Middle school is so often a turning point in a boy's social life. It is at this age that one begins to get more socially aware, more self-conscious. Suddenly, one's flaws become more apparent to their peers, more carefully examined. In trying to sort out this newfound awareness, kids at this age can sometimes be a bit quick to make up their minds about you. Especially if you're a skunk.

Sammy and leon had been friends for months now. Sammy still remembered the day they met. It was an important day in any young boy’s life, his first day of middle school. And at a new school, nonetheless. Sammy was a nervous boy. For him, even stepping on the morning bus to school for the first time was a task that required much planning. He wouldn’t want to say something stupid and make a fool of himself after all. So when the whole bus laughed at him before he had even said a word, he was sure he’d never survive the school year.

There he was, waiting at the curb. Backpack ready, fur freshly groomed. He was looking sharp, and ready to make a good first impression. Little did he know, his bold black and white markings were going to make it for him. He stepped onto the rowdy bus, which was mostly full by the time it had gotten to his stop. Hearty laughs and summer stories being exchanged all ceased when he stepped into the aisle. He could feel the eyes of the entire bus on him. Had he done something wrong already? A spiteful cry out from the back of the bus gave him his answer.

“Stink-tail! Hold your noses!” 

The bus erupted into laughter. It didn’t take a genius to know what was meant by it. It certainly wasn’t the first time sammy had been the target of teasing based merely on the species he happened to be. Everybody knew what a skunk was, and a bus full of middle schoolers didn’t need a better reason to mock a new kid. Met with mocking paws held over noses as he walked down the aisle, sammy resigned himself to take the first empty seat he could spot. Most of them had likely not seen a skunk in person before, they weren’t all too common for the area. They’d get over the novelty of it eventually. 

In fairness, skunks did have a faint odor about them regardless of what they did. But even for species with a strong sense of smell, it was a mild annoyance at worst in the day to day. Most species wouldn’t even notice their scent at a distance of more than a few feet. It probably wasn’t the best idea to go up and hug a skunk, but nobody is going to stink just because they happened to be in the same room as one for a while. To be sprayed was another matter entirely, but even middle schoolers had the education to understand a skunk won’t just spray on accident. Elementary level education covered the biological basics kids would need to interact with the various species of people in the world. In short, ignorance wasn’t the reason the bus had decided to treat him like a walking stink bomb. Despite sammy’s best attempts to retreat into inner monologue, sitting alone still hurt.

Sammy stared vacantly out the window, tucked into the corner of an empty seat. As far out of sight as possible, he planned to simply wait out the ride in silence. Until leon stepped on the bus.

A very perky and energetic-looking snow leopard walked down the aisle, tilting his head curiously at the held noses and sneaky giggles. Giving the air an inquisitive sniff, it sure smelled fine to him. He could already tell this was going to be a very silly class. But as he made his way towards the back of the bus, he noticed a free spot next to a very disappointed looking skunk boy. Now leon understood what was going on here. He wasted no time taking a seat next to him.

“Hey there, i’m leon. This seat’s not taken is it?” Sammy jumped a little, almost instinctively anticipating more teasing.

“uh-N-no, go ahead. But aren’t you bothered that i’m a sk-” was all sammy had time to get out.

“Woah! Your stripes are so cool!” sammy nearly lept out of his fur as the snow leopard suddenly got almost uncomfortably close. Pointing at the skunk’s fuffy tail that he had curled around his waist, He saw the leopard’s claws extend from his paws for a brief moment at his exclamation, before retracting just as suddenly as they had come. To see a feline’s claws usually meant aggression, but this guy sure didn’t seem angry. Is he just...excited? Was he making fun of him somehow? That sounded like a compliment.

“Um, thanks. But aren’t you gonna hold your nose like everybody else? I…” sammy was at a loss for words, trailing off into space. The cat boy in front of him had such a dopey smile, it was almost hypnotic. Those shiny canines just barely sticking out of his mouth, his whiskers flickering back and forth as he focused intently on the skunk before him. Sammy wasn’t sure anyone had ever been so transfixed on him before. Staring deep into his sharp feline eyes, his perky attitude seemed to be contagious. Whatever he had done to earn the attention of this playful kitty, he hoped he could keep it up.

“Why would i do that? It’s not like you stink or anything.” at that, leon stuck out his tongue and made a silly face. Partially to prevent a very poorly timed sneeze. A little white lie never hurt anyone, he figured. Though it was certainly nothing intense enough to warrant the entire bus holding their noses, now that he was this close to the shy skunk boy...he did stink a little. It would take some getting used to.

“Wish somebody would tell them that…” seeing the mustelid’s look of disappointment, leon quickly offered an alternative. 

“Well, I might not be too good with explaining stuff to people, but I’m super good at being friends with them! Maybe...i could show you?” flashing the skunk some too-cute-to-refuse kitten eyes, leon clasped his paws together and did his best beggar impression. Sammy knew he’d made his first friend. Though...certainly a more eccentric friend than he was expecting.

“I think i’d like that, leon. My name’s sammy. It’s clear i have a lot to learn about making friends, but i'm glad i have a pro here to help me out.” 

Leon quickly went into his best old-timey french psychiatrist impression. This cat sure was expressive. “Mhmmm..yes, yes i see. You were right to come to me. Your condition is très serious. I prescribe… intensive hug therapy!” Sammy’s eyes went wide as the kitty leaped toward him to wrap him in a tight embrace.

“Wait I-” but it was too late. His feline friend had already wrapped him up in his arms, holding him tightly. He buried his face into the skunk’s neck, and sammy could see the tip of the leopard’s tail flickering back and fourth as he held him. He would protest, he should. You don’t just hug people! However...it had been a pretty chilly morning.

“You shouldn't just, I...uh...y-you’re pretty warm…” He resigned himself to his fate, embracing the feline and sharing in the warmth. Surely nobody would see, they didn’t seem too interested in him earlier after all. But something was weird, was leon growling? Growing nervous for a moment as he pondered the meaning of his situation, it suddenly hit him. Leon was a snow leopard. He wasn’t growling. He was...purring.

It had been sealed. From that day onward, leon and sammy were the best of friends. Months passed, and though most of the school eventually got over their skunk prejudice, and sammy did indeed have a fair group of friends, none of them looked at him quite like leon did. Playful nicknames like “stink-tail” were the standard greeting from even his friend group. Pretty standard ribbing from the lads, they didn’t mean anything by it. That’s just how guys show affection, only a crybaby would take it seriously. So why did it still sting every time? Stink-tail had basically become his new name, everybody called him that. Everybody except leon. It occurred to sammy one day that he had never heard leon utter the term stink-tail. Dude, bro, even the dreaded...real name. A cardinal sin in any bro group. But never stink-tail.

In the months following their fateful meeting, sammy had learned more than a few interesting things about leon. Firstly, leon...wasn’t very bright. As in, bringing a spoon to the superbowl levels of brainpower. Though he would never ask for help, sammy essentially carried him through every class they had together. Even in math class, anything more advanced than basic multiplication was beyond leon’s grasp. Sammy didn’t know how he could possibly be passing any classes on his own aside from gym class. Secondly, he learned that leon didn’t really have an “off” switch as it were. Sammy generally loved his hyper-active personality, but it seemed to virtually never stop. Even when it looked as if leon wanted it to. Sammy decided he wouldn’t be bringing it up any time soon, though he doubted everybody would be as patient. But the thing that sammy had learned the quickest was that leon was a very physical person. Not as in violent, more so that you could tell exactly what he was thinking by taking one look at him. If he was nervous, his tail tucked between his legs. If he was excited, his claws would come out. If he was sad, his entire stance would be droopy. Aside from the fact that sammy wasn’t quite sure what indicated anger, he was an open book. And around his friends, he wasn’t afraid to show his affection in a more...physical manner. Of course, sammy had been the first to learn that. Upon further research, he discovered that lots of feline species instinctively tended to show affection in an especially physical manner. Purring, licking, rubbing themselves on you, Things like that weren’t all too uncommon among their close friends. Sammy figured that wasn’t really a big deal, he could put up with a few strange habits for the sake of friendship. He wasn’t exactly in a position to be judging people based on inconsequential traits of their species anyways. Even so, most people had more social reservations about it than leon. He’d barely just got to this school after all!

Leon didn’t greet his friends with a high-five, but with a hug. The guys would typically just sorta clam up and let him finish his ritual. It was strange, but it’s not as if they became his friends because they couldn’t stand strangeness. When he hugged tyrone, a far taller bear in the friend group, he’d lift one leg and lean into it. When he hugged ino, a rather small red panda boy, he’d bend down a bit and put his head in his chest. And whenever he hugged sammy...he’d purr. 

Sammy didn’t get a standardized hug. From the front, from behind, the side, the only constant was the purring. It wasn’t usually loud enough for others to hear, or perhaps they simply opted not to comment. Sammy didn’t comment either. The first couple dozen times it was a super awkward interaction, but what exactly was he to say? Hey, don’t purr around me? His heart couldn’t bare to see leon’s reaction. But as it continued on, he eventually got used to it. In fact, leon’s purring was starting to become quite soothing to the small skunk. The soft, rhythmic vibrations against him as the kitty held him close. The signature sound that always reassured him he wasn’t alone, and gave away exactly what leon was thinking. In truth, it was beginning to get quite addictive.

Sammy’s parents were very important business people. They were also totally loaded. They were away with work so often that they were hardly ever home. Sammy lived in an extravagant mansion, though he never mentioned his wealth at school. So what’s a middle schooler to do alone in a huge mansion, with plenty of spending money allotted to him? Why, sleepovers of course! The lads were a nice distraction from the tedium of school, but here at home...only one of them would make his free time even more fun.

And so it was that sammy invited leon over for lots of fun every weekend. Early on in their friendship, they realized they had lots of similar hobbies. Movies, comics, anime, videogames, all sorts of pop culture. You couldn’t find a bigger pair of nerds in the whole town. Though he wasn’t about to pry, sammy was beginning to suspect leon’s home life wasn’t the best. He’d always prepare plenty of snacks for their getaways, and leon would always devour them as if he’d been starving. Though he loved pop culture, he didn’t seem to have actually read many comics, or seen any new movies in theaters. Whenever the topic of his family came up, his tail would always tuck between his legs. Sammy made extra sure to always prepare plenty of snacks.

The two had settled into a bit of a weekly routine. Leon would stay over all weekend, almost every weekend. Just the two of them, enjoying the newest popular movie, game, or whatever together. They’d sit on the large, extravagant couch in the center of the  living room and watch the flatscreen. Sometimes they’d use it for video games, and other times for whatever movie or show they were interested in that week. But secretly, sammy preferred shows over video games. That’s because leon had developed a very interesting habit during their viewing. 

It started slowly at first, hardly noticeable. They had been watching a hit new anime on the couch together when leon’s tail began to slowly slink around sammy’s leg. He had assumed it was accidental at first, but then the purring started. Very softly at first, hardly noticeable. But as each weekend passed, leon would inch a little closer to the skunk. Soon enough, he was right up against his side. Head on the skunk’s shoulder, tail and arms wrapped around him, purring away happily. Sammy loved his friend’s purring.

Up this close, the kitty’s stripey companion still did stink. But it didn’t matter, that was just another feature of his favorite friend. It definitely wasn’t a pleasant smell, but...it smelled like sammy. Somehow, there was something comforting about that. That smell meant soft, warm cuddles. It meant weekends full of adventure, of exciting stories, of heavy secrets wordlessly shared. It meant not everyone in the world wanted to push him away. More of that feeling would be nice. 

It had been nearly three full years, and leon and sammy couldn’t be closer. There was scarcely more than a month left until summer vacation, and the pair were still enjoying their weekly sleepover routine. By the looks of things, they were going to end up going to the same high school as well. Plenty of time to take things slow. By now, leon had managed to worm his way directly behind sammy during their anime binge fests. The skunk still hadn’t said a word about their cuddle routine, opting instead to pretend as if nothing was even happening. But leon knew he enjoyed it. He could feel the small mustelid relax in his grasp, his fluffy tail always going limp as leon began purring. Sammy would always let him sit down first, then casually sit between the cat’s legs as if he didn’t notice him there. Like a stalker on the savanna pouncing his prey, he would grab hold of the smaller skunk and pull him close against his chest. Burying his face in sammy’s neck, and wrapping his arms around the skunk’s torso, that instinctive purring that always seemed to put the little skunk at ease would start up. Sometimes, he’d even give his fluffy friend some sneaky licks. That would always elicit a poorly suppressed giggle. They wouldn’t always cuddle in this position, but it had become a new favorite. If sammy would rather not address their cuddles directly, that was fine. So long as he enjoyed them.

Today, however, leon had an idea. A few ideas, actually. Dumb ideas, but Sammy always loved his dumb ideas. It was sunday, the last day of their weekend together. And it was a rather hot day, at that. The air conditioning had been on the fritz, and that gave leon an excuse he’d been looking for for weeks now. They had been enjoying their standard cuddle session for a few episodes now. As usual, leon was playing with that big fluffy skunk tail he loved so much. Batting it around, hugging it, giving it a quick nom every so often. Just standard guy stuff. Now was as good a time as any.

“Dang bro, it’s pretty hot in here.” the leopard suddenly exclaimed. It wasn’t actually.

“um...Yeah sorry about that, dang AC. looks like they won’t be out to fix it until tomorrow”

“Shoot, well… maybe we should take our shirts off?” leon was certain he heard a little squeak come from his stripey friend.

“ I uh, i mean...it only makes sense really. It’s just us guys after all.”

“Totally! I mean, what do us big manly men have these muscles for if we keep them locked up shirts all the time?”

“Yeah! Why, i even-yip!” just then, leon gave the back of sammy’s neck an aggressive surprise lick. Just as he thought, sammy’s squeaks are certifiably adorable. Such an important matter could not go unverified for one more moment. He felt sammy’s tail stiffen from the sudden surprise, another cute little quirk of his that leon loved to abuse. 

Sammy took a second to compose himself, and simply continued on as if it hadn’t happened. His feline friend giggling all the while.

“Uh, but yeah. I was about to take my shirt off anyways, actually. Manly minds think alike i guess, haha” the skunk proceeded to stand up and remove his shirt, leon waiting for him to begin before he removed his.

“So, um...now that that’s taken care of…” sammy pressed play on the tv remote, and sat back down in front of the leopard once more. Not even noticing the show, leon was completely transfixed on sammy’s stripes. He’d never seen him shirtless before, and was now absorbing his full pattern. The bold contrast of black and white running down his back practically had the kitty hypnotized. Mind seemingly blanked, he’d neglected to even pull the skunk back into optimal cuddle position for a moment.

“Earth to leon?” hearing his friend's voice snapped him out of it, and he jumped a little. Pulling the skunk back into his chest again, he searched his mind for an excuse that wouldn’t make sammy uncomfortable.

“Oh! Uh, heat must be frying my brain.” he let out a nervous laugh, and hoped that explanation would do.

“It’s cool dude, i kinda had a feeling this show wouldn’t be your style. I’ve still got the new season of cyborg ninja chef bears over on the desk there, we can-uuhh...mmmpphhh.”

The little skunk was suddenly interrupted by some very intense purring from leon. Held tightly, and now with only their fur between them, he could feel the vibrations from deep within the kitty running through him. He melted into his arms, and nothing else mattered. For a few minutes, He had never been more at peace. The two didn’t say anything for a long time. The only sounds heard were the television, and the sound of leon’s purring. But at this point, sammy wasn’t even paying attention to the television.

But feline species don’t consciously decide when to purr, something must have kitty very happy all the sudden! Sammy loved that about snow leopards. They never have to pretend to be happy with you, you’ll hear it before they say anything! Obviously, leon has been wanting shirtless cuddles for a while. But that’s sorta...intimate, isn’t it? Of course it was. It’s ridiculous to keep lying to himself. Leon is more than a friend. Every minute with him is like an adventure. In a world full of predictable people, chasing predictable dreams, leon always went his own way. Sammy was very conflicted. He’s a skunk, he’s not supposed to feel this way about a snow leopard. Let alone a boy snow leopard. There are consequences for this sort of thing. Love between different species is a serious taboo. Sammy was the only skunk, but there were other snow leopards in the school. And yet, leon’s attention was reserved for him. if people found out about this... 

His heart is telling him this is right, but his mind is telling him it’s wrong. Leon would stop if he wanted him to, he’s sure of it.It’s not like anybody’s here to see them. Maybe that’s what’s wrong. Maybe it shouldn’t have to be a secret.

Sammy’s fur was just as soft as leon always imagined. He had hoped it wouldn’t be so immediately obvious, but he was enjoying himself very much. There’s no way sammy hasn’t figured him out now. Maybe that’s what this long pause is about. Leon might not be a book genius, but he understood the implications of his situation. Different species may be equal in society’s eyes, but they are to be separate. And it was him who was dumb? If sammy wanted to, he could get leon in a lot of trouble. He didn’t for a moment believe he would, but the thought occurred to him regardless. Why? 

So often it was leon who broke the silence. This time, he wanted to let sammy speak first. Whatever happened next, it would be his idea. He hated waiting. He hated it so much, for anything. His brain screamed a million thoughts at him any time there was so much as a break in conversation. But he was going to wait as long as it took. As long as sammy needed. His purring had died down by now. He needed an answer. Looking to the table left of the flat screen, the leopard boy was once again reassured of his own answer. Next to the dvd player, there was a stack of anime. Not just five or six series for the weekend, more like fifty series. Despite him never mentioning it to him, sammy quickly picked up the fact that leon had trouble focusing. He was always preparing a wide selection of activities for them, and wasn’t bothered one bit that they had never actually finished any of their series. Leon never even asked to stop a series. Try as he might to keep up the act, somehow sammy always knew when he was bored of something. He already knew him better than anybody else had bothered to. Sammy wasn’t just a friend. But leon was a snow leopard, and sammy was a skunk. He’s not supposed to feel that way about a skunk. Let alone a boy skunk. He was never very good at feeling how he’s supposed to anyways.

Sammy muted the television.

“Did i ever tell you how much I like your purring?” the leopard just sat silent, electing to listen instead of talk.

“ this anime has a pretty legendary soundtrack, but… I think I've found one I like better” at that, sammy turned over to his side, laying his ear against leon’s chest. Leon had his answer. He let out a sigh of relief, and fluffy skunk’s shifting about quickly earned him more of those purrs he loved so much.

“ I never said anything because i didn’t want anything to change. Change is scary for me. But it’s always easier when I'm with you. I know I’m not supposed to, but...” the little skunk gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, giggling at the excited tail swishes it elicited from him.
“I love you, leon” 

At that, the little skunk felt a jolt of electricity zip through him as leon held him tighter.
The two sat in silence a while more. There was no need for leon to answer, his purrs had revealed his feelings for him. For once, he was grateful for that. The two enjoyed another episode of their anime. It was subtitled anyways.

“ I know I stink, by the way. I’m not that dense. I don’t notice my own smell, but not everyone cares about hurting my feelings as much as you. You don’t always seem to make a point to wash it off after our cuddles though. Rumors have been spreading around school for a while now that some of the students with particularly strong sniffers have smelled me on you. It’s something I've been wondering about for a while. I don’t know how good a snow leopard’s nose is, but I know it can’t be very pleasant for you” 

It was true that leon always left sammy’s house a little...fragrant. Even the faint musk of a perfectly happy skunk had the tendency to cling to things for a bit. Well, if those things were foolish enough to rub themselves all over said skunk for hours anyways.  It always took a while to adjust to sammy’s smell at the start of their cuddle sessions, but leon tried his best to hide the fact. He could only assume he had failed miserably on that front. By the time their weekends together came to a close, he could definitely smell it on himself. It’s not as if he had been sprayed, a thorough washing would take care of the odor, And it would fade on it’s own quickly enough. How was he to explain himself? The last thing he wanted to do was sound like a creep. And he wasn’t going to insult sammy any further by pretending he doesn’t know what he’s taking about. This isn’t the dignified leopard showing pity to the poor, stinky skunk. He hoped he hadn’t made it feel like that.

Typically the pair would just board the bus together from sammy’s house to go to school monday mornings. At first, leon was diligent in hopping into the shower every sunday night to wash off any offending odors. It was almost instinctive, his nose screaming to cleanse himself of the invading scent. But in the back of his mind, he always felt a tinge of guilt. Sammy wasn’t some disgusting thing to be washed off as soon as possible. As the pair grew closer, gradually whenever he caught an especially strong whiff of himself post-cuddles, he didn’t smell skunk. He smelled sammy. His body still hated it, but his heart loved it. It was like he was still right there on the couch, fluffy friend in arm, not a worry in the world. It was nice to take that feeling with him, at least for a little while. He started skipping the post-cuddle showers. He didn’t care what others might think about it, he was happy to smell like his favorite person in the world. But he clearly couldn’t say quite all that. Keep it brief, and keep it honest.

“I mean maybe you kinda have a little bit of a smell...b-but it’s no big deal i swear! Don’t even worry about it, i really don’t mind! It’s...sorta calming really.” at that, leon could feel the small skunk’s grip on him tighten, if only a little bit. He was embarrassed. Leon was sure of it. Maybe embarrassing moments are a part of being in love.

“...and about the rumors?” It was leon’s turn to feel the sting of embarrassment now. Somehow, he felt excited at the same time.

“Well I...kinda...um...like to smell like you” there was a brief pause. Just barely long enough to be uncomfortable. Then giggling. The skunk buried his face into his lover’s chest, and let out a long series of giggles. It almost tickled, the small fluffy boy wiggling about. Leon laughed, to. If only to break the tension. As the laughter died down, sammy sat up and turned himself to face leon at eye level. He hadn’t ever done that before.

“I just never know what you’re going to say next kitty” kitty? Sammy hadn’t- 

There was hardly time to sit confused. That must have been the right answer, because As soon as sammy had finished, he wrapped leon up in his arms, and pulled him in for a kiss. He hardly had time to let out a high-pitched mew of surprise. He didn’t resist, and let the little skunk take control. He’d never been so...forward before. Paws now firmly clutching leon by the back of the head, sammy pushed him into the back of the couch. Leon had never kissed someone before, and as far as he knew neither had sammy. There was a lot of a tongue. Aggressively pushed forward, fluids were swapped as he wrestled tongues with the cat. Even the skunk’s tongue seemed delicate compared to leon’s own. No sooner than the thought occurred did Sammy pick up his pace. It was a full-on makeout session at this point. for once, leon was fully focused on one thing, and one thing only. Soon enough, he felt a growing tightness in his pants as the skunk worked on him. shoot! Control yourself! Please don’t let him notice, if-

His blissful trance was interrupted, however, by a small pained yip from the skunk. Suddenly, he had pulled back, and turned his back to leon. Did leon mess it up? What happened? But then the taste of blood hit his tongue, and he understood. He had cut him! A snow leopard’s tongue has a very rough consistency, it’s not exactly something you’d want rubbing against your softer tissues. The skunk may as well have been trying to make out with wet sandpaper. It was almost like nature was trying to tell them they were wrong. Leon buried the thought.

“I’m so sorry sammy! I didn’t-” 

“Nah it’s cool, don’t sweat it. It was my fault. I should have been more careful, no biggie.” there was no anger in the skunk’s voice, rather it was a reassuring tone. Leon was relieved he wasn’t mad. But why was he afraid he would be? Sammy hadn’t really ever gotten mad at him over anything, especially not over an accident. He wasn’t angry, but he definitely sounded sad. Something told the leopard sammy didn’t want to discuss the injury any further.

Wiping the blood dripping from his mouth, sammy turned back to face leon and did his best to hide the pain. It wasn’t a serious injury, but the little skunk never did have a high pain tolerance. He put on his best “naughty” expression, and tried to find a tone to match.

“That was really fun.” Leon couldn’t even honestly remember if it was fun. The pained yelp of his partner was just playing on repeat in his mind. It probably was, though.

“Um...yeah! I never knew you could be so spontaneous! I like this side of you.”
Returning to his prior position, he laid down on his side against the leopard. One paw around his waist, and the other playing with his chest fur.

“I learned from the best” geez, this skunk really knew how to summon some purrs whenever he wanted.

“About those rumors...i'm sure you know how the other kids would feel about us. I’ve already heard some pretty awful things, and that’s all just from a suspicion” Sammy said, trailing off at points.

Interspecies relationships were very frowned upon in modern society. If you weren’t in one yourself, you probably hated everybody who was. Most countries stopped just short of outlawing it, and luckily the pair lived in one such country. But good luck having any other friends, or keeping a job, or even walking down the street really if anyone found out. Attraction to another species was indeed uncommon, with around 8% of people reporting struggling with it when polled anonymously. There were disparities in those numbers between species though, with many felines reporting almost three times the average, and most mustelids reporting slightly under the average. Though there was no way to officially marry another species, it wasn’t illegal for different species to live as couples. And such couples did exist, but sammy had less success finding consistent statistics on those.  And then there were the statistics on same-sex attraction. Same sex attraction wasn’t nearly as frowned upon, but it would at least earn a few glares in any crowd. On average there were... 

What did it even matter? He’d read a thousand articles, and not one of them made him feel any better. Sammy was a very grounded, practical individual. He believed the answer to every problem could be found somewhere in a spreadsheet of numbers, or a long scientific essay on the subject. So naturally, when he started having feelings he couldn’t explain, he looked for the scientific answer. But none of those researchers had ever been in leon’s arms. They had never felt his soft purrs, never been tickled by his swishing tail. They’d never heard his pirate impression that he always worked so hard on every year for talk like a pirate day. It was adorable. Apparently, people are more than a pile of statistics and studies. Just another one of the million things leon has taught him about life.

Leon took a while to respond. He’s usually a pretty fast talker. 

“ I know how people feel about this stuff. I’ve heard their sneaky comments in the hallways. I know they’d tell me i'm wrong, that snow leopards don’t love skunks. Just like they’d tell me that middle schoolers don’t still watch kids cartoons, or that only a dummy can’t do algebra. Or that normal people read more than a story’s first chapter. Well apparently they don’t. Because as far as I can tell, this is only our first chapter and they’ve already decided what they think. If loving you is wrong, then I'm done with always trying to be right. I’ll hold your paw right through the middle of Times square if you’ll let me.”

Sammy took it all in. Somehow, it was weird to hear leon call him a skunk. Unlike all of sammy’s friends, leon didn’t seem to think he needed to be reminded that he’s a skunk every five minutes. He could tell leon was pretty worked up, but the leopard boy always took extra care not to raise his voice around sammy. He couldn’t bear the sight of the little skunk scared. Once, he had even gotten into a fist fight at school when sammy was being bullied in the hallway. Turns out a snow leopard’s claws are good for more than just looks. Now that sammy thought about it, that day was probably when the rumors about them really gained traction. He didn’t know why that memory popped into his mind, but he was glad it did. He felt safe around leon.

“ Well times square might be a little far away, but holding your paw does sound nice. I guess i could settle for a middle school hallway for now.” It wasn’t hard to tell leon was pretty excited by the prospect.

“You aren’t worried about what might happen? You don’t have to, you know. I won’t love you any less because you prefer to have a social life too.”

“Ppffft! Forget them! You make me happier with one paw than my dumb social life ever has. Lets make bad choices together, kitty.” the little skunk proceeded to take leon’s paw and interlock it with his. Now that the underlying awkward tension of cuddle time had been broken, Sammy imagined it would be pretty easy to fall asleep to those soothing purrs he was currently being bombarded with.

There was the kitty thing again. Leon guessed it must be his new nickname now that they’d moved past friends. He liked it. The word sounded cute coming from that high-pitched skunky voice. He definitely wanted to be his kitty. Maybe he should come up with an affectionate nickname for sammy? Maybe...stinky? No, that's terrible. That’s really stupid. Stripey? He’d have to think about it.

“So...you like to smell like me?” It was all out on the table now. No reason to be reserved. He nodded his head excitedly, and spilled his thoughts. If there was anyone who would never make him feel like a weirdo, it was sammy.

“ haha...yeah… kinda a hard one to explain. It is stinky but...I guess...it makes me feel warm. It’s like even when you’re gone, you aren’t all the way gone. It helps when i’m missing you.” the skunk shot him a bit of a confused expression, but not a judgemental one. As he pondered his partner’s words, his confused expression was slowly replaced with a toothy smile.

“I was silly to ever feel insecure about it. You can find beauty in anything, even something that’s made me nervous every time I stepped into a crowd since I was eight. Just another thing I love about my favorite kitty cat.” Sammy rolled over and buried his face into leon’s chest, letting out a long sigh.

He looked really cute like that. Curled up into his chest, fluffy tail against the leopard’s side like a stinky pillow all for him. He couldn’t help but give the small skunk a few strokes. Starting from the head, following down his back. His stripes were perfect for tracing with a paw as he gave the fluffy little guy some loving petting. Purring all the while, of course.

“ I’m glad you don’t think it’s weird or anything, ha!” the leopard gave a nervous chuckle at that, and continued on.

“ I was actually thinking, um...since we’re going public and all now...why not do it with a bang, ya know?” the small skunk perked up at that. Leon loved how holding him so close let him feel his every reaction to his sporadic thoughts.

“Oh? What does kitty have in mind?”

“Well, I was kinda thinking that since our species being different is what has everyone so worked up, maybe we could make sure everybody knows that this kitty has been spending lots of time with a skunk”

“ hmmm… you’ve lost me, I can never follow that creative mind of yours.” the skunk gave a few chuckles, making certain leon knew that wasn’t a bad thing.

“Well it’s...there is a certain thing that skunks do…um! i mean that skunks can do. Only if they want to. To make an impression, that is. You know, they can...I guess what im getting at is maybe... you could spray me?” thinking he had misheard, sammy asked for clarification.

“Huh?” 

“ It’s dumb probably, but I was sorta wondering what it’s like to get sprayed. I know it’s not good, but I really just love feeling new things. Especially with you.”

Of course he hadn’t misheard. This was leon after all. Sammy would be no more shocked if leon had suggested they simply dress up in one of those cheesy couples halloween costumes, like a hot dog and a bun or something. He loved that about leon, he never stopped surprising him. But to spray his favorite person in the world? That might be a little wild even by leon standards. He must not understand what getting sprayed by a skunk actually entails. As he’s sitting dumbfounded, he’s snapped out of it by a nervous sounding leon.

“I- i’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, it was a dumb thing to say. We can forget about it.” his purring had stopped. Sammy really needed to work on his habit of just leaving leon hanging while his own brain takes a vacation to jupiter.

“No no, it’s not that i swear. I’m never uncomfortable around you kitty. I was just a little taken aback by your creativity is all!” with some laughs, and a reassuring smile, he had calmed leon’s nerves. Now to get to the bottom of this sudden curiosity of his.

“But I’m thinking maybe you don’t quite understand what it is for a skunk to spray you.”

“ Well, a lot of kids at school have sorta told me. Without me asking. The guys were kinda talking about you in history class one time too.”

“Oh…” 

leon’s heart broke a little at hearing sammy’s sad tone. He probably shouldn’t have told him that. Stupid! He could have made up anything. It wasn’t fair. Leon doubted anybody had come up to sammy to warn him that his friend could just slice his throat with his claws at random. And yet, leon had received the “what if he sprays you?” talk probably a dozen times.

“But hey, screw those guys! If they’re so convinced you're some sort of walking stink bomb, I say we give the people what they want. Imagine the look on their faces.” sammy giggled at the mental image. Success! The fastest way to cheer the little skunk up was always to make him laugh. 

“Alright captain stink-beard, let’s say I did spray you. Then you’d just... go to school like that?”

 “ yarg matey! Yer darn right i would! Show those landlubbers what real love looks-err...smells like anyway!” More chuckles from his stripey lover. Sammy had forgotten all about the shame he was feeling moments ago.

Despite the immensely bad reactions leon would receive for coming to school stinking of skunk, it wasn’t actually legal to send a student home over smell complaints. There were several species with smelly biological features, and not all of them had as much control over it as skunks. The social pressure alone was almost always enough for all of them to try desperately, and often hopelessly, to smell their best. Schools came standardly equipped with the necessary cleaning agents to deal with lingering scents on the property. Medical procedures to reduce the smell of several such species did exist, though they were often pricey, varying in effectiveness, and very illegal to perform on kids.

“You’ll reek for weeks, you know.”

“I’d be proud to wear your scent anywhere, oh stripey one.”

“You’ll never get used to it.”

“ Then i’ll never feel alone, my sweet fluffytail”

“It’ll get all over all your stuff.”

“All that glitters is not gold, my little purr-cushion.”

“You might pass out.”

“Then I’ll dream of you, my playful perfumer”

“You’ll...see my butt”

Leon would have snapped back with another cheeky response, but he was too busy purring like a little motor engine. It got the point across better than his cute comebacks, anyways. The skunk was beaten, he just couldn’t say no to his kitty. After all, he was his sweet fluffytail. He liked that name a lot more than stink-tail. 

“...Not that i’d mind”

The two sat a while longer. Sammy pressed against leon’s chest, Leon stroking him softly with one paw, holding the skunk’s paw firmly with the other. He wished the moment could have lasted forever. Eventually, sammy found the resolve to leave his feline heaven.

“Alright, you’ve got me. I just can’t say no to my favorite kitty. I’ll spray you… on two conditions. Firstly, You never show your claws around me, And i know that isn’t comfortable. I want to see them more. And secondly...call me fluffytail again.”

It was true. Leon had made a conscious effort to keep his claws retracted when he was around sammy, especially when they were cuddling. It was also true that it wasn’t very comfortable to keep them retracted for hours straight. Sammy must have been doing some reading. He loved that about sammy. He always paid such careful attention. He was always putting himself in others’ shoes, and stopping to consider. In all honesty, leon’s aversion to showing his claws wasn’t very rational. They were sharp, sure, but he had plenty of awareness over his own claws. It was very unlikely that he could accidentally hurt sammy. Still, though...not a hundred and one percent completely impossible, and that was reason enough. Sammy was just so soft, so small. He’d already hurt him once today, tasted his blood like some sort of monster trying to eat him. Maybe it was just that he didn’t imagine most people could be very relaxed with little finger-knives coursing over them.

“It’s just, they’re sharp, and…”

“I trust you. And a little accidental scratch is no big deal.” with that, sammy unwove his fingers from leon’s, instead opting to hold his paw with both of his own. One under the actual paw pad, another clasping overtop. Plenty of room for those claws.

Slowly, they did show themselves. Extending from the slits on leon’s fingers, the leopard spread his paw out some, as if to keep them as far from the skunk as they could be. Sammy thought back to the fight leon had been in months ago, to the german shepard boy covered in gashes from those claws. Sammy had been reading up on the biology of snow leopards as of late. He wanted to know how best to make sure his kitty was comfortable. That was when he learned that it wasn’t normal to never see his friend’s claws. A snow leopard’s claws were sturdy and sharp enough to easily be fatal, should it be the intent. Almost gleaming in the light, sammy’s subconscious reminded him of that with a small wave of adrenaline as he looked at them. But of course leon wouldn’t hurt him. His brain really needed to just shut up sometimes. They weren’t so sharp that merely touching them would result in a cut, however. The back of them was smooth, actually.

“ They’re very pretty. Can I touch them? I promise i’ll be careful.”

“Um...yeah, go ahead.” Of course sammy could touch him. Nerves aside, leon felt awful to think he’d made him feel like he couldn’t. He held his paw as still as he could.

Moving his paw slowly up the leopard’s, sammy carefully began to trace the back of his claws with his index finger. They were just as smooth as they looked. They were maybe… a little over 2 inches long? Evolved both as weapons and tools for gripping, they had a slight inward curve to them. They weren’t completely opaque, either. The little light that did get through them give them a slight shimmer. They looked more frail than they were. As he lightly pressed his index finger into the tip of one, he found it held rather firmly in place, with only the slightest give. The pressure felt rather nice on sammy’s finger really. They didn’t retain heat like fur and flesh, their cool touch was pleasant. A little tingly, kinda like those ASMR videos on the internet that sammy had been getting into recently. Repeating the process with each claw, the skunk curiously explored his kitty.

“There now...I’m fine, see? It’s a tragedy to keep such beautiful features hidden.”

The two sat a while, just like that. Sammy playing with leon’s claws, leon purring away as they watched their anime. He didn’t want to push leon too fast.

“I like how your claws feel on my fingers. They’re smooth, cool, and their tips give pleasant little tickly sensations. I think they’d feel nice in my fur. Do you think...you could leave them out for me sometimes?” 

“I should have said it earlier, but just in case it wasn’t clear… I love you too, little fluffytail”

“ I never doubted it, my pretty kitty.”

With that, sammy took it upon himself to move leon’s paws up to his belly. He didn’t retract his claws this time. Sammy shot the leopard an eagar and expectant look, and he knew what it meant. Gently, he began to caress the small skunk with his claws. Very light strokes, tracing little lines through his fur. The leopard was rewarded with sammy rubbing his face into his chest fur and taking a few deep breaths. Feeling the skunk melt in his grasp, leon knew he wasn’t simply taking pity on him.

“Does everything check out down there officer fluffytail?”

“ That’ll be a negative deputy, I’m detecting a distinct lack of skunk musk in the pectoral region, over.” Most people were annoyed by leon’s whacky characters, but not sammy. He loved to play along. He had gotten almost as good at crafting a narrative as leon by now.

Lost in the little mustelid’s bold stripey patterns, leon had almost forgotten the crazy scheme he had just worked so hard to convince him of. His heart beat a little faster at the reminder. What would it smell like? Probably a stronger version of sammy’s normal scent. That didn’t sound so bad. Leon had been curious about getting sprayed for some time now, and had been thinking about asking sammy for a while. He never thought he’d actually work up the courage, but sammy always reacted so positively to his kitty’s quirky ideas. Even if he turned him down, leon knew he wouldn’t be shamed. That was more than he could expect from anyone else, apparently.

He’d done a little research on the topic. Well, what counted as research on planet leon anyways, which mostly consisted of street fight videos on the internet where people got sprayed. He couldn’t very well ask for something he didn’t know anything about. It was probably covered more scientifically in elementary school at some point, but leon definitely wasn’t paying attention to that boring stuff. From his research, it seemed that the skunks usually won the fight pretty fast. He’d seen people cough, gag, faint, vomit, and apparently go blind? That part was kinda scary. He didn’t want to be blind. He figured that was just if it got in their eyes though, he’d just ask sammy not to spray his eyes. It was like a special pee, except from their butts. Supposedly, It would get stuck on you for a long time, even if you took a bath. That part was exciting. 

The past few weeks leon had started feeling...new things. Sometimes things would give him a weird feeling in his pants. A weird, but really good feeling. His member would poke out more than normal, and get firm. Thinking about sammy’s spray sticking to him was one of those things. At first, it had him really worried. He was worried he was sick, or crazy or something. But with a little searching the internet, he discovered...maybe more than he wanted to. It happened to everybody eventually, and apparently it would be lots of fun. Except.... It was supposed to happen around girl snow leopards. Not sammy. Then again, so was kissing. Based on their earlier fun, leon could only assume sammy was having the same feelings, but he wasn’t brave enough to ask. He really hoped the answer was yes.

“Roger that officer, we’ll call in the cavalry right away. All units, all units we have a report of a naughty kitty in need of a spraying at-” but he couldn’t continue, the giggles had overtaken him. The pair burst into laughter, trying their best to hide their nerves with humor. Waiting for the other to say something else first. Of course, they couldn’t laugh forever. Sammy spoke first, that’s probably how it should be.

“So...uh...how do you want to do it?”

“Well, since it’s from your butt, i thought maybe i could sit down on the ground behind you somewhere?”

“ Yeah, that would probably work. I guess then we’d...take off our clothes.”

“Yeah probably, just so they don’t get in the way.”

“But what if it’s really bad? Promise you won’t be mad?”

“I could never be mad at you, little fluffytail” at that, he gave the skunk a light tickling with the tips of his claws. Those cute skunky giggles always put him at ease.

“Hehehe~ alright already, mercy! You’ve made your point. We can go out to the garage.”

“Won’t your house get stinky?”

“Nah, i’ll call the maid and leave a message with some lame story. They’ll handle it when they come” 

Leon had almost forgotten that sammy’s family was very wealthy. He’d seen the maid before, they’d even walked in on their cuddle sessions from time to time. Sammy was adamant that nobody working for his family would dare to say anything though, And it seemed to be true. The maid didn’t speak english very well, but she never so much as gave them a strange look. There was a butler too, but he only came when summoned. He usually was the one preparing snacks and such, or accompanying them to any town activities they might want to get up to. Leon had met his parents, and of course downplayed his affection for sammy on the few occasions they were actually around. Honestly, they didn’t really seem to care what sammy did, as long as it was away from them. Sammy had great grades in school, but aside from that he essentially did whatever he wanted. He wasn’t sure sammy’s parents even cared about his grades. Once, the butler had taken notice of leon’s purring as he drove them to the movies. He said some fancy butler talk that pretty much boiled down to asking sammy if he was uncomfortable. When sammy assured him all was well, he seemed to accept the answer with no hesitation. He was probably more of a parent to sammy than his parents.

“Oh, duh. Welp! Lets get to it!”

There was that flickering tail again. And the purrs were still going strong. Leon...was pretty excited about this. Sammy had butterflies in his stomach. He didn’t think he had sprayed since he was maybe seven or eight. When there was a young skunk in the neighborhood, the whole neighborhood knew it. But he had never sprayed another person before, let alone his favorite person. Part of it felt wrong, like he was plotting to hurt him. Of course, a skunk’s spray wasn’t really dangerous, per se, But it was still a painful experience. Leon was asking him to put him through pain. Something about that seemed…a little scary.

But on the other side of the coin, it was a very romantic gesture. Leon was willing to go through that pain just to prove a point to the world. That he loved sammy, and he loved every part of sammy. If it were said out loud, it would sound completely insane. Sammy had heard how people talked about leon when he wasn’t there. Despite most of the school having their minds fully made up about the pair, there was only the one instance of bullying, and it was when they thought leon wasn’t there to see. People were scared of leon, they considered him a nutcase. His friends weren’t even friends, they were spectators to his performance. They’d laugh at him when he was gone. If there was any chance that anybody didn’t think he was crazy, this would be the end of it. Even if leon wanted that, was he right to provide it? He clearly had some sort of understanding of how people would react, and yet...something just wasn’t right about it. It’s like leon saw the world from space or something. Maybe that’s what it means to be crazy. These aren’t things you’re supposed to think about somebody you love, are they? Is a crazy person the same thing as a bad person? He wondered if leon thought everybody else was crazy.

Either way, he was getting an opportunity to make his kitty very happy. That was worth a bit of internal conflict. And he had to admit...he felt pretty excited himself. The thought of leon walking around proudly reeking of him, everybody knowing exactly who’s kitty he is. He’d finally be free of this prison of denial he’d been trapped in ever since they first met. He wouldn’t have to worry what other people would think if they knew about them. Leon was going to take care of that for him, he was going to show them exactly how much they cared what anyone else thought. Hey, for all they know, maybe somebody will be cool with it. Maybe they’ll even give someone else courage. It was a huge school, maybe there was another couple in it going through the same fears that leon had helped him face. On these sweeter thoughts, the small skunk lept up off the couch energetically. 

“ follow the fluffytail, kitty!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice that’s for sure!” most people would rather lead than follow a skunk from behind. They must be mad to pass up watching that huge fluffy tail swish back and forth!

Eventually, the two made their way to the garage. A slow, teasing walk allowed leon plenty of time to get excited. Sammy knew good and well that leon loved watching his tail swish about, and made a point to be extra swishy today. He had elected to come here on account of the fact it’s much easier to wash skunk spray off of concrete than carpet. The maid was good, but she was no miracle worker. The garage, like the rest of the house, was enormous. Typical of rich people, it was filled with fancy cars rather than anything useful like tools. It was pretty cool in the garage. A nice open space, and well lit. after all, wouldn’t want leon to miss the...finer details.
Somehow, time had gotten away from them. By the time they’d actually left the couch it was night. A cool, breezy night made for a slightly chilly garage. Leon shuttered a little at the temperature change.

“Dang bro every time we come in here there’s another car”

“Haha, yeah. My parents like to show off. But then again… I guess you do too, huh?” the skunk gave his tail a sudden flick across his kitty’s nose, earning a small mew from the surprised feline. Naturally, he gave it a proper sniff. That made sammy giggle. There was that smell again...comfort. He was eager for more.

“Heh! I do now that I have you.”

“Psyching ourselves up with some sneaky tail sniffs are we?”

Leon put on his best posh british accent, deciding a hobby as classy as skunk tail sniffing deserves to be approached with refinement.  “Quite right my good chap. I do say, I consider myself a bit of a skunk tail connoisseur.”

“Well, mr.connoisseur, it’s your lucky day. You’re about to be promoted to skunk butt connoisseur. Now, are ya gonna get undressed, or did you...need some help?” leon jumped a bit at the suggestion.

“ eep! Uh, i think i can do it. Just didn’t want to rush you or anything.”  Sammy could tell leon’s nerves were getting to him a little. Given their reason for being here in the first place, it was perfectly understandable.

“About what happened earlier...I’m sorry. I should have asked you if you wanted to be kissed. You might not be mad at me about it, but I am. That wasn’t ok for me to do. Take as much time as you need.”

Sammy had been feeling less...wholesome urges around leon for almost a year now. In the age of the internet, it didn’t take long to figure out what they meant. It was at least part of the reason he had let leon get so personal with him during their cuddle sessions as of late. What were innocent feline habits for leon had become...a little more than that for sammy. However, the internet also made it easy to find out that he would need to wait a while longer for leon to start having those feelings himself. When he’d starting feeling a little pressure poking his back on occasion during their cuddles, he had perhaps been a bit too eager. Obviously these were brand new feelings to leon, and sensing the sudden shift in the leopard’s confidence, it occurred to sammy that it probably wasn’t the best idea to just shove him into the deep end of the love pool right away. His guilt seemed to put the leopard at ease though.

“Um, right. Yeah. Don’t worry about it dude, stuff happens sometimes. It’s cool. If you really wanna make it up to me though...spray me down real good!” He lept up closer to the little skunk and gave him some affectionate licks on the neck.

“Hehe! Alright, alright you got me! That much, I can definitely do. I’ll um...undress behind that truck there. You can come around whenever you’re ready.” 

Sammy walked off to the other side of a needlessly large pickup truck, and started pulling his pants down. Nobody had seen him naked before, not like this anyways. he had to admit he was feeling pretty shy. But leon never gave him a reason to be shy. And he’d kinda revealed earlier what he thought of the idea.

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll uh, be there in a sec!” 

Undressing was the easy part. He’d done it as soon as sammy stepped behind the truck. It would have been easy to walk behind the truck too, it’s not like he was shy for sammy to see his form. Except...he was a little stiff. He didn’t necessarily want to look like he was about to plow the little skunk. But a few moments of deep breathing didn’t seem to be doing much about the issue. Oh well, maybe sammy would be into it. He had already been a little more excitable today than leon expected, after all. Stepping forward, he kept his line of sight at eye level as he crossed the front of the truck. He was greeted with a warm, welcoming expression from sammy. Sammy’s eyes were also locked with leon’s.

“Hey there, kitty.”

“Hey.” 

“So… it occurs to me that we’ll probably be seeing each other’s…”

“Yeah…” 

“Maybe it’s the sort of thing you just rip off like a bandaid. Same time?”

“Same time.”

Slowly, the two lowered their gaze in unison, Each a little surprised to find the other stiff. Leon’s tail flickered back and forth anxiously. Sammy drifted his gaze to the ground, and broke the tension with a nervous chuckle.

“Hehe! Guess we’re both a little excited.”

“Heh! Looks like it.”

“So… guess you can find a spacey spot to sit.”
“Ah, yeah. Wouldn’t want to get one of the cars stinky!” leon gave a little laugh of his own. Finding a suitable spot in the middle of the garage, he took a seat on the floor. It was chilly down there, but worth it. Sammy followed, and sat down close to face leon, practically touching.

“So um… is there a particular spot i should uh...aim?”

“Well, I was thinking just kinda all around would be good.”

“Oh, yeah sure. I can do like a mist if that works.”

“ You can? That's so cool!” Even now, leon’s energetic personality shined as bright as ever. Sammy never had to sit in the dark for long with him.

“ haha, yeah i guess. Not as cool as those claws of yours though!” the two shared a little laugh.

“So, one thing I wanted to ask if it’s ok though, could you aim away from my eyes? I’ve kinda grown attached to them haha.”

Did leon think that he could lose his sight? It was possible for a skunk’s spray blind you for a little while if that was the intent, but there wasn’t usually much lasting damage. But if he thought that sammy could blind him permanently...what exactly did that mean? That’s a lot of trust to put in anybody, lover or not. Did leon truly have that much faith in him, or did the thought of becoming seriously disabled not even scare him? Was it bad that he kinda wanted to find out? He’d explain leon’s mistake later, but now wasn’t really the time for a biology lesson. Either way, he had no intention of spraying him in the eyes.

“Ah, yeah don’t worry. I can aim it wherever, i’ll make sure not to get your eyes. Maybe I could show you how exactly it works if you’re interested?” 

Sammy was downright curious at this point. Would leon look straight at something that he thought was capable of drastically altering his life, point blank? he barely had time to wonder before he had his answer.

“Really? That sounds awesome! I was super curious how it looked and stuff. I wasn’t gonna ask though in case that sounded weird or something.”

Apparently he would.

 “ haha, should have known my curious kitty couldn’t pass up the chance to see something new.”

“You know it, especially when it’s a part of my little fluffytail!”

Well, there was no sense in keeping him waiting. Sammy promptly stood up, and slowly turned around. He took a slightly wide stance to allow for the best view. Very gradually lifting his tail, he found the initial shyness difficult to overcome. Once his tail had been fully lifted, however, a familiar sound drove any nerves away. Glancing behind him, there he saw leon staring intently ahead, and purring away.

“My my, like what we see kitty?” 

“I...uh...hehehe…” leon always sounded cute when he tried to talk through intense purrs.

Arching his tail over and puffing it out like a stinky battle flag, the skunk bent over a little and began to flex his anal muscles. Sure enough, his pink star puckered out above his cheeks. Deciding not to show his glands yet, he let his kitty absorb the non-battle ready pucker first.

“So...uh...that’s my butt”

Leon hadn’t seen many butts in his day, but he could only imagine a skunk’s butt looked a little different than most species. The bright pink center made for a bold contrast to the black fur surrounding it. Not the mention the level of control sammy seemed to have over it. Leon certainly couldn’t wiggle his anus. The whole sight was very...hypnotic. He found it difficult to come up with a cheeky response. The entranced kitty simply leaned in closer, mouth agape and beginning to drool.

“ I see you’re a bit absorbed at the moment, heh. Not a problem my purry kitty, just sit back and enjoy.”

Sammy gave a few more slow pulsations of his pucker for the cute kitten currently helplessly enraptured behind him. Evolution had seen to it that a skunk had no trouble looking behind them as they took aim, so he had a full view of that dopey face. Tongue lolling out, a blissful grin spread across the leopard’s cheeks. A few slow hip wiggles proved how thoroughly leon’s attention was held, as he followed that pink star swaying about. He gave his feline friend a moment to enjoy before awakening him from his stupor with a question.

“Now, wanna see how i spray?”

“ uuuuhhhh...oh! Yeah! Let the lesson begin, professor fluffbottom!” maybe humor was how leon dealt with anxiety. It certainly helped sammy feel more comfortable, anyways.

“Very good young man. Now, take careful notes. This will be on the test!”

With that, sammy flexed his anal muscles further, his pucker now promiment over his cheeks. As it extended outward, leon could see two round, red nubs within peak out to it’s entrance on either side. Talk about a perfect contrast before, the vibrant red only added to the mesmerizing color pallet in front of his eyes. He couldn’t help but lean his face in closer. eyes level with that cute pucker, his face mere inches away from the display. At this point though, his nose got a new experience as well. The smell now emanating from that pucker was like sammy times twelve! Those little nubs had clearly been the source of his companion’s lingering aroma. Phew! that was a stink. He definitely never left sammy’s house smelling that strong. It tingled his nose, and he felt a little woozy. But at the same time, something about it seemed to grab hold of him. Pull him closer, even. Whispering to the frisky feline, “almost, almost…wait...stay still…”

He was really close now… Sammy felt a twinge of self-consciousness. He could smell himself at this point, he was sure leon was getting more than a whiff back there. Some poorly hidden nose wiggles from the kitty only confirmed it. But he had little time to dwell on it, as his nerves were suddenly interrupted by some very intense purring! He could hear it crystal clear from here! leon was clearly having lots of fun. As he looked the kitty up and down, It seemed little leon was happy too… now that was some contagious excitement.

“ So, those things are basically where it comes from. I can move them around and stuff to point them wherever.”

To emphasize the point, Sammy slowly moved his scent glands around their full range of motion. Extending them slightly past his entrance, he pointed them up,down, side to side, all around. He repeated the motions a few times, giving leon plenty of time to enjoy the display. Which, judging by the purring filling the echo-y room, he definitely was. Sammy was amazed how all of his anxiety seemed to melt away at the soothing sounds of one very happy kitty.

“man it’s pretty wild how much you can control them, I never imagined that. Those things probably have better pawwriting than me!” that earned some cute giggles from the skunk. Leon was staring down something that, as far as he understood, could cripple him for life in a blink. And yet, It was him who was cracking jokes and making sure his partner was comfortable.

“You’re the best, leon.”

“Huh?”

“Um, nothing, heh. Anyways, I can control how it comes out too. It can just be two streams, or a mist, or anything in between really. Might have to look a little close to see, but I can make the tips on them where it comes smaller or wider for whichever. Making them smaller forces it to disperse more when it comes out, and if i do say so myself, it’s a much more sophisticated mechanism than those cheap perfume bottles!” no harm in fishing for some kitty giggles while he teaches, Sammy thought. He never had much trouble getting leon to laugh.

Observing carefully, leon could indeed see the nubs reshaping as they were contracted. As their exits reshaped into more narrow holes, the rest of the nubs seemed to swell up. Seeing the amount of control sammy had over the glands put him at ease, he would be able to avoid his eyes without much trouble. Whew! No blindness for him. Unless… sammy asked him to be blind. He figured he could probably do that if it was to make sammy happy.
Sammy had been watching leon closely the whole time, though the leopard may not have even noticed. He always had an easy time looking behind him, probably a skunk thing. He couldn’t help but feel enamoured with leon’s perky curiosity. The funny feline’s starry-eyed expression, his head tilting side to side as he examined every angle of sammy’s display. His reactions made sammy feel more like he was delivering a fascinating lecture on astro-physics to a room of university students than, well, showing someone his butt. Leon always made him feel more important than he really was.

“Ha! I bet. So how much, err...spray is there?

“ I'm not sure how much i would have, but grownup skunks hold about 13 ounces at a time”

“What might that be in dummy terms?” 

“Well, that’s one ounce more than a soda can.”

“Dang! I’ll actually be pretty wet huh?

“Ha! You could be. Should probably just do some at first though so you know what it’s like”

“Ok that’ll work. With that much you can give me a good perfuming everywhere! What’s the spray feel like? Is it thick like syrup, or just like water?”

“It’s a pretty unique texture. It’s oily and slippery so it can seep into your fur and skin. If you try to rub it off, it’ll just smear out thinner.”

“Sounds fun to play with!”

“Hehe, i guess so. anyways...I guess this is the last chance to back out. Are you sure you want me to spray you?”

“One hundred and ten percent my sweet fluffytail. I can’t wait to wear your smell proudly!”

“Alrighty then! Anything for you, kitty. I guess you should back your face up a little, hehe.”

“Oh, yeah probably.”

Leon managed to will himself away from that entrancing rear, and find a comfortable position to receive his mark. He put his paws on the ground behind his back at either side and him, and kicked back like he was at the beach. The full view had it’s perks, too. Sammy wasn’t particularly muscley, but he was rather thin. It made for a nice shapely posterior that seemed to lead the eye straight to the danger zone. And that tail was poofed out like crazy! It was just begging to be hugged. He’d definitely ask sammy to fluff it up like that for him later.

Leon looked so pure like that. His tail flickering across the ground slowly, kicked back like he was on display. The purring definitely didn’t hurt either. Strong as ever, he didn’t seem even slightly nervous. Sammy was glad for that, he didn’t know if he could will himself to do it otherwise. The kitty’s smile was as wide as ever, his shining canines just barely visible past his lips.

“So um, now that you’ve seen how everything works and all...how do you want me to do it?
“I think the mist thing sounds really cool. Maybe you could sorta spritz my middle area?”

“Like chest and belly and stuff? That’ll work.”

“Sweet! So when it hits, uh...what should i do?”

“If it’s really bad you can run back inside to the shower and try to wash it off before it sticks too bad. But, if you decide you like it then...i guess you can just kinda sit there and um, let it settle”

But of course, leon had already made up his mind. Even if it were the worst smell in the world, he had no plans of trying to wash it off.

“Cool, cool. So, after i’m all sprayed and stuff...can we still cuddle?”

Sammy’s answer should be a resounding no. He'd reek too if he touched him. Not as bad as leon, but still. That would be even more embarrassing. But leon was giving him those kitten eyes. And those purrs were resounding through the little skunk’s chest, practically begging to be felt closer. Well, It couldn’t be helped. Surely he could wash at least some of the scent off in the shower before morning with the proper chemicals. Chemicals that he probably had, somewhere. maybe.

“ hehe, I shouldn’t. I’ll be stinky. But… I just can’t resist those kitty purrs.” the leopard perked up at that. He was worried that he might not be able to cuddle his skunky for a while, that was a big relief.

“Woohoo! Yay for stinky cuddles!” Just then, leon’s claws came into vision for a moment as he threw a celebratory fist into the air. He really had been listening.

“ Welp, time to get this thing underway you crazy kitty. Your eyes might burn a little anyways just from being around the spray, but i’ll make sure none actually gets them.”

“ Ready when you are fluffytail!” 

The leopard did a little gesture towards his center with his paws before returning to his relaxed position. He’d even thought out the position he would sit in, designed to give the easiest access to his complete torso. Staring straight ahead, he couldn’t take his eyes off that rear if he wanted to. This was it, his chance to seal his devotion to sammy once and for all. He’d walk the hallways wearing his scent, head held high. When questioned, he’d proudly reassure all those plastic people that there was nobody he’d rather smell like. No longer would he be a prisoner to their expectations. Sammy would set him free.

Sure enough, leon was sitting there eager and expectant. Purring away and watching sammy’s glands with gleeful curiosity. No doubt he wanted to watch the precise moment they sprayed. He took careful aim, pointing his rear right at leon’s midsection and lining his scent glands up evenly. He took a deep breath. Make sure you’re centered, don’t hit your kitty in the eyes. Just an even coating, no need to drench him. Inhale, and release.

Leon wasn’t sure if he had been waiting for seconds or minutes. He watched as the skunk lined up his rear with his center, following the slow swaying with his eyes. Finally he was still. It wouldn’t be long now. Staring at those bright red nubs as they took aim, the color contrast was almost disorienting. He’d never seen a more soothing shade of red. Leon’s world was in slow motion as he stared entranced. The nubs peeked forward, began to swell, and released. From them came a deep, amber wave. Golden droplets shimmered in the light as they flew towards him, a final display of dazzling color to ensure their victim stayed perfectly still.

Immediately, warmth surrounded him. A thick, calming warmth held onto him like a hug, and commanded the kitty to stay. The brisk, stabbing night air was replaced with the tingly massage of the warm oils settling into his fur, a barrier between him and the cold. He couldn’t help but exhale at the aggressive sensation, his muscles relaxing as he slouched a bit. He sat motionless, allowing the rest of the mist to settle onto him from the air, bringing with it another wave of that dominating warmth. His body completely still, he offered no resistance to the oily spray seeping deeper into his fur. Wrapped up in his forceful butt-hug, it wasn’t long until he needed to inhale.

Breathing in, a burning in his nose quickly elicited a recoiling sneeze. Instantly he felt light-headed, and the garage spun distantly around him. The smell itself wasn’t one he could immediately recognize as comparable to any other smell in particular. There were traces of his sweet fluffytail somewhere, but they were drowned out by the overwhelming sensation of musk. A wet, choking sort of smell. One that swirls in a thick cloud, making sure there is no room for smelling anything else. It was a smell that went straight that primal part of the brain, communicating a message in a way only smells can. Leon thought back to that intriguing feeling he got on days the boy’s bathroom at school was particularly pungent, or when he stepped into a locker room full of sweaty gym class boys post-game. A smell like a strong paw, petting the kitty up and down until his only thoughts were of it’s source. The difference being, of course, those smells still left room for other air. Here, he was completely surrounded. He quickly found himself out of breath. Seemingly breathing in more musk than oxygen, he needed deep and drawn out breaths to keep up. The air was so thick, breathing alone was a task that took most of his energy. The burning chemicals irritated his lungs, resulting in the occasional cough.

Deep breaths helped the musk work it’s magic as it was held inside him. As he rasped to catch his breath, the skunky fumes stroked his brain and assured him it was best to stay put, and keep breathing. He felt dizzy, sleepy even. He felt...at peace. His nose burned as sammy’s musk demanded entrance, and he...sammy! He’d forgotten that he was supposed to be keeping calm, and showing him there was nothing to worry about. The skunk hadn’t moved from his pose, watching leon’s reaction intently. He...uh… leon’s skin itched. He had allowed the spray to sink as deeply as it pleased into his fur, and he was beginning to feel the hot, tingly irritation. His fur felt clumpy, the oily spray causing strands to cling together across his body. Some of the droplets had seeped past his fur and onto his skin, where he could feel them clawing to go ever deeper. It was an itchy burn, part of leon wanted to simply extend his claws and scratch himself like crazy. Don’t do it, resist the urge. Let sammy’s spray do it’s work. Be patient, and get marked like a good kitty. That burning is his love, holding you tight and telling you it will never fade. Sammy! Say something to him. Let him know it’s all ok. Tell him how happy he’s made his kitty. But first you gotta catch your breath.

Sammy had no idea how his curious kitten would react to the experience. Would he throw up? Pass out? A decent amount of people would. He wanted to give him the misting he was so excited about, but he didn’t want to spray him too much. Let him have just a little dose, so he has time to process it. Letting the spray fly, he watched almost cringing to see how leon would deal with it. Immediately, an adorable little sneeze lightened sammy’s nerves a bit. As he watched leon slowly look around at the mist settling on him, he seemed to be doing ok. It seemed to take the wind straight out of him, however. Not a terrible reaction all things considered. He watched his breathing gradually become more labored, little coughs escaping him. He swayed a little, clearly disoriented at the smothering musk. He certainly didn’t look in any condition to stand up and give chase to anyone, but altogether didn’t seem to be in much pain. The purring hadn’t completely stopped, either. He sat there for probably four or five minutes like that. Fair enough, it is a lot to take in. He definitely smelled of skunk now, it even bothered sammy a little. He'd just have to wait to see what he said.

“It…”

His voice was raspy, his lungs clearly not very pleased. A big cough interrupted the attempt at speech. Suddenly, the feline closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth for a moment, as if attempting to shake off the sleepiness of a deep slumber interrupted by a noisy alarm clock.

“It’s so warm, like a big skunky hug! It tickles the tips of my fur and gives my skin happy little tingles! Can kitty have more?”

Welp, that settled it. Leon was at least a little crazy. What’s so great about normal anyways?

“Heh! That’s certainly not the reaction I expected. My kitty’s always full of surprises. I must say, marking you up does have a strange satisfaction to it…”

There was that purring again, back at maximum strength. It was all the assurance sammy needed that his companion was enjoying himself. In reality, he had only given him a light misting. Seeing him take it like a champ though, perhaps it was safe to give his kitty the heavier dose he was no doubt envisioning.

“You know little fluffytail, there’s still lots of me that hasn’t been marked yet hehehe”

Emphasizing the point, leon sat himself more upright, swaying a bit as he attempted to balance himself. He held up an arm parallel to the floor across himself and gave it a few strokes with his claws, looking it up and down as he did. Having been behind him, his forearms had missed most of the action. Something he dearly wanted corrected, if his skunky would be so generous.

“ You know, I think you may be right. It would be a shame to leave my kitty with an uneven coating”

“Oh indeed, just a tragedy. Though, from where i'm sitting...one that looks easy to correct.”

Holding his forearms long-ways across his torso, he placed his paws under his chin and looked up toward sammy's face. Giving the skunk optimal access to his forearms, he shot him some begging kitten eyes. Settling his triceps across his belly, he felt some of that itchy-burn transfer to them as the oily spray droplets clung to them as well.

“Awww, you’re cute when you beg to be marked like that”

“Pwwweeaase?” the leopard tilted his head a little as he stared sammy down, trying his best to maximize his cute charms. He knew his fluffytail couldn’t resist.

“Eyes ahead now kitty, wouldn’t want to miss the show would you?”

Those vibrant red scent glands peaking into his peripheral vision instantly drew his gaze. He almost instinctively lept toward them, wanting to pounce them like the laser pointer sammy loved to tease him with. This time, he didn’t have to wait long for his reward. Almost as soon as he had set his eyes on them, a shimmering mist flew forth towards him once more. It was more focused this time, a narrower cone with a more clear target. He lost sight of that bright pink pucker entirely as the thicker wave sped towards him. The droplets were a little bigger, and he could feel the splashy impact as they connected with his forearms. More of that soothing heat. In this concentration, the warmth was easily as intense as when leon would pee on himself in the shower, better still as the oily consistency clung to him tighter than any pee. Was it possible, maybe...Sammy would like to feel leon’s pee sometime? 

Thicker droplets had no problem soaking deeper past his fur, already beginning to sear themselves into leon’s skin. A thought occurred. Maybe...he could help them along? It would soothe that itchy burn some too. Slowly tilting his right forearm sideways, leon took his right paw and began to rub it across his forearm fur. Eek! That spray burned the kitty’s sensitive paw pads a bit. No matter though, that just meant it was hugging them! Slowly rubbing his paw through his fur, his theory proved correct. He could feel the oily spray being spread out thinner, worked deeper into his skin. It’s clinging warmth almost like a reward for his hard work. He rubbed a little harder, a little quicker. Soon enough, it was spread quite evenly across his forearm. The rubbing friction seemed to help it dry, setting it’s stinky mark into his fur and skin even better than it could accomplish by itself. He hurriedly repeated the process with his other arm. Yes, he had rubbed his skunky’s mark deep into himself like a good kitty should. He held his forearm up to his nose, and rewarded himself with a curious sniff of his new smell. Whew! He pulled his arm away quickly, and took a moment to let the room stop spinning. He was one ripe kitty! There was that scent he had been waiting on. The lighter mist on his torso had mostly settled and dried by now as well, leaving him with a clinging filmy sort of feeling across his fur. The dried spray had it’s own sorts of qualities to it compared to the smothering musk of a fresh spritz. It was much more...sammy. He couldn’t wait for all of him to smell like that.

“Um, are you alright? Sammy was looking back at him with a concerned expression. Just then, it occurred to leon that he probably looked quite uncomfortable with all of his rubbing.

“Oh! Totally, no worries. Just thought i’d help your spray get more comfortable on me is all!” 

He got some cute skunky giggles at that comment. Leon’s mind seemed to have a way of personifying everyday things, sammy found it quite adorable. Of course, sammy also noticed something else...leon was rock hard. He didn’t think leon himself had even noticed the red rocket he was currently displaying. The kitty had a lot of sensations to keep track of at the moment, after all. He couldn’t help but sneak little glances at the strange feline member. Just as he had read, it was covered in barbs. At least two dozen little hooked protrusions facing inward covered the shaft.  Such was the case for the males of many feline species. Ouch. He had wondered for a while how exactly he would go about it if leon asked to, erm...play. He definitely wanted to eventually, but ouch. If sammy were a female snow leopard, the barbs wouldn’t be a problem. That’s what they were designed for, after all. He wondered if those barbs made it hard to paw off. From the interspecies forums he had browsed, there didn’t seem to be many good ways around the issue. There were products for such relations sold in the darkest corners on the internet, but he didn’t very well know how he would acquire them discreetly. There had to be a solution. He wondered if leon had thought about it before. Regardless, he had been pushy enough as it is. He would let leon be the one to bring that up, if he even wanted that.

“Ha! Your imagination truly knows no bounds my curious kitty.”

“ well then, maybe i could imagine that pretty tush of yours while you spritz my back?”

“Tell you what, stand up for me and you can have more perfume. I want to see how my spray makes you shimmer!”

“You’ve got a deal!”

Lowering his tail, sammy took the opportunity to take a quick stretch. Sniffing the air, the garage was filled with his scent. Being a skunk, his own smell didn’t have much adverse effect on him. The simple knowledge of who he had covered in it was currently doing more to his body than the swirling stench that was no doubt clinging to his fur as well. He found himself growing harder. He would be sure to get a good sniff of his work once it was complete. Turning around to face leon, however, it seemed he was getting a bit of a show.

That deal might prove a bit more difficult to see through than leon thought. As he went to begin picking himself up, a wave of dizziness came over him. The skunky fumes wafting off of his fur curled up against his brain, giving it a little squeeze and telling him to sit. He landed flat on his butt. As he sat watching the room spin, that feeling of helplessness was...so thrilling. He gave himself a big sniff, and let that burning musk fill him deeper. He fell back flat on his back, mouth wide and tongue hanging out, drooling all over himself. No big muscles or sharp claws were needed to keep this frisky kitty in line. Just one entrancing skunky rear, with two bright little scent glands demanding a closer look.

“Having a bit of trouble there kitty?” the skunk giggled as he watched leon’s display. That delicious kitty drool running from his mouth made sammy quite thirsty. Rough tongue or not, he definitely wanted to taste more of that in him later. He had a feeling leon would be happy to oblige.

“Mrew! Kitty...dizzy…”

He laid there a moment, head slowly swishing about the place. Well, sammy couldn’t very well leave him there. Goodbye, any chance of still smelling halfway decent. He reached out a paw to leon, and helped the poor leopard catch his balance. Pulling him up by the arm, he had the grab hold of his shoulders a moment as he swayed about. Eventually, he seemed to regain his footing and he could let him stand on his own. As if needing confirmation, sammy held a paw to his nose. Yep, his paws stunk.

“ hehehe, dizzy and dazed, just as nature intended! I forgot how confident my spray makes me feel. Thanks for reminding me.” he gave the stunned feline a quick kiss on the cheek, making those purrs pick up once more.

“ I hope you’ll accept some warm butt juice as a reward! Hold still now kitty…” at that, he turned leon around and prepared to take aim. Leon, not wanting to waste any musk, held his arms out to his sides to catch and straggling droplets. Turning around and raising that big fluffy tail once more, he prepared to give leon another spritz. This time, he’d give him a big, wide misting and cover his whole body. Since his eyes weren’t facing the skunk anyways, he figured there wasn’t much risk of any droplets getting in them. Ready, aim, fire!

Leon could hear a hissing sound this time. Before it had even hit, he knew he was in for a fine misty spray. Sure enough, he felt a thick fog encase him. Splattering all over him, from the back of the head to his legs, there was definitely a lot more spray this time! That initial wave of warmth was an addictive feeling. Every time, it would seal him off from the rest of the world. Every time it would grab him, and hold him close. Musky tendrils petting him all over, stroking him lovingly. Leaving searing whispers in their wake and promising never to leave. A deep inhale had them doing the same for his brain, and the aggressive stimulation became too much. He quickly fell to his knees as he absorbed sammy’s mark once more. Trying his best to stay relatively still, he didn’t want to risk shaking any spray droplets off before they had time to stick. He had never felt his fur, per se. But as the stinging oil worked its way down the strands, soaking itself into them, he swore he could feel it happen. He decided that he really wanted that feeling everywhere at once. Resolving himself to stand, and stumbling a few times for some coughing breaks, he managed to get on his feat quicker than before. He spun around to face the skunk before him, who seemed a little surprised by his sudden vitality.

“Oh? Did kitty need another dose?”

Eagerly nodding, he closed his eyes and held his arms at a slight elevation, turning them to expose his inner forearms to a proper skunking as well.

“Another one like that, but for my front please!”

“Coming right up kitty, hehe” seeing leon’s eyes tightly closed, he knew he was wanting a full coating. He also couldn’t help but notice little leon was still as excited as ever.  Flexing his glands to maximum prominence, he released a thick mist to cover the leopard.

Leon couldn’t help but open his eyes. It was scary, it was dangerous, but...he was just too curious. He had to see those little scent glands in action. How could anyone look away? Sammy didn’t have time to notice his staring as he aimed for his center and put as much pressure on his glands as he could. Leon watch them swell up really thick, before the whole of his vision was covered in yellow. Sammy’s spray sparkled all around him like stars as it settled down onto his fur. Another wave of that choking warmth knocked the wind straight out of him. This time, however, some droplets did indeed settle into his eyes. A burning sensation immediately started up, and leon was scared. It didn’t burn as bad as he thought it would, for being the feeling that takes your eyes. He could see tiny little white spots starting up in his vision, the room was getting ever so slightly brighter. At least the last thing he saw was something beautiful.

“I’m sorry sammy but, i just had to look. I opened my eyes, some spray got in.” Sammy could hear the worry in his voice. He’d forgotten leon was under the impression he would be blinded.

“No no, it’s ok. Easy now, don’t worry. You won’t be blind.”

“I won’t?”

“Silly kitty, i’d never have agreed to spray you if it could do that. It’ll only be for a little while, you’ll be back to normal in no time. And it was only some mist that got in, you probably won’t even lose much vision in the first place.”

“Oh… haha… yeah of course, duh.” He tried to play it off casual, but sammy could see the sigh of relief, and the dread draining from leon’s face. He should have corrected him from the start.
Leon’s vision didn’t even get any worse, the white speckles were clearing up as fast as they had came. It seemed his eyes would be fine. With the surge of adrenaline wearing off, he quickly found himself much less resistant to the effects of the smothering musk currently wrapping him up like a boa constrictor. Sammy had unloaded easily three times the spray of the first spritz, and it had some major hang time. He could imagine that if a skunk were to just use all their spray on you suddenly it could easily be quite disabling. This time, there was plenty of musk to seep deep through his fur, down into his skin. The signature itchy burn came once more in full force, leon’s body begging him to get the searing oils off, the clinging spray promising it was pointless to try. It was now that leon noticed he had been rock hard for probably a while. As the mist settled, some droplets coated his exposed member as well. The burning was twice as intense there, it kinda hurt. In a way, it was sorta like...sammy was touching him there. But at this point, the swirling skunk fumes rising off of him were far more the focus than the tingling of his skin. His lungs were filled to capacity with musk, pushing out their attempts at getting much oxygen. He slowly sunk to the ground, ever deeper breaths only ensuring the musk gets a better foothold. Wrapping his arms around himself, he simply submitted himself to enjoying the calming warmth all around him. His fur felt sticky. He could feel the fur on his arms clinging to his torso fur, musky oils mixing throughout. It was the best type of warmth. He laid flat on his back, closed his eyes, and breathed.

As sammy’s musk grabbed his mind, it held on tight. Leon’s usual sporadic thoughts seemed to move slower. Leon’s brain was a lighthouse in the heavy night fog. His ideas distant ships, just barely able to be made out in the haze covering him. He thought about the butt that had gifted him his new perfume, about how hard it was to look away from it. They always talk about species evolving specific traits to help them survive in biology class, maybe a skunk’s butt was meant to keep your attention. He could hear little giggles coming from sammy as he laid there. He was happy he was having fun too. Feeling the wet heat caressing his lungs and brain, he felt closer to the little skunk than ever. He could rub up on him all day, but that was as close as he could get by himself. With the help of his species's unique gift, it was like a part of sammy was inside leon now.

Welcoming the fumes deeper, they took him away from a cold garage in a lonely town. They were a barrier between him and the rest of the world, keeping him safe from laughing eyes and a million tiny mistakes, at least for a little while. That sleepy feeling came back thrice as strong. He wasn’t asleep, but he could feel his dreams closer than ever. The musk protected his senses from the boring world outside, and he found himself in between a dream and reality. It was easy to see himself in the wide open green fields of one of his favorite anime’s worlds, a cute little skunk giggling beside him. Magical creatures hiding in every bush, and a gang of friends just as weird as him. Learning to be brave in a world that actually wanted them to. 

But it couldn’t last forever. Eventually, his brain managed some level of control over the sensory assault that had been scrambling it for the past thirty minutes, ever since that adorable tail first lifted. He was back in the garage, the warm musk beginning to cool in the night air. At least he wasn’t alone.

“Did my kitty have fun?”

“You bet! That was awesome!”

His relentless enthusiasm put sammy at ease. His heart had been beating a mile a minute for practically the whole time. Now it was over, and the silly snow leopard seemed just as energetic as when he started. Though he was clearly a little winded, and rather off-balance, his smile was as contagious as ever. Not to mention the purring had been going full force ever since he had laid flat minutes ago. All had turned out well.

“Well I hope so, cause…”

The skunk dropped his tail, turned around, and leaned in to give his kitty a good whiff.
Sniff, sniff

“Whew! You sure smell like you did!” 

At inhaling the ripe musk currently wafting off the kitty, sammy quickly recoiled and gave a teasing paw over his nose. He could smell that penetrating musk as well as anyone else, but it didn’t actually have any significant ill-effects on the skunk himself. It was rather soothing for him, in fact. Whatever smelled like that was his. The best reaction leon would be getting for a very long time, he was sure. Leon gave a mischievous laugh at the comment.

“Hehehe. I can’t wait to get some really good reactions.”

By now, Sammy’s spray had completed it’s mission. It had sunk deep into his fur and pores and dried there. Leon could feel a clinging layer of stink all over him, still tingling just a little. His smell, however, had changed from what it was earlier. The fiery burning aspects of the scent had calmed down, leaving the warm musky undertones to be the dominant scent. Now, it smelled like sammy. Leon was in stinky heaven. His forearms seemed to get the worst, or in his case, best of it. No doubt a result of the kitty’s cheerful compliance with his marking there. He gave his forearm rapid little sniffs up and down as they talked. Sammy giggled away at the quirky display.

“ You know, the night’s still young. Maybe we could see the first reaction to your new smell in 30 minutes or less?”

“hmmm, What’s my little fluffytail thinking?”

“All this marking makes skunky hungry. Maybe we could order some pizza and find a good anime for some stinky snuggles? Of course, you’d be the one to answer the door.” 
Of course, Leon’s expression gave up what he thought of the idea before he even answered.

“ That sounds perfect.”

“Okie! I’ll head in and make the call while you, er...dry off.” the skunk gave a giggle at that.

“Hah! Cool, i’ll um, sit tight for a minute.” 

Scratching the back of his head, the leopard flashed his skunky a shy expression as he headed inside. As sammy made the order, leon floundered about trying to get himself to his feet. Met with more than a few stumbles as his new musk aggressively pet him, he eventually managed to find his balance. He took steady, controlled breaths as he stood there. He was at least getting some oxygen now that the spray had settled. He stood still for a few minutes, making sure to give plenty of time for the rest of sammy’s spray to dry into him properly. A skunk’s mark was supposed to last a few weeks. But then of course, those estimates probably came from much less...willing recipients. Leon was eager to see how long he could make it last. It’s not like his drug-addled mother will have much to say about his smell. Hell, she’ll probably try to get high off it. Hopeless woman. Then again, was what he was doing now much different? Luckily, sammy came back before those thoughts could take leon too far away.

“ Guess we’d better give them a big tip, I doubt their taste in scents is quite as...refined as yours. heh.”

“ That is, if they’ll even get close enough to take it!” they both shared a laugh at that comment.

“Anyways, let’s head inside. It’s getting kinda cold out here. I’ll be much warmer wrapped up in my kitty’s arms on the couch.”

“Can do! Guess we should uh, put our clothes back on huh?”

“I mean, only if you want to kitty” he gave leon a sly wink at that. Meh, clothes could wait.

“Well, I guess I should probably at least spare the pizza guy my naked form. In the meantime though…” 

The pair grabbed their clothes, but didn’t bother putting them on as they headed inside, leon still swaying a bit as he followed. Sammy was right, it definitely wasn’t a smell he would be getting used to any time soon. It was better that way though. Entering the confines of the house, those skunky fumes had much less room to disperse. It had the immediate effect of giving leon much thicker whiffs of his scent. His eyes rolled back a little in his head as he took a deep sniff of the new atmosphere, much to sammy’s delight.

“I’m glad my kitty’s enjoying his new perfume. It’ll be sticking around for a loooong time hehe”

Watching that big fluffy tail swishing in front of him, leon couldn’t help but creep up behind the little skunk and give him a big surprise hug. His companion’s tail bristled out at the shock like always, tickling leon’s whiskers a bit as he pulled sammy closer. A quick lick to the neck, and a gentle whisper in his ear.

“So will I, little fluffytail.” 

At that, the leopard extended his claws and gave sammy some light tickles on the belly. Amongst his giggling, however, the skunk felt something else. Something much more noteworthy. Leon was still hard. The spikey member currently buried in his fluffy tail, he could feel the roughness of it’s barbs even through his fur. Leon was always so hyper, he was sure the frisky feline hadn’t even considered it. Sammy decided not to let on that he had noticed anything. At least, that was the plan. Apparently leon’s excitement was contagious in more ways than one. Sammy’s mouth might not say anything, but some secrets were harder to keep while naked.

“ ack! Hehehe! You know, most people aren’t quite so energetic after getting skunked.”

“Most people have never met such an exciting skunk.” after he’d had his fun, he finally released sammy from his tickly prison, and the two made their way to the couch.

“Won’t your couch get stinky?”

“ There’s a million couches out there, But there’s only one tonight. Stink this whole place up you crazy kitty. It’ll remind me of all the fun we had.”

“Roger that general, commence stinking!” 

Leon sat down on the couch, spreading out and getting comfortable. Just as he was about to motion for his skunky to join him, he noticed a problem. A pulsating, spiky problem. He couldn’t very well invite sammy to come get his back lacerated by that medieval weapon of a dick that seemed intent on turning cuddle time into an act of perversion. He decided to get out ahead of the issue, better he say something than sammy.

“Er...uh… we seem to have a bit of an insubordinate causing trouble in the lower ranks. Apologies sir, I'm sure things will calm down soon.” 

Turning to face leon, Sammy noticed immediately. That pinkish red member was a pretty stark contrast to The leopard’s grey and black spotted patterns. Though leon may have been intent on some innocent cuddles, it seemed little leon had other ideas. If sammy was ever going to bring it up, now would be the time. And he would do it in the manner leon seemed most comfortable. The more he thought about it, there was actually something strangely exciting about playing the role in this scenario.

“Now now colonel, let’s not be hasty. After such a long day of chemical warfare training, one can hardly blame the privates for getting a bit...rowdy.” 

“But general! Won’t this uh...disorder cause problems at the rear flank?”

“You let me be the judge of that colonel. Now, prepare the deck for my arrival at once!”

Sure enough, leon already seemed less anxious. He spread his legs and allowed sammy easy access to sit in their usual cuddle position. Just as with his claws, it seemed leon was being a bit over cautious with the little skunk once again. Sammy had done more than his fair share of...research on snow leopard junk. The barbs would certainly be immensely painful inside of him, but weren’t rough enough to cut him on casual contact. Why were felines seemingly designed to hurt everyone they were close to? It wasn’t fair. Leon wasn’t anything like that, and yet here he was worried even his most intimate place was going to try to cut sammy. It seemed every species had their struggles. He took his usual place, determined to show leon he wasn’t bothered at all. 

Leon’s member pulsed a little at feeling the skunk cuddle up to him. He didn’t have to pull sammy in close this time, he had taken it upon himself to rub right up on the cat. With his eyes finally off his own junk, however, he was left to gaze upon sammy’s nether regions. It seemed his fluffytail was having just as much fun. Sammy’s member was so much more normal than leon’s. No piercing barbs covered it, it was actually meant for intimacy and not pain. There wasn’t much time to dwell on those thoughts though, as the little skunk seemed intent on shifting about in leon’s lap. The wiggling motions of his silky fur against leon’s sensative shaft caused it to twitch as the skunk worked himself side to side. The feeling was amazing, way better than leon could accomplish with his own paw. Was sammy doing that on purpose? Either way, he would have to slow the little skunk down somehow, lest he receive a marking of his own.

“I-mph! Uh, maybe you should stay still a little more, I’m uh...a little sensitive down there” Sammy settled down at that comment, not wanting to push leon too far.

“Oops! My bad kitty, you’re just so...warm down there. Makes me want to rub rub all over!”

No doubt all of the blood rushing to leon’s member had made it quite temperate. Sammy could feel the heat pulsating off of it just from having it rub around his fur. He had felt the barbs lightly tickling his back through his fur too, earning the occasional giggle from the skunk. It jittered a bit at his motions, his kitty following suit with little hip twitches. Leon’s body was clearly pleased with sammy’s actions, but it seemed leon himself still needed some time to catch up. Fair enough, they’d had plenty of fun tonight as it is. Settling himself against the leopard’s chest as he so often did, he was rewarded for his compliance with more of those ever so soothing purrs. Leon was like his personal massage chair, the steady vibrations relaxing body and mind. He grabbed the remote, and starting browsing their favorite anime streaming service.

“Heh, glad you like it. But i couldn’t help but notice someone else likes it too.”At that, the leopard tilted his head to the side over sammy’s shoulder. Staring intently at the skunk’s erect member, he licked his lips in a cartoonishly over exaggerated fashion.

It was at this point sammy noticed leon still hadn’t wrapped his arms around him like he usually did. Clearly, his kitty was a little anxious around the skunk’s no doubt sensitive member. He’d just have to take it upon himself to correct him. Grabbing leon’s paws, he began slowly moving them to his stomach.

“Hehe, guilty as charged. You know, he also likes soft kitty paws. Do you think maybe…you could spare some?”

“Well… I was sorta curious what it felt like but...are you sure that’s ok? I don’t want you to think-uhhh...”

Leon’s worry was cut short, though, by the little skunk slowly guiding his paws downward. Ever so slow, taking care to give leon plenty of time to change his mind. Feeling him offer no resistance, he stopped the leopard’s paws just over his bladder. Inches away from his member, he decided leon should be the one to take the final step. He removed his paws from his, and left the decision to him.

“Go ahead kitty, sate that endless curiosity of yours.”

Leon thought about cracking another joke and delaying the intimacy a little longer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want this, but something about it felt wrong. Like he was just using sammy as some sort of toy. But of course, the enticing skunk junk on full display before him was proof sammy was enjoying himself too. Perhaps he would have deliberated further, were he not currently reeking of the little skunk. But as things were, sitting there coated in his musk, leon was finding it quite difficult to think of much else besides sammy. His heart racing at the excitement of his situation, quickened breaths were currently providing him a generous sampling of that dominating musk.  With each breath, sammy’s musk firmly stroked the kitty, reminding him who he belongs to. Filling up his brain, and pushing out all those silly worries, those stunning fumes presented leon the clear answer. All he needed to do was please his skunky, and everything would work out. Pushing a paw forward, he gently wrapped the soft pads around sammy’s member.

Instantly, it twitched and grew even more firm in his grasp. Sammy let out an adorable little squeak at feeling his touch. It felt...sorta slippery. The red skin it was covered with was kinda loose, shifting a bit in his grasp. It was moist too, as is to be expected of such an intimate area. It was also very warm, which felt nice on his paw. He wrapped his fingers overtop of the member, lightly tapping the padded tips against it as it’s weight rested in his paw. He held his paw there relatively still, with only slow probing movements exploring the texture. It pulsed and jittered with each curious tap, eliciting a few poorly suppressed squeaks from the little skunk as it did. Even sammy’s member was more delicate than leon’s own. It wasn’t fair, leon always felt as if the slightest slip-up could hurt him. Snow leopards are a lot stronger than skunks, and accidental injuries even among friends of different species weren’t uncommon. And friends didn’t get nearly this close. He wondered if sammy ever worried about it. He probably shouldn’t sit there in awkward silence though.

“Mrf! It’s really warm, and smooth too. It makes my paw happy!” the leopard wiggled his fingers a bit, getting some more giggles from the skunk at the tickly motion.

“Keep it there as long as you like kitty. Somehow, I like your paw there more than mine. You know, if you wanted, I wouldn’t mind-”

Ding-dong!

Dang! Foiled by the pizza guy! Curse him and his cheesy chastity disks! Oh well, at least he’d be getting a good whiff of the fun he’s interrupted. Sammy’s house was laid out in such a way that the front door was visible from the couch, as the pair’s little anime-binging setup was directly ahead of it. In the spacey mansion, there was a good 25 feet from the front door to the living room area. The perfect distance to watch his kitty’s naughty antics. That soft kitty paw quickly retreated at the sound of the door bell, and sammy prepared himself to enjoy the show. Jumping up from the couch, he reminded leon of their sinister plan.

“Oh! There’s the pizza. I’ll uh, let you get that. heh.” 

“Oh, yeah. Guess i’ll get some clothes on and uh...give them a whiff.” The pair laughed like little supervillains at that, far too amused with their dastardly schemes.

Hurriedly dressing himself, no doubt marking his clothes with his new scent in the process, leon prepared himself for the first of the countless reactions he’d be eagerly enjoying over the next several weeks.

“There’s some cash on the counter, why don’t you grab them a generous tip kitty? I wanna see if we can motivate them to get a closer sniff!”

It almost seemed a little cruel, putting this poor pizza guy through such a dilemma. But with a few more whiffs of that ever so persuasive musk surrounding him, leon quickly found himself quite agreeable to whatever sammy said. He grabbed a hundred dollars off the counter, and marched proudly to the door to greet them. Head held high, dizzying fumes rising off him as he walked. Reaching the door, he didn’t even have to open it before he heard a few meek coughs from the other side. For some reason, that made leon very excitable. Wearing a prideful grin ear to ear, he swung open the door and prepared to greet his victim with enthusiasm.

Of course, sammy had been watching the whole scene eagerly from the couch. Hiding behind the back of the couch like a stinky little soldier, only his head and the tip of his fluffy tail could be seen as he hid himself behind it, watching intently. The springy walk of a kitty very clearly proud of his scent walking towards the door filled sammy full of giddy energy. Hearing the coughs from outside right before leon opened the door, he knew he was in for a good show.

As leon opened the door, He had to do a bit of a double-take. Expecting to see the delivery person right in from of him, he was a little taken aback seeing that they were in fact nowhere near the door. Standing probably 20 feet back, partially obscured by the darkness of the night, was a young-looking wolf girl. Oh boy, that’s a strong sniffer. Official pizza delivery thermal bag in one paw, another paw held firmly over her nose. As the swirling skunk fumes caressing the kitty rushed out the door to their new victim, She was quickly overtaken in a fit of gagging and coughing. Leon couldn’t help but giggle a little under his breath.

“Ack! Er…evening sir, pizza’s...blegh!”

Stacey was a polite girl. In a world where big wins were so rare, small gestures of kindness were important. That’s why she always tried her best to maintain proper manners. She seemed able to win people over easily enough, especially the boys. So when she happened upon the chance at a gig as a pizza delivery driver, she figured it would be an easy way to help fund her college ambitions. See some interesting people, practice her less than stellar driving skills, and further her education at the same time. Surely, the naive 20 year old thought, a win-win. When she got the order to deliver to a mansion, she was sure there would be some interesting sights. Some sort of house party or something, perhaps. But pulling up to the unexpectedly empty mansion, her nose immediately informed her that this particular order was going to be even more interesting than she had bargained for. Everybody knew that smell, at least from a distance. Today, she’d be delivering to a skunk’s mansion!

Manners, stacey. Remember your pizza delivery girl training video! Every now and then, you’re bound to deliver to one of the more...fragrant species that inhabit this glorious city of potential. But Whew! Not even halfway to the door, and she’d kill to be delivering to that ferret from last week again. But skunks didn’t really smell all that much normally, right? Stacey was pretty sure she’d seen that on some biology homework at some point. Homework that chad did for her, of course. Maybe they’d gotten scared or something earlier. It was surely embarrassing enough without her melodramatic reactions. Taking one last breath of at least partially fresh air, she steeled her nerves and rang the doorbell. Stand there and ignore it stacey, have some empathy. But as the smell got closer, the decision was no longer up to stacey. Her sensitive canine nose practically screamed that she was not to be anywhere near that reeking thing, and before she knew it she found herself taking several paces back. Poor little skunk! They were going to feel awful. The door swung open, and stacey put on her best “I'm not bothered at all” expression to greet the undoubtedly nervous...snow...leopard?

She hardly had time to consider it though, as those reeking fumes poured from the door, practically smothering the girl from here! Blood rushed to her head as the wet scent immediately made her feel dizzy. Gagging, coughing, it was like tiny daggers were dancing in her lungs. Deliver that pizza and get out of there girl!

“Bleck! Uh! Sorry about that sir! Pizza’s here.”

Clearly the poor snow leopard boy in front of her had recently had a less than friendly encounter with a skunk. And he was so young too, couldn’t have been more than 14. Poor little guy. How does that even happen to someone his age? Probably some fight at school or something. Strange he has a mansion, but not whatever you need to take that smell off you. Maybe it just doesn’t wash out? But hey, nothing like fresh pizza to cheer up a growing boy! Though of course, she’d need to actually approach him to deliver it. You’re never going to be an actress if you can’t act your way through a pizza delivery stacey! Onward! 

The pair were finding her display quite amusing already. Swaying, coughing, breathing through her mouth, all while trying to maintain some semblance of composure. The woozy girl took a few deep breaths through the mouth, trying to regain her stamina before approaching. It didn’t seem to be helping matters much. The girl was clearly in great shape, to. And yet despite her imposing and muscley canine form, a little whiff of leon’s new perfume was all it took to practically bring her to her knees. Watching her reaction made leon feel...powerful. It was an exhilarating feeling. Eventually, she managed to make her way to the doorway, her paw still held firmly over her nose.

Screw manners, this leopard reeked! Approaching the doorway, stacey had no intention of removing her paw from her nose. It would be more rude to faint anyways. The pizza had been paid for digitally already, thank the heavens. Finally feet away from the boy, those noxious fumes seemed to find their way straight to her nose regardless. Peeyew! Stacey felt lightheaded. Hurriedly opening the pizza bag and pulling out two boxes to hand off, she noticed something off putting right away. He was smiling wide as can be! It certainly didn’t seem a fitting expression for his predicament. He was even...purring? Handing over the pizzas, that’s when she saw it. Right there, not even thirty feet away, was a little skunk boy watching them from the couch, with an expression just as eager as the leopard’s. Though he was mostly hidden, his tail was standing straight up. Those bold black and white markings drew the eye like a vibrant warning flag. It flickered side to side excitedly as he stared intently at the interaction. He was a skunk alright. And the boy in front of her reeked of skunk. Welp! Now stacey had seen it all. It didn’t take a genius to deduce what was going on here. Whatever happened to just smoking some weed to spice up a boring afternoon huh? Her therapist will love this.

“Welp have a nice day sir bye now!” And just like that, she zipped down the property off to her car like she was training for a speed walking competition, coughing and gagging all the way.

There wasn’t even time to hand over her tip. Leon closed the door, and the pair burst into laughter.

“Ha! She looked straight at me!”

“Sure didn’t take her long to figure us out, that expression said it all!”

“Bet that story will be passed down to the new pizzalings for generations to come!”

Leon set the pizzas down on the counter, and the two quickly got to work divvying up and devouring them. Leon always had a subtle feeling of guilt in the back of his mind when it came to sammy ordering him food. It was another one of those things that was made a little strange by them being very different species. Sammy has hardly 100 pounds, meanwhile leon was already pushing 150. Both perfectly normal size ranges for their species, but as a result of those differences, most of that pizza was intended for leon. Sammy would probably eat like four pieces at most, meanwhile his feline friend would be guzzling down a full box in the span of twenty minutes. By the time they were adults, leon would be almost twice his size. He felt a bit like a charity case sometimes, But sammy never mentioned a word about it. After properly stacking their pizza slices onto cheap paper plates, the two headed to the couch to enjoy some entertainment with their meal. Of course sammy had one of those weird rich people tables in his living room with the fish swimming around inside of them. It was the perfect place to set their snacks as they enjoyed their couch potato activities, it gave the room plenty of life. Somehow, only once sammy joined him in the living room did leon realize the skunk was still naked. And hard as ever. Of course, so was he. huh.

It always got a giggle from the little skunk when he’d notice leon’s gaze following the fish around, his kitty seemingly entranced with them and looking ready to pounce. It was also an easy way to tell when their current choice of anime had bored him. He’d actually had the table ordered shortly before he invited leon over for their first sleepover. Apparently, felines loved them. Though sammy didn’t see the appeal himself, it was definitely worth it to watch leon’s head dart back and forth tracking the fishies every time they entered the living room. 

“These next few weeks will be lots of fun.”

“Man, I thought for sure you’d want that smell off after seeing that reaction. I could never bear the embarrassment, my kitty sure is brave.”

“ Well, it’s a lot easier when I’m with you.” gosh, leon always knew just what to say.

“ Oh is that so? In that case my frisky feline, do you think you’re feeling brave enough to maybe...take your clothes back off?”

There was a little pause. Leon seemed to freeze for a moment, buffering like an old computer. Abort mission. You’ve flown to close! Abort! Say you were just kidding. Tell him-

“Do you...like cuddle time more that way?” 

Leon’s normally perky ears had fallen flat against his head. That was new. He was looking down at the skunk with an implacable face. Nervous? Excited? Scared? Happy? Sad? Angry? There just wasn’t any telling. What was sammy to say? The honest answer could just as easily be wrong or right in this situation. Think! He could say yes and risk violating leon’s boundaries, or he could say no and risk implying leon’s body was some sort of weird joke he was mocking. There simply wasn’t any good answer. Leon had never lied to him, the least he could do was afford him honesty here.

“I...well...yeah. Do you?” But once again, those purrs answered long before leon.

“...yeah.” 

Immediately beginning to undress, sammy was taken aback by leon’s sudden change of pace. He’d correct him, tell him he didn’t have to rush so much. He could take his time. Before he had time, however…

“Anyways, you see the trailer for the new season of buns and guns? Lolita smothers an army dude with her titties while she hacks into his computer! It looks awesome!”

He was just sorta carrying on standard chatter while he undressed. Was this just more standard leon stress coping, or was he truly comfortable? That was one of the hard parts about loving leon. He had so many thoughts that you could never tell what he was thinking. Either way, what else was there to do but play along? If it ended in kitty dick, he’d pretend to like that horrendous anime for the rest of his days.

“Ha, nah didn’t see it yet. I’ll be sure to check it out though, can’t wait to watch it with you.”

Content with sammy’s answer, leon had finished undressing and took a seat on the couch. Sammy sat right next to him, and the two found a suitably cheesy anime to enjoy together while they ate. Eventually, their bellies were full, and leon began his usual routine of creeping closer to sammy. In no time, the two were back to their usual cuddle time position. Albeit, this particular cuddle session was a bit naughtier than most of their past nights. Chatting, purring, lots of anime, and even some intimate touches were shared as they binged the night away.

Eventually it was getting late, and the pair were getting sleepy. They typically slept in different rooms, but tonight, sammy had another idea. He had a feeling his kitty was thinking the same.

“Whew, midnight already? We’d better get some shuteye after such an eventful afternoon or we’ll be zombies at school tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you make a fair point. Guess i’ll head off to the guest room and stink it up, hehe.”

“Actually, I was thinking, with it being such a chilly night and all...maybe we could sleep...in the same bed? I don’t know about you, but i’d sure be a lot warmer snuggled up next to my kitty”

“You know, now that you mention it, I couldn't agree more. I always imagined my dreams would be sweeter with my little fluffytail right next to me as I slept.” 

Though leon never talked about it, most of his dreams were nightmares. Regardless, the shredded sheets and mattress left in the guest room after their first sleepover had sorta given him away a while ago. Despite his insistence he was fine like that, sammy had a bed more suitable for leon’s species ordered the very next weekend.

“Perfect! We’ll go to my room. I’ll get some extra pillows and we’ll sleep in a big fluffy pile!”

“Sounds good to me! Though, I doubt any of them are as soft as you.” He then gave the little skunk some more of those claw-tickles he loved so much.

“Hehehe alright alright I surrender! You can hold me closest.”

With that, the pair hopped up and headed off to sammy’s room. Leon couldn’t help but bat at that fluffy tail a few times as it swished in front of him, sammy playing along and giving a few more swishes when he noticed. Arriving at the room, leon immediately took a running leap and face planted into the center sammy’s spacey bed. That was the best part of having a big bed, after all. At least, It used to be. But then he felt a stinky little ball of fluff leap onto his back, and wrap him up tight. That was definitely his new favorite part of big beds.

Seeing his kitty’s enthusiasm, sammy couldn’t help but match it. Leaping on top of the feline, however...kinda hurt. He immediately did his best to power through and hide the fact. But the simple facts of the matter were a snow leopard wasn’t nearly as soft as a skunk. Leaping onto those lean feline muscles was a bit more of an impact on his soft mustelid body than he had anticipated. Sammy imagined he could punch leon right in the stomach and end up the only one injured. Professional sports were segregated by species for good reason, it was far from an even playing field. Leon didn’t even work out, and had easily more strength in one arm than sammy’s entire body. If he wanted to, it would be easy to...stop that, stupid skunk brain. Wherever you’re going with that thought, it’ll be stopping here. It’s time for warm kitty snuggles.

“Dear lord! Señor Stripey delivers a devastating atomic elbow from the top rope! Where’s the ref? Somebody’s gotta stop this slaughter!” Leon couldn’t have picked a better character to put the little skunk at ease. Did he notice? It didn’t matter. He climbed his kitty like a tree and eagerly played the part.

“Mwuahaha! Give it up el whiskerfist! No man with a nose can resist the stinky submission hold of Señor Stripey!” with that, the little skunk crawled up leon’s back and curled his big fluffy tail around his neck, flickering the tip back and forth across his nose.

“Arg! Curse you Señor stripey! Stench! Too! Powerful! ...urelgh!” 

Leon made a dramatic tapping-out motion against the bed, and their fun had concluded. Sammy immediately rolled off the kitty and collapsed on the bed, panting after their little mock wrestling session. Leon rolled over on his back right next to sammy, rubbing against his side a little. He put a paw over sammy’s chest, and felt it moving up and down.

“Heh, You’re pretty fun to climb kitty. We’ll have to do that again some time. Not that I mind, but what’s with the paw?” Leon’s claws were out, to. The gentle pressure felt as nice as ever.

“ I uh, like to feel your little breaths.”

“Oh, heh. Well, feel away. I must say, my bed already feels warmer with you in it.” 

He wiggled up against leon, earning some more soothing purrs. The two laid a moment, Sammy giving him plenty of time to enjoy his...breathing, apparently. The soft paw resting lightly against his chest was strangely comforting. It was sorta like leon’s way of saying he didn’t want to let him go. A lot of things changed tonight. Sammy always wanted a future in politics. He could kiss that dream goodbye after tomorrow. A senator in an interspecies relationship, or that even ever was as a kid? Please. If loving someone is such a sin, maybe the world isn’t worth trying to change in the first place. He didn’t even know what he wanted his future to look like anymore. What did leon want? Ever since he’d met the strange snow leopard, a simple hug seemed to be all he needed to get through his week. There would be a lot to dream about tonight.

“What’s my little fluffytail thinking about?”

“Well, I was wondering something. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“There’s a lot of cool things out there to be. Do I have to pick just one?”

At that, the skunk rolled over and threw himself onto leon’s chest, holding him tightly. The sudden movement took him a little by surprise. What was that all about? Maybe he just wanted to feel his purring closer. He did say he liked it after all. When he felt the skunk burying his face into his chest and giggling though, he couldn’t help but catch a few giggles himself.

“No, I guess you don’t.” 

Sammy held him silently for a bit. Leon didn’t really know what to say. Eventually though, he let go and rolled back off his chest. Noticing the skunk laying on his side, he decided to roll over to face him. Those green eyes always made him think of a forest. Maybe he’d ask sammy to walk with him in one some time.

“I don’t look at your eyes enough when we cuddle.”

“I’ll be sure to give you a good look tomorrow. Right now though, you better look at your eyelids young man!” 

Seeing that they had somehow spent another hour on that bed not sleeping, Sammy knew he needed to reign his kitty in quick. He pulled the covers over them, and gave him a few strokes across his chest fur. Leon was clearly feeling a little extra energetic at having someone to share his bed with. If only there was some way to calm him down...sammy had a devious idea.
“ awww but it’s just so hard to take my eyes off you. I’ll give it my best shot.”

“No more excuses mister. You’ve got a big day ahead of you. Now, i’m gonna flip around and you’re gonna snuggle your skunky to sleep like a good kitty.”

“ yes sir mr.fluffytail!” giving a cartoonish impression of an army recruit eager to carry out his first orders, leon adjusted himself and laid his head against the pillow, staring expectantly at sammy.

“Oh, and one more thing…”

Removing his paw from leon’s chest, sammy reached it down under the blankets to his posterior. Holding it over his rear, he flexed his anus and displayed his scent glands. He carefully lined up a thumb with one of the glands, and gently squirted a thick droplet of spray onto the pad. Before leon even knew what was happening, sammy lifted the covers a bit with his free paw and reached his newly musky paw up towards leon’s face. He gave his thumb a steady swipe across the fur of leon’s upper lip, smearing that spray right under his nose. The sensation elicited an adorable surprised mew from the kitty as his body tensed up, then relaxed with a deep sigh. The sounds of eager sniffing followed shortly, starting rapidly and soon drawing out deeper and slower. That’ll settle him down.

“Mew! Stink...uhhhh...kitty...sleepy…”

Leon’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his eyelids began to droop as the kitty huffed his musky medicine. Those purrs started up in full force, and sammy eagerly turned over on his side, ready to let them rumble him to sleep. He didn’t have to tell leon anything else, as the moment his back was to him he was pulled into a tight embrace. Curling around the smaller skunk like a kitten posessively clinging to his favorite plushie, leon finally found something he didn’t want to lose.

“Skunky dreams, kitty.”

It didn’t take long for the pair to fall asleep, holding each other close throughout the night. Leon didn’t have any nightmares that night.

School normally started at eight o’clock, and sammy usually set the alarm clock for seven. However, given the night’s more...eventful nature, he elected to set it for six this time. A little extra time to prepare himself for the especially intimidating day ahead of him. Their five hour nap felt more like five minutes, but time with leon always passed pretty quick anyways. At the buzzing of the alarm, Sammy was dragged out of his feline heaven.

“Morning kitty.”

“bleeehhh...Already?” 

Leon was always more of a night cat than a morning kitten. Yet another difficulty of spending time with those of different species was sleeping habits. Though the education system certainly didn’t give a damn, different species had different needs as far as sleep went. This disparity had become a bit of a trending meme online recently, with nocturnal species posing for funny pictures with their diurnal friends passed out at parties and whatnot. It was no problem for a young skunk to party all night and drag himself out of bed on five hours of sleep every day. A snow leopard, however, not so much. As was true of many feline species, leon slept a lot. Sammy was pretty much good with six or seven hours of sleep a day, meanwhile leon had been known to sleep up to twelve hours each day during their sleepovers. And he was clearly pushing himself. A decent portion of their sleepovers was spent with sammy just kinda waiting for leon to wake up. He’d fall asleep during cuddles every now and then, but sammy definitely didn’t mind that part. It wasn’t leon’s fault of course, there was nothing to be done about it. At least he looked really cute sleeping. 

“I’m just gonna hop in the shower, it’s only six. Sleep a while longer.”

“Bleh.”

Ah yes, the classic grumbling dialect of morning leon. A difficult language to master, but that should roughly translate to…”extinguish the sun please”. Unfortunately, the sun will have to wait. Sammy’s current task was extinguishing the swirling stink that had thoroughly attached itself to his fur throughout the night. Though the smell didn’t bother him any, he wasn’t nearly brave enough to wear it around like leon intended to. It was one thing for his lover to wear his scent, but for it to be coming from sammy directly just wouldn’t do. He didn’t have every class with leon, and his heart would definitely need the break from the gagging and coughing.

A skunk’s spray can’t be washed off with mere water and soap, but as with any- well, as with most problems, science has a solution. The proper chemicals should mostly take care of the scent. Kinda. Pretty much, usually. Ok, to be fair, a skunk’s victim doesn’t usually allow themselves to marinate in that musk under the covers all night. This might be difficult.

Ever the prepared woman, sammy was sure he’d find any cleaning agents he may need in the maid’s quarters. What he didn’t expect to find however, was a product meant specifically for washing away a skunk’s spray. Apparently she had given plenty of consideration to the possibility of sammy having an “accident”. That’s not how it worked though, obviously. He felt a little humiliated. It didn’t help matters any that he would only be confirming her bias later with some made up story about precisely one such accident occurring. He put it out of his mind. Leon knew better, that’s all that mattered. Taking a bottle which was ridiculously branded with the logo of a fuming skunk tail crossed out in a red circle, Sammy made his way to the shower. After a solid hour of obsessive scrubbing and application of the demeaning product, He figured that was as good as he was going to get. Not that his nose could tell a single difference with the fumes wafting off of leon swirling all around the house, but oh well. Most of the school would be smelling like skunk pretty soon anyways, it would have to do. He was sure his fur would be getting reacquainted with that scent throughout the day regardless. There was no way he could refuse his routine helping of kitty hugs, stinky or not.

The bus was due to arrive in twenty minutes, He could let his kitty sleep no longer. Getting dressed and heading back to the room, he couldn’t help but watch leon sleep for just a minute. He wore the widest smile, it was truly a tragedy to steal him away from his musky nirvana. With a gentle paw, he softly stroked the exhausted leopard boy awake.

“Hey there kitty. Time’s up, i'm afraid.” Greeted with the widest yawn, Sammy always loved getting a look at those pointy feline teeth.

“Uughhlll…. Mornings are definitely better when I wake up next to you”

“ And nights are never as cold wrapped up in my kitty’s arms.”

“Maybe we could sleep together more often?”

“Count on it.”

That seemed to get him moving. Leaping up out of bed, leon set about getting dressed. He seemed to have an uncanny gift at preparing himself for school all in the last possible twenty seconds.

“Guess i’ll skip the cologne today. A certain fluffy friend has already provided me with some!” Leon’s unwavering confidence did wonders for sammy’s anxiety about the upcoming day.

“Ha! As if. I haven’t seen you wear cologne for a year now.” He gave the skunk a little nervous chuckle at that.

“Heh…alright, you got me. Cadeau de mouffette is the only scent for this kitty!” He knew that would get a grin from his little fluffytail. French is the language of love, after all.

“ Well Monsieur, better stick to your clothes from last night, unless you want it to be your entire wardrobe’s scent as well.” 

“ I certainly wouldn’t mind, but alas, it would seem the commonfolk simply can’t comprehend our more...poetic brand of love. Yet. I guess I'd better leave some of my clothes non-skunky, for now.” 

Dressing in his thoroughly marked outfit from last night, Leon threw on his backpack just in the nick of time. As the bus made its way up their street, he noticed sammy looking a bit anxious. His tail always went stiff when he was anxious, it was a dead giveaway. There must be something he could do… he held a paw out towards the little fluff ball.

“You know, that offer from last night still stands. It’s no Times Square but...i believe you mentioned something about enjoying soft kitty paws?”

The little skunk practically lept for his paw, holding it tightly in his own. He pulled himself inward, and rested his forehead against leon’s chest for a moment. His tail slowly drooped back down to it’s resting position as he held leon. Success. 

“I sure did, kitty. I sure did.”

He gave sammy a few gentle pets with his free paw. Slow strokes from his head down his back seemed to put him at ease.

“Come now little fluffytail, let’s go make some trouble.”

Finally composing himself, Sammy led leon out the door by his paw. Walking down the driveway, the pair made it to the sidewalk where the bus was destined to pull up. Standing side by side, they held paws proudly and watched the bus a block down the road as it approached. There was no mistaking them now. He held leon’s paw tighter as his brand new future approached. His paw would stink, But it would be worth it.

With leon, It always was.