Among Golden Rays (Gay Furry)

Chapter Fourteen: A Blushing Mess

To say that Michael had never experienced what had happened was a rather giant understatement.

Michael had made a name for himself as the ever cool, never-worried and collected individual that he truly was. Taking on mountains of work and managing to finish it with a day to spare to relax and recharge, always calm and never having to worry about being embarrassed.

But that slip up that he had said to Jake, that thing was the first of its kind.

It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't acted like a high school girl who was asking out their latest and greatest crush. Rushing off with his tail wagging between his legs was something that Michael Landry would have never done. And yet, he had just done it. Done it rather publicly, actually.

Maybe it was his comfortableness to be himself around his friends, the few people in the town he knew didn't care about the whole bi/pan thing. Maybe he was truly that horribly smitten with the fox, maybe it was something else that he couldn't think of. He didn't want to admit that Ramsay was right though. He didn't. Because the otter would absolutely be the type to say "I told you so".

Over all, the event replayed over and over again in his mind the entire rest of the practice. He had no idea why it was eating away at him so much. It wasn't like Jake didn't like it, if anything the fox blushed twice as hard as Michael did, but what was really perturbing Michael was how he acted. He was never like that.

He knew he was repeating it in his head, he knew that he was focusing too much on what basically amounted to just a flustered moment with someone he likes, and with someone who also likes him - but even with that knowledge he hated how he acted. It was so unlike him.

Or maybe it was like him, and he never had experienced something like actually liking someone that liked him back before.

Whatever the reason was, it drastically impacted his ability to actually conduct the drills.

The rest of the practice went by really slowly, far slower than it actually was. The next hour felt like ten, it was like Michael was back as a kid experiencing his first grueling practice, and he was barely doing anything other than directing the ones actually suffering through Hell Week.

But, it did eventually end, and Michael mercifully had slowly calmed down from his flustered remark to his foxy friend. He was still relatively, and justifiably, peeved that he acted the way that he did, but eventually he let it go. There was no use in being annoyed at something that wasn't even a bad thing. And in fact, as it turns out, might've been a good thing.

His fellow coaches left before he did, though he didn't mind that. He enjoyed being the last one out very often - he liked to make sure that everything was put away or in its rightful place. But, as it remained, Jake was also there with him, having helped put away the different items that they had used.

Mostly plastic cones for directions, footballs, foam bags for practicing tackling and spacing, and other miscellaneous things. Jake had not talked about what Michael had said earlier, and neither did Michael. However, they did have some small talk about the day and how utterly exhausting it had been. And how they'd have to deal with the same schedule for nearly four months.

Once everything was packed away in its place, Jake and Michael took a rest just outside the stadium as the day bled away into the night. It was really cold now, the wind was winding and strong. Jake's hood on his jacket was being gently pulled by the wind.

"Just locked the shed, it's all packed." Michael told him with a grin, holding up the key. Jake nodded, ears pressed down against his nape. He usually never got cold, but for some reason outside his house, he always got extremely cold. Didn't help that he didn't have his thick blanket either.