Summer Heat
Prologue
"Ah! This is the life!" RJ chuckled to himself, sipping up the cool, yellow-orange half fruit juice, half high fructose corn syrup beverage from the can in his hand. Sitting on the inflated plastic easy chair, floating in the backyard swimming pool of the Williamson family (who thankfully were away visiting family on the other side of the country), he let his mind wander with the cool breeze, drifting in the realm where he was not fully awake, yet not sleeping.
Just a little over a year ago, he had met his family, an odd bunch of foragers. He had met them under the most unusual circumstances, him with his life in danger, them in the midst of the prospect of starvation. Their common link lie just over the artificial barrier that now separated them from what his family once considered their home, now dominated by the human settlers: El Rancho Camelot. The Suburbs.
Basking under the sun, watching the odd cloud or two drift by over his head, he enjoyed this break from the hectic pace of the days before. It had been a busy spring with countless reconnaissance missions to various houses in the neighborhood followed by raids every other day. Aside from the food and supplies for their daily survival, they had gathered over half of all the supplies that they would need for the winter, still many months away. Seeing how far that they had progressed in their preparations, at Stella and Tiger's suggestion, with Verne's stubborn approval, they took a week long deserved break from all their work.
The days had been relatively quiet for all of them, with a few family activities in between to help strengthen the family ties. Stella took the first initiative after observing some human females performing weird actions to odd music. Discovering that the actions and music were part of some ritual called "aerobics," a ritual meant to help the humans lose weight and live healthier lives (but for the most part failing miserably), she decided to try it out with the family. Twenty minutes into the aerobics DVD she had found, almost everyone was lying flat on the ground, their bodies fatigued and cramping, dizzy and gasping for air… with the exception of Hammy, who finished the entire hour long workout video barely breaking a sweat.
"Ah, Hammy." RJ smiled. Just the thought of the young, red squirrel filled RJ with many happy thoughts. A few months ago, he never would have imagined the little guy had deep feelings for him or take note of the little actions he did to try and get his attention. A few months ago, he never would have imagined the trials and tribulations they had to go through to find themselves and ultimately, one another. A few months ago, he never would have imagined having a relationship with Hammy, much less the overly sweet, romantic one they had now.
A few months ago, he never would have imagined being as happy as he is now. Thank the heavens and the powers above that he was enlightened to the knowledge and the love that hyperactive, sweet, innocent Hammy had for him.
SPLASH!
"HAMMY!" RJ jumped in his seat, nearly falling into the chlorinated water around him.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Hammy giggled, floating effortlessly in the water. RJ swept his hand over the water, trying to splash him back. However, Hammy quickly submerged and instead, accidentally caught Verne resting on the poolside by surprise.
"HEY! Watch it!" Verne grabbed the nearby towel and wiped off the cold water off of his skin. The reptile opted for a nice sun bath compared to the cold, freezing water of the pool, the former a much healthier option considering his metabolism.
"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me." Hammy teased RJ in a sing-song voice after resurfacing. RJ smiled back at Hammy, dipping his hand into the water, ready to splash Hammy once more.
"Don't you dare splash any more water over here!" Stella warned RJ and Hammy menacingly.
"My dear, don't get upset. Just let them have a little fun." Tiger placed his hands on her shoulders, massaging her gently.
"Ah, alright." Stella gave in with a small chuckle. "You know I treat you too good." Stella spoke to him with a little white lie.
"More than you can imagine." Tiger just purred happily as he continued his ministrations.
"Oh, stop it you two." Ozzie jokingly berated the happy pair, the two of them reminding him of himself and Jade many seasons ago. "You two are sappier than a maple tree!" He added with a smile.
"Weak, Dad, very weak." Heather responded from next to him, her nose buried in one of her father's books on Shakespeare. Her father had gotten her into his works and found herself enjoying reading the various plays he had in his collection.
"Who wants hotdogs?" Lou asked the family from the small grill nearby, holding one up on a fork for them to see. "The hamburgers will be ready in a few minutes!" He added.
"Need any help honey?" Penny asked from next to Stella and Tiger, relaxing as well.
"Don't worry dear. You can go ahead and relax all you want, okay?" Lou replied.
"Yeah, we're helping him make sure he doesn't burn the burgers like last time!" Quillo added with a grin.
"Oh, that was just one mistake!" Lou looked to Quillo with an angry look before breaking out in a chuckle. "Thanks for your help though son." He added. "Where's Bucky and Spike anyways?" He asked him.
"There they are!" Quillo pointed to them as they rolled in on their new wheels, what one would call "pimped out." Lou looked in disbelief as the wheels seemed to raise and gyrate randomly, as if there were some serious mechanical problems with the otherwise over decorated, gaudy vehicle.
"Yo Pops, what up?" Bucky asked his father from the driver's seat of the large SUV-like toy vehicle nearly five times their size.
"We hooking everyone up with the good stuff!" Spike pointed to the cooler on wheels hitched to the back of the vehicle, bottles of what looked to be orange juice on ice inside.
"You know the two of you sound ridiculous." Lou informed his kids.
"We know. We're just having a little fun, that's all." Spike replied as the two of them broke out in a giggle.
"Come on, RJ, we should head back and get some food to eat before it's all gone." Hammy appeared on the side of RJ's floating chair, grabbing his drink out of its holder on the chair, sipping up little of the juice.
"You go on ahead, I'm gonna relax a little more before I pull myself in." RJ told him, pointing out the small rope connecting the raft to one of the rungs on a ladder on the side of the pool so he could just pull in and hop off onto the shore without having to get wet. Hammy pouted, hoping he would just swim with him there.
"Oh, alright." Hammy sighed, nodding. "I hope this smelly stuff can come off of my fur easily." He informed RJ of the nasty effect the chlorine had on his fur. He smiled to RJ before he pushed himself from the raft and swam to the nearby ladder at the side. RJ watched as Hammy easily glided just under the surface of the water and chuckled to himself. For the majority of the time around the pool, Hammy was just flopping out his hands in big, wide strokes, more out of play than actual swimming. But seeing Hammy just dart through the water reminded him of just how adept Hammy was in the water as he was on his feet.
However, his laughter died as he found himself staring at Hammy as he climbed out of the pool, his fur matting down onto his skin, showing the true definition of his body shape. Though Hammy's fluffy tail was bogged down by all the water it contained, it only seemed to emphasize the naturalness of the curves of his body. Hammy's small but well shaped upper body just seemed to flow right into his thin abdomen and waist, rounding off into the curvature of his legs. RJ bit his lip as his eyes mentally traced the curves of Hammy's body over and over again, for some reason oddly attracted to the natural shapeliness of the young squirrel's body.
"Ugh! Eww!" Hammy could still smell the chlorine sticking to his fur. He shook his body, casting off as much water as he could.
"HAHAHA!" RJ snapped out of his ogling and just broke out in a hearty laugh once more, seeing Hammy's fur just poof out. Hammy looked to him, sniffed his fur to discover that the chlorine was still on him despite his best efforts to shake it off, and decided to find the shower he had seen nearby earlier. RJ was somewhat taken aback when he saw Hammy looking back to him, a sly smile on his face, before he disappeared to the side of a small shed where the shower was.
"What was he smiling about?" RJ thought before he became aware of his position on the pool. Apparently, he was smack dab in the middle of the pool. He shouldn't be, considering he was tied to the side of the pool. However, he noticed that the rope was slack and looked to the ladder where he was tied to. Where he used to be tied to, that is. "Hammy." RJ growled angrily, realizing what he had done. Sighing and resigning to the reality of his situation, he pinched his nose and jumped off of the raft and into the stinging, chlorinated waters.
SPLASH!
"Gotcha." Hammy smiled to himself as he heard the splash in the distance. He looked up from where he was, seeing the small lever attached to the pipe, the switch to turn on the water he figured. He climbed up the thin pipe and grabbed onto the lever. Pulling it down, a shower of water rushed past him, hitting the ground and melding into a small pool on the tiled floor. After slowly climbing back down, he extended his arm out, testing the temperature of the water, and finding it to be rather warm, he walked under and began to rinse the chlorine out of his fur.
"Hammy."
"Huh?" Hammy looked to the side and started to laugh. RJ looked so weird with his fur matted down, his own body shape revealed this time.
"Haha, very funny." RJ replied sarcastically, pacing up to him into the warm shower and looking down at the shorter squirrel.
"Nah, you don't look funny." Hammy said, trying not to hurt his feelings. "You look kinda cute." Hammy looked to him thoughtfully, placing his hands in his.
"Hmph." RJ still looked to him with unhappy eyes. Hammy pouted and leaned up and placed a little kiss on RJ's muzzle before hugging him tight.
"I'm sorry, RJ." Hammy apologized to him for forcing him to swim when he knew he didn't want to. He purred softly, hoping to keep him from growing even more upset with him.
"Mmph." He heard RJ mumble something before moving away from him.
"What?" Hammy asked, a little afraid of what he might have said. RJ turned back to him and saw in his hands a small bottle filled with a thick, green liquid.
"You still smell like chlorine." RJ repeated to Hammy as he walked back and joined Hammy back under the shower. He opened the bottle and poured out a little of the green stuff into his hands before plopping most of the stuff onto Hammy's head.
"RJ, quit it! That tickles!" Hammy giggled as RJ worked up the lather into his head fur. Hammy looked up to RJ and saw a big smile on his face, a sign that he was rather enjoying this. Hammy reached out and grabbed the bottle of shampoo and got some of the green stuff onto his hands. Unfortunately, being shorter than RJ, he could only clean RJ from his neck down.
But RJ didn't seem to care, as he started to laugh himself.
"Oh, it's a tickle war you want, eh?" RJ grinned and began to assault Hammy's tender sides. "Well, this means war!"
"NO! HAHAHA! NO! STOP!" Hammy laughed out loud. He fought back, sticking his hands right under RJ's arms and tickled him as hard as he could.
"NO! NOT THERE! HAHAHA! NO! HAHAHA!" RJ laughed alongside Hammy as their tickle war continued.
Moments passed and the laugher died down, leaving the two to relax under the torrent of water. After the tickling, Hammy's hands found their place once more on RJ's chest, digging into the wet, white fur. He pressed his nose into his chest fur and neck scruff, breathing in RJ's scent. Though RJ was sopping wet and the artificial shampoo scent was a tad overpowering, to Hammy, RJ's scent was unmistakable and irresistible. Every time he found himself in this position, so close to RJ, in a moment as intimate as this, he wished he could just drink up his musky scent. He gently kissed RJ lips, tracing the path down from his muzzle to his chest with soft little pecks and licks.
As Hammy immersed himself into the moment, RJ did a bit of exploration of his own. Though only his eyes had the privilege of tracing the curves of Hammy's body earlier, now he was granted to feel those curves in his hands, feeling the smoothness of his red and white fur on his paw pads. As Hammy graced his body with his little kisses, RJ nuzzled the top of Hammy's head, crowning him with tender kisses of his own. He found himself biting his lip once more, as if to hold himself back, as his fingers continued to explore Hammy's body. He had never known anyone else's body as intimately as Hammy's and he had yet to fully feel every part of it. But in time, he knew he would, and he was more than willing to wait for Hammy to allow him the opportunity, the privilege to understand this one reserved aspect of his mate.
Such intimate moments for the two of them were rare, even as far as their relationship had progressed in so little time. Maybe it was out of respect for the family, or more likely, the respect they had for one another that they took their time to progress their relationship. But such heartfelt and personal moments were greatly cherished and served as constant reminders that things would only get better for the two of them from then on. In these moments, there was nothing else in the world except for one another…
Which would explain why they didn't notice the grey, rumbling clouds rolling in above them, as well as sudden change in the shower temperature as the rain fell. They were in their own little world, their body heat chasing away any cold from the falling ice cold droplets of water that rolled off of their fur, all their senses tuned in only to absolutely feeling the other. No, it would take something else to break them from their little romantic moment.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE! BOOM!
"Eep!" Hammy hugged RJ tight, the sudden explosion of light and sound frightening him to the bone.
RJ reacted quickly and took Hammy into his arms, running back to the family. In the distance, he could see the rest of the family packing up the rest of the stuff they had brought for what they thought would be a relaxing sunny day by the neighbor's pool, so to speak. Bucky and Spike in their new wheels, as well as with Tiger's help, helped drag the cooler and the grill back through the other side of the hedge, to bring it back to their home.
"Come on, RJ! We were wondering where you and Hammy were!" Verne berated them for making him worry, as well as keeping him out in the cold rain. After all, if a small splash of water upset his metabolism enough to upset him, what more a torrential downpour of icy, cold water. RJ wordlessly followed him back through the hedge, carrying Hammy close to him.
At the other side, the family sought the various covers they had to keep the rain out from their home, as well as giving them a little space to move around. They were glad they hadn't taken down the tarps they had set up some time in the spring, when the rain was more frequent. They setup the grill once more, finishing up the cooking of the hamburgers and hotdogs before everyone shared in the meal. It was a nice meal together, their last one before resuming their work the following day. As the meal wound down, RJ and Hammy retired to RJ's place for a little time for themselves.
Early in the spring, when their relationship was still budding and after being caught in repeated incidents, Verne had given in and thankfully allowed Hammy to start sleeping with RJ, granted that no funny business occurred, much to Hammy's confusion of his meaning. But he didn't argue with Verne's decision and, from then on, happily followed RJ to sleep every night.
Now, at RJ's place, they wiped themselves down properly and decided to settle in for the day, as early as it was.
"Nice and dry now?" RJ chuckled as he helped Hammy dry up the rest of the water in his fur with the towels he had.
"Yeah, all nice and dry!" Hammy declared, his fur puffing out slightly. He smoothed his fur back down to normal before taking a dry cloth and wrapping it around himself. RJ climbed into his booster seat easy chair before helping Hammy up. RJ pulled the thin cloth covering off of Hammy, much to his displeasure. However, he gave up arguing as soon as RJ wrapped the blanket around the two of them, now sharing the blanket. Hammy chirred happily and gave RJ a quick kiss to him to express his happiness for his desire for the intimacy.
"Wanna see what's on?" Hammy grabbed the television remote and flipped the TV in front of them on to life. RJ watched as Hammy flipped through the myriad of channels for something interesting to watch before finally taking the remote out of Hammy's hands.
"You know what?" RJ spoke up as he switched the television off and tossed the remote away. "I kinda just want to rest now." He grinned to Hammy. Hammy smiled, understanding RJ's words as a thinly veiled excuse to just cuddle with him.
"Okay." Hammy replied happily, leaning back into RJ's embrace, resting his head in the crook of RJ's shoulder. They watched as the rain continued to pour from the sky above, the thunder and lightning seemed to have ceased some time ago.
Tomorrow, they return to their normal routine of foraging for food for the winter; a reconnaissance mission in the morning to the west side of the hedge, a possible raid on any potential targets. It would be back to normal for the family. As normal as it can get, at least.
But for now, resting together, the shared warmth from their bodies driving away the biting cold of the wind and rain around them, they drifted off into their sleep, into their shared dreams, listening to the soft pitter-patter of the rain above and around them and to the soft, warm heartbeats between them.
The seasons were changing, the cool showers of the spring now being replaced with the blazing heat of the summer sun. And life for the family over the hedge would soon follow the turning of the seasons, as more than just the summer heat rolls in.
-+-+-+-+-+-
As always, if you have any advice or suggestions, please feel free to review me. And of course, all flames will be ignored.
-+-+-+-+-+-
