FSE

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It has been nearly two months since Travis and Duke settled into the life of college. The two interacted and got along fairly well, but having completely different schedules and desires meant they did not spend much meaningful time together.

Travis was busy reviewing a lesson for an upcoming test, quietly scanning and flipping through the pages. Out of nowhere, Duke burst the door open. Travis snapped around just in time to see the weasel flop down on his bed with a flier held firmly in his paws.

"Did ya really have to-"

"Travis! Travis! Look at this!" Duke stammered, shoving the bright yellow paper in the ferret's face. Travis huffed and snatched the paper in his paws and quickly read it.

"You gotta go with me. Come on, you never leave the dorm," Duke urged. Normally Traivs would stay put in the dorm and enjoy the peace that came with Duke going off to any party happening on campus. Travis sighed, looking at the pleading face of the weasel and looked back at his textbook. His test wasn't for another 2 days and he felt that he had a good grasp on most if not everything in the subject so far.

All the while Duke expected Travis' usual decline to do something boring alone instead. But to the weasel's surprise, Travis took a deep breath and shut the textbook.

"Sure, why not. Let's go," Travis agreed, standing up from his small desk.

"Huh. You're serious right?" Duke asked, pointing a suspicious finger at him.

"Yeah, let's just get ready. Before I change my mind," the ferret smirked.

Duke smiled and then laughed. "Hmm, maybe you aren't such a noodle after all.." Travis only rolled his eyes at the comment.

Soon both small mammals were preparing to 'crash' a party at a frat. Everyone was welcome to join in. For some reason Duke was extra excited to join this particular party. The two were out on the open campus; Travis followed behind Duke's lead. All the while Travis began to think of just what awaited him. He had seen a few of those crazy parties in those old movies he used to watch with Gideon. And even read a few descriptions of them in those shallow books that were placed in the teen section of his old high school.

"You ready for this, Trav?" Duke asked, getting the ferret's attention.

"Oh, yeah. But, uh, what's it gonna be like?" Travis couldn't help but ask.

"Aw, don't worry about it. Just go in there and have fun. Trust me, these guys are cool," Duke encouraged. "But since this is your first, I would take it slow." Travis only snorted in response.

"If you say so..." Travis muttered. Sure, he wasn't much of a party animal. But Travis had gone to parties on his own back home with Gideon and others. He wasn't some helpless little cub.

"Alright, look alive for these guys, ya hear?" Duke called, bringing back Travis' attention. Travis brought his gaze to the weasel and took in the scope of the environment. Duke stood on the porch steps of a frat house. The beat of music pulsed from inside the house and even though it couldn't be heard clearly, some were partying out on the grass with wide smiles on their faces and cups in their paws.

"Heh, you coming? Don't tell me you're scared?" Duke teased.

Travis huffed and took a step forward. He now made up his mind to actually engage with the party. Not only to have fun, but to show Duke that he was no stranger.

"No, uh. Lead the way," Travis said, feigning a worried exterior. Duke smirked, feeling that he had Travis up against the ropes.

"Just inside," Duke insisted. Travis followed behind him to join the party.

"Hey, Duke. You made it!," Travis looked up to see Duke chatting it up with a zebra. The zebra towered over both Duke and Travis. He wore a blue tank top with basketball shorts. Both his arms and legs were thick with obvious signs that he was fit. He held a beer can in one hand and was pulling Duke close with his other arm.

"You know I wouldn't miss it...Hope ya don't mind I brought a friend," Duke smirked, motioning over to Travis who stepped closer.

"A friend, huh. Another little guy? Ha! Figures," the zebra snorted, he turned and looked down at Travis and smiled again.

"Hey, name's Travis," the ferret called up to the zebra.

"Nice to meet ya, T. Name's Brayden," the zebra introduced himself.

"Uh? T?" Travis repeated, confused.

"Yeah, bro. Any friend of Duke is a friend of mine!" before Travis could react Brayden pulled Travis in close. Duke snickered at the look in Travis' face. Meanwhile Travis was still trying to process the fact that he was now dangling in the air, his face squished between the thick curve of Brayden's arm and the solid muscle of his chest. Travis felt a blush creeping across his face and was glad when the large mammal placed him back on the ground.

"So what do you think?" Duke asked the still shaken up ferret.

"Well, Brayden's pretty cool," Travis chuckled, clearing his throat.

"You'll meet the rest pretty soon. Just kick back and relax. I've seen you all cooped up by yourself. You gotta let go sometimes," Duke advised before walking away.

Duke's words reminded him of Gideon, who would say a very similar thing when the two of them were back in high school. He remembered reviewing for finals when Gideon climbed through his window and the two snuck off to the creek.

Travis went a separate direction to occupy his time. He walked towards the kitchen, knowing himself well enough to know he would need some liquid courage to actually 'kick back' like Duke wanted him to.

Meanwhile Brayden and Duke were talking by a cooler. After Duke fished out a beer for himself and popped open the tab.

"So what do you think of Travis?" the weasel squeaked.

Brayden took a swig of his drink and gave a hearty belch. "Hmmm, seems pretty alright to meet. What is he anyway? He is, like, your new boyfriend or something?" the striped mammal inquired, raising a snarky eyebrow.

"No. Well, at least not yet. I'm not even sure if he's into someone like me," Duke sighed.

"So, you need me to play wingbro? I got ya," the zebra grinned, raising his beer.

"No, no. I got this. Besides if I'm wrong I don't want to embarrass him in front of everyone," Duke explained. "He probably wouldn't leave the dorm ever again."

Some time passed; Travis was a whole drink in and was chatting it up with a chubby gopher in a pink hoodie.

"Yeah, I get it. That studying shit is hard," the gopher agreed with Travis' previous venting. "I know what you need." The gopher reached over to a bottle and some shot glasses.

Duke was in the huge front room of the house. The drinks were good and the music was even better. Around him everyone was having a good time. Some were dancing, some were drinking, there were a few couples on the couches. For some reason or other, the weasel just couldn't get into it.

Any other time he had no problem just joining the feel of everyone else. But now he felt out of touch with everyone else. It seemed that everyone around him was having a much better time. He scoffed in frustration and wondered why he was so stuck in his own head. What was the point of even coming to a party if you couldn't cut loose? Eventually Duke sat down on the couch and decided that the only way he would be able to party is to figure out why he couldn't party.

After a few minutes of deep thought nothing came to mind, but he had a nagging feeling that he forgot something. He groaned to himself and fell back on the couch.

"If Travis was here he would let me know what it is..." Duke sighed, blinked in surprise and shot up from the couch.

Holy shit! I lost Travis! Duke screamed internally. It hit him that he hadn't seen the ferret since he introduced him to Brayden. Duke began to search for Travis, figuring the ferret must be a social wreck. He expected him to be all huddled up in some corner. He ventured in the living room, but was quickly distracted by a thick group huddled around the kitchen.

Duke decided to check it out for himself, managing to weasel his way around the legs and feet of the animals blocking the way into the kitchen. What he saw made his jaw drop. It was Travis at the table. He was taking a shot with everyone cheering for him.

"Duke, where ya been?" The weasel looked up to see Brayden again. "This guy's amazing!"

Duke turned his attention back to the ferret, who downed another shot. The crowd behind him raised their voices again.

"He did it!," the gopher praised, taking Travis' arm and lifting it up in victory. Everyone around praised this small mammal. Unbeknownst to Travis, he had gained the respect and even a little admiration from many around him.

Within a minute or two the crowd began to thin and everyone went back to enjoy the other aspects of the party just as they had before. Duke took that chance to check on Travis, who leaned against the table.

"Duke. This your boy? He knows how to hang," the gopher praised, patting Travis on the head.

"I guess he does," Duke said quickly and strode to the ferret.

"Hey, Travis? You alright?" Duke asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm--I'm fine," the ferret slurred and smiled. "I feel great. This is just what I needed."

"Yeah, well. I think it's about time that we get going. You know we got things to do..," Duke urged.

"We do?" Travis hiccuped. Even so, he did as he was told and hopped off the chair and Duke wrapped an arm around him.

"Mind if we take the back door?" Duke asked back to the gopher. He didn't want to go back to the front and have Travis swarmed by a bunch of drunks and stoners trying to convince him to drown and demolish every brain cell he had left.

"Yeah, it's fine," the gopher waved his paw without a care.

Duke opened the door and helped Travis out. He and Travis stood on the back porch, saying nothing.

"Thanks, for getting me out I needed-" Travis wanted to say more, but Duke cut him off.

"I'm sorry, I never should have left you alone. You got a test coming up and-" now it was Travis' turn to interrupt, but he did so by placing a claw on the weasel's muzzle.

"Don't be sorry, it felt great. Everybody loved me. Did you love me?" This question took Duke by surprise and he froze up immediately.

"Y-yeah I thought it was cool," Duke chuckled awkwardly.

"I saw you watching me and I thought you looked so...so cute..." Travis reached forward and placed his paw on Duke's muzzle. Duke backed away, but Travis kept up with him until the weasel's back was pressed against the back door.

"Well, thank...you." Duke blushed while trying to find a way out. Everything that happened next seemed to all fall into motion at once. Duke and Travis were mere inches apart, Duke looked into Travis' eyes and saw something in them that he never saw before. He couldn't explain what, but he felt excited. Suddenly those eyes were growing closer and closer and closer still. Until. They shut and Duke's eyes shut too. Duke could taste the sweetness on Travis' tongue. He heard the slow, unrestrained moans that Travis made. He ran the tips of his claws through the fur underneath Travis' shirt.

As quickly and suddenly as the kiss started, it was over and the pair were gazing into each other's eyes once more. Travis had a small smile on his face, it made Duke want to smile too. But his senses caught up with him and he realized that he couldn't go any further with this. He took a deep breath and put his arm around Travis once again.

"Come on, Trav. Let's get you home..."

***

Travis rolled onto his side and gave a groan of pain. His head felt like it was splitting open. Most of the events of the party were a blur. But there was a memory that the ferret could recall clearly. Everytime he thought about it he felt his stomach jump and his throat quickly turned dry.

He lay in his bed, thankful that he had no classes for the day. Even if he did there was no way that he was going anyway. His whole body felt awful but his head felt worse, pounding and pounding.

A knock at the door made him wince and consider just finding something to take himself out with already.

"Hey, Trav... You doing alright?" Duke asked gently. He returned from his classes. When the weasel left that morning Travis was still out cold. He could only imagine the wicked migraine the poor mammal must have.

"Ugh...No. I think I'm dying," Travis said mournfully.

"Heh. That's what we call a hangover. Not surprising as ya threw back all those shots," Duke chuckled.

"I..I've never drunk that much before... And I don't think I'm ever gonna again," Travis groaned and looked over at Duke. And once he did that memory flashed once again, a blush managing through his headache.

"Hey, Duke. Do you remember that thing from last night? You know the..." Travis eluded which made Duke freeze in his tracks and make a sharp inhale.

"Uh, yeah. I do...If you're talking about what I think you're talking about," Duke said gently.

"Last night after the drinks. I don't remember a lot. But I remember that you helped me outside and we kissed..." Travis explained.

"That's what I thought you were talking about..." Duke sighed and sat down on the edge of Travis' bed. "But we can talk about that later, okay? You need to get some rest so we can do it again. And next time, I won't let you wander off."

"Hehe. We'll last night I had fun at least," Travis smiled which made Duke get a fluttery feeling in his own stomach.

Duke got up and set off out of the dorm and gently closed the door. In the dorm halls of the freshman floor he took a deep breath and put his paws behind his head.

He had to get a grip. Even though he pretended to be unaware, the kiss replayed in his mind over and over again. It was all he could think about, even earlier in class. And thinking about it brought him a sense of relief.

He recalled that Travis thought that he was cute. That meant that he had a chance with the ferret. But he would have to address it carefully another day. He couldn't do it while Travis was laying in bed feeling like shit.

"One of these days. I'm gonna tell him," Duke nodded firmly to himself. He walked down the hall to find someone on campus to kill some time with. He needed something else to focus on, something that wasn't him.

***

Duke was roused from his sleep by the sounds of the city; voices outside, horns beeping and the shouts of sellers on the streets. Yawning and stretching the weasel rolled off the couch and thumped his paws on the ragged wooden floor. From the view outside a cracked window Duke could see that the day was nice enough and that was good. He planned to see Travis again and was glad there wasn't gonna be anything like rain to ruin anything.

Duke looked at the clothes that he wore. The tattered shrunk wife beater, worn shorts and his entire midriff exposed. He didn't mind the look at all, but knowing that he was going to see that ferret again, suddenly these clothes were nothing but rags. He wanted to look better for Travis. He had to make Travis think that he was on a 'good' path. He certainly didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past that drove them apart in the first place.

Not only were the clothes he had on dirty and ragged, they certainly didn't smell the best either. The rundown dump he lived in had no working shower and the water he would usually use for that came from trickling down the gutter into an old bucket he found. But there hasn't been any rain for about a month now.

Duke was a little frustrated but still chuckled at the truth that at the very least he didn't have to pay rent. But Duke realized the only reason it was such a relief was because he literally had no penny to his name. Well, at least not anymore. But that was then and this is now and now Duke needed money and he needed it quickly.

Not only that but he knew that he had to come up with something or rather somewhere. There was no way he was going to show Travis the old wooden cave he lived in.

Duke went outside and took to the streets, hoping that while he walked and looked around he could find something he could use. Walking down the busy sidewalk towards the square he saw many shops and markets, but nothing easily accessible to him. He couldn't pay for anything he would have liked, but he couldn't risk being caught and snatched up by the cops again.... Exhaling in frustration and having no ideas coming to him, Duke continued walking and looking around. Walking along the end of the street and turning on the right corner, something caught his eye. Something he had seen many times, but this time in particular really had him drawn in.

It was the collection box that stood between the shop buildings. The box in particular was used to donate clothes for some local mom and pop pawn shop. And it was perfect, now that Duke found his target he acted accordingly. He looked from back to forth, making sure that he was not seen by anyone. Quickly climbing in all the way and dunking into the box, Duke landed on the contents inside. Wiggling around and checking the things underneath him, he moved a few things that were a little too big and some things that were too small.

Finally he found what he was looking for more or less. A few clothes that seemed to be just his size. He picked up anything he could find and climbed back out, now wanting to spend too much time in there. In a rush, the weasel pushed the entrance open and dropped out. Luckily for him, the sidewalk was still empty. He folded the clothes up, held them close and made his way back home.

Panting and dropping the clothes on the splintered floor, Travis looked at the fruits of not-his-labor. On the ground sat a solid red shirt, a yellow striped shirt, a white button up along with 2 pairs of pants. One being a simple pair of jeans and the other being comfortable looking sweatpants.

Duke gave a sigh of relief that at least his clothes problems were solved. But there was still the lingering issue of actual money and even though he could sell the clothes in front of him, that would defeat its own purpose. The weasel paced back and forth trying to think about a way to get some money and get it fast. But for once nothing was coming to his mind.

I gotta see Travis in a few hours, I gotta come up with something. Anything, Duke growled to himself.

An idea did come to his mind and he knew that it wouldn't take too long, but he still groaned.

Come on, Duke. Just suck it up and let's get it over with. He already knew a few guys he could call up to make it happen.