The Holidays Can Get a Little Batty Ch. 02

Valentine's Day

***

This Story involves human females and Furry males engaging in sexual acts, so be aware if that isn't what you're looking for. I've taken a lot of inspiration from Jay Naylor's works, especially his "The Fall of Little Red Riding Hood" series, as well as E.Z. McCain's "Beastiverse" stories, so you may envision the world of these stories in a similar light. In this world, humans live in conjunction with various Beastman races, among other animals and mythical creatures. However, a curse borne by the ancient Goddess Hera has lived in the hearts of women for millennia, making them crave for Beast Cock and sex with Beastmen, Animals, and Monsters.

In this chapter, a pretty high school girl coerces her Bat of a boyfriend to share some love with her two best friends on Valentine's Day.

***

Love was in the air, even as a pervasive, cool chill hung right alongside it. It was February, and while winter was still struggling to keep its' final fingers clutched around the town of Odessa, Pennsylvania, Valentine's Day was just a little more than a week away, and was sure to help warm and enliven the cooled hearts of the townsfolk.

At the moment, the Pallid Bat Miri was escaping both the winter chill and any Valentine's stress at his home, and helping him was his recently acquired friend Marcus. Since the two had started hanging out, Miri realized just how much of a relief it was to not only hang out with someone who didn't have him wrapped around her little finger, but frankly was actually a fellow guy. He could shoot the shit, play videogames, and actually indulge in most of the 'boyish' habits that Noelle didn't really promote.

Still, as restrained as Marcus was compared to Noelle, that didn't mean the kid never tried to stick his nose into Miri's affairs.

"So Miri, you have any big plans for Valentine's day?" The olive-hued teen suddenly piped up, even as the two were in the midst of a game.

"What do you mean?" Miri replied curiously, his ears perking slightly as he cast quick glances between his friend and the tv.

"With Noelle. You guys are like, officially a couple now, aren't you?" Marcus explained as he shot the Bat a coy look.

"Well... sort of." Miri mumbled, focusing on the game to hide the slight bashful look he wore.

"What do you mean 'sort of?' Man, I thought she was super touchy and clingy with you before, but since Christmas she's stuck on you like a fly in a spider web. Seriously, if you two are trying to hide the fact that you're dating then I hate to tell you, but no one at school is fooled." Marcus continued to press, punctuating with a triumphant snicker as he pulled ahead in their game.

"Alright fine, yeah, she's basically my girlfriend." Miri uneasily relented, not really having any way (or really any reason) to deny. He was by no means ashamed of Noelle, hell they'd been so close for so long most people probably thought they'd been dating since middle school. It was just something he was... uncomfortable discussing formally.

But that admission really didn't seem to faze Marcus, obviously he was already well past suspicion, and from the way he told it so was most of the school. That was not a particularly pleasant thought for the Bat.

"So, are you going to do something for her on Valentine's Day or not?" The young human simply picked up the conversation, not at all mocking Miri, just acting as if the revelation of him dating Noelle was already a foregone conclusion.

"Y-Yeah, I've got a couple of things in mind." Miri replied simply, a slight tinge of defeat in his voice.

As the two teen boys settled back into their game and left the slightly awkward conversation behind, Miri reflected back on the last couple months. The young Beast supposed that his relationship with Noelle had changed a little ever since that wild December they'd shared, but all in all it really didn't feel to him like things had changed that much. It's just that they had always been so close since they were children.

Sure, now that they were together they'd do things like hold hands, he'd blanket her in his wings as she snuggled with him, he'd get to sneak affectionate little kisses on her and she'd quickly reciprocate with a 'deeper' show of affection... and yes, they'd had sex a good handful of times since they got together. That said, once Christmas had passed it had become a much more properly intimate affair without the... inclusion of Mrs. Klaus.

Still, neither Miri nor Noelle had ever actually flat out stated that they were boyfriend and girlfriend yet. But according to Marcus, that didn't exactly matter to casual observers. Fortunately, Miri had realized that this Valentine's Day presented a perfect chance to remedy that little loophole. The Bat and the Blonde had hung out plenty since December as they always had, they'd gone out together more than once, but so far they hadn't really done anything that Miri would consider a proper 'date.' That was what he planned to change this Valentine's Day.

Miri planned to get Noelle alone, take her somewhere half-decent for lunch, go see a movie, and he'd cap the evening with a good old-fashioned bouquet and gushy card... and if the night led to any other activities, he certainly wouldn't argue. Point being, Miri was ready to 'officially' ask Noelle to be his girlfriend, however necessary that really was. All he had to do was get her by herself, not like that would be difficult at all...

***

Meanwhile...

***

Noelle found herself in a similar situation at one of her friend's houses (because despite her well known and near-constant attachment to Miri, she did in fact have girl friends of her own). The Blonde was sitting rather stiffly on a beanbag chair, a slightly nervous smile on her face as she just kind of sat and watched the unfolding show.

Olivia was one of Noelle's closest friends that wasn't Miri, and it was her room that Noelle was trapped in. There was little doubt she was the center of attention at the moment, as the girl was ranting and fretting about the room.

"...I mean, can you believe it?! Barely a week from Valentine's Day and he dumps me! How much bigger of an asshole could you possibly be?!" The short girl raved as she paced a rut in her carpet.

"Yyyeeeeaahhh, that's uhhhh... I'm real sorry about that." Noelle weakly offered. She really was trying her best to sound sympathetic, but in truth she found it kind of hard to feel that bad about the whole ordeal, and that made things quite a bit more awkward.

"Haven't you only been dating him for like a month? Is this really something to cry over?" A third voice piped in from the opposite corner of the room, very flat in comparison.

That girl was Charlotte, the third member of Noelle's little girl group she'd formed separate from Miri, although she and Olivia spent much more time together as Noelle was so often attached to the Bat.

But at Charlotte's interjection, Olivia just cast her a pouting look.

"You don't get it! No one's gonna ask me out by Valentine's Day at this point! I'm going to look so fucking pathetic when it rolls around and I don't even have a date, let alone a boyfriend! Goddess, I should just fake mono and skip the next two weeks of school." Olivia continued her little soap drama by dramatically throwing herself onto her bed, as if resigned to her misery.

Olivia was a short girl, shortest of the three, and of obvious Irish stock with her pale skin, freckles that highlighted her petite yet pretty face, and long, bright orange hair that she usually wore in two long pigtails. If Noelle were to describe her honestly, she'd call the girl loud-mouthed and more than a little bratty, but at the same time she had a fiery passion that, for better or worse, was impossible to ignore.

Charlotte finished the trio, and was nearly the polar opposite of Olivia. Taller than her friends, and most of their other female peers at school, with long, raven-black hair that she took pride in keeping as straight and proper as a razor. She was the kind of girl that always kept a very composed demeanor, but Noelle would never refer to her as snobbish or stand-offish. Quiet, but not shy, just very calm and straightforward in her demeanor.

These two were the girls that Noelle considered herself closest to, but funny enough their paths really never crossed with Miri. They admittedly had little interest in the Bat, and when they did have an opinion of him it often wasn't very grand. It's not that they hated him or anything, they just never felt a desire to get close to him like Noelle and become one big happy friend group.

Noelle watched her friends express some of their worse aspects from her uncomfortable spot on the bean bag.

"Hey, lighten up Olivia. You always get your share of cards and confessions every year. It's not gonna be that bad." The Blonde offered her weak assurance to the moping Redhead.

"More likely, no one's going to notice. Or they're just not gonna care." Charlotte added, much more bluntly.

Noelle had to shoot her friend a rather pleading look, but although she herself was taking a much more diplomatic approach to Olivia's... 'problem,' she couldn't really blame Charlotte's less gentle style. Olivia's whining was certainly melodramatic, and frankly speaking one got the sense that the freckled girl just felt more inconvenienced rather than actually saddened by her sudden breakup; she was a rather flippant girl like that.

"Besides, it's not like you're the only one who's not gonna have a date for Valentine's Day." Charlotte continued, just the tiniest bit bitterly.

Olivia rolled to her side on the bed just to cast a pathetic glare at the Brunette.

"Yeah, but at least you were the one to break up with your boyfriend. You didn't get dumped like me." Olivia bemoaned.

Charlotte cocked an eyebrow at her friend, but her expression didn't show a tremendous change in emotion.

"You were dating that boy for maybe six weeks and he broke it off straight and clean with you. I was with Mike for over a year and then I found out he was cheating on me." Charlotte didn't say this angrily or begrudgingly to Olivia, more just matter-of-factly.

But Olivia just offered her a grumpy 'hmph' and kicked herself to the edge of her bed, dangling her feet off the ledge and looking a lot more annoyed than upset.

"This still sucks."

Silence hung in the air for a tense moment, and Noelle felt like she could've suffocated on the air. She was usually the one who had to act as the 'mom' for the group and intervene in their little spats, but that didn't mean she always had a good idea of what exactly to do. Unfortunately, Olivia wouldn't give her the chance to collect her thoughts, as she'd soon turn the focus of the conversation right on the Blonde.

Letting loose a pathetic whine, Olivia suddenly turned her attention on Nolle.

"Goddess Noelle, I'm so jealous of you and Miri!"

Noelle shrunk down even deeper into her beanbag, embarrassed and a little surprised by that outburst. She'd certainly never said that before.

"Oh come on, you shouldn't be. I mean, Miri's great, don't get me wrong, but it's not like you two can't find a couple of guys just as good." She worriedly tried to shift this conversation off of herself, but Olivia wasn't going to let her off near so easily.

"That's just the point! Me and Charlotte have to find guys, but you've been so close to Miri for years now! When you finally did decide to snatch him up, he was already right there!" The fiery-tempered girl ranted enviously.

"Olivia does have a point. It's gotta be nice to have such a close friend become your boyfriend. You can actually rely on someone like that, unlike all the scummy available guys in our dating pool at school." Charlotte suddenly piped up in agreement, to Noelle's even greater shock and embarrassment.

"And Miri's soooooooo cute now too! I mean, I guess he was always kinda cute in like a stuffed-animal way, but now he's like... kinda hot too." Olivia jumped off of Charlotte's point, and Noelle was further baffled to suddenly hear her friend drooling over the Bat like this; she'd never even hinted at any kind of attraction to him before.

And Charlotte nodded thoughtfully at Olivia's appraisal.

"Not to mention how nice it must be to have him so totally wrapped around your little finger. I don't think there's much he wouldn't do if you asked." The Brunette continued to goad as well.

Noelle was starting to feel a bit cornered by her friends' extravagant views on her love life, but while her first instinct was so just try and downplay what they were saying, she managed to hold her tongue. The girl realized that it wouldn't exactly be true to say she and Miri weren't such a good match, because honestly they were. The Bat was that cute, and was that sweet, and was that faithful to her; how could she just tell her friends, 'nah, he's not actually that great.'

"Yeah... I guess I am pretty lucky to have him." Noelle didn't feel like she could say much more than that.

The room got quiet again after that admission, but it didn't take too much longer for Olivia to again fill the silence with an unnecessarily loud, envy-filled sigh.              

"Well, at least one of us is gonna have a decent Valentine's Day." The little Redhead groaned.

"Yeah..." Charlotte agreed, with just the slightest bit of melancholy.

The girls got quiet again as they continued to obviously mope (well, Olivia a lot more obviously, but Charlotte couldn't hide it totally either). Noelle couldn't help but feel for the two. It was certainly overdramatic, but she realized that they were right, she had it good with Miri and she sincerely appreciated just how completely she could trust the little Bat, knowing he would always be sweet with her.

Noelle looked down and loosed a silent sigh. She just wished there was some way she could set her two best girlfriends up with someone as loving and kind as Miri. But as the mild gloom settled over the room, a thought suddenly struck the girl's mind. Her ears perked up, her eyes shimmered in a lofty daydream, and her lips slowly curled into a devious smile. The Blonde's face shot back up, her expression brightened considerably from what it had just been.

"You know, I think you guys should cheer up. A lot could happen by next week, who knows. You both might just end up having the best Valentine's date of your lives!" Noelle suddenly exploded cheerily.

But Olivia just snorted at the girl's sudden optimism, giving her friend a very unconvinced look.

"Oh yeah, sure, thanks for that Noelle." The Redhead drawled out brattily.

And Charlotte didn't look any more impressed.

"Noelle, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it's not like I'm gonna give up on life if I don't get swept off my feet next week." The Brunette spoke through a bored glazed in her eyes.

"Speak for yourself." Olivia bitterly joked.

Eventually the two would settle into some new topic of discussion, having dismissed Noelle's generous offer of hope, but the girl still had to bite her lip to hide her inappropriately giddy look.

Noelle knew how lucky she was to have Miri, and she realized that her two best friends could both desperately use a little 'Miri' in their own lives... so that's just what she intended to give them.

***

Next Week

***

It was Friday, just a day before Valentine's Day, and the school had been turned into an eyesore of pink and red decorations amidst a storm of card exchanges, budding teen romances and broken hearts. But for better or worse, the day had ended and the students were getting ready to leave the hormone-laden cage that was high school.

"Are you sure you're okay if I head home without you?" Miri asked with a faintly guilty expression.

"It's fine, it's fine, go catch up with Marcus. I'm guessing I'm going to have to offer some moral support to Olivia and Charlotte after today, and I'm not going to force you to hang around for that." Noelle assured the Bat with a small laugh.

"Right, guess I owe you for that, huh?" Miri offered back his own poor joke.

Appreciating his attempt at least, Noelle leaned in to give the Beast a kiss on his fluffy cheek, something he wasn't totally used to doing out in public. He couldn't help a small blush from darkening his face as a few sets of eyes flickered over them.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Just text me when you get to my place, my mom won't be there to let you in." Noelle affirmed through a kind smile.

"Will do. I'll make sure I'm there a little before noon." Miri happily replied, and Noelle was sure that if he had a tail it would've been wagging right then.

But Noelle responded with a rather iffy sounding hum.

"Hmmmm. Actually Miri, do you think you could maybe show up a while earlier? Maybe like ten?"

"Uh, sure. Yeah that's not problem. I guess I'll see you then." Miri was a bit surprised, but didn't have any trouble quickly agreeing.

Noelle just gave him another bright smile as her Batty boyfriend turned to head off and find his friend to walk home with.

With that, the girl turned to head the opposite direction, slipping through the still crowded hallways until she came across Olivia and Charlotte. The two were chatting as they usually were, but given the lack of overt excitement on Olivia's face and the fact she wasn't screaming about a new love, Noelle assumed that they hadn't been officially asked out by anyone. Of course, that suited her own plans perfectly.

"Hey girls! So how'd you make out?" Noelle came up on the two with her typical bubbly demeanor.

Charlotte and Olivia both turned to welcome their friend, and though they each held a decent stack of cards in their hands neither of them looked particularly enthusiastic.

"Well, we got plenty of candy and lots of pieces of paper that say 'Happy Valentine's Day,' aaaannnnndddd that's about it. No love confessions, no sudden romantic gestures, not even a single secret admirer. So yeah, as far as Valentine's Days go, I don't think I've had one this crappy since sixth grade." Olivia spoke bitterly.

"Eh, I got my share of chocolate, so I'm not complaining." Charlotte seemed far less grumpy than her companion.

But in Noelle's mind 'not grumpy' shouldn't have been the best either girl could hope for on Valentine's Day. Luckily, she was here to remedy just that.

"Well you know, the day's not over yet, so I don't think you should be so negative." Noelle offered with a coy smile.

Olivia couldn't help rolling her eyes while Charlotte just gave a polite look of disbelief. Their lack of enthusiasm did not dissuade Noelle.

"In fact, I just so happened to run into a 'secret admirer' of yours a little while ago, and he asked me to give something to both of you." Noelle continued as her grin grew even giddier.

The Blonde then took out two red envelopes sealed with little heart sticker, holding them out in front girls, although neither had any names or anything else written on the front. Olivia was blatantly skeptical and unamused as she cast a dull look between the envelope and Noelle, so it was Charlotte who would actually take both the letters.

"Thanks Noelle, we'll be sure to read them later." Charlotte offered a polite thanks.

"Yeah, thanks Noelle." Olivia added, barely even trying to sound half-grateful.

It was clear to Noelle that they didn't actually believe the letters were from a real admirer, and definitely just assumed she was trying to cheer them up herself. Still, Noelle didn't lose her own bright demeanor and wasn't willing to quit her little game.