The awakening of the manticore
When the school bus parked in front of the museum, almost every single boy and girl in it cheered collectively. After all, they were celebrating the end of elementary school, of being the “little kids”, and looked forward to the start of middle school. New lives, new friends, but not before a very long summer vacation to enjoy. Almost everyone cheered, except for Leon. 
With his mellow brown eyes shadowed by his baseball cap and smooth bangs, the boy looked down at the tires with his head leaning against the window. He was pulled out of his daydreaming by Charlie shaking his shoulder excitedly. “We’re here, Leon!” the other boy said, curly black hair nearly bouncing up and down in enthusiasm. 
Leon mumbled, “Yes.”
Charlie smiled wide at his melancholic friend. “Why are you so sad? It’s the last day!”
“Exactly.” Leon turned around to look back at Charlie. “It’s the last day. And then you’re going away for summer. And then you’re going to another school. And then we’ll never see each other again.”
“Aww, don’t say that.” Charlie’s smile faltered. “We will still see each other!”
“Yeah, right,” huffed Leon. 
“Hey, at least I get to sleep over at your place. That’s pretty cool, right?”
Leon cheered up a little. “Heh, yeah. Get ready to get wrecked in Mario Kart again, loser.”
Charlie stuck out his tongue, Leon did the same, and they both shared a happy giggle.
Their teacher, a hefty woman in her late forties, stood up from the front seat of the bus. “Alright kids!” she yelled above the excited yipping. “Come on out! Remember what I told you at school. Stay quiet. Stay in line. And don’t get lost!”
The children answer with the obligatory: “Yes, Ms. Benson.”
The door of the school bus opened and soon the children were stepping out unto the warm pavement and midday sun. A museum guide stood waiting—a slim woman with a long ponytail and a patient smile. Leon and Charlie were the last to leave. Flanked by their teacher, the guide said: “Hi kids! My name is Denna and I’ll guide you today. We will have lots of super fun together! Just stay close and listen to me and your teacher. Alright?”
The kids nodded hesitantly. Some said here and there, “Yes,” and “Alright,” and “Okay.”
“Cool beans. Let’s go!”
The town’s museum wasn’t large. Built out of brick in the 18th century, it housed a main exhibit and two lateral wings. Cement steps led the group to the anachronistic glass door entrance. A quiet excitement settled over the children. Even Leon was forgetting his previous sadness.  
The kids gasped as they were greeted by the replica of a T-rex skeleton. Denna smiled. That old thing never failed to get the young ones excited. “Now kids,” she started, “the museum has three parts: the main hall, where we are, the main exhibits to the right and the temporal ones to the left. We will begin in the main hall and work our way around, okay?”
Ms. Benson commanded: “Yes, Denna.”
The children chorused lamely: “Yes, Denna.”
The main hall housed the paleontology exhibits. Leon and Charlie marveled at the T-rex replica, the fossil fragments behind glass boxes, a timeline of evolution, and a plastic pterodactyl suspended above their heads. After all, what kid doesn’t like dinosaurs?
Time passed and they moved on to the permanent exhibits in the right wing, consisting mostly of artifacts narrating the town’s history. Denna felt the group’s excitement dwindle after the long hour she spent nurturing their young brains with history—darn kids just wanted to see dinosaurs. Leon was yawning by the time he and Charlie returned to the main hall.
“What did you think of it?” asked Charlie.
Rearranging his baseball cap, Leon replied: “Bo-ring!”
“Jerk,” Charlie chuckled. He noticed Ms. Benson giving them the evil eye from the entrance to the left wing. The rest of the group was with her. “Come on, we’re lagging.”
They caught up with the other children and an excited Denna. “Now, kids, this is really special,” the guide said. “We have artwork and records from ancient Persia for this month. Isn’t that cool?”
Some kids nodded along dumbly. Most didn’t know what ‘Persia’ meant.
“Let’s go!” Denna said, thrusting her fist forward like a superhero. Leon actually cringed.
The left wing’s walls and glass-encased exhibits were generously illuminated by warm lights hanging from the ceiling. The awed kids stared their eyes out at the ancient armor, artwork, and life-sized statues all around. Even Ms. Benson seemed impressed for once. 
“Okay,” Leon said to Charlie. “This is actually cool.”
“Yeah,” Charlie blew some curls out of his face. 
Denna started to fawn about ancient Persia as she led the children around the room. With unbridled excitement, she laid out the history of some of the exhibits around them. They were around the back when Leon glanced at a corner and saw a little bronze statue on a pedestal, less illuminated than the larger ones. It was a man-like manticore: a two-legged beast with a lion’s head and body, complete with a mane and rugged clawed paws. Two folded bat wings with sharp talons shadowed the wicked scorpion tail sprouting from its back, armed with several lateral spikes. 
Leon stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at the statue.  Too enthralled with some ancient armor, Charlie did not notice his friend staying behind as he and the rest of the group rounded a corner. Staring at the statue, Leon saw its eyes glimmer with an odd green light. The boy felt dazed. He shook his head; everything seemed a bit blurry. Confused, he looked back at the statue, and began to shuffle towards it. He wanted to see it up close.
The statue was different from anything else around it. It didn’t show traces of its antiquity, nor did it appear carved out of rough stone or molded from a cast. It looked alive. The scorpion tail seemed to stand bit taller, and the bat wings appeared more unfolded to Leon as he approached. The boy blinked and caught another glimmer of green light. His brown eyes turned hazy when he stood in front of the statue. What was he doing? Why did he come here? It was hard to think. Stupefied, lips parted, Leon’s eyes reflected another green spark from the statue’s own. It was calling to him. He was special. He had to do something. Something very important. 
The dazed boy stretched out his hand towards the statue, until his smooth fingers nearly touched the rough bronze. No one was looking. The time was now. 
The statue’s long tail curled up and struck at the back of the hand. A sharp stinging pain tore Leon from his hypnotized state. For an instant of an instant, he saw the tail’s stinger buried under his skin, felt something hot and viscous being injected in his flesh, then the statue was as it had always been. Its wings lay folded behind its back, its tail had retracted to its original pose. The green glimmer had faded from its eyes. 
Leon looked at his hand and saw a red dot surrounded by swollen skin. He broke out in a cold sweat when he felt an odd heat in his flesh. Fighting his tears, he stumbled back to the group, bangs stuck to his wet forehead. 
He met them at the entrance to the wing. Charlie turned around, instantly worried at the sight of Leon’s pale and sweaty face. “What’s wrong?”
Leon needed a second to answer shakily: “I… I got stung by a statue.”
The curly-haired boy raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I… I…” Leon swallowed. “I got close to a statue of a lion man with a scorpion tail and the tail came and stung my hand and it feels warm now and I don’t know why I did it but I think it had something like poison or something like that and…” He ran out of air and gasped, when Charlie interrupted him with a snicker. 
“Yeah, sure. Show me your hand.” 
Leon raised his trembling hand to show his friend, but to his surprise, the swelling and red dot had disappeared. And with each passing second, the hot pain seemed nothing but a phantom sensation.
“Heh, good joke,” Charlie mocked.
Leon whined: “Not a joke!”
It took a moment for Charlie to realize his friend wasn’t kidding. “Okay… then you must’ve just imagined it or something.”
The other boy hesitated for a moment. Confused, he looked down at his hand, and started to feel strangely calm. The pain and sting mark had disappeared. The more he replayed the incident in his head, the more ridiculous it seemed. Statues don’t move. It was all in his head. He smiled affably and looked back at Charlie with tiny, nearly invisible green spots in his brown eyes. “You’re right, I just imagined things. Sorry.”
“You’re weird sometimes,” Charlie said, relieved despite his previous doubts. 
The strenuous voice of Ms. Benson startled them to attention: “Charlie, Leon, what are you doing back there?! Come here!”
Fearing a big scolding, both boys went to the group standing by the entrance. Denna was already saying goodbye to their classmates, smiling the same excited and courteous smile. Leon and Charlie approached their unamused teacher, waved the guide goodbye, and were soon sitting on the bus, talking excitedly about the games they would play together. Both had completely forgotten about the incident in the museum. 
-
With the approval of Leon’s mother, a modestly-dressed brunette with the same smooth hair as her son, the boys spent the whole afternoon eating together and playing videogames on the TV in the living room. Time flew by. 
Evening soon arrived. The children ate pasta made by Leon’s mom with the voracity of lions. The woman was surprised by her son’s appetite—normally a picky eater, he devoured two plates and a generous slice of cheesecake as if he hadn’t eaten in days. 
After cleaning the plates between the three of them, the woman told the two boys what she always told them during sleepovers: “Now, I know you don’t have school tomorrow, but don’t stay up too late. If you’re still up by the time I come back, there will be no videogames tomorrow, got it?”
“Yes, mom,” mumbled Leon, already reaching for the controller.
“Yes Ms. Dawson,” Charlie answered obediently.
The woman smiled and picked up her purse from the couch. “Okay boys, see you tomorrow. Remember: no gaming past nine!” She went to the door and left the house. A minute later, the boys heard her drive away to visit some friend.
As soon as she left, Leon and Charlie grinned conspiratorially at each other. “So, wanna play till midnight?” asked Charlie.
Leon fixed his cap. “Of course!” And they chuckled naughtily as they started another co-op party.
Minutes ticked on. An hour passed. Then another. As the night went on, Charlie turned off the lights of the living room and kitchen, leaving only the cold blueish light of the TV. Then Leon started to feel… weird. Every time he would look at his friend’s face, illuminated only by the pulsing lights of the TV, he would feel a fluttering in the pit of his stomach, followed by a warm tingling caressing his skin. Leon kept stealing curious glances at the other boy, intrigued by those feelings, and wanting to just look at those cute curls cascading over Charlie’s forehead, or the concentrated look in his fiery eyes. Leon’s breathing grew shallower as those nebulous sensations condensed into lust. He felt the telltale need, the urgency in his young loins, as his boyhood rose in response. 
Charlie looked back at his friend with a grin as Leon got killed once again in their co-op campaign, and teased, “You okay there? You suck today.”
“I… umm…” Charlie’s words brought Leon out of his inner world for a moment. He became aware of the throbbing hardness pressing against his shorts and he crossed his legs. “Yeah… I’m… fine…”
“You look red,” said Charlie, genuinely concerned. “You sure you’re okay?”
Leon stared at him for a second, mouth agape, before remembering to reply. “I think I have to go to the toilet.”
“Okay.” Charlie shrugged and paused the game. He switched to TV as Leon scampered off down the hall to his room, next to his mother’s. Feeling dazed, he closed the door rapidly behind him and looked at his modest room through hazy eyes. 
What’s… happening? Leon went to turn on the light, before realizing he could see pretty well in the dark: the details of his racecar bed and plastic stars on the ceiling and the old plushies in a corner were clear as day. Breathing hard, the boy looked down at his crotch, amazed at the sight of his dick bulging up his clothes. 
Leon wasn’t a stranger to self-pleasure, having discovered masturbation some months ago. But the need pumping through his body was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He needed to jack off. Just… a quick one. He pulled down his pants, revealing his bulging tighty-whities, and stuck a hand under them. His eyes nearly rolled back the moment his hand grazed his boycock. It felt so sensitive. So hard and needy. He teased his little hard cock a bit more, before wrapping his hand around it to start jacking off proper. That’s when he noticed something weird. The skin on his palm felt coarse and leathery. Surprised, the boy fought the urge to keep touching himself and pulled up his hand. His eyes went wide when he noticed the skin of his palm bulging and darkening as it took on the shape of a feline paw pad. It was his right hand—the same hand that received the sting from the manticore statue.
Leon gasped, before his cock stole his attention with a needy throb. Why am I… so horny? He swallowed hard. Tan hairs sprouted like grass from the back of his changing hand, thickening and elongating into proper fur with each passing second. He hissed as his nails lengthened and sharpened into little claws, producing a burning feeling in his fingertips. His palm’s skin finished changing into a dark feline paw pad, and the soft hairs made their way around his hand, growing along and between his fingers.
Transfixed, the boy saw the fur running down from his hand to his wrist, arriving unto his forearm, covering his skin with a warm fuzziness that seemed to also affect his mind. Worries and logic seemed so far away. The inexplicable changes he was going through were unimportant. And his cock was right there, aching for attention.
Leon pulled down his pants and underwear, revealing his smooth legs and buttcheeks to the dark room, alongside his tight little balls and rock-hard dick. He resumed his masturbatory session, his changed hand feeling oh-so-good caressing his developing boycock, panting and grunting as warmth blossomed throughout his body. The tan coat of fur reached to his elbow, and he closed his eyes as patches of heat bloomed along his chest. He caressed the skin around his nipples with his free hand and felt little spots of fur sprouting haphazardly over it. His clothes now felt suffocating and abrasive. “S-So hot…” Leon grunted, struggling to pull off his shirt without taking his hand off his dick: the impossibility of the task never occurred to him, lost in his intoxicating lust. But he succeeded when he produced a gap in his shirt and ripped it off. His baseball cap fell down on the floor alongside his torn shirt when he pulled down his pants hastily and stepped out of his sneakers.
Completely naked now, Leon felt whatever inhibitions he had disappear with each surge of pleasure. His ragged soft breaths filled the air as the tan fur on his chest spread over his sides and back. He felt its embrace like a warm lover’s hand, soft and comforting and exhilarating. When it reached the edge of his neck, an odd pressure came from his ears.
My… ears… Leon thought sluggishly, as they rounded and deepened. Golden fur grew from their tops and spread along their edges, gently enveloping them in soft fuzz. The skin around his changing ears pulsed and pushed up the appendages to the edge of his hair, leaving a hairy trail in their wake that rolled gently over his cheeks like a sideburn. His free hand caressed his fuzzy cheeks and he felt a warm satisfaction. A thought hit him out of the blue, strong and pervasive: Lion. Lion. Lion good. Lion strong. 
The thought penetrated his weakened mind and he gasped, eyes opening wide; the green dots in his irises expanded to eat up the brown surrounding them. His pupils narrowed to slits and ancient foreign memories played out in front of him like a grainy projection. His body went limp and he fell down on his side painlessly, completely swallowed by the vision, while his hand-turned-paw released his needy dick. 
He saw himself atop a golden throne, surrounded by richly-painted walls and an ornamented ceiling. Candles and incense burned atop golden stands. A small group of young men and teenage boys in colorful linen robes surrounded him, their faces decorated with paint and jewelry, staring at him with nothing less than adoration. Leon needed a moment to realize he was not himself. His body felt stronger, bigger, more powerful, right. Strong but nebulous instincts to hunt and mate and something else swirled throughout his head. Looking around, he saw one of the young men—his disciples, he realized—walking to him and going on his knees in front of his throne. He spoke and, despite doing so in an ancient forgotten tongue, Leon understood it as if it were in English: “My Lord! Thank you! Thank you, for choosing me.”
Leon felt himself a passenger in another body as he stood from the throne to loom over the other man. But with each passing second, the strange feelings from his body—the long sinuous thing curling up above his rear, or the two leathery things spreading from his back, or the fur covering his skin—became more familiar. More him. 
Lion strong. Lion proud. Lion good. Lion shares.
The kneeled man looked up adoringly. “Thank you for sharing your gift with me, my Lord. Bless me! Make me like you.”
Leon realized the long thing, a tail, his tail, was curling up above his shoulder. It struck at the eager man’s neck…
…and the vision melted into pure bliss. Leon was back on the floor of his room, his little body spasming from the violent orgasm wrecking through him. His hips twitched erratically as drops of clear sticky fluid squirted from his member. He bit back a moan and felt something pointy digging into his lips: his new fangs. 
Panting and peeping and mewling in bliss, he barely noticed his new feline ears sprouting from his hair, or the heat of the fur spreading from his neck and cheeks unto the front of his face, currently scrunched up from the effort of holding back screams of pleasure as it stretched out and reshaped into a feline muzzle. His nose flattened into it, becoming two black nostrils huffing hot air unto his darkening lips.
When the boy’s orgasm wound down, he became aware of a sweet ache in his feet. They elongated and shifted into paws, lengthening and bending into a digitigrade stance. Their soles grew puffy and brown as they acquired their own pawpads, flexing and turning from the weird ache and the slight burn of toenails retracting into the skin, then pushing out as claws. All the while that golden fur enveloped them into a luxurious warm embrace.
Leon, drooling over his new muzzle, young mind shattered from the change and visions and brain-melting pleasure, shifted uncomfortably because of something hard and smooth growing above his furry ass and pressed against the floor. He rolled over on his belly without a conscious thought, while his legs were being covered with fur spreading up from his foot paws and down from his hips. Eyes closed, he growled as his black, chitinous tail grew from his backside, thickening and segmenting along the way. Its presence brought a sense of familiarity and power. He remembered the vision and willed his new appendage to grow even faster. It did; the glossy tail rose from his body and its smooth end hardened and expanded into an ovoid shape, from which emerged a small, sharp, needle-like stinger. The scorpion tail curled up in readiness as the boy stood up on shaky paws. He held his lion’s head against a hand-paw, his brain aching from all the impulses and needs swimming around. Leon’s consciousness and memories merged with those implanted into him—it was still him, but better, stronger, prouder.
He opened his slitted green eyes and grinned with newfound power and bliss when he inspected his body. Golden fur covered him from head to toe, short enough to showcase his newly-acquired lean musculature. He flexed his paws for hands and feet and practiced moving his retractable claws in and out. It took a while, and in the meantime, he felt something hard sprouting just above his forehead. He put a paw on the place and stroked his new horns as they grew from his scalp, while his scorpion tail moved sinuously through the air behind him. Leon brought his new appendage to the front, amazed by its dexterity and seduced by its power; looking at his stinger strengthened impulses that had laid dormant until now: to hunt, to mate, and to spread. 
Yes. That was all that was needed; a willing disciple to share his gift with. Only one suitable candidate popped up in Leon’s mind. Thankfully, he was right outside the door to his room. His cock stiffened as he left his room and entered the hall.
Charlie had dozed off on the couch. The phosphoric light of the TV lit up his pale face and curly bangs draped over his forehead. Leon approached slowly, almost playfully. He wondered if he could just spread his gift right there and then. However, he decided to have some fun first. “Charlie?” he asked playfully, approaching from the hall. “Chaaar-lie?”
“Umm…” The boy woke up slowly, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “Leon?” He could only see a vague silhouette in the dark room. “Leon? Did I fall asleep?”
“Heh. Yes, you did” Leon's figure stepped into the pale light of the TV and now, as Charlie's eyes focused on him, he could see that something was wrong. 
“Leon?” Charlie shook his head rapidly at the sight of the unnatural figure in his room; sleep was instantly forgotten. “Leon? Is that you?” 
Leon’s scorpion tail twisted and turned elegantly behind him, as if made of silk. His smooth horns glistened in the lowlight. “I have something to give you Charlie. Something very special”
“No.” Charlie shook his head. “No. This isn't real.”
“You've been such a good friend Charlie. Now we will be together forever! You’ll never go away. Come join me. Receive my gift.”
“What are you talking about?” Charlie was at the point of hyperventilation, eyes filled with confusion and uncertainty and fear, unable to believe what they were seeing. “Leon, you're… you're a monster!”
“No, I'm not a monster. Come with me, Charlie. I have a gift for you. It will feel so, so good…”
“No!” Charlie screamed, standing up rapidly from the sofa and looking around the room as Leon slowly approached. He made a short dash towards the door and was about to reach the knob when he turned around and a flash of green lit up the dusky room. He froze instantly. Leon's eyes glowed an emerald green, their dark slitted pupils contrasting starkly against the ethereal light. Charlie's body was frozen in place, his hand still stretched towards the doorknob. He could not stop staring at Leon’s feline face and those glowing green eyes. 
Another pulse of light. Charlie gasped as the room started to spin around him, and the dizzying sensation occupied his mind.
Why can't I move? What's going on?
Leon smirked. “Come here, Charlie.”
“No.” Charlie shook his head. Why do I feel so dizzy?
Charlie's thoughts were swept away in another green flash. His mouth opened slightly and he gasped as the dizzying disorientation grew stronger.
“You feel safe with me Charlie. We’re friends, right?”
Charlie couldn't deny that. “Yes,” he said shakily.
“You're not afraid of your friend, are you?”
“No.” Charlie’s panic slipped away like water between fingers.
Another green pulse. Charlie struggled to remember why he had tried to leave the house as his mind was swept away by those green eyes.
“Then come here. Let’s play together.”  Leon showed off his hard member with feigned innocence, presenting it lewdly in one paw.
Charlie started to walk towards Leon, his mind caught up in an ever-strengthening daze.
Those green eyes blackened him with another pulse. Charlie's own eyes grew half lidded and hazy. His trance deepened. He now stood in front of Leon, mouth half open, brain emptier with each passing second. 
“Let's play a game, Charlie,” Leon said with childish glee, even as his hard cock nearly touched the other boy. “Would you like that?”
“Uh…” Charlie found it hard to speak. “Y- Yes.”
“Just get on your knees in front of me.” Leon’s tail curled up, ready to strike. Charlie did as told, going on his knees in front of Leon, his face right in front of the other boys rod, but that didn't matter. All that mattered were those pulsing orbs filled with beautiful light staring down at him.
“Just relax and let it happen.” Leon’s tail came down on the boy's neck like a dark flash; its stinger dug into the soft skin. Charlie let out a tiny squeak. However, the stinger’s incredible sharpness and his hypnotized state made him feel little more than a tiny prick.
Leon huffed and groaned in pleasure, pressing his stinger deeper into Charlie. He could feel his thick venom pumping into the other boy's bloodstream with each powerful pulse of his tail, feeling so, so good. Feeling exactly like what he had to do.
“Yes…” Leon moaned as another powerful throb traveled down his tail. “Oh, yes…”
The mild pain from the sting vanished instantly from Charlie’s skin as an icy-hot numbness spread from his neck all over his body, intensified by every drop of venom pumped into him. His eyes rolled backwards, his lips parted in a mute gasp; his body and mind stopped responding when his muscles froze, locking him in place. His consciousness was swallowed up in a fluffy white cloud of nonexistence. 
Leon pumped his last drops of venom and sighed in delight. His stinger retreated from his friend’s neck. He came down from his own high and saw Charlie looking back up with blank eyes, drooling from a corner of his mouth. He had never looked so beautiful. 
The young manticore didn’t expect to be so aroused by the experienced of stinging another boy. His dick throbbed in front of Charlie’s dazed face, eager and virile. Leon licked his dark lips. As he pondered what to do, Charlie’s empty eyes slowly filled with glistening green dots. He blinked; his consciousness slowly returning to him as if waking up from a dream. The first things he saw were Leon’s oozing cock and grinning feline face in front of him and above him. However, instead of panic, the sight triggered intense arousal. Charlie’s pale cheeks blushed bright pink; he panted needily at the manticore. “Leon…” he choked, swallowing. “L-Leon… I… ahh…” His tiny prick grew impossibly hard for his age and poked delightfully against his pants. “I… uhh… c-can’t… think…” The boy blinked; his eyes now showcased that same captivating green glow and slitted feline pupils as they stared at the leaking cock in front of him with captivation. “So… p-pretty…” Carnal instinct flashed through Charlie’s weaking mind and he swallowed the exposed cockhead in his mouth, sucking on it as if it were a teat, delighted by the salty taste.
Leon hissed and his scorpion’s tale curled up blissfully. He grabbed Charlie’s curls and held him in place, tiny claws digging into his scalp. “Good, Charlie,” he growled, closing his eyes in delight. “So good…”
For a few seconds, the quiet room filled with the lewd sounds of wet slurping and muffled high-pitched moans. Leon started thrusting gently into Charlie’s eager mouth and the latter fondled his throbbing cock under his undies. Then Leon felt something soft and fluffy pushing against his handpaws. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of dark feline ears sprouting from Charlie’s black hair; the boy seemed oblivious, still slurping the cock in front of him. With some effort, Leon pulled back. A viscous thick string of saliva and precum connected the tip of his glans with Charlie’s waiting mouth, showing off a couple of cute little fangs. Charlie licked his lips and looked up at Leon like a puppy to his owner, panting needily. “I f-feel… warm,” he slurred. “I is warm. So-so warm and fuzzy.”
Leon understood what his new thrall meant. “Come here,” he ordered, and Charlie stood up instantly, looking expectantly at Leon through sleepy green eyes. Leon grabbed him by the hand and led him to the couch. They sat down together, bodies pressed tight against each other. 
“S-so hot,” Charlie panted, as black fur sprouted from his neck and cascaded down his body.
“It’s okay,” Leon smiled, “It’s all good.” The lion manticore took off Charlie’s shirt with tender care, and the other boy didn’t protest. In fact, he adored the feeling of Leon’s paws caressing his smooth pale skin and scratching the tufts of glossy inky-black fur budding around his belly button, nipples, and slender flat chest. 
Charlie’s changes progressed much faster thanks to the freshness and quantity of the venom pumped into him. Leon took notice of this and pulled down his pants and undies, and his needy little cock sprang free. Staring into each other’s lustful eyes, both boys felt the drive at the same time: they brought their faces together and their lips touched, feline against human, young bodies buzzing with need. They parted their lips and Leon’s rough tongue invaded Charlie’s mouth, playing with his fangs, tasting his spit. Their hands found each other’s cocks and they jerked each other off, fingers glistening with precum. 
“L-Leon…” Charlie murred, pulling back a second, drowning in his changes and the hotness of the air and the manticore’s scent. “F-Feels… good…” Leon felt the texture around his cock change as Charlie’s human hands turned into paws, blanketed in velvety black fur with inky pawpads; the fur of a black panther. 
“Yessss…” Leon hissed and brought the boy back into the kiss, getting sloppier, hastier. He pinched and felt all over Charlie’s body as it was being wrapped up in glistening dark fur, getting somehow even more slender and shapely. The fur rose up along Charlie’s neck at the same time that his own chitinous tail stretched out above his smooth ass.
“Oh, Leon—” Charlie pressed tighter against his friend, their kiss momentarily hampered by his mouth and nose changing into a black panther’s muzzle and pink feline nose. Sensitive whiskers sprouted from its sides. His dark segmented tail stretched longer, its end turning into something different than Leon’s: instead of a stinger, it harbored a series of dart-like barbs. “L-Leon, I… I…”
Leon felt it too. Their stroking grew faster as they reached their peak. The lion manticore held his friend tight whilst the boycock in his paw grew and darkened into a virile member ready to burst its first load. “Let go, Charlie,” he whispered lowly, playing over its sensitive head. “Let go…”
“Ahhh… ahhh…” The young panther opened his mouth in a cry of pleasure. “Aaah!” His whole furry body bucked up and down erratically when his member fired off rope after rope of rich pearly-white seed unto the floor and their legs. Charlie’s black handpaw shook and vibrated over Leon’s stiff member as if electrocuted and Leon couldn’t hold back anymore. But in the last moment, he changed Charlie’s paw for his own, stroked himself over the edge and, with a mighty roar, bucked his dick into his paw and released streams of thick seed all over it. His muscles rippled under his tan fur with each mighty pulse from his cock until his orgasm subsided and he collapsed on the couch next to Charlie, completely spent. 
Their minds swam around in the same sea of pleasure for long minutes, until they slowly woke up from their reverie. Leon opened his eyes first and saw Charlie thrown back over the couch, his tail slumped over the backrest. A possessive instinct took hold of Leon. He brought the paw soaked with his cum and smeared it over the face of the young panther manticore, coating him with his smell and marking him as his property. Charlie felt it and smiled a droopy smile, licking the cum off his dark lips and savoring the taste of his Master. He finally opened his eyes and looked into Leon’s own; bright green orbs reflecting off each other. They shared an affable smile. 
But despite the drastic changes in their bodies and minds, they didn’t forget their past lives nor each other. On the contrary: with each passing second, they felt their mutual affection deepening into love. Leon grabbed Charlie’s black, fuzzy cheeks and kissed them tenderly while his partner giggled and purred cutely in return. 
“I feel so good, Leon,” Charlie sighed dreamily, “So good.”
“I’m glad.” Leon stroked his friend’s cheek, sticky with his cum. “Now you are mine.”
“Yes. I am yours.” The panther looked back in adoration. Leon’s conscious mind realized what his subconsciousness already knew: anyone he stung would become subservient and submissive to him. 
Leon took his chance: “Now we will never be apart.” 
“No, Master. Never.”
The young manticores smiled and shared another kiss. Then Leon stood up and Charlie followed suit.
“You’re my thrall, but you’re still my friend,” said the lion, as the very last changes took place in both of them: the bones around their columns twisted painlessly and two pairs of leathery back wings burst forth, glistening and eager to fly. “You’re my best friend, Charlie.”
They went to the door and stepped into the night. “So are you, Master Leon,” replied the panther. 
“Let’s go.” Leon grabbed his friend’s hand. “Let’s go spread our gift.”
Both manticores took off into the air with a blast of their mighty wings, leaving the door open and the TV on.