AUTHOR'S NOTE(S):
Welcome to yet another holiday special! Honestly, I wasn't planning on writing a Valentine's Day story, but it just sort of worked out that way. It just happened that it coincided perfectly with Valentine's Day. I may not be able to finish the whole thing by then, so I at least wanted to get the first part out there. This might be the first official Fox x OC anthro pairing in the entire SF fanfiction archive, for better or for worse.
For reference, in the main Sierra Foxtrot, Fox mentions that he's going to take one of his teammates out for the night. This is the account of their date. If you haven't read Sierra Foxtrot, this is going to make very little sense and will more than likely look like the ramblings of a crazed fangirl who wants to pair her OC with the main character. Rest assured knowing that this is not the case. Well, kinda...sorta...maybe...at least not that part about me being a girl. Anyway, try to enjoy it.
Rated M for strong suggestive content and sensuality later on
Sierra Foxtrot Valentine's Day Special
Part 1
Parking his oversized pickup truck near the top of the downtown Corneria City parking deck, Fox climbed out and set foot on the concrete pavement. Through the gaps in the parking deck walls, the lights of the teeming metropolis lit up the evening sky as far as the eye could see. Yellow lights bathed the inside of the parking garage, built alongside a high-rise building that housed several hundred apartments – one of which belonged to his date for the night.
On that subject, Fox still struggled to believe that he had reached the point of asking Scarlet out to dinner with him. Perhaps the grief of losing his fiancée Fara pushed him to look for new romance, or maybe he had simply experienced a change of heart towards the red vixen. One thing he knew for certain: tonight's date would be anything but ordinary.
He crossed the covered bridge leading to the apartment complex and brandished a copy of Scarlet's access key, given to him the day before in expectation of tonight. He held up the plastic device to the black card reader to the right of the side access door; and after a second, he heard the door click. Stepping into the building, he noticed the upscale trimmings around him and felt a slight tinge of jealously. Even though he kept a respectable apartment in the notoriously expensive city, Scarlet always seemed to have money to burn. Being adopted by royals tended to have that effect. Adding even more covetousness to his situation was the fact that Scarlet rarely ever resided in Corneria City. Nevertheless, she kept an apartment under her name just in case she planned to visit.
Fox navigated his way to her room and knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before the shuffling of feet reached the threshold. Then, the door flew open, revealing the red-furred Scarlet, dressed in a matte black catsuit with a distinct lack of pockets. Her jet-black hair had been pulled straight with elegant feathering at the ends, and it fell about six inches below her shoulders. Black motorcycle boots completed her dominatrix-like outfit that stopped Fox in his tracks.
"Oh, hi Fox," she grinned. "Ready to go?"
Fox noted the sharp contrast between her hyper-seductive apparel and his casual outfit that consisted of a dark red polo shirt and slate gray cargo pants. Uncertainty in his voice, he replied, "Yeah, I am. But are you really going to wear that? I just don't think it's…"
"Appropriate?" Scarlet laughed. "Of course it's not, but I like it. Like I always say, it's not my problem. Besides, I actually don't have anything else to wear."
Fox gave her a curious stare. "Really? I thought you would have had something apart from your catsuit collection."
Bringing a finger to her lips and thinking, Scarlet replied, "Well, I had those clothes that I wore when I went to Aquas with you, but I gave those to Rena after we got back to Corneria. Sorry – I guess I'll just have to go like this."
"Well, I'm not going to be the one complaining," said Fox. "Someone else might, though."
"Oh, come on," Scarlet pouted. "It's not that bad, is it?"
Fox looked into her sapphire eyes and answered, "Let me put it this way – it would be appropriate if this was Halloween. Unfortunately, it's the end of September."
"Yeah, whatever." Scarlet waved him off, then snatched a pair of car keys off her dresser along with a matte black purse that matched her catsuit. Shooing Fox out of her room, she stepped out with him and locked her door.
Fox noticed her car keys and said, "Hey – I thought I was driving."
Scarlet grinned back at him. "Life is better with surprises. Besides, that behemoth you drive is impossible to use in the city. I'm surprised you got it up here without flattening anyone."
"It wasn't easy," Fox replied, shaking his head. "One of those tiny Genius cars tried to cut me off on 41st street. That almost ended badly – for him."
"Thankfully, that won't be happening in my car. Although, I do have to make one condition before we get in."
Fox's ears perked up. "What's that?"
"No picking and flicking."
Looking at Scarlet with a disgusted look on his face, Fox spat, "You really think I would do that on my date with you?"
"No," Scarlet replied. "But it wouldn't surprise me."
Fox and Scarlet walked alongside through the apartment building's halls and outside across the suspended walkway leading to the parking garage. Once inside the concrete expense, Scarlet stopped and frowned. "Dammit."
"Did you forget where you parked your car?" Fox asked, mildly taunting her.
"No – of course not. I never forget where I put my stuff. Ever."
Taking the opportunity, Fox reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver earring, which he handed to his date. "That reminds me – you left this in the helicopter."
"Oh really?" she replied, her eyes examining the small ring. "I've never seen this in my life. I'll take it, though." She unzipped her purse and dropped the ring inside next to two other identical rings.
Fox smirked. "So, what was that about never forgetting where you put your stuff?"
"Shut up. I know I parked my car around here somewhere."
She pressed the panic button. A mere second later, an earsplitting alarm echoed through the parking garage and pinpointed the location of her car. "Oh, of course. I parked it behind the pillar."
Fox shook his head and chuckled as Scarlet disabled the alarm and walked around a nearby concrete column, where she located her red Occela Tipo F convertible. She had parked the car facing outwards, meaning that the passenger's side door was less than a foot away from a concrete parking partition. While she climbed into the car and started the engine, Fox stepped back and crossed his arms. It took her a moment to realize why he had moved away, but when the realization dawned on her, she drove forward and stopped to let him in.
Enshrined in the luxurious leather interior, Fox fastened his seat belt and looked at the external temperature reading on the car's center console. "You know, it's pretty nice out there. You want to put the top down?"
"Sure," Scarlet answered, a smile on her face. Reaching for the button above the rear view mirror, she waited until the black cloth top had stowed itself behind them and then shifted into gear. At that point, Fox noticed the old-fashioned manual shifter in front of the chrome-lined cupholders.
"Wait, you know how to drive a stick?" he asked.
"It's not the only kind of stick I can drive," Scarlet smirked.
Rolling his eyes, Fox pretended to ignore her comment and looked to his right. "I really hope I didn't make a huge mistake here."
- § -
Fifteen minutes later, Scarlet pulled into the colossal parking lot shared by over twenty different businesses, two of which were their dinner destination and the movie theater where they planned to watch a horror flick afterwards. Fox prided himself on picking a restaurant this close to the theater, even though it could have been considered the least romantic dinner location of all time. An unabashed sports bar, Bradshaw's Wings & Sports stood on the left end of the enormous business complex and specialized in…what else? Wings, beer, and sports.
Fox felt surprised that Scarlet had put up so little resistance to his idea of eating at Bradshaw's, but he wondered if it had to do with her skin-tight apparel causing her to be rejected from fancier establishments. Parking spaces around the building seemed scarce, all except for one handicapped spot near the restaurant's front door. Looking to his right, Fox noticed the large area of asphalt in front of the theater, about a quarter mile down the parking lot. Like Bradshaw's, a multitude of cars sat in front of the building, but somehow, they seemed less tightly packed than they did here.
Scarlet climbed out of the car and waited for Fox, then locked the doors with her fob. She then noticed the uneasy expression on Fox's face. "Hey, what's wrong, Fox? Nervous? I get it – most of my previous dates didn't know what to do with me, either."
Fox looked back at her with a cold expression. "No, it's not that. I've just got a weird feeling about this."
"Explain."
"Did you notice how many cars there are in this part of the parking lot? It's a Tuesday night. It shouldn't be this full right now."
Scarlet pursed her lips and moved her eyes away from Fox for a moment. "Well, it is a sports bar. Think – are there any important games on tonight?"
Fox shook his head. "None that I can think of."
"Maybe it's just a weird evening, then. I'm sure it'll be fine," Scarlet replied, giving her date a soft smile.
"I hope you're right," Fox thought.
Feeling that it would be date-appropriate, he reached for Scarlet's hand and clasped it. The red vixen made no effort to stop him, even going as far as to give him a peck on the cheek in return. The two walked to the front door, but as they neared the tinted glass front, the noise level suddenly increased.
"Too late to turn back now."
Trying to ignore the noise, Fox opened the door for Scarlet. The instant the door swung open, he realized that he had made a terrible mistake. Cheers and shouts emanated from every corner of the building's interior, decorated with black and yellow trim. Over ten television screens hung from the walls, ceilings, and even the pillars that separated some of the booths. All but two of them showed the same game of futbol between Corneria United and Titania. But the restaurant's denizens took the potentially manageable situation and cranked it up out of control. To Fox and Scarlet's eyes, it seemed like over two thirds of the people inside Bradshaw's were dressed in official Corneria United uniforms, which consisted of a searing yellow jersey and puke green athletic shorts.
Fox eyed two open tables in the corner of the restaurant that looked secluded enough for them to make a dinner out of. Yet, at the same time, he considered walking out of the restaurant and looking for another place to eat. He knew of two other such places nearby, but both of them were little more than fast food chains shoehorned into brick and mortar buildings. He looked at Scarlet and shrugged his shoulders.
Almost as if she could read his thoughts, Scarlet spoke, "You know, I don't mind the noise."
Fox nodded, then noticed a silky-furred feline waitress walking towards him and Scarlet. Almost as if to reinforce the importance of the game on the screens, she wore the same uniform as most of the guests, with the exception of black short shorts instead of athletic shorts. "Hello, welcome to Bradshaw's!" she purred in a sing-song voice that irritated Fox immediately. "Two?"
"Yeah, two," Fox groaned, wishing that he had spent the extra effort in forcing Scarlet to wear a dress and therefore being able to eat at a nicer establishment. Then again, he would have had to purchase one for her, since she seemingly had nothing other than catsuits and skimpy lingerie in her wardrobe.
With a swing in her step, the waitress led the two foxes to the table in the back left corner of the restaurant and placed their silverware rolls on the table. Then, she announced, "Mikhaila will be your waitress tonight," and walked back towards the entrance, where three more yellow and green-attired patrons stood waiting to be seated. The noise inside the building made hearing each other's voices somewhat difficult, but in the corner, the volume level was at least tolerable.
Scarlet opened her menu and looked over her options, while Fox shoved his off to the side and focused his eyes on the TV screen nearest him. Lowering her menu, Scarlet asked, "Do you already know what you're getting?"
"Sure, Fox replied. I think I'll just get a salad. We're going to have popcorn at the theater later, so I don't want to ruin my appetite for it."
Instead of validating his choice, Scarlet glared at him, fire in her blue eyes. "Seriously, Fox? Salad? Save that leafy crap for tomorrow. This is a wings restaurant. You didn't come here to eat salad. It doesn't impress me, either. I really hope that's not what you were going for."
Fox sheepishly lowered his ears. "What are you getting?"
"I'm getting the suicide wings. Wanna share? The fifteen-wing basket comes with free mozzarella sticks."
Cringing at the thought of eating overly hot wings, Fox replied, "Can we get something a little less spicy?"
"Foxie can't take the heat, I see," Scarlet mocked. "Let me see…here are the flavors: Virgin, Mild, Medium, Hot, Pain, Suicide, Homicide, Genocide, and Madness."
"Most of those sound painful. Can we just go with 'hot'?"
Scarlet made a pouty face and hunched her shoulders. "Aww, what a wimp. Come on – let's at least get the pain wings."
"Fine," Fox relented. "But if my mouth gets so burned that I need to go to the drug store to get something to put out the fire, you're paying for it."
Scarlet's eyes widened. "Wow, Foxie – you've got the balls to say that to your date? Damn…I am so attracted to you right now."
Fox blushed. At that moment, a white-furred she-wolf wearing an undersized black shirt and beige shorts approached the table and brandished a tiny clipboard. "Hello, my name's Mikhaila, and I'll be you're waitress tonight. Can I get you started with anything to drink?"
Scarlet put a finger to her chin and thought about her drink options before asking, "Do you have any vodka?"
"We do," Mikhaila replied. "One of our drink specials tonight is for Grey Duck, for C3.99 a glass. Is that what you'd like?"
"Sure."
Mikhaila turned to Fox. "And what can I get you, sir?"
Fox stared at his menu for a second. "Just get me a bottle of Korner Light. Oh, we're ready to order the rest of it, too."
"That's great. What would you like?"
Giving Scarlet a tense glance, he answered, "We'll split a fifteen-wing basket. Pain flavor."
Mikhaila let out a quiet giggle and wrote down the order on her clipboard. "Would you like the mozzarella sticks or the chips?"
"Mozzarella sticks," Scarlet spoke up. "Gotta have those."
A scribble of the waitress's pen followed her request. "All right, I'll get that order in for you guys. While you wait, enjoy the game!" With that, she walked off, leaving Fox and Scarlet to wonder what exactly was so important about said game.
Scarlet sighed and smiled at Fox. "Thanks for getting the pain wings. Sometimes you've got to live a little."
Crossing his arms, Fox replied, "You know, I was going to get a salad because I thought that's what you were going to get. Whenever I've seen you eat, it's always those organic nut bars or little fish medallions."
"Usually, but I felt like letting myself go a little bit tonight. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep this body?" She leaned back and seductively rubbed her chest in such a way that any children nearby would have been scarred for life. Fortunately, no children were present in the building – only rabid sports fans whose eyes were too attached to the TV screens to notice her.
Fox's eyes went wide. "I'm sure it's pretty hard."
"It's about as hard as you are right now," the vixen winked. "Which means that it was worth all the trouble."
Narrowing his eyes, Fox leaned forward and replied, "Don't tell me that you put all that effort into staying in shape just so you can attract guys."
Scarlet smiled and shook her head. "I was joking – almost. I like to play off my strengths. I'm sure you understand. But there's more to it than just looks. Being a mercenary is hard work, and as hard as it might be to believe, I'm not naturally thin."
Fox leaned back in his seat. "I don't believe that."
"Would you like to see a picture of my from my high school years to prove my point?"
"That's kinda weird," Fox murmured. "Why are you carrying around pictures from almost ten years ago?"
Reaching into her purse, Scarlet pulled out her smartphone and scrolled through her photos until she found the one she was looking for. "Hey, who doesn't like to hold onto good memories?"
She leaned forward and turned the screen so that both she and Fox could see it. The photograph in question showed twelve high school aged girls of varying species, one of which clearly stood out as being Scarlet. All of them wore matching white and blue volleyball uniforms, and a short, stocky raccoon standing to Scarlet's left held a volleyball in her left arm. True to her words, Scarlet looked heavier in the picture than she did at the moment. Nodding his head, Fox looked back and forth between the Scarlet in the picture and the Scarlet in front of him.
"There's no shame in looking like that," he stated, pointing at the phone screen. "In fact, I like that look a lot."
Scarlet gave him an uneasy look in response. "What? You like that more than what you see now?"
Fox looked away from the screen and observed Scarlet, then smiled. "No way. Don't change what you've got going on now."
"That's what I was hoping to hear," Scarlet exhaled.
Fox reached for Scarlet's phone screen to turn it in his direction again, but in the process, he accidentally swiped the screen, opening another picture of her that was decidedly less appropriate. In fact, his ears turned red as he laid eyes on it. The picture showed Scarlet bound and gagged with ropes, tied to a bedpost with her eyes locked in a pleading gaze that would have looked disturbing had it not been obvious that it had been done without any intention to hurt her.
Noticing the picture, Scarlet blushed and pulled the phone away from Fox. "Whoops. That one was supposed to be in the hidden folder with all my other naked pics."
"Tell me, did you happen to change your phone passcode yet?"
Scarlet saw where Fox was going and grinned. "As a matter of fact, I did. After you broke into my phone and texted my mom while I was locked up in Wolf's base, I knew I had to change that password sooner or later."
Mikhaila suddenly reappeared on the tail end of the conversation, early enough to hear 'after you broke into my phone and texted my mom.' Embarrassment covering her entire face, the wolfess placed Fox and Scarlet's drinks on the table and walked away without a word.
After she had left the immediate area, Fox burst out laughing. "Wow, that sounded bad, didn't it?"
"As it should have," Scarlet chided. "No one screws with my mom."
Fox looked at the nearest TV screen in time to see one of Corneria United's players kick a Titanian footballer's shin while going for the ball. The player fell to the ground in exaggerated pain, clutching his leg as if a tank had fired a shell through it. Mere seconds later, the referee trotted onto the field and ripped a yellow card out of his pocket. Inside Bradshaw's, the entire building erupted into a cacophonous collective 'Boo!'
Scarlet felt forced to laugh at the fanaticism exhibited by the local fans. "I could never get into a team like they do," she admitted to Fox. "How about you? Do you like any sports?"
Fox shrugged. "I've got more important things to worry about most of the time, but sports are a great escape sometimes. I'm kind of into hockey, but it's mostly because it's the only sport where grown men can beat the crap out of each other outside of the actual game and be congratulated for it."
"Too true," Scarlet concurred.
A matter of moments later, Mikhaila returned with a tray containing a small basket of mozzarella sticks and a larger basket full of 'pain' wings. Her expression still suggested that she felt awkward about Fox's comment from a few minutes ago. "Here you go," you said, placing the baskets on the table. "Would either of you like a refill?"
Fox shook his head, but Scarlet stared at her mostly empty glass of vodka and considered topping it off. After a three second pause, she waved Mikhaila off and replied, "No, we're good. Could you bring out some water instead?"
"Sure thing."
While Mikhaila walked away, Scarlet reached into the wings basket and sunk her teeth into the largest of the fifteen wings, eating it almost like a ravenous beast would. After devouring it, she placed the bones on a small cloth to the side of the basket and licked the hot sauce off her lips.
Fox started reaching for the wing basket, but Scarlet proved to be too much of distraction. "Um…hungry much?"
"Ooh, these are so good!" Scarlet replied, biting into another wing.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you look sexy doing that."
Scarlet finished her second wing and placed its remains next to the first one. "Then watch this." She reached for one of the mozzarella sticks and slowly slid it into her mouth, licking it whilst closing her eyes and moaning seductively.
Mikhaila took the opportunity to return to the table at that precise moment. With two glasses of water in hand, she sauntered up to the table and froze when she saw Scarlet. On the other hand, Scarlet snapped her eyes open in shock, accidentally swallowing the entire mozzarella stick in the process and coughing profusely. It only took Fox a second to realize that she was choking. While Mikhaila took a frightened step back, Fox jumped out of his chair and darted to the other side of the table behind Scarlet. He pinned his arms around her abdomen and heaved three times. With one final move, he managed to dislodge the mozzarella stick. It flew out, bouncing across the table before rolling off and falling onto the floor.
With her breathing restored, Scarlet took several deep breaths before blurting out, "Thanks, Fox."
"Um…I'll just leave these glasses here, along with your check," Mikhaila whimpered. "Please, at least leave a small tip for me, okay?"
"It's fine," Fox replied. "Sorry for the awkwardness."
The wolfess made no response and instead placed the ticket for the meal on the table with instructions to pay it at the front of the restaurant. Then, she walked away, this time for good.
Realizing that her attempt at orgasmic eating had ruined the mood for their dinner, Scarlet sighed and took a small bite out of another wing. "Sorry about that."
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Fox replied. "That was hilarious…well, except for the choking and almost suffocating part."
Scarlet's eyes fell to the table. "I don't feel so well. I haven't been this way in years. I feel…embarrassed?"
"Is that a first?"
"First in a long time," Scarlet answered. "Now I just really want to get out of here."
At that moment, Fox glanced at a large TV on the back wall and watched as a Corneria United player striped a kick past the Titanian goalie, earning the team their first score since Fox and Scarlet had entered the restaurant.
Fox braced himself for what was sure to come next.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
The yellow and green-garbed fans leaped in their seats, pumping their fists in the air. In spite of the restaurant management's wishes, several of them took to sprinting around the building, screaming 'goal' as loudly as possible. Fox cringed as an overweight panda wearing a United uniform came barreling towards their table. He stopped mere inches short of it, then pulled up his jersey and pounded his bare (bear?) chest, sending a cascade of ripples along his flabby gut.
Scarlet leaned away from him, curling the corner of her mouth in disgust. "Fox! Get me the hell out of here!"
