Foxbutt Ch. 02

Hello! This is the second part of Foxbutt - you can find the first part here or just check my profile.

The story continues as Thomas arrives for work. This is my first-ever furry story and I'm posting it here to gather pre-release feedback. I hope you enjoy it!

He's gonna be late for work, thinks Lily Williams, a 22-year-old customer service representative who believes that the term "customer service representative" is bullshit nonsense for corporate sociopaths, and prefers, depending on her mood, the terms "Register monkey," "Game wrangler," "Nerd herder," or "She who stalks the stockroom and brings forth treasures, speak not her name for it is not for clumsy mortal tongues." Lily, like most people, is an unremarkable human except to those who get to know her, and at this moment she is cursing at the vacuum cleaner.

She is cursing at the vacuum cleaner because the fucking cheap mass-produced plastic piece of planned-obsolescence garbage has shit the bed yet again, making it the third vacuum cleaner to die this year, and it is only July for fuck's sake, and corporate has Opinions about which vacuum cleaners stores should be equipped with, even though they've spent more money on cheap throwaway junk than they would have spent on a proper industrial machine with some decent oomph behind it and you can't kill a shopvac even if you're really trying.

The vacuum cleaner is actually a midrange model designed fairly competently, but Lily Williams, nerd herder, age 22, single, frustrated and about to have a very interesting day, has killed it by taking out the filter, inspecting it carefully, somehow failing to notice an inch-thick carpet of fox fur clinging to it, muttering "Well the filter's fine, must be the motor," and putting it back in.

She cannot be blamed for this, as nobody can see a fox, or indeed much of anything that would give away that someone is a fox, unless they're looking really closely and thinking really hard. And Lily has, to be fair to her, been looking very closely at a fox, and thinking fairly intensely about him too, but these things are complicated and inconsistent and nobody really knows how the whole thing works, just like this vacuum cleaner.

She is not thinking about a fox right now, but she was last night. Last night, she watched Thomas' bottom as he walked towards the door to lock it, and did not notice the tail swishing between his legs - but something did give the sensation of movement, in the corners of her vision, and she blinked a couple of times before looking away guiltily, her eyes strangely watering.

While driving home she thought about biting that bottom, and while lying in bed she thought about how it would feel against her tightly squeezing hands, tensing and relaxing as Thomas moved between her legs.

She allowed these thoughts to come to the forefront of her mind, rather than suppressing them as inconvenient fantasies to be having about a coworker, because she received news last week that she was to be promoted to manager and moved to a brand new store opening in the next county over, barely two miles away - with almost immediate effect, should she accept. When she got the news, she immediately thought of how much she would miss Thomas, which was a very big clue that she should spend some time with him outside of work and therefore not have the opportunity to miss him as much. Also, as their relationship would no longer be a professional one, it was now okay to spend some time thinking about how his cock would feel against her tongue.

"Fucking work you bastard!" exclaims Lily, running the vacuum cleaner back and forth over the same dusty spot. The beater brush happily picks up the dust, spins it around, and puts it back down on the floor again, content with a job well done. The motor continues its high-pitched whine. Its coils are becoming very hot and the motor will soon begin to smoke unless Thomas opens the door and distracts Lily from this pointless endeavor, which he conveniently does now.

"Hey, you made it," says Lily, over the dying whine. "I was about to call."

"Sorry," says Thomas, turning his back to her to lock the door behind him, to the disappointment of the line of customers patiently waiting outside. "I got held up even before I got out the door."

"Well, we've only got a few minutes left and we're down another vacuum cleaner."

"Again?" asks Thomas, crestfallen. "What are they making these things out of?" he asks as he walks over to her, looking down at the vacuum cleaner. He suddenly pauses midstep, eyes widened - Lily is about to comment when Thomas seems to shake it off and continues onward, saying "That's the third one this year, isn't it?"

"Third of many, probably," says Lily, watching Thomas walk behind the counter.

"If you want me to run out and grab a new one at lunch once we've dealt with these guys, then -"

"We won't have time," says Lily with a shake of her head. "It'll have to wait until tomorrow. We can go a day with a dusty floor, it'll be alright." She looks into a blank television, at the reflection of the customers waiting outside - never make direct eye contact with the horde until it's time to open. "The carpet's gonna be a warzone in half an hour anyway." As she watches, the television comes to life, Thomas hurriedly turning things on.

"I've never worked a release this big before," says Thomas, heading back out from behind the counter and towards the rack opposite Lily.

"That's okay," says Lily with a grin, "nobody has. The whole world's learning together, today."

She feels a warm glow beneath her bellybutton when Thomas smiles and replies "Thanks for your reassurance." Behind him, a stack of games falls off the shelf and clatters into an untidy floorheap. He turns around quickly - "Oh, damn it."

Lily frowns. "What the hell?"

"I'm on it," mutters Thomas, picking the games up.

"These damn cheap-ass shelves," groans Lily, unplugging the vacuum cleaner and retracting the cord. "Just have a quick look at the brackets, make sure the whole thing isn't about to fall down."

"Sure," says Thomas weakly as Lily wheels the vacuum behind the counter and into the stockroom.

"You remember what I said last week," she calls back over her shoulder, eyeing the endless stacks of the year's soon-to-be best seller. She stashes the vacuum cleaner and heads back out. "We've got the smallest retail space and the biggest stockroom of any branch within forty miles. That makes us the designated whipping boy." She leans over the counter, watching Thomas picking up the fallen games. Another sneaky glance at his ass, of course. The boy must be a jogger. "About lunchtime, other stores nearby will have depleted their stock."

"And all the players within an hour of here will start converging on us," says Thomas, straightening up.

"We're gonna suck 'em in like a black hole," says Lily, coming around the counter and towards Thomas, "so we won't have time to think." She pulls her phone out, checks the time. Not much.

She surprises herself by taking Thomas gently by the shoulders. "Tom, I have some news, and very little time to tell you before there won't be time for anything at all." Am I holding him? Shit, what am I doing? "I'm being promoted to manager of a store a couple miles away. The schedule's been messed around and Molly's going to be working with you more often from now on, because I go in for briefing tomorrow."

She watches Thomas' eyes widen. "That's -" he hesitates.

"You're happy for me, I know," says Lily. "I'm sad that we won't be coworkers anymore."

Thomas swallows, his eyes shining. "Me too," he nods.

"I'm going to miss you," she says, quietly, but quickly.

"I'm - I'll miss you too, Lily," he says, his eyebrows doing a very cute thing, surprise and elation for her success and sadness all mixing together to overwhelm him.

"I'd like to not miss you," says Lily, "and we won't have time to talk today and I'm all hyped-up so I'm just gonna ask you now if you'd like to go out on a date with me tonight, if you're free?"

Thomas blinks. He exhales, and laughs, all at once - "Yes! Sure, that sounds awesome! Where?"

"I have no idea," says Lily, grinning, "we can figure that out later. Now we have to open up, get your ass behind the counter."

"Yes ma'am!" giggles Thomas, bounding over behind her with a spring in his step as she moves towards the door. The customers stare at her, perking up, checking the time on their phones.

She is aware that she's wearing a huge, silly grin. Her awareness of it only makes it huger and sillier. She pulls her keys out, slots the store key home, looks back over her shoulder. "Ready?"

Thomas grins back at her from behind the left-hand cash register. "Ready." He looks down at the register, notes the time. A bare handful of seconds remain. "Lily, I - um. I really like you," he says, blushing and grinning like a madman.

"I really like you too, Tom," says Lily, turning the key, her own grin reaching her ears. "That's why I asked you out."

With that, she flings the door open, runs to the front of the store, and joins Thomas behind the counter. "TWO LINES!" she bellows, pointing, feeling the rush of elation as the customers pour through the door. "CASH OVER HERE, CREDIT OVER THERE!"

"We know you're all here for GTA!" laughs Thomas, hands cupped around his mouth to make a megaphone. "No need to grab it off the shelves, they're all empty boxes, just c'mere with your credit card, quick!"

Lily sees the smiles on the customers' faces. "We're gonna get you all out of here and home playing this thing all day long before you even know what hitcha! WOO!"

The horde is pleased, and rewards Lily and Thomas with good-natured laughter and as big of a cheer as could be expected so early in the morning.

Then things get very busy, very quickly, and an hour passes before Lily has time to think of anything beyond moving her hands as quickly as possible, with Thomas beside her.

Most customers can read the room. They come in, smell the sense of urgency, get with the program, and have their cash or card ready. Regulars appear; acquaintances, and even those whom Thomas and Lily would call friends, and they understand the situation, pledge to catch up later over text or IM once things calm down a bit, and let Thomas and Lily do their thing.

"For those just joining us," calls Thomas, "If you're paying on a card or want anything other than GTA, get in this lane, or if you have cold hard cash, Lily's the express lane!"

"We'd upsell you on a membership, but we're too busy!" calls Lily, smiling. "We want you through the line in less than ten minutes!"

"Come back tomorrow and we'll get you signed up for eleven different things!"

The vibe remains positive. The lines are moving fast, the people in them are chattering excitedly among themselves. It's busy, but it's the fun kind of busy, the sort that Lily can buzz from.

Thomas changes gear for a moment to look over the counter into the stroller belonging to the customer he's serving. A widened pair of eyes beneath a pink bow stare up at him.

"Hello there!" says Thomas.

The infant raises her right hand, points at Thomas, and says, loudly and distinctly, "Fuck."

A third of the customers stifle their laughter. Another third doesn't bother, and laughs out loud. The remaining third probably didn't hear, or don't have souls.

The father blushes. "I don't know where she got that from," he says, accepting the bag containing his brand-new copy of a game in which the word in question would be repeated several thousand times. "Sasha, that's not very nice."

"Fuck!" insists Sasha, pointing intently at Thomas. She leans forwards, straining against her straps. "Fauck! Ffffffock!"

"I'm so sorry," says the father, spinning the stroller around.

Thomas blushes. "I've been called worse. Have a nice day!"

The man leaves, the baby girl repeating "Dada! Fock! Fock!" with every step he takes, trying to twist in her seat to point at Thomas.

Lily catches Thomas' eye, points at him, narrows her eyes, smiles, and mouths "Fuck." Thomas' eyes crinkle up, he snickers into his palm, and makes a c'mere gesture to the next customer in line.

Behind Thomas, a piled-up stack of GTA boxes falls over and spreads across the floor. Lily and Thomas both look over their shoulders, back up to each other, and something passes between their eyes that says fuck it, and they go back to getting copies out the door.

But Lily does think, for a moment - that's strange. She glances behind Thomas. Twice in one day.

Something is moving, behind him.

Lily peers, watching curiously - yes, something is moving, but she can't quite see what it is.

Which is weird. But she doesn't have time to think about that too carefully right now.

"Here's your receipt, have fun," she says, handing it over. "C'mere, you," she grins at the regular behind the last customer, already reaching for a copy on her platform.

Another hour goes by. Lily and Thomas remain fast, and the two lines shorten as the early rush dies down. Finally Lily's line is empty for a moment.

"I gotta pee," she murmurs to Thomas, looking ahead at the browsers - "you okay for a minute?"

"For a minute, yeah," says Thomas, handing over another copy.

"Awesome," says Lily, and turns to her right. Thomas is between her and the door to the back, and she stops.

A quarter of a second passes, in which she blinks, because her pattern recognition systems have encountered a completely new thing and are trying to fit it into a context that simply isn't there.

Her heart rate had slowed from this morning's high - it had gotten used to the state of things, and the situation carried less emotional weight. Like speeding along a highway at 80mph and suddenly shifting into first gear, Lily's heart seems to slam into her ribcage before she can even make sense of what's standing in front of her. Her body reacts before her mind does - she freezes, then she takes a step backwards, slipping on one of the cases that Thomas had knocked over before.

Some part of her brain is functional enough to think He knocked the stack over with his tail. Lily's mouth falls open at the casual absurdity of this thought as she falls backwards, so shocked that she doesn't even put her arms out to break her fall. At the last possible instant she folds up so that her butt hits the floor first, a hard and painful jolt on her cocyx.

Thomas Fox, who is apparently a fox, turns his head to look at her in surprise.

Lily giggles - not an expression of mirth but a high, dangerous giggle that scares her. Seriously?! He's surprised?! He's concerned?!_

Thomas doesn't reach down to her - she watches his expression change as he looks at her looking at him. He's realized something and is thinking quickly - HOW DO I KNOW THAT, HOW DO I KNOW WHAT DIFFERENT EXPRESSIONS LOOK LIKE ON A FOX'S HEAD, WHAT IS GOING ON?!

Instead of reaching down and offering her a hand, he ducks beneath the counter quickly and squats down in front of her.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

Lily raises a trembling finger, points it at him, and whispers, shakily, "Fox!"

"I know," whispers Thomas, "I only noticed myself this morning, it's complicated. Nobody else can see. I'll tell you everything later, as much as I know at least, but we can't talk now."

"What the hell," hisses Lily.

"I know, it's not ideal," whispers Thomas. "Please play along." He raises his voice to normal level. "Do you need to go to a doc-in-a-box?"

Lily just stares at him.

Thomas offers a hand.

Lily stares at it. It's furry.

Lacking other ideas, she grasps it. The fur is soft. Thomas grips her firmly and hauls her to her feet.

She looks around at concerned faces. All looking at her.

"Are you okay?" says some completely random dude who she's never seen before.

"Yeah, fine, thanks," she mutters, rubbing her butt.

All these people are staring at me.

Not at the six-foot-tall fox standing to my right.

Lily giggles - that same dangerous, vibrating-glass-about-to-break giggle. She swallows it, takes a deep breath. Her vision blurs - her reaction to shock is apparently to start crying, which makes her wonder how the fuck her ancestors' DNA got passed down to where she ended up, because it's not like you need to be able to see where you're going when you're running from a saber-toothed tiger or anything.

They really can't see him.

"Let me ring you up," she says to the random dude. She does so, sneaking glances at Thomas.

She still needs to pee. She hands over the game and recites the standard language to make the random dude go away, some kind of thank-you-have-a-nice-day-come-back-soon-we-have-your-money-now-get-out bullshit that she doesn't even have to think about anymore, which is just as well because DUDE, THOMAS IS AN ACTUAL FOX PERSON.

She stares at him, hard. He's serving another customer - he feels her stare and gives a quick glance to his right, carries on with the transaction because it's release day and you can't just stop what you're doing just because you're a fox, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING LILY THIS IS ABSURD, FIND OUT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

Another random guy has appeared at her counter. She turns to him holding up one finger and says sweetly, "I'm sorry, will you excuse me for just one moment," and dashes past Thomas' randomly-moving tail and into the stockroom.

Safe behind a heavy door, she peers through the one-way-mirrored window.

Thomas is still a fox.

Fuck, she thinks. Right, I know what to do.

Lily weaves past the stacks of today's hottest game and towards the back of the stockroom, in which she can find several copies of Sports Game Current Year Minus Two awaiting shredding. Sports Game Current Year Plus Six Months retails for $59.99, Sports Game Current Year Until Summer has a hard time selling at $20, and bare-disc-no-manual copies of Sports Game Current Year Minus One litter the Thief Trough at a buck fifty a pop, providing shoplifters a distraction from the valuable empty boxes of better games. Lily grabs a copy and heads to the Break Area, which is a sad, squeaky little office chair next to a desk piled with bare discs, a microwave, and a nonfunctional coffee pot. She opens the microwave, inserts Sports Game Current Year Minus Two, and cooks on high for thirty seconds. She removes the game, opens the case, and wafts the hot-and-crispy disc next to the air conditioning intake.

She returns to the window, peers through, and waits for Thomas to frown and sniff the air with his ridiculous whiskery foxnose - then she opens the big gray electrical box and throws the main breaker.

"Sorry folks," says Lily, opening the door and striding into the area behind the counter to the accompaniment of a line full of groans - "we're experiencing a minor electrical malfunction, and we have to close the store for a few minutes while we correct it." She's already heading into the main shop area, arms spread wide and making little circles in a towards-the-door gesture, and some of the customers are already complying without pausing to process. "We apologize for the inconvenience."

One guy still stands at the counter. "But I have cash! Can't I just give you the cash?"

"Sorry," says Lily cheerfully, knowing not to add "sir" and establish the guy's role as Angry Customer Whose Job Is To Fuss, "can't even open the register without power, it's an electronic lock on the cash drawer."

"I don't care about the change," says the guy, "I just want to buy the game."