybe next time, he should go to your house," Cooper suggested.

Julius pretended to think about that option for a moment before shaking his head. "Naw, he's way too lazy to get dressed if he doesn't have to, let alone walk to my house."

Cooper giggled again and the innocent sound was starting to ignite Julius's blood, the leftover alcohol in his system not helping to impede his lust's progress one bit.

"So, I told you why I'm out here, now it's your turn," Julius urged.

The smile fell off his face and the hybrid dropped his gaze and chewed his lower lip for a few moments. After a long, slightly uncomfortable silence, Cooper sighed and met his eyes once more.

"My master kicked me out."

Julius frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together. He had heard of people who kept hybrids as pets, and rarely were they good people. Often, they ignored most of the human side of the hybrid and treated them as only an animal, unless it came to... well, sexual things. Hybrids had to be careful, in case they fell into the hands of someone who only wanted them as a slave.

"What happened?" Julius asked before his common sense could stop him.

Cooper frowned deeper and turned away from him. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Julius sighed and inched closer, taking Cooper's chin in his hand to gently make him meet his eyes.

"Do you want to come home with me, Cooper?" he whispered. "If you stay out here much longer, you're bound to get hypothermia or pneumonia or something, and I would never be able to forgive myself."

Cooper's eyes widened considerably, shock clear in the pretty brown orbs.

"I-I don't know, I don't really know you and, and what if-"

Julius shushed the boy gently and smiled softly when he fell quiet with a small pout - which, of course, only managed to make him look even cuter.

"Calm down, it's okay. You don't have to stay more than tonight if you don't want to," he assured. "I just want to help somehow."

Cooper was attacking his bottom lip, his nerves obvious as his hands began stroking what appeared to be his tail.

Julius was about to implode with anxiety when Cooper finally whispered, "Okay."

A large smile stretched across the older man's face.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "Now that that's out of the way, I can ask you the heavy hitter question: Do you wanna go down the slide with me?"

Cooper laughed loudly, making butterflies flutter rapidly in Julius's stomach. The boy nodded and Julius smiled again before crawling over to the slide's edge and plopping down on his ass, his legs stretched out in front of him. He grabbed the hybrid around the waist, smirking at the yelp that escaped the boy's lips as he did, before plopping him down onto his lap.

"Here we go!" Julius shouted before pushing off from the landing, unable to do anything but laugh along with Cooper as they went down the slide together.

*****

Julius brought Cooper back to his house after they played a little longer in the park. Although the boy was anxious at first, he rapidly fell into the rhythm of daily life with Julius.

Julius, however, was still adjusting to life with the beautiful man.

"Hey, I'm home!" Julius shouted as he slammed the front door behind him. He let out a sign of relief at the warm air that was slowly bringing feeling back to his fingertips and toes. As he hung up his coat in the front hall closet, he heard light, quick footsteps race down the hall. He had just managed to turn around and face the noise when he heard a squealed "Julius!" He had a fraction of a second to open his arms before Cooper had jumped up into them in excitement.

"You're home, you're home!" he exclaimed, his tail wagging rapidly behind him, a large smile stretched across his face. Julius couldn't help but laugh as he adjusted the boy so one of his arms supported him, leaving the other hand free to run through the soft poof of white between his ears. Pure bliss was all that showed on Cooper's face as Julius walked them to the living room and sat down on the couch with Cooper on his lap. When the boy began to wiggle, Julius quickly grabbed the boy by his hips before his squirming brought a reaction out of him.

Julius knew it wasn't right for him to be so attracted to the pup, despite finding out he was twenty years old, making Julius only four years his senior. It was the hybrid's sweet innocence that positively radiated from every pore that made his ever growing lust for the boy so

wrong

.

And yet, Julius couldn't help the fact that every time Cooper became excited and his cheeks flushed brightly, his blood would feel as though it were boiling in his veins. Every time Cooper's shining brown eyes looked at him with adoration, he could hardly keep his cock from hardening to the point he became light-headed with blood loss.

"Julius, guess what! Guess what!" Cooper said, his hands grasping his shoulders and shaking them slightly.

"What?" Julius laughed.

Cooper didn't respond, opting instead to hop off of Julius's lap and grab his hands. The boy tugged on his hands until Julius stood up before Cooper dragged him into the kitchen.

There was white everywhere. Based on the baking products that littered the countertops, Julius guessed it was a combination of flour, sugar, powdered sugar, and baking soda that coated nearly every surface.

Trying to ignore the mess, Julius finally spotted what must have been what made Cooper so excited.

"I baked you a cake!" he exclaimed, bouncing up and down like a child hopped up on sugar, tail flashing back and forth as it wagged at top speeds.

Julius could do nothing but smile at the pup. "It's perfect," he said softly.

*****

Julius still didn't know Cooper all that well, despite it being months since he brought him home. He knew nothing of the pup's past, nothing of his previous owner, nothing of why he was kicked out.

He did know, however, that Cooper's favorite color was a tie between robin's egg blue and sea-foam green. That the boy loved to bake, but was very messy when doing so. That he constantly needed something to do, or else he'd get himself in trouble. That his favorite food was strawberries and whipped cream and his favorite drink was hot chocolate. And that, when Julius came home from work, the boy got so excited it made his heart pound and his stomach twist with butterflies.

Julius knew he cared for Cooper; he just didn't know the extent of it. But, because he cared for him, he also cared for his health, and decided it really was about time for Cooper to have a check-up.

"Please, don't make me go!" Cooper cried, holding tightly onto Julius's shoulders, effectively preventing the man from putting him into the car.

"Come on, Cooper, we talked about this," Julius groaned, trying and failing yet again to pry the tiny fingers from his shoulders.

When the hybrid still refused to budge, Julius sighed and pulled them completely out of the car and shut the door, letting it support Cooper a minute later when he leaned them against it. Spring was in the air, but it was still chilly outside. Cooper let out a soft whine at the feel of the cold metal on his tail and back.

"If you really don't wanna go, I won't force you," Julius assured quietly, petting Cooper softly on the head in an attempt to calm him down. "But I want you to know that the only reason I've been pushing this is because I care for you. I wanna be sure that you're healthy."

Cooper relaxed into his arms, his poof of white hair and ears tickling Julius's chin when he tucked his head into the man's chest.

"Okay, let's go," Cooper mumbled into his shirt, causing Julius to chuckle and his heart to melt at his hybrid's cuteness.

"Thank you," Julius said, kissing the top of the boy's head before he could consider the ramifications. He hastily set the boy in the passenger's seat before going around the hood of the car and into the driver's seat. Ignoring Cooper's curious glance, Julius took a deep breath to calm his heart, started the car, and drove off to the doctor's office.

The visit went smoothly. The clinic was specialized for most hybrids, so Cooper had fun seeing so many people just like him in the waiting room. While he initially became nervous again when his name was called, Julius succeeded in calming him down by the time the doctor arrived. The initial portion of the check-up sailed by, with Julius ecstatic that Cooper was completely healthy. It was only at the very end of the doctor's analysis that things became awkward.

"Now Cooper," the doctor said, looking up from his clipboard to meet the hybrid's eyes, "have you experienced your heat yet?"

Julius blushed slightly as Cooper scrunched his eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean, heat?" the hybrid innocently asked.

Julius inwardly groaned and settled into his seat. This was going to be awkward, and he knew it.

*****

Surprisingly, Cooper handled the doctor's information better than Julius expected. While Cooper asked him a couple more times about the heat, the hybrid quickly stopped asking, much to Julius's relief. He didn't want to think about Cooper in heat. When he thought about it, about Cooper becoming so turned on he begged for Julius, about what Cooper might looked like in the throes of orgasm, about Cooper needing him for hours, no, days on end- he grew so hard so quickly that it nearly gave him whiplash, with only a cold shower or his hand being able to calm him down.

The only time Julius brought up the topic was when he came home from shopping, looking slightly uncomfortable with his purchases.

"Here," he said, thrusting a small black plastic bag into Cooper's slightly shaking hands, his dark skin mostly concealing the blood that rushed to his cheeks. "They're for your... um, you know..."

It had been absolute torture for Julius when he had shopped for the items in the bag. Trying to figure out what Cooper would like without his mind turning perverted was a complete impossibility - all he could imagine was Cooper using the toys, imagine the two of them sharing the items during his heat. Not to mention how embarrassing the cashier's all-knowing smirk had been when he was checking out.

Cooper gripped the bag tightly, pulling it ever so slightly towards his chest. "Oh," he whispered breathily, a furious blush now blooming on his face, too, his pale skin doing nothing to hide it.

"Th-thank you."

Julius just nodded, possibly to himself, and walked away, leaving Cooper alone in the living room. The hybrid sighed and went to his bedroom, closing the door behind him to try and ensure his privacy.

He dropped the bag beside the bed before falling on his stomach into the mattress, his face burrowing into the pillows as his thoughts turned to only an hour or so earlier.

He hadn't understood everything the doctor had said, nor did he know what the big deal about a heat was. He didn't know why Julius became so flustered and embarrassed whenever he brought the topic up, so he just stopped talking about it, deciding instead to go online and figure it out for himself.

Ever since Julius had shown him how to use the computer, he'd been completely enraptured by the device. He could spend hours of time online, learning new things all the time.

This time, though, he had a purpose. As soon as Julius had left for work, he ran into the office and hopped into the swivel chair before quickly going to work.

He was at it for about an hour before he finally had to stop.

Cooper rolled onto his side, his legs curled up beneath him and his hands tucking under his head as he stared blankly at the clock on his nightstand.

Everything he had found online had managed to clarify the water and, yet, muddy it further. He knew the logistics behind the heat - he knew the long, complicated names of the hormones that would be released into his bloodstream, he knew that his nervous system would kick on and make his heart race and his breathing quicken, he knew he would no longer be in control of his own body as pheromones seeped from his pores to attract a mate.

Yet, he couldn't understand the emotions that followed the heat. He didn't know what lust felt like - he didn't get why someone would want to perform those acts he had seen online. He couldn't wrap his brain around love - at least, not the type involved in kissing on the lips and touching every part of another person. He didn't understand how someone could get so much pleasure from that behavior. He couldn't comprehend the embarrassment - almost shame - that seemed to come with the heat; or was it the acts themselves that accompanied it?

All he knew for certain was the heat would cause an influx of strong emotions, some he'd never even felt before.

Wanting some form of comfort, Cooper hastily crawled under the covers, nearly covering his face completely with the blankets.

He was terrified.

Cooper closed his eyes, breathing deeply as he tried to fall asleep while ignoring the sting behind his eyelids.

**

Cooper's first thought when he woke was that Julius had thrown him into the fireplace and poured gas on the flames.

The blankets had long been kicked off the bed as Cooper lay on his sweat-soaked sheets, panting for breath. A moment of panic overtook him when he couldn't figure out what was going on; luckily, he quickly remembered the heat and calmed slightly.

Now, though, he didn't know what he was supposed to do. A need that he didn't fully understand was rising within him, causing the fear from earlier to revisit him.

When Julius's face suddenly popped into his mind, a surprised whine escaped from his lips as his parts throbbed. He looked down at himself in slight shock and saw his member standing straight up. With a trembling hand, he reached down and grasped it.

A small gasp left him at the immediate pleasure that burst throughout his body. He followed his instincts and moved his hand up and down, keeping his grip firm, his head pushing back into the pillows as his eyes slid shut. When Julius appeared in his mind's eye, he didn't try to stop it. Instead, he let his imagination run with it, now feeling the strong man stroking him and invisible kisses being left on his chest. Before long, Cooper felt himself reaching for something, trying to get to some higher place. He again reacted instinctively and tightened his grip ever so slightly, his groin soaking wet from liquid leaking out the tip. When his imagined version of Julius leaned up suddenly and kissed him hard, his hand replacing Cooper's and gripping the hybrid's shaft, something happened.