Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew was a humor/funny animal comic from the '80's. The Harmony Trap is an inverted parody, taking concepts that were created were humorous effect and twisted them into a gritty, realistic send-up with a straight face. So, yes, you can expect adult themes.

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Wally was exhausted by the time he hit the showers. It was a great training session for Feral and a nice work out for him, especially towards the end. He'd gotten too little sleep since yesterday when his mate had magically appeared in the air and flopped down as if boneless onto his hospital bed. The hot water nearly put him to sleep, but there was a part of him the cringed and squirmed to feel the water seep into his fur.

"Need your back lathered before I revert back to normal?" Chester said. Wally looked back at the tall wolf next to him and smiled. They ended their sessions the way the always did, with Chester trying to mimic him and then trying to mimic Primal. Wally had too many throwback attributes for the kid's power for him to come close to a match. And Primal was a one of a kind creature, outside of nature. Chester might make a normal black furred wolf, but the hairless brute that was Primal was still beyond his powers.

"No," Wally said, grateful for the attention and the offer, but Peter had made it clear that didn't want anyone else touching him. Mutual grooming wasn't necessarily sexual, but Chester would probably make it sexual. "This is all getting shaved off as soon as I'm halfway dry."

Chester gave a knowing, leering smile and then turned the timer on for the shower. The wolf form vanished in the stream and Wally looked away. He envied the kid's ability to just wish away the fur. Peter loved that he was covered almost completely with stuff; but Peter's bedside had to be completely clean and sterile. And Wally could shed around the clock; another throwback gift.

In another moment, Chester had shed his mass, too. Magically, as easily as thought. Wally could hear more of the water spray missing the kid's body as he got smaller. This is the part that inspired his comic book doppelganger, Little Cheese. When Chester wasn't Feral, he was a dwarf armadillo, barely three feet tall. He'd taken a lot of crap for it as a boy and even more so when he stopped growing at 16.

Wally had similar experiences at the other end of the size spectrum. Chester fought back and gained a measure of respect. When Wally had fought back, he'd lost the respect of people he respected.

Chester's timer turned the water off and Wally glanced over to watch the small, totally hairless mammal limp away towards the lockers. Wally found himself growing beneath his merkin and realized that he'd been too exhausted to take it off. Ick. So, he took it off and decided to wash himself especially aggressively between his legs. But he stopped himself as he grew hotter. Peter might like a bit of a show; if only to establish dominance or perhaps prove he hadn't screwed Chester.

He liked that Peter would feel jealous or possessive, after all that had happened between them. He remembered the feel of Peter pulling the collar closed about his neck. The titanium ring being slid onto his finger. The elastic rings being slid over his other parts. Being controlled. Peter had saved him. Trained him. Owned him and Wally loved him for that.

Chester offered him none of that, but still...

Wally turned off the hot water and let the cold water calm him down to his core.

One of the nice things about living in a secured quasi-military base filled with advanced science-fictiony gadgets was that you could have a formerly sentient, evil robot as your personal groomer. It was supposedly the invention of Purr DeGation, a time traveling nutbag feline. It had a name when it had self-awareness. It destroyed its own mind when it realized that its master was just reprogramming it willy-nilly. Wally didn't know what that name was, he just called it Tony. Tony had stainless steel razors for hands. Voigt would never trust it near anyone else but as long those razors weren't silver, Wally was safe. Also, Voigt had removed its legs and bolted it the floor in Wally's bathroom. The lazers in its eyes were downgraded so that it could still remove hair from his more sensitive parts without risking it burning out his eyes.

The last time he'd have his eyes were burned out, he was color-blind for a month.

Tony was interactive. He asked things a barber might ask and tomorrow morning they'd be a transcription for him to review and then sign. It almost felt normal. It certainly wasn't a bad way to write up reports.

Shorn, Wally was able to throw on a lab coat and go back up to the hospital level where Peter slept. He checked in with the head nurse, a Simian named Mac with tribal tattoos on his face. A newbie had accidentally pulled out Peter's catheter while giving him a sponge bath. No, Peter hadn't been awake for that, but he had woken up a bit when Mac had to go put it back. Yes, he asked for you.

Wally flinched, Peter was sure to be angry with him for not being there when he woke up. Assuming he remembered waking up. Wally thanked the Ape and slipped into his Mate's room. His little pig was asleep and he tried to keep him that way as he checked his vitals and then the catheter, pulling back the sheathe to check for bruising with a penlight. He wished he'd taken a moment to have Tony do his nails, but he hadn't expected to need to check on this.

Although he was careful not to wake up Peter, he was disappointed that Peter hadn't woken up on his own when he was done. Peter needed his rest, too. He needed to heal. But he wanted to wake his man up and mate while he was still flesh and blood.

Wally's fingers touched his mate's nearly bald head and face, outlining the burned tainted skin, the cheek where Primal had bitten him the first thing he'd lost control, and the scars that shredded that side if the pig's muzzle. Each a time Peter might have been killed, if his will to live hadn't been so strong. Two of times being Wally's fault. Still, he knew Peter would not have changed a thing.

Except that he wanted to stay inside the golem longer and longer.

"Wolfie?" The voice was weak, and buried in a sigh.

"I'm here." He kissed the pink forehead and rubbed the pig's left ear between his fingers. The ears still had all the nerves, the hard hat Peter had worn during his "origin" – when his machinery exploded, joining him the metal golem – had protected them. "I'm here, I'm here."

"I woke up alone and... the intercom was off."

Wally leaped up and fiddled with the voice actuated mechanism. Looked like the sensitivity was set to minimal. Unless Peter had shouted into it; the intercom might have as well be turned off completely. "I'm turning this up full. If you fart, the nurses will hear it."

Peter nodded. "Where were you?" He whispered, forcing his eyes open. They were as wet and as red as a lost child's.

"My father called," Wally said, deciding to start small. "He wanted to remind me that I promised him grandchildren when I was four or five. I thought it best not to argue in here." None of that counted as a lie, exactly.

"Your father," Peter began with a snarl, then seemed to think better of what he was about to say. "Wolfie... Wally... there's... something I've been meaning to tell you... about your..." Peter sighed and then there was a brief struggle that flittered across Peter's face.

Then Peter was asleep again.

Wally repeated his mate's name three or four times, but he was honestly grateful that Peter had fallen asleep when he did. He already had enough drama for 36 hours. Honestly, it was like no one could remember that he was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode into a ginormous, pale-skinned, unkillable monster with a taste for flesh.

Wally caved and popped a alprazolam or two. He took off his lab coat, climbed up onto the bed, and curled up at Peter's little cloven hooved feet. He draped the coat over himself and let himself relax with his husband's scent all about him.