Chapter 41 - Boy's Night 7: Blowing Off Steam

The group arrived at the glass doors of the hot spring, seeing the brown walls and orange light inside. Everyone looked at one another.

Bill rubbed his stomach. "Oooh...I'm so full...Maybe I shouldn't have gotten that dessert."

"I told you I'd help eat it but you wouldn't share..." Legosi muttered. Meanwhile, the mongoose that had previously lead the group was lagging behind, egged on by his peacock boyfriend.

Louis rubbed his arm. "I can't wait to get in there. I've always heard about how nice they feel..."

"Uh, I think Pina should have mentioned this little detour in his pitch!" Kai whined, his voice high and squeaky.

"What's the matter, Kai?" Bill asked. "The mongoose, not the leg."

Kai balked at the tiger. "Yeah, we know you're not talking to a fucking leg. Also, I'm not to keen on getting naked in front of everyone?"

"Then don't get naked in front of everyone. Easy."

The smaller carnivore turned around. "Welp, you heard Bill. Guess I'm not going in."

Pina rolled his eyes. "Calm your tits. Nobody is going to be looking at you weirdly and it took me a damn long while to find an integrated hot spring we could go to. It'll be relaxing and I, for one, know you need that."

Dom laughed. "We all know you need that."

Louis looked to his husband. "Let's not waste any time, huh?" He held his hand out.

Legosi took his hand and the two walked in first. Pina placed his hand on Bill's shoulder and looked back. "Kai, it's honorable of you trying to make us feel better by not showing us your huge dick, but it's okay. None of us will feel lesser by seeing your huge meat."

The tiger looked at Dom. "You'll come in anyway, huh?"

"Yeah, of course. Guess you're waiting out here, Kai."

Kai stuck his hands in his pockets and grumbled. "The fuck I am." He followed the group in.

The group walked to the counter and Louis handled the transaction. They were pointed down a hallway. Each boy but Kai was excited to relax in the healing waters of the hot spring.

They all went into the locker rooms and turned to each other. Dom put his hands on his small carnivore's shoulder. "Alright, let's try not to make this too weird for this one."

Louis raised a brow. "We're all males and we've all seen a penis before."

Bill nodded. "And we're all gay so? It shouldn't be a big deal."

Pina was already in his underwear, unlatching his prosthesis. "Gay, bi, likes dudes, whatever. Just calm down and think about it objectively, Kai. I promise you nothing bad is going to happen."

The previously fiery mongoose was taken aback by Pina's uncharacteristically calm approach to him. "W-well, I suppose. It's just me and Dom have been dating for like half a year and..."

"You haven't seen each other yet?" Legosi asked, whose shoes and socks were already off with his pants crumpled at his feet.

Louis had removed his shirt first and was currently unbuckling his belt. "There's nothing wrong with that, really."

Dom sighed. "I just try to avoid it. Don't worry Kai, I won't let anything happen to you."

"...Thanks." The small carnivore slowly took his shirt off.

"For the record, I was talking to Kai the leg." Pina was already naked, sitting cross-legged on one of the low benches with his stump tucked under his knee.

Louis was nude next, sitting down next to him, looking up at Legosi.

Bill was after, flexing. "Nice that I get to show you guys my awesome form."

"Do you actually work out?" Legosi asked, having stripped everything except for his shirt, which was unbuttoned. "I've never heard you talk about it..."

"I do! I just don't really talk about it so it seems like magic to everyone else. Works pretty well, huh?"

Louis raised a brow. "Uh...I guess?"

"I'll have to talk to you about it sometime," Legosi said, still fumbling with his sleeves. "I feel like I want to train my body more."

Bill grinned. "Eh? You wanna train with me and get muscles like these?" He flexed more.

The deer raised a finger. "Just not...too much...I like skinnier guys."

"Wolves naturally have a slimmer build than big felines, so I don't think I'll look like Bill," Legosi pointed out.

The buck stood up, smiling, wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing him gently. "Now, let's get into that spring." All heads turned to Kai.

Kai was in his underwear, as was Dom. They were sitting close and talking.

The bird turned his head. "You can keep your underwear on, hon. If it makes you comfortable."

"Then I gotta have swamp ass the rest of the night..."

"These guys aren't judging you. Look, they're all doing it."

"Yeah, um, yeah," Kai fidgeted. "Could you turn around? I don't wanna like, striptease for you."

The avian laughed and turned away.

While Kai navigated his legs and long tail through his underwear slowly, Pina looked over and saw Legosi still tugging nervously at the material of his shirt. He made a slight whistle, which predictably caught the canine's attention. The herbivore smiled at him and hung his legs over the side of the bench, showing his thigh scars clearly.

Louis stepped back, sitting again. "I think we should look at all the natural springs and see which one is the most private so we can enjoy our boy's night alone. Legosi, are you gonna take off your shirt?"

The canine nodded, slowly slipping it off and revealing the long, jagged streaks down his arms.

At this, his mate just smiled. "My beautiful wolf."

Bill rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get down there already. I like Louis' idea of finding a more private spring. It would help Kai, at least."

Kai was standing now, hands covering himself. "What? We have to walk in front of strangers naked too while finding a place? Aren't there towels?"

Dom looked at him, having slid his underwear off at this point. "Well, actually, this place is really open with that stuff. You're bound to see multiple naked animals walking around."

Kai just nodded. "Okay. Okay." He watched Dom's eyes on him, being put at ease when he didn't see a change from when he was clothed.

The group shoved their clothes in the lockers and began making their way down the hall again, finding another glass door that led outside. There, there was a bunch of wooden walkways that lead to steps leading down into the natural hot spring waters. The nice sound of multiple waterfalls filled their ears. There was, indeed, animals walking around naked.

"Oooh, this place is nice. I was smart for finding it," Pina commented from atop Bill, who was carrying him on his back.

Louis and Legosi walked in front of them, the deer feeling surprisingly comfortable with the bareness of his fur out in the open. His eye darted around for a spring they could descend to. He had taken off his eyepatch, deciding that if these other animals were comfortable being so open with him, then there was nothing to be nervous about.

Kai hung back with Dom, muttering to the bird. "Wow, it looks like those 4 have been in a war..."

The avian spoke, just as quietly. "They've been through a lot, huh? And so young..."

"That could have been us if we got involved. Or worse."

Now, Dom grabbed his tiny hand. "That's why we didn't get involved. I'm glad they're still here. Tonight's been really nice so far. Sorry we didn't tell you about coming here."

Before Dom could ask him to elaborate, Pina turned his head a little. "Hey, why aren't you belly-aching about having to see our asses?"

Kai shrugged. "You were right. Now that we're all naked and just talking like normal, still, I can see it's no big deal. We're all still the same animals and you're not all consumed with lust all of a sudden."

Dom just laughed at this remark.

Bill turned a bit. "We can hold back! It's not like we're nymphomaniacs."

Louis looked over a wooden railing. "Down there. There are no animals in that one."

Pina pointed down to the aforementioned hot spring. "Onward, my cat!"

Bill laughed and the six went down the steps, standing at the edge, looking down into the water that was surrounded by rock formations. A small waterfall came down from above, adding some nice ambient noise. The only thing artificial about the spring was the lights inside of the water.

Louis watched the steam rise off the water and into the air. "That looks...God, that looks so comfy."

"Wish I could have brought my phone to take a picture," Kai seemed to agree.

"I'm feeling relaxed already." Legosi nuzzled his face into his mate's shoulder.

Dom walked forward. "Enough talking! Let's get in there!"

With vastly different sounding splashes, the six all descended into the hot water, releasing sighs of contentment and relaxation.

"Hoh, wow! That feels good on the stump," Pina moaned as he slid off Bill's back to sit beside him.

Louis and Legosi sat across from them, the deer sighing and looking up at the sky. "Pina...Pina, Pina, Pina..."

The sheep turned toward him, trying to hide the fact he had been glancing at his ass whenever he could on the way there. "'Sup?"

"Clever sheep..." He closed his eye, sighing, forgetting his mangled eye was in view.

"What?" The other herbivore laughed.

"This was just..." He smiled. "A good idea. A really good idea."

"Oh, yup!" Pina smiled and twitched a bit before submerging his head, horns and all, into the water. He came up shortly after, his long wool now wet and covering his eyes. He resembled Legosi's friend Collot, in a way.

The deer leaned his head back on the rock, still lucky to do it thanks to his lack of antlers.

Bill snorted, looking at his boyfriend. "Oh my god...Ahahaha! I've never seen you wet before!"

"Summer is gonna be fun, then." The sheep poked his pec. "What do you think?"

The tiger moved some wool out of his eyes and leaned in, kissing him. "I think...I have the best boyfriend here."

Dom put his arm around Kai. "None of you have a pocket boyfriend like I do. I think that automatically makes mine better."

"Well, it's definitely not me. I'm married so I'm a husband," Louis smirked.

Legosi couldn't weigh in, as he had lowered himself down into the water so only his eyes and ears were poking out. He did blow some bubbles through his nose, though.

Louis continued to speak. "If only we could have our Sunday submerged in hot water like this and still eat and listen to music, huh Pina?"

"Relaxing hot springs and death metal aren't the best fit, love," the dall sheep commented.

"And you would know?"

"Educated guess."

Legosi brought his head out of the water slightly and blinked sleepily. He looked up at Louis and leaned over to lick his shoulder.

The deer moved his head to rest against him and he watched the steam rise up again.

Dom looked at Kai. "What do you think? This is just what we all needed."

Kai's eyes were uncharacteristically half-lidded. "Yeah..." He stretched his legs out under the water and sighed. "Relaxing."

The avian leaned down and pecked him on the cheek, softly.

Kai kissed him back and nestled into his chest feathers.

Bill looked on. "So they can be romantic..."

Louis moved a leg over Legosi's since they were sitting. "I have a feeling they're more romantic than all of us. You know, without the sex, all you can do is focus on love."

Pina squinted. "What? You're saying sex isn't romantic?"

The deer looked at him. "What? No, no. You get what I'm saying, right?"

"It's just different," Legosi observed quietly.

Bill kissed the cheek of his own mate, moving their forms around so Pina was in front of him and leaning back against his chest. "Some people just show their love through sex."

"It's not just sex with us, Billy, right?" Pina tried to turn to him without hurting him with his horns.

The cat's arms slid around his waist. "No, of course not. And you absolutely know it. Remember...? At your parents?"

Dom raised a brow. "What happened?"

"We cuddled all through the night without fucking," Pina smiled.

Bill's smiled disappeared. "Um. Yeah. I guess that's what I meant..."

Louis' eye moved to the sheep's. "So...what...did happen?"

The sheep waved his hand, dismissively. "Another disowning, don't worry about it. Me and Bill are effectively orphans, I guess."

"No, no, no. I am worried about it and I want to hear what happened." He looked around. "No one's listening. It's just us." I hope...

"Except Bill and Legosi. It's fine. I don't mind you guys knowing. Just don't like talking about it, yet."

"Okay."

Dom turned his head. "We're all here for you. Even this sleepy mongoose."

Said sleepy animal nodded. "We might butt heads a lot, but you're still my friend, Pina."

Pina laughed. "If we actually butted heads, you'd die."

Louis sighed. "I don't want any of you to die."

"Joke, Lou! Joke..." Pina bit his lip.

"I mean it. I mean in general. I've almost died the most so I know what it's like to almost be there and...I just don't want that to be anyone here."

"You don't have to worry about me," Kai said.

Legosi enveloped the deer with his limbs. Nobody else there knew what was happening with them. It was so frustrating.

Dom rolled his eyes. "You don't have to worry about me, either. Whatever happens, we don't get involved."

Pina, noticing the change in atmosphere, attempted to lighten the mood. "How is fashion school anyway, Dom?"

"Ooooh! So fun! I don't have to do any core classes, so it's just focusing on what I wanna learn. Love it."

"That dress he wore was actually a project for a class," Kai informed the group. "Just keep it a secret that I helped."

"You guys look amazing in dresses," Louis said. "I'm a little jealous."

"Only two of us so far," the sheep pointed out. "Dom, you should design dresses for all of us."

"Ooooh! And Kai can help!"

The feliformia perked up. "I can! I've wanted to design something for myself for a while."

Legosi smiled, slightly. "Hopefully I don't outgrow mine too fast."

Bill squinted. "Yeah. There's no way you are putting me in one of those things."

Louis got off Legosi, moving through the water.

"Awh, why not, Billy?" Pina asked, genuinely seeming sad.

"Because fuck no!"

"You'd look so sexy~"

"You'd look so sexy!"

"Yeah, I know! I already have a dress!"

Louis looked at Bill. "Do it for your precious sheep who loves you."

"Hear that? I'm precious." Pina fluttered his eyes, whose makeup had now dissipated all over his face.

"Why did you wear makeup anyway?" Louis asked. "You look like a sad clown."

"To look good at dinner. You're right though. One sec." Once again, the sheep was underwater.

The deer looked at Bill, once again. "We can't convince you, huh?"

The cat shook his head.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Looks like we have a challenge on our hands, Dom! We'll have to compromise on his design. Don't make it a dress, but something 'Bill'. And no that doesn't mean a Catsune Mewku shirt or an energy drink snap on."

"Energy drink?" The buck blinked.

"Bill likes energy drinks!" Kai insisted.

"Um. Okay." He looked to Legosi. "You're being awfully quiet, dear."

"Relaxing," Legosi hummed.

Dom splashed Louis a bit. "Don't mind him. He doesn't talk much, anyway."

"That you know of! The canine I know is a jabber jaw."

"He's always like this when we get together. He's a listener, right Legosi?" Kai asked, to which Legosi just nodded.

Suddenly, a white, wet mass of wool surfaced right in front of Louis.

The buck yelped, splashing him with a torrent of water. "Eep!"

"What, forget about me already?" Pina pulled the wool from his eyes and revealed his now clean face.

"Yeah. It's like when you aren't talking, you don't exist." Louis tried a wink, which still looked strange with his one eye.

That caught Pina's attention, and he realized it was the first time seeing Louis' eye scar. It was so plain and ordinary that he didn't even think about it until then. Snapping out of it, he retorted. "Well, get ready for my presence, again." He slid next to Louis' wolf-free side.

"Lovely," the deer smiled. He leaned his head back against the rock again. He only saw Legosi in his peripheral vision, as his left eye was out of commission, but he could hear the sheep making little splashes beside him, but the little splashes became a big splash when the sheep brought both of his fists down through the water.

Both Legosi and Louis got soaked, the wolf's relaxation shattering in an instant.

"Hey!" Louis called.

"Get your heads wet! C'mon!" Pina laughed.

"My head is already wet," Legosi stated.

"Not all the way!"

"You're just being mischievous," the wolf sighed.

Louis rolled his eyes. "Fine. If it will make you stop." He sunk all the way below the water.

Legosi, seeing his husband go down, soon followed.

Pina rolled his eyes. "If one jumped off a bridge the other would follow shortly behind..."

The submersion gave Louis the opportunity to kiss his lover underwater. Weird feeling.

Dom rolled his eyes. "Those two."

"You wouldn't want a relationship like that?" Kai asked.

"You're not one for super romance, huh?" The bird asked.

Bill coughed. "As if."

"I dunno. You deserve to get what you want in a relationship. Do I provide it?" Kai was going on about this again.

Dom looked at him. "I want whatever relationship you want."

"Is it good enough, though? You haven't even seen me naked until today."

"Because that's not our kind of relationship."

"I just...I don't want you changing yourself for me," Kai rested his chin on his hands as he looked at his reflection in the water.

"I go with the flow. I want it all, I want nothing, I want you."

"Huh, guess I'm the nothing then," Kai sighed. The hot water must have flipped a switch.

"What are you talking about? I just said I want you!"

Bill spoke up. "Yeah, we heard."

Pina brought their attention away for a second. "Oh my god, are they gonna drown? Get up, you idiots!" He reached down and tugged at the still submerged deer's ears.

Louis came up, along with Legosi, wincing and shouting. "What! What!"

"You guys were gonna drown!"

Legosi looked past his husband. "We were kissing."

"You can drown while kissing!"

"I was drowning in something, alright," Louis huffed, lips forming a smile.

"Well, anyway, Kai is having a crisis or something." Pina turned back to the brooding carnivore. "Bro, I know I play the role of the thorn in your side, but that's just our dynamic, y'know? You're like, super smart and funny and I can see exactly why Dom can't get enough of you."

The bird nodded. "Yeah! You're so smart and creative and you really care, even if you don't show that. I've always admired that about you...And you always say what you're thinking, which means a lot to me. I never have to question anything when we're together."

"You're fun to be around," Legosi added. "I missed hanging out with you. I miss our days in club up with the lights just talking about our days and hearing what things annoyed you that day."

"You bring a kind of energy to our group that we need. We're not the same without you," Bill grinned.

The deer looked at Kai. "When I heard about how dedicated you became to the drama club stage crew, I gained a lot of respect for you. Earlier, you thanked me for kicking you off the acting team and that takes a lot of guts. I'm proud of you."

Bill moved forward. "Group hug on Kai!"

Now the nude group of males was closing in on the small mongoose.

Kai held his hands up. "U-uh, n-no need for that, g-guys, I...f-fuck." He sniffed and wiped at his eyes, trembling slightly.

But everyone closed in anyway, wrapping there arms around him and each other.

"Try not to think about this too hard," Dom mumbled.

A tiny "yeah" was heard from the center of the group.

It was a long hug. Being pure like that with each other, as well as their bodies touching, however weird it may sound, was proof that this was a group of friends that was meant to last. They really cared about one another, no matter how many hurdles they had to jump or how many insults they teased each other with.

Eventually, the mongoose in their grasp squirmed again. "Thanks, guys. Really. I love you all, I mean it."

Dom sighed. "We love you, too. Especially me. If you ever doubt that, all you have to do is look beside you because I'll be there, okay?"

"Yeah..."

Everyone pulled away slowly. "So, did the hot water just force everything up to the surface or what?" Pina asked.

Kai just shrugged, his eyes still red from the tears. "Shit's been shitty. Segregation and not being able to see Dom much. I'm lucky his moms like me, I guess."

Bill sighed. "And he goes to a different school than you...That shit must suck, man. Pina and I are still here for you at Cherryton, though."

"And I still talk to you any chance I get," Dom interjected.

"Yeah, I know. I just have to focus on the club now. It's like my baby." Kai managed to compose himself once again.

Everyone moved back, going back to the edge of the spring, while Dom stayed in front of Kai and grasped both of his hands together. He moved his neck in a way so his head was eye level with his boyfriend. "Kai. Listen to me. I know you doubt yourself and I know everyone teases you, but it's just because they're messing around. You're a really great guy and you're so dedicated to the things you love...Like me. I may not be asexual like you, but that doesn't matter to me. It's just sex. I don't care about that. I only care about you and what makes you happy...Because you know what?"

"Yeah?"

"You make me happy. And that's enough for me. Okay?"

Kai nodded.

Once again, they embraced, tightly. "Maybe on one of your days off you can come spend the night and we can cuddle like this. Does that sound nice?"

"...Sounds fuckin' amazing."