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Raleigh has been around dogs all his life. His brother, obviously, was a dog, just like himself. Tendo was also one, with a sleeker tail than he and Yancy had, but still obviously canine. Most of the Gypsy crew were also dogs, with a few rabbits and mice in the mix.
Marshal Pentecost was the sole exception, as he was nothing. He had no tail, no ears, and there were rumors that he’d lost them during one of his fights.
He’s met Herc Hansen before, really, and Herc had been lupine, which was roughly dog. So he’s pretty confused, more than anything, when he meets Chuck Hansen, and his ears and tail are definitely not lupine. Or canine. Or vulpine. Or anything dog.
“Yeah, he’s a cat.” Herc tells him, when Raleigh mentions it. “Angela was one.”
Raleigh has never seen a cat before, and Chuck Hansen fascinates him, even though Chuck snarls at him if he ever gets too close. Chuck’s tail is down when he’s happy or relaxed, and sticks straight up when he’s pissed, which is exactly the opposite of what Raleigh’s does. Raleigh mentions it to Mako, Mako rolls her eyes, her own dog-ears flopping when she shakes her head. “Leave Chuck alone, Raleigh.”
But Raleigh doesn’t leave him alone, even after they beat each other up. What he does do it notice how whenever Chuck sees him, his ears twitch, and they fold, drooping down to his head. He takes it to the Wei triplets, who’ve got lion ears and tails. They grin at him when he asks what Chuck’s drooping ears mean. “If you can sneak up to him,” Jin says, grinning like the devil, “Try squeezing his tail.”
Raleigh spends the next three days trying to sneak up on Chuck, and then finally manages it. Chuck jumps about three feet into the air. A shudder runs through his entire body, and he lets out a breathless moan.
Both Raleigh and Chuck freeze. Chuck swerves, kicks Raleigh as hard as he can in the shin, takes his tail back, and runs away before Raleigh could recover or say anything.
--
He doesn’t see Chuck for days after that, and when he goes to demand what the fuck was that to the Wei triplets, Cheung grins at him, his sharp teeth glistening. “A cat’s tail.” He flicks his own tail at Raleigh. “It’s the most sensitive part of a cat’s body. Tail and ears.”
Two hours later, he gets cornered by Herc, who is glowering at him. “I Drifted with my son today.”
Fuck. “I swear it was by accident.” Raleigh says, rambling because truth seems to be his best answer. “The Wei triplets told me to try it because it’d be funny or something. I had no idea Chuck would – that it was-“
Apparently, his fluster comes through as sincere, because Herc looks more amused than angry after his fumble at speaking. “So, why have you been stalking my kid, then?”
Raleigh can’t exactly say because I’m sexually – and maybe romantically – attracted to your son, but Herc smirks at him as if he’s said that out loud. Herc claps him on the shoulder and says, “Use protection.”
--
Getting Herc’s permission doesn’t mean much after they lose the Wei triplets, the Kaidanovskys, and then they’re all getting in Jaegars and Chuck and Pentecost are heading to their death, and then suddenly there’s a third pod and –
Raleigh doesn’t remember much of it. It’s all a mess in his head, Mako’s emotions mixing with his, her despair and pain mixing with his own and then her own joy echoing in his own, Chuck’s survival almost enough to wipe the sorrow of Pentecost’s loss. But still, everything’s mixed up, and there’s too much going on at once.
But two days after they close the breach, Raleigh is sitting by Chuck’s hospital bed. Chuck’s left ear is burnt and they almost had to cut it off, but they’d managed to salvage it and it’s now heavily bandaged into a white lump on the top of his head. The last half of Chuck’s tail is also burnt, the red fur scalded off, but the doctors promised that the fur will grow back once his burns are treated.
Chuck also has collapsed ribs that punctured both lungs, a broken femur and a broken ankle that’ll need months of PT, a shattered wrist, and multiple burns all over his body, but he’s alive, and healing fast. “To be young again,” Herc says, smiling as he ruffles his son’s good ear. His ears are perked up, his tail down but swaying slowly in happiness, and Raleigh knows everything is going to be okay.
--
Chuck is a bitch for the first month of PT, which actually relieves Raleigh because Chuck hasn’t let almost-dying change him. The second month of PT, Chuck is hopping around on one leg with more grace than Raleigh has (Mako says, “Cat people,” rolling her eyes, but with fondness), his ear looks mangled but doesn’t need bandages anymore, and his tail is sprouting tufts of fur.
“Why can’t it grow even?” Chuck grumbles, gripping his tail. “It looks ugly as your face.”
Raleigh would have taken offense, except he doesn’t, because over the last two months of being attached at the hip to Chuck (in Tendo’s words, not his), he’s learned Chuck is at his most affectionate when he’s insulting your looks. Also, Raleigh hasn’t shaved in a week or two, so he kind of understands where Chuck’s coming from. (Chuck doesn’t like his beard.)
“It’s not that bad.” And really, it isn’t. Sure, the ginger fur isn’t growing evenly, but most of his once-burned skin is covered in soft fur. Raleigh hasn’t touched it since the-cat-tail-is-a-sex-organ incident, but it looks like it’ll be soft to the touch, unlike his own shaggy tail.
He’s not even aware he’s flexing his hands like an idiot until Chuck says, “You can touch it after all the fur grows back proper.”
Chuck’s blushing like a virgin, and Raleigh realizes – well, damn. He probably is.
--
Seven months later, Chuck’s tail is good as new, his legs are fully healed, even though he still needs PT, and his burns have faded into minute scars. “I don’t think we should do this,” Raleigh tells Chuck, except Chuck is naked beneath him, and fuck. The tail coils around Chuck’s thigh, shyly tapping Raleigh’s hand once or twice before snapping back. It’s amazing to see for Raleigh, as most he can do with his tail is wag it.
“My leg is going to be fine. And you can tell that to your cock,” Chuck grins, pointing down between Raleigh’s legs, and, well, yeah, Raleigh can’t deny that. Chuck’s hands reach back so he can run his hands through Raleigh’s tail, and Raleigh shivers.
“Can I?” Raleigh whispers against Chuck’s cheek, his hand hovering above Chuck’s tail. Chuck nods, and Raleigh brushes his hands on the fur. It feels like silk and heaven under his fingertips, and he grips gently around it, stroking downward. Chuck lets out a strangled moan and shudders, arching up into Raleigh, and Raleigh has to bite his own moan back. “How can you just leave this out? What if someone grabs it?”
Chuck shrugs. “I don’t know. All cats do it. Less talking.” Chuck grips his shoulders when Raleigh rubs at the tip of the tail, circling the end with his thumb and making Chuck hiss.
Raleigh notes, “It’s as sensitive as your cock,” and moves his hand between them to grip their penises together, rubbing hard up and down. Chuck comes almost immediately, spurting thickly between them, his tail stiffening in Raleigh’s hand. “Jesus Christ.” Raleigh says. “Chuck, are you – has anyone ever touched you like-“
“No.” Chuck says, flushing red.
“Jesus Christ,” Raleigh repeats. He’s guessed it, really, but to hear it confirmed…. He grips Chuck’s tail again, a little harder this time, and Chuck mewls. And then Raleigh remembers Cheung saying ears and tail, and he’s glad he’s an inch taller than Chuck because it makes it so much easier for him to reach up and gently gnaw at the tip of ginger ears.
Chuck makes a sound like he’s broken, hips bucking upward again, and Raleigh mouths the ear, damping the fur with his tongue. Raleigh remembers Yancy scratching him behind the ears when they were younger, his father, his mother, and it had felt good, but nothing sexual. But Chuck mews and writhes under him as Raleigh assaults his ear, scraping his teeth on the edges and firmly stroking his tail, and Chuck comes a second time not too long after.
“Fuck.” Raleigh says, “Fuck.” He vaguely remembers Herc saying use protection but he flips Chuck over, grips the base of Chuck’s tail to make him writhe under him, and uses Chuck’s release to coat his fingers before shoving one in.
In retrospect, he should’ve been gentler, since Chuck’s first time and all and he’s tight, but Raleigh keeps up with the tail stroking and Chuck’s body swallows him greedily. Chuck whimpers as he cants his hips backward, his whine needy.
Raleigh awes, “You’re so sensitive.” He hasn’t even got to Chuck’s prostate yet, but Chuck’s pushing at him, his body fluttering around Raleigh’s finger. Raleigh’s finger brushes across a bundle of nerve and Chuck lets out a purr.
It’s a beautiful sound and Raleigh does it again, just to hear it, a little longer, needier this time, and Raleigh pulls his finger out to push in two, to three. Chuck’s a melted puddle of purring goo by the end of it, almost sobbing as Raleigh snatches the lube he’d been too impatient to grab before. He’s about to slather it on himself, but Chuck’s tail, resting limply on his thigh, catches his eye.
He squeezes the lube onto his hands and then takes Chuck’s tail, working the lubricant into the tip. Chuck doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, until he looks back, and says, “What are you-“ His entire body freezes when Raleigh eases the tip of Chuck’s own tail into him, and Chuck gasps for breath, his body quivering. “Ra-Ra-“
“Breathe, baby. I’m right here.” Raleigh sits back, swallowing drily as he eases Chuck’s tail inside Chuck’s own body. It’s about as thick as his three fingers, but Chuck whimpers and whines as he grips around his own tail, and Raleigh almost comes right there and then, watching the muscles quiver and clench around the tail, watching the tail stiffen and thrash. “Is this okay?”
Raleigh doesn’t get much tail inside Chuck, and Chuck’s legs are trembling, and Chuck howls with Raleigh tugs the tail back out and then prods it back inside, slowly, over and over again, until Chuck’s dripping onto the sheets, quivering violently.
Raleigh doesn’t wait around much longer than that. He tugs the tail out, slathers as much lube as he can, and sinks into Chuck. Chuck can take about half of him before he whimpers in pain, and Raleigh freezes, and he’s impressed at himself because his head is all of hot tight feels so good. “You okay, baby?” Raleigh whispers, his own voice tight with exertion of holding back.
“Y-yeah.” Chuck’s shaking on his arms, so Raleigh coaxes his upper body down. It’ll make it easier for Chuck to take it from the back, anyway, and he rubs Chuck’s back, plants kisses on his ears and strokes his tail until Chuck’s walls flutter around him and they open a little more, enough for him to sink in with a slow but smooth stroke.
Chuck lets out a purr, again, and Raleigh adjusts himself, sinking the final way for him to bottom out, and Chuck bucks against him, purring.
Raleigh doesn’t even bother with Chuck’s cock as he starts pounding – he keeps one hand firmly on Chuck’s waist, but uses his other hand to wind Chuck’s tail around his hand and to keep thumbing the tip of his tail, making Chuck writhe beneath him, bucking into his thrusts and moaning so loud he’s almost screaming. Raleigh’s vaguely aware he’s doing his own share of noises, growling possessively and panting Chuck’s name.
Chuck’s walls clamp around him, and it pushes Raleigh over the top, although he remembers to pull out and instead splatter semen all over Chuck’s back and the base of his tail. He rubs Chuck’s tail, languidly, stroking the fur with his fingers. It’s a mess, fur clumped from lubricant and semen and sweat, and Raleigh can’t help it – he laughs.
“What’s so funny?” Chuck demands, defensively drawing his tail back.
“No, I’m just – so happy.” He grins, gently grabbing the tail again. Chuck shudders against him. “Next time, I think I’m going to leave the tail in there when I fuck you.”
Chuck groans, mutters something about going insane, but he wraps his tail around Raleigh’s wrist. “Help me clean up?” He’s smiling like the sun, and so Raleigh just kisses him.