Fewer Rainy Days with You (Patreon)

Alex smiled as she took off her headphones. She was sitting in her little makeshift studio in the apartment she shared with her boyfriend. The smile on her face brightened as she clicked on a few more buttons to export the song she just finished. She was excited to send it off to the producers she had been in touch with. But most importantly, she wanted to share it with her stallion who always showered her in compliments about her beautiful voice when she sang. 

She switched over to her messaging app and sent him a link to her song. When she heard his phone buzzing and beeping, her ears wiggled. The apartment was always quiet when she worked on her music, her boyfriend made sure to make as little sound as possible. But there was also no response to her message, not even a checkmark appearing that let her know that he had read it. “He must have fallen asleep…” The tigress mumbled to herself. She stretched her arms and legs out and closed the lid on her laptop. It was getting late. She might as well have gone to join her boyfriend for some hours of rest.

Alex entered the bedroom and looked around. She saw Tashi’s phone lying on the nightstand, but the stallion himself was nowhere to be seen. The tigress pouted and raised an eyebrow. Usually, her boyfriend would even take the phone with him to the bathroom so he could respond to any of her messages immediately. She searched the other rooms and was getting worried when she couldn’t find the tall stallion who was hard to overlook anywhere in the apartment. He had not mentioned that he was leaving the apartment, and it was raining heavily outside.

She frowned and sighed. Going outside when the weather was so unpleasant was the last thing she wanted to do, but her worries weighed more heavily. There was no sign, not even a note from her stallion in the whole place. Even though she was so tired, she put on some pants, picked up the keys and the two phones. She also grabbed the red umbrella that was leaning against the wall near the door, so she at least had some protection from the rain. The tigress sighed nervously when she thought about how it would do little against the drops that were flying sideways with the wind blowing outside.

When she stepped out, the whole street looked deserted. Not many people wanted to be outside late at night, even less so when the weather was this bad. She had no idea where her boyfriend could have gone and so she began walking around the block. “He didn’t take his car keys with him… He can’t be too far.” Alex talked to herself, not that anyone would have been able to hear her over the loud noise from the rain. “Oh… Maybe the park. But why so late at night?” She bit her lower lip as a car drove by. She narrowly avoided being hit by the water being splashed from the puddle the car drove through.

There was a little park not far away from their apartment. She remembered that her boyfriend used to go there for walks by himself, and while she had no clue where he could be, that was her best bet for the moment. The cold wind made her shiver and her fur and red sweater were getting soaked by the rain. Even though it barely kept the rain from getting through to her, she held tightly onto the umbrella as she pushed through the wind and towards the little island of green in the sea of concrete they lived in.

“Tashi?” She called out when she arrived at the entrance to the park. The gates were shut, the park must have closed hours ago. She saw a large figure standing there, too far away from the street lanterns to be more than a vague shadow. The mysterious person moved and turned around slowly, then stumbled towards the little tigress. For a moment, Alex wanted to turn around and run away. She wasn’t sure she wanted to meet just anyone crazy enough to go out so late at night.

Once the shadowy figure stepped near the light of one of the lanterns, though, she recognized the frazzled black mane and those ears, even though they were all flattened on the stallion’s head. “The park is closed…” She heard her boyfriend state the obvious with a sad voice before he snorted weakly. “Why did you come out?” He asked her and tried to hide his face again. Alex ran towards him and smiled as she was relieved to have found him. “Silly stallion! I was searching for you.”

As she was standing next to him, she could see that his eyes were filled with tears. When he noticed her looking at him, the stallion turned his head away from her. “Are you alright, Tashi?” She worriedly asked him and touched his shoulder. “No, I’m not…” The stallion replied and turned his head to look at the delicate hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry… I didn’t want to drag you down. You are so happy when you record your songs. Just wanted to go for a walk, my little tiger.”

They were both wet and cold, the rain still pouring down. But the tigress raised her umbrella and held it over her boyfriend’s head. “I’m also happy when you listen to them. Please, let’s go home, Tashi.” Alex said, shivering as the rain was now hitting her full-on. Her hair was sticking to her head and her sweater was getting heavy with the volume of water it soaked up. “You’re getting all wet now…” The stallion mumbled and frowned as he looked at her. “So were you, and you have been outside even longer, horsey.” Alex replied and just kept looking at him.

The stallion’s arm was so cold when he put it around her, but it only took a moment for them to feel better as their bodies warmed each other. He took the umbrella from her and held it up so it protected them both as best as it could. 

Now that they were so close, Alex could hear her boyfriend even though he was only whispering. “Thank you for coming out for me and being there for me.” - “Always… Now come, I made a song you have to listen to.” The tigress replied and rubbed her cheek against his chest. Tashi caressed her other cheek and smiled as they began walking. “I can’t wait. There are fewer rainy days with you, my little tiger.”

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Art by Keumano 

Tashi by TashiGibson