“Definitely avoid the phrase, ‘just the tip,’” Rusty said, and Gem made a mental note of it.
“Excellent suggestion. In fact, I’ll tell him we’re celibate. We’re not even sexually attracted to each other. We just hold hands, even though we find it physically repulsive.”
“I don’t think he’d buy that,” Rusty said.
“Well, it’s either that, or I throw you under the bus and say you took advantage of me,” Gem admitted, and Rusty scowled. “Don’t look at me like that. I never said I wasn’t a coward, and I hate when he yells.”
Framing his face in his hands, Rusty tugged Gem down and kissed him, cutting off his next bout of catastrophizing. “Deep breath, Gem.”
Gem took a deep breath.
“Good girl,” Rusty said, and Gem’s taint tingled.
“Oh, that’s not fair,” he whined, and Rusty grinned.
“We don’t have to stress about this now,” he said soothingly, and Gem inhaled again, exhaling slowly. “I don’t really care if people know about us, but there’s no rush, right?”
“Right,” Gem agreed quickly. “I mean, it doesn’t make sense to blab about something when we’re still figuring out what it is.”
Rusty nodded. “Yeah. I’ve never even done this before, so—”
“And there’s no pressure,” Gem interrupted, those stupid nerves cramping his stomach. “We’ll figure it out as we go, and we’ll tell people when it makes sense to tell people.”
“Okay,” Rusty said, giving Gem’s hand a squeeze. “So we keep things at work…”
“Chill,” Gem finished when Rusty drifted off.
“Chill,” he echoed.
“So chill,” Gem said, and Rusty snorted.
Popping onto his toes, Rusty kissed him, and Gem sighed in relief, kissing him back soundly. They parted as the tram approached, and Rusty stepped back, raking his claws through the fur between his ears.
“You know, Ollie is pretty unobservant,” Gem said with a mischievous eyebrow waggle. “I’m gonna see how many times I can touch your butt tomorrow without him noticing.”
Rusty crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s the opposite of chill.”
“But it’s gonna be hella fun.” Gem danced to the tram door as it squeaked open.
“What if Oliver sees?”
“He won’t,” Gem dismissed easily.
“But what if he does?” Rusty insisted as Gem hung halfway out the door.
“Then we tell him you just-the-tipped me, and he’ll automatically think we’re lying.” At Rusty’s doubtful expression, Gem doubled-down. “No, for real. Tad does it all the time. I’m pretty sure everything she’s ever told us has been true. It’s why I’m terrified of her, but I also kinda wanna be her when I grow up.”
Rusty blinked, then shook his head. “Just don’t touch my ass at work.”
“Psh, don’t worry, babe. I totally won’t touch your ass at work.” He punctuated his promise with an obnoxious wink.
“That makes me not believe you,” Rusty said as Gem shimmied backward up the steps of the tram.
“Guess we’ll all be surprised tomorrow.”
“Gem,” Rusty growled in warning, but the tram door shut, cutting off the rest of his threat.
Gem took the window seat and waved down at Rusty. The Pyclon waved once, then tucked his paws into the pockets of his jammie pants, his precious pudding pouch pooching over the waistband. Bare-chested, fur a little messy, he looked so sexy Gem wanted to get off the tram and kiss his fuzzy face off.
