Double Espresso (A Valentine's Day Special) (Patreon)

This is a long and sweet story I wrote a couple years ago. It's quite romantic and I thought it would be cool to dust it off and finish some editing on it for Valentine's day. If you find any typos I missed, let me know in the comments!

Angie has the hots for her best friend Trish. Trish is easily overwhelmed and hasn’t been intimate with a woman. As they negotiate the rough terrain of a budding relationship, they’re pulled into an alien world where they can become their ideal selves. 

This the story about two furries falling in love while transforming into their sonas. If you want some slow burn mouse on giraffe lesbian romance, this is for you. ^_^

Note: I've attached a .txt version and two pdf versions, the mobile PDF version is better formatted for reading on a phone or other small portable device. Let me know if you like getting PDF versions of my stories.

Double Espresso

by Zmeydros 

Angie stands outside the coffee shop staring down a tree-lined street as a soft breeze blows a paper bag underneath an old Buick with peeling silver paint. This is stupid, she should go wait inside. She’s going to look desperate if she’s standing outside waiting when Trish arrives. But Trish doesn’t even know that she likes her. Angie sighs. For that to happen, she would have to actually get up the guts to tell Trish how she feels, and that’s just not going to happen.

After years of being openly lesbian and having had a couple worthwhile relationships, Angie still has trouble dealing with the phase where she doesn’t know whether the other person sees her as a potential lover. It’s even harder when she’s not completely sure if that person is comfortable doing sexual stuff with other women.

At least Trish knows that Angie is a lesbian. That should make things easier. Trish isn’t in a relationship right now, so that’s also good... Only about six more minutes until Trish exceeds her normal fashionable lateness. Angie checks her watch. This ruminating is going to drive her crazy.

Six minutes... That’s enough time for Angie to check her makeup once more. If Trish arrives while she’s in the bathroom, she’ll look less desperate. On the way to the restroom, she glances at some breaking news on the old big screen TV in the coffee shop.

Another disappearance of some random person in Canada this time. It wouldn’t be so odd if these disappearances didn’t have flashes of light associated with them. People have turned a corner, and then disappeared before they made it to the next intersection. She shivers. It seems like the sort of thing that would be in a tabloid, not in the national news.

Some seem to think it’s aliens, but it’s probably just spreading like most things do. People see flashes of light because other people say they saw flashes of light. If it’s aliens, why are they being so obvious? Almost all the alien abductions she’s ever heard of didn’t result in the person being gone forever. Why would they only bring some people back? Maybe there are two groups of aliens?

She shakes her head. She’d have to believe that aliens were hiding on or around earth to even consider that possibility. The part about all this that gives Angie the creeps is that these disappearances can be traced all the way back to the eighties. Who knows, maybe someday she’ll be walking down the street and poof, she’ll disappear.

The door to the restroom creaks as she pulls it open. Once she’s in the restroom, she grimaces at the ugly dark green walls. The paint’s so glossy it may as well be green slime covering the walls. This bathroom is too dark and eerie.

She looks in the mirror and frowns at her appearance for the thousand and eightieth time. If only it could be the face of her sona staring back instead. Her sona’s a mouse with pinkish-grey fur, not some round-faced short human with small hips, scrawny arms, small breasts, and a long nose. Other people try to tell her that she’s pretty, but she really doesn’t care what they say. This body is only a ghost of her true self.

When she wipes some blue lipstick off of her teeth with a paper towel, she grimaces at the feeling of paper against her gums. Her belt taps on the counter and her collar clinks as the silver piece of cheese hanging on it swings back and forth with her motions.

All the looks she’s gotten since she started wearing this collar--worth it. It’s good that she did it after she applied for college and got a summer job, though. She’s still not sure why her manager doesn’t mind the collar. Maybe he’s a closet fur or something, but it’s more likely that it doesn’t matter what you look like when you work at a call center.

The pink highlights in her blue hair go so well with her pale blue eyes. The short controlled messiness that is her hairdo is her own creation and she gets a lot of compliments on it. This is still the longest lasting hairdo she’s ever had. She was always bugging her parents to let her cut it shorter... She gets distracted by the ring in her nose. There’s a small fleck of dry skin hanging off of it. EEEW! She’s glad she came in here to tidy up.

After the offending dry skin is removed, she turns to walk out of the bathroom. Before she can start walking out, the door opens and Trish steps in. Angie puts her hands behind her back and tries to look casual. “Hi!”

“Oh, hey.” Trish opens her arms and pulls Angie into a big hug.

Angie feels Trish’s above-average breasts press against her own, and murrs for a fraction of a second before she catches herself. Lucky for her, Trish doesn’t seem to notice. Trish’s black sweater isn’t the least bit scratchy and Angie is content to just keep hugging the taller woman.

Eventually Trish giggles. “We better move or we’re going to be an obstruction.”

“Yeah,” Angie says as she reluctantly releases Trish. “I’ll go find us a table.”

“Be out in a sec,” Trish says as she steps around Angie and into a stall.

Angie walks to a quiet corner of the shop and settles in. When Trish steps out of the bathroom, she looks around with her eyebrows raised until Angie waves to get her attention. Then as Trish is walking toward her, Angie looks her friend over once more.  

Trish isn’t much taller than Angie’s five-foot-two, but she is much less scrawny. She has simple shoulder-length black hair that she pushes behind her ears. Her eyebrows are perfect fine black arches, her lips are thick and kissable.

Then there’s Trish’s long, toned legs leading up to her feminine hips. Trish’s dark brown eyes look mysterious and her light brown skin doesn’t seem to have a blemish on it. Angie blushes and looks away when she imagines how beautiful the pink of Trish’s pussy must look against her perfect skin.

When Trish sits down, she immediately looks back at the counter. “We should probably get drinks before we get evil looks from the staff.”

“Or we could wait and see which one of them does the best evil look,” Angie says.

Trish giggles. “What prize does the winner get?” she says, raising one of her slender eyebrows.

“A flash of our goods?” Is her mind really that far into the gutter? Angie scolds herself.

Trish laughs hard and then smiles at Angie. “You crack me up.”

A moment of pure bliss washes over Angie. Trish always seems to appreciate her humor. Flattery is the fastest way into Angie’s pants. Angie blushes at her own train of thought.

“I need some coffee,” Trish says as she gets out of her chair.

Angie follows her to the counter.

Trish says, “Medium double mocha latte.” as she the runs her index finger along the cherrywood trim on the front of the counter.

The pudgy bearded college student behind the counter looks at her with a bit of confusion and fiddles with his crooked name tag. “You mean two shots of espresso right?”

“Affirmative.” Trish smiles. “I like to be wide awake when I’m studying.”

“That’ll be four seventy-seven.” The guy taps the counter lightly.

Two shots? It’s like nine at night, is Trish planning to study until the sun comes up again? Angie doesn’t want to seem like she’s a wimp or not as serious about staying awake as Trish. “I’ll have the same and I’ll pay for both.”

“You’re paying?” Trish leans back slightly in surprise.

“My treat,” Angie says.

As Angie gets out her credit card, Trish says, “You sure you want a double? Have you even had a single before? I thought you only drank green tea.”

Maybe Trish is right, maybe she should just get one shot. Nah, she’s seen people drink doubles all the time. It’s not like she’s going to get caffeine poisoning or something from it. She hands her card to the guy. “I want to be awake until we’ve gone over all our notes.”

Trish shrugs and says, “You do get sleepy when we study calculus.”

Angie frowns as she takes her credit card back from the guy, adds a nice tip, and signs the slip. Math is a language she will never speak fluently. It’s not that she finds it boring, it’s that her effort to try to understand it wears her out. She looks up at Trish when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to put you down, Angie,” Trish says as she pushes an errant strand of hair behind her ear with her other hand.

Angie smiles.  “I know, it’s okay.” She puts her hand on top of Trish’s. When Trish removes her hand, Angie moves hers with it and ends up holding Trish’s hand. Trish’s hand is cold, but it feels wonderful to hold it.

The attendant glances at the fact the girls are holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes while he’s struggling with making the drinks. At first Trish just continues to stare at Angie for a few seconds as if she’s wondering why her hand has been captured, but then something that causes Angie’s heart to skip a beat happens.  

Trish squeezes her hand and then pulls Angie toward her into a big hug and kisses the top of her head. “We’re both going to pass that midterm.”

Being pulled into Trish’s arms causes a turbulent rush of feelings. Angie’s nethers get warm from the way that her pelvis is tight against Trish’s. Every once in a while one of Trish’s hugs has Angie in this satisfying position. Joy fills Angie when Trish kisses the top of her head. Trish is like a chocolate-covered vibrator, sweet and sexy.

Trish giggles after the hug’s been going on for over thirty seconds. “You silly mouse. Are you going to let me get my drink?”

Hugging Trish harder, Angie shakes her head.

With a laugh, Trish struggles to get loose, causing her body to rub against Angie, who feels tingles of pleasure from the friction. Angie’s nipples continue to tingle after she lets go of Trish. She watches Trish grab her drink. Why can’t she just tell Trish how attracted she is to her right now? That’s it, she’s just going to tell her the moment they’re both back sitting at the table. The worst Trish could do is say ‘no’ and they’d still be friends.

When Trish glances at Angie, she says, “Why so serious?”

“Heh, was my face all serious or something?” Angie asks.

“Yeah, you had your patented, ‘I’m thinking about something really important’ face.” Trish makes an overly serious face.

The silliness of Trish’s expression causes Angie to laugh while she’s reaching for her own drink. “I don’t look like that.”

“Are you sure?” Trish asks and then makes her face look even more ridiculous.

“Now you just look like you’re trying to kill me with your mind.” Angie giggles.

Trish laughs. “No, I was trying to give you an orgasm using telepathy.”

Looking Trish in the eye, Angie says, “There are plenty of other funner ways to do that.”

A blush forms on Trish’s face. “I suppose you’re right.”

Glancing at the attendant, Angie sees that he is frozen in place staring at them. “Yep, I like girls. Hope I’m not the first lesbian you’ve ever seen in real life.”

He blushes and then laughs nervously. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”

“It’s fine, I just didn’t want to leave you there staring long enough that a line formed or something.” Angie says with a smirk.

Trish puts a hand on Angie’s shoulder and turns her toward their table before looking back at the attendant and saying, “Don’t mind her, she’s an evil lesbian who picks on men.”

The guy behind the counter laughs.  

Angie jabs Trish gently in the side with the hand that’s holding her coffee. “And you like being stared at, you’re no more innocent than me.”

“I suppose not, but I’m not evil like you.” Trish sits at the table.

As Angie smirks as she sits down. “That’s just ad hominem, so it doesn’t count.”

“Ad hominem?” Trish tilts her head.

“It means ‘against the man.’ We discussed it the first day of philosophy class.” Angie sighs, lost in her memory of that day. She wanted Trish the moment she saw her, and craved her by the time the class was over.

“Oh right. That’s the day I met you. It’s an argument that attacks the person instead of the person’s ideas.” Trish takes a sip of her drink.

Angie looks into Trish’s eyes. “Trish, I need to tell you something.” She takes a sip of her coffee and her eyes widen at how strong it is. The chocolate that was added almost makes up for the overly strong coffee taste.

“Oh?” Trish tilts her head, slightly seeming a bit surprised by Angie’s sudden seriousness.

“I... I forgot my notebook.” She takes a sip as she feels her stomach lurch. That was her chance, why couldn’t she ask Trish out? She did just realize that she forgot her notebook, but she could have waited until she asked Trish out to say anything about it.

“You forgot it? I called you and reminded you before I left.” Trish’s eyebrows are furrowed in confusion.

Angie’s heart feels heavy in her chest as she once again feels like an idiot. “I know, sometimes I’m hopeless.”

With a deep sigh, Trish says, “I know, you get distracted, let’s go back to your place. It’s not that far.”

“It’s a bit of a mess.” Angie looks at the table.

“So is my dorm room, I won’t mind,” Trish says.

A deep blush forms on Angie’s face--she left her blue equine dildo sitting on the coffee table next to a bottle of lube. She’s just going to have to hide it really quickly when they get there... “I have some fresh scones at home that we could dip in our coffee.”

“Scones... Oooh, are they the cinnamon ones your mom makes?” Trish asks as she grabs her purse.

“Yep.”

Trish smiles. “I’m glad you forgot your notebook now.”

Yeah, forgetting her notebook is awesome because she’ll get to sit next to Trish on the couch while they study. Maybe this was her subconscious’s plan all along. Angie takes a couple sips of her coffee and gathers her stuff as she feels another rush of energy. If she finishes this drink, she won’t have to worry about staying awake for math... or the sunrise.

She follows Trish out of the coffee shop, making sure to wave bye to the to the guy behind the counter. When she sees Trish’s old dark blue Pontiac Grand Prix outside, she grimaces. “What happened? It looks like a meteor hit your car.” A cold autumn breeze causes her to shiver.

Trish chuckles as she puts her bags in the back seat. “A piece of metal fell off a truck yesterday and left that dent. I’m lucky it hit there and didn’t go through my windshield.”

“Yeah, very lucky. It must have been really heavy.” Angie puts her stuff in the back seat and sits on the passenger’s side.

Trish gets in the car. “It looked like some sort of electric motor. I think the guy was a scrapper. I’m just glad my insurance covered it.”

“That’s good. Just watch them closely so that they don’t surprise you with some loophole that lets them screw you over.” Angie puts takes a drink of her latte before putting it in the cup holder. Then she puts her hands between her thighs to warm them up--she probably should have worn a thicker sweater today. There weren’t any cold breezes blowing when she walked to the coffee shop, though.

Trish drives into a parking lot just up the street to turn around. “Trusting any large company not to try and screw you is like walking into a strip club naked and expecting not to get hit on.”

“Heh, that’s about right.” An image of Trish walking around in public naked distracts Angie so much that she just stares off into space. She makes a slight ‘mmm’ sound as she presses her wrists against her crotch and watches an imaginary naked Trish bend over to pick something up. A giddy sexual energy floods through her as more caffeine and sugar filter into her blood.

Lucky for her, Trish doesn’t seem to notice and drives in silence for a couple blocks. “Is it the first building or the second?”

When Angie comes back to reality, there’s a wetness between her thighs. “Uh, it’s the second one--I mean the first one.”

“Thanks, you’d probably laugh at me if you saw how many times I walked up to the wrong building.” Trish parks out in front and grabs her drink before getting out.

Trish and Angie grab their bags and head to the front door. Angie looks at the dark brown and white brick building that she lives in. It’s one of the ugliest buildings she’s ever seen, but it’s not too bad inside. She opens the door and lets Trish go in first. Then she follows Trish up to her apartment and opens the door. This time she steps in first, knowing there’s a certain dildo that she must hide asap.

Hastily, she sets down her stuff and walks over to the glass and wood coffee table. She grabs the blue equine dildo and puts it under a couch cushion and puts the bottle of lube under the couch before Trish walks over with her books. Angie sits down and blushes when she realizes that she can faintly feel the shape of the dildo through the worn cushion.

She grabs her notebook and her latte off the coffee table as Trish starts looking through her backpack to find her own notebook. Before Trish has a chance to sit down, Angie says, “Could you get the scones? They’re on the kitchen table.”

“Yes ma’am.” Trish salutes Angie playfully.

Angie giggles and watches Trish as she retrieves them. When Trish sits down, she’s a foot or two from Angie. Well, this isn’t what Angie was hoping for. Now she has to find a way to get Trish to sit closer. Both of them pop the top off of their latte’s at the same time and look at each other with a smirk before they each grab a scone. Angie dips her scone in her drink before taking a bite. “Mmm, these go well together.”

Trish does the same. “Oh, yeah. Now let’s get some studying done.” Setting down her drink and scone, Trish opens her notebook.

After another bite of her scone, Angie sets her food and drink down. She pats the spot next to her and says, “Sit closer so we can read each other’s notebooks easier.”

“Sure.” Trish scoots over.

They go over statistics and probability equations for a half hour before Angie drinks the last bit of her coffee. She glances at her empty cup. Maybe she shouldn’t have drunk it all. Her heart’s beating fast, she feels aroused from sitting on top of a dildo and so close to Trish, her hands are shaking slightly, and she feels a strange giddiness that is causing her to have trouble keeping herself in check.

It’s like she has so much energy that her body doesn’t know what to do. She almost kissed Trish three times already. She even rubbed Trish’s thigh a couple times. Right now, she’s leaning her head on Trish’s shoulder trying to resist the urge to put a hand between her legs. Angie sits back up and takes off her sweater. “It’s warm in here.”

“Really? Your cheeks look flushed, are you feeling okay?” Trish asks, putting the back of her hand on Angie’s forehead.

Admitting that she’s really horny probably isn’t a good idea. Angie puts on a smile. “I feel fine. Maybe you’re just warming me up.”

“I’m a hot giraffe, I do admit.” Trish says proudly.

“Mmm, yes you are. This mouse likes you lots.” Angie rubs Trish’s thigh a bit further up than she has before.

Trish looks at Angie’s hand and blushes slightly before changing the subject back to their homework.

After another few hard and annoying homework problems, Angie looks into Trish’s eyes. She’s waited long enough and she’s finally revved up enough to show Trish how she feels. Trish hasn’t complained even though she’s been feeling her up the entire evening. It’s go time. With butterflies in her stomach and her body almost starting to tremble, Angie leans toward Trish.

When their lips meet, Trish freezes in place and her eyes widen. Trish’s lips go from hard and unpuckered to soft and supple as Angie continues the kiss. She’s kissing back! This is perfect! Arousal surges through Angie and her hands quickly venture under Trish’s shirt. When her hands reach under Trish’s bra and start fondling her lovely pert breasts, Angie murrs at the feeling of Trish’s supple skin.

Trish suddenly pushes Angie away and looks at her with concern on her face. “I’m not sure about this. You’re my best friend and I don’t even know if I like...”

“You’re not sure?” Angie raises an eyebrow. “You were enjoying that kiss.”

“That was so fast, I didn’t have time to think about what we were doing.” Trish scoots to the opposite end of the couch and then looks at the floor.

Angie frowns in frustration. “Did it feel wrong somehow?”

“I don’t know,” Trish says with a pained expression.

Angie moves closer so she can comfort Trish.

The moment Angie starts to move, Trish gets off the couch. “Let’s finish studying tomorrow or something.” She starts putting her stuff away.

Angie feels a tightness in her chest. Trish is going to leave over this? A kiss and a grope? “Please stay, we can talk this through.”

“I need some quiet thinking time. I promise I’ll call you later so we can set up another time to study.” Trish zips her backpack up.

“But all we did was kiss a bit, it’s not like I put my hand down your pants.” Frustration is clear in Angie’s voice.

When Trish looks at Angie, her eyes are wide with anger. “I said I need to think and that’s not a bad thing. I might decide that I like the idea of being with a girl, but I can’t figure anything out with you pressuring me.”

Angie feels tears forming in her eyes as her heart feels like someone stepped on it. Why does this have to be so hard? She leans back into the couch and looks away from Trish so she won’t see her tears. Everything she wants to say would only make Trish more mad, so she just stares out the window until Trish has left.

After Trish is gone, Angie pulls the dildo out from under the cushion and throws it across the room. “God DAMN IT!” It hits a can full of pens and a Catwoman action figure, knocking them both over. She shivers in rage as she cries harder. Fucking Trish, always being so touchy feely, leading her on to believe that this could work.

Just when she’s about to punch some couch cushions, she thinks about what happened and her anger starts to wane. She gave Trish no warning before she just shoved her hand under her shirt. She didn’t even spend time getting Trish in the mood for what she was about to do. This isn’t Trish’s fault, her own idiocy is to blame. What made her think that Trish would want that kind of attention anyway?

The tears last for over a half hour before Angie stands up and walks into her bedroom. She takes off her shoes and throws them at her pile of clothes before lying on her back. She doesn’t feel even slightly tired, but she desperately wants to sleep. To forget about this whole day. To wake up and get to do it all over again.

Five minutes later, she gets off the bed and starts surfing the web on her netbook. She responds to friend requests on Facebook and plays a couple little games trying to outscore her friends. Then she sees a status update from Trish saying “I’m too indecisive, why can’t I just know what I want without a week of flip-flopping?”

Angie considers responding, but decides against it. Trish asked for space and she’s going to give it to her. Then Angie gets an idea and updates her own status. “I need to learn to control myself better, I hurt a friend today and I don’t know if she’ll forgive me anytime soon.”

After that, Angie does stuff on Facebook for another hour hoping that Trish will respond to her status, but nothing happens. It’s getting late, but Angie is still wired. She doesn’t feel shaky anymore, though. That’s the last time she has that much caffeine in one sitting. She should have listened to Trish. Her eyes get watery again and she cries hard enough that she can’t read the computer screen. She didn’t even bother to tell Trish how she felt before starting to mash face with her. Why is she such an idiot?

She gets up from the computer and lies on her bed again. Anger at herself fills her and she slaps the bed in frustration. If she loses Trish over this, she won’t know what to do with herself. It would be the fifth time in a row she’s blown the start of a relationship. She may as well start dating men at this point. When she tried to get into their pants they would probably stay until she fucked them, then they’d leave her. At least she’d get sex out of it.  

Before her recent string of failures, she had her first long term relationship. It lasted seven glorious months after the lustful fling that started it, but her affection for all things furry eventually scared that teacher’s aide away.

She surfs the web aimlessly, reading her favorite furry webcomics for over an hour before she responds to all her FA comments and checks Facebook again. A couple friends have reassuring comments, but the private message from Trish is what makes her heart soar.  

The message reads:  

“Angie, don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. This isn’t the first time I’ve needed space. Remember last Christmas when you got drunk and humped my leg in front of all our friends? I needed space after that too. I was much more upset that time and we still worked things out. I couldn’t survive if I lost you as a friend.

Talk to you soon,

Trish”

Angie relaxes, feeling not only that she doesn’t need to worry quite as much anymore, but also that her caffeine high is waning. The only thing missing from the message is some sort of response about what Trish is thinking in regards to them having a relationship. Trish probably doesn’t know yet and she’s just going to have to deal with that fact.

After taking a shower and getting ready for bed, Angie lies down. Her phone wakes her up about eight hours later. When she looks at who’s calling, she sits up and answers it. “Hi Trish.”

“Hey Angie. If we started a relationship, could I trust you to go slow with me? I think I’m bisexual, but I’ve never tested it and it felt a bit weird for you to just start making out with me last night.” Trish sounds a bit tired.

Angie’s heart is beating way too fast for this time of day. Trish is willing to be her girlfriend! It’s freaking awesome! “If that’s what you need, I’ll do my best. You’re going to have to tell me if something makes you uncomfortable, though.”

“Wow, I was expecting a song and dance number when I told you I was open to being your girl.”

“You surprised the pants off me, I’m still ad--” Angie laughs at her own statement. “That didn’t come out right.”

Trish laughs. “You’re lucky you didn’t surprise my pants off last night. I would have been even more scared of this.”

Angie giggles. “All in due time, my love.”

“You are one-hundred-percent certified hopeless,” Trish says with a giggle.

“Tonight at eight PM, my place, I’ll be expecting you,” Angie says firmly.

“Yes ma’am,” Trish says like someone at boot camp.

The alarm clock next to Angie’s ear rings and she cringes at the terrible sound it’s making before shutting it off. “Yep. That was the alarm to make sure I woke up in time to get to class, I’ve got to go.”

“See ya later.” Trish hangs up.

Hanging up the phone, Angie jumps up and down. “YES!” All she has to do is keep Trish from getting too uncomfortable while slowly introducing her to the joys of female on female action. If she can keep her libido under control, she can do this! Images of her pulling off Trish’s bra and licking her bountiful breasts fill her mind as her heart races and her cheeks flush.

Why is her mind so far in the gutter already this morning? It could be because she didn’t get laid last night after she started making out. They’re so close to each other. If they can enjoy sex together, they’ll be lovers--just how close can two women be before they act more like lovers than friends? How long has it been since she and Trish crossed that line? She’s going to guess over a year because that’s how long she’s felt that Trish was her other half.

The rest of the day, she skips to her classes, makes dirty jokes around her classmates and actually smiles while she takes a quiz. Neither of her classes seem boring because she hardly notices them. When she gets home, she makes herself some hot chocolate and does two different reading assignments. After that, she has some leftover chicken stew for dinner and cleans the apartment.

She’s so much more productive when she’s not worried about things. Hopefully she and Trish will work out so that she doesn’t have to feel lonely again. When Trish calls, she pounces on her phone and answers it.

“Hey Angie. I’m out front.” Trish sounds a bit nervous.

“I’ll be right there.” Angie hangs up and runs to the front door. She laughs when she sees that Trish is at the other building. Angie waves at her and she melodramatically hangs her head in shame before walking over to Angie.

“You’re early.” Angie bounces.

Trish chuckles. “You picked the wrong species. You hop around like a bunny when you’re excited.”

“Mice bounce too, see?” She bounces down the hallway, giggling as Trish laughs a bit harder.

When they’re inside the apartment, Angie tries to kiss Trish on the cheek, but Trish turns her head so that she’s kissing Angie on the lips. When Angie leans into the kiss, Trish puts her hands around her. Angie decides against giving Trish any tongue.  

When Trish breaks the kiss, she puts her head on Angie’s shoulder. “That was nice.”

“Mmmmhmmm,” Angie says as she gives Trish a squeeze and blushes at the feeling of Trish’s breasts pressing against hers.

Trish lets Angie go and looks into her eyes. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Any destination in mind?” Angie asks with a smile.

Shaking her head, Trish says, “None, I haven’t gotten past wanting to be outside.”

Angie grabs her sweater and puts it on. While she ties her shoes, she says, “I don’t think I’ve ever shown you the overgrown car.”

“Overgrown car?” Trish says.

“You’ll see. I laughed when I saw it.” Angie opens the door and holds out her hand for Trish to grab.

Grabbing Angie’s hand, Trish follows her out of the building. When they’re outside, Angie says, “You feel like holding hands? I don’t want to force you.”

“I do, actually,” Trish says, looking at the ground and playing with her sleeve.

Putting her other hand on Trish’s chin and looking into her eyes, Angie says, “There’s no reason to be embarrassed. People aren’t going to think we’re a couple. Women hold hands all the time.”

“Yeah, I’m just afraid of the bigotry I saw in my high school.” Trish frowns.

Angie kisses her on the cheek. “Don’t worry, you’re not in the burbs anymore, you’re in the grimy and hedonistic inner city. Anything goes here.”

Trish smiles faintly. “Thank God for that.” She lets Angie start guiding her down the street.

The first hint of fall colors can be vaguely seen in the twilight of this late September evening. As they walk, they point at old houses and watch as random people go about their businesses. A few blocks from Angie’s apartment, a lithe female runner passes them.

“She’s a running machine,” Trish says.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I ever want to be that fit. I wonder if she has any fat left on her body.” Angie watches her run down the street. “She has a really sexy back, though.”

“It must take a lot of willpower to keep your body in that good of shape. I have trouble keeping my waistline where it is and I have a couple extra pounds,” Trish pokes at her own belly.

Putting a hand on Trish’s belly, Angie smiles. “I don’t think they’re extra. I like your tummy just the way it is. I think it’s cool that you gave your sona the same body type as you.”

“I didn’t want to add another perfect figure to the fandom. I think it’s the same reason you didn’t give your sona huge breasts.”

“Yep, I don’t see what’s wrong with having small breasts. They do the same job, they’re just as pretty, and they're easier to run with. Big breasts do have their advantages. They are nice to cuddle up against and they definitely draw more eyes , including mine.” Angie glances at Trish’s breasts for a moment. “My nipples are as big as my sona’s though.”

“Really?” Trish blushes.

“Getting a bit excited?” Angie smirks.

“Oh stop it.” Trish bumps Angie with her hip.

Angie grabs Trish’s hand harder to avoid from falling over. “Wow, baby got back. I almost went flying.” 

With a grin on her face, Trish pushes out her chest in fake pride. “And don’t you forget it.”

Angie giggles as she takes a left at the intersection. Halfway down that block, she points at an unkempt lawn. “It’s time to play, Find the Shitty Old Car.”

Trish chuckles as she looks at the amazingly overgrown yard. It looks like it’s part garden, part weed nursery, and part jungle gym because of the warped metal scrap that’s amongst the vegetation. It takes her half a minute to find what Angie’s pointing at--a white car from the 80’s that’s got grass and weeds all around it. It looks like it is parked on the remains of a driveway in front of something that may have been a garage many years ago. “What car is that?”

“I actually looked it up because I’ve been by here so many times. It’s an eighty-two Mercury Lynx. I don’t know anything else about it.” Angie points at a rusting frame for a crib. “There’s a bunch of irises planted where that crib is. I think this was all a beautiful garden years ago.”

“Yeah, probably. I wonder if the owners moved or something.”

“Or maybe they got sick. I’ve seen a guy with an oxygen tank sitting on the porch sometimes. He’s always wearing white.” Angie looks at the lit window on the second floor.

Trish turns back the way they came. “It’s getting darker and this yard is starting to look a bit scary.” 

Angie imagines zombies coming out of the ground and walking toward them. “Yeah, this is the sort of yard that’s at home in a horror movie, let’s go.”

They switch sides and start heading back. About two-thirds of the way back, something wrong happens.  

At first, it’s a point of light, but then it grows quickly into a spherical crystalline mess that Angie can’t make heads or tails of. In the fraction of a second where they start running away from it, it grows in size and complexity so fast that it’s almost a complete blur. It feels as though time has stopped as she looks back at it--it’s only a foot from her. It has so many colorful planes of reflected light, so many sharp crystalline edges. It would be beautiful if it wasn’t so ominous.  

The air around her resonates so powerfully that she feels a thrum deep in her chest. It’s like being next to a giant bell, but instead of sending vibrations through the air, this thing is sending vibrations through reality itself. The ground, her body, her hair, and the fading light from the sun all vibrating as if someone had struck the universe with a giant mallet.

She feels like her body is being pulled and tugged in random directions as it envelops her. Eddies and currents of space and time cause her to see reflections of herself and the area around her in a faceted mess. Some show time going forward or backward while others show the series of events completely out of order.

The confusion around her resolves into a misty static. It’s like being inside a dimly lit room that’s full of tiny specks of glitter that change color randomly. Almost like what Angie sees when she closes her eyes sometimes. She can see the world outside through the broken crystalline shards. A shiver runs through Angie. What the hell happened? The broken images of her world fade and she starts to take short quick breaths. She looks around with wide eyes, ready to scream at the first sign of trouble.

When she looks at Trish, she trembles and feels tears fall down her cheeks. None of this makes any sense! “I don’t know what to do.” She covers her mouth when she hears the strange warble in her voice.

Trish takes her into her arms. “What is wrong with... our voices?” A tear falls from Trish’s cheek onto Angie’s head.

“I don’t know.” She wraps her arms around Trish and starts taking slower breaths. Trish is so much bigger than her and she feels so warm, so safe, in her arms. The tension in Trish’s arms and back loosens as Angie holds her.

“What just happened?” Trish shivers.

“I don’t know, but I feel a bit better now.” She looks up into Trish’s eyes.

“Do you think we’re inside of that thing we were trying to get away from?” The tension in Trish’s muscles returns.

“Yeah. I don’t think there was any way we could have outr--whoa.” It feels like Angie’s entire head is ringing. Images of random things she remembers flash through her mind. A few seconds later, all the crystal-like shards that make up the wall are blinking with random colors--it’s beautiful.  

Nude images of her sona begin to flow through her mind. They’re like what she’d expect to be in a really expensive R-rated ref sheet--many different angles and poses. Then video of her sona dancing, running, and doing other active things. It’s like something is playing her own imagination back to her with extreme detail.

Trish loosens her grip on Angie. “Are you seeing a bunch of images of your sona?”

“Yeah, does your head feel weird?” Angie strains her eyes at the grey darkness around them, trying to see if there’s something inside this sphere of faceted chaos. It now feels like they’re floating. The outer shell of the sphere is beginning to show more green and brown than other colors.

“Yeah. M-my body is starting to tingle too.” Trish shakes.

Angie starts shivering as Trish’s fear is seeping into her. “It feels like little pricks all throughout my body.”

“Do you think something read our minds?” Trish tenses up even more.

“Maybe.” Trying to take slower breaths, Angie just holds Trish for a while. She can’t let go. Trish is the only thing here that she understands. A while later, she says, “I have a feeling that we’re going to be released from this thing soon. The walls are smoothing out and it looks like there’s a forest outside.”

“And we’re not floating anymore,” Trish says as she looks at the walls.

Angie looks down and sees that the sphere has settled onto a branch as wide as a six-lane highway. The branch seems to have buildings that just grew out of the branch itself. A branch almost as thick as this one is off to the left. It goes up at a steep incline before curving back over them and shading them from the sun.

Another branch goes off to the right and down slowly. It looks like it leads to an area with more buildings that just grew out of the branch they’re on. They have glowing letters that make up signs she can’t read from here. “Either we’re tiny or this forest is actually made of one fucking gigantic tree.”

“I don’t think we’re small because the leaves and the--holy crap! Turn around. There are people in amazing fursuits behind you,” Trish says as the crystalline walls of the sphere start disappearing facet by facet.

By the time Angie turns around, the sphere is gone and she’s standing about ten feet away from the best fursuits she’s ever seen... Wait, the lizard has a movable forked tongue and the wolf has ears and a tail that move like the real thing. The wolf yawns--the inside of his mouth looks wet and his tongue moves way too realistically. “I don’t think those are suits.” A shiver runs down her spine. Real anthros? Where the hell are they? An alien planet? An alternate dimension? A furry version of the Matrix?

[I thought the full story might be too long for one Patreon post. The full story is attached in .txt or .pdf, there's even a special mobile version for reading on your phone, take your pick!]