Sprinting parallel to her was Dex, golden fur dark from sweat, face set with determination. He didn’t have the Nyko’s nimbleness, but he was solid and didn’t flinch away from shoulder-checking anyone who tried to block him. And he was surprisingly fast, clawed toes digging into the earth for traction.
Bodies collided with deafeningsmacks. Elbows jabbed and shoulders cracked into bone and muscle. Dex wove through his defensive teammates, light-footed and swift, and when the dysc soared too high over his head to catch, he dropped to all fours without breaking his stride, then launchedhimself into the air. Against the laws of gravity, he caught the dysc and landed hard on the other side of the goal line.
The other shirtless teammates roared in triumph, and Dex quickly disappeared under numerous bodies as they dog-piled on top of him in celebration. Even the Nyko joined in, jumping onto the pile of writhing bodies currently smothering Dex.
It was all so strange, but Cya couldn’t stop their smile as Dex finally crawled out of the mass of teammates, covered in grass and dirt. The Nyko launched herself onto his back, and he hiked her up and over his shoulder like he had Cya last night. They grappled and laughed with each other, and the oddest stab of envy poked at Cya’s chest.
As the team headed their way toward the locker rooms, nerves cramped their stomach, and they shifted farther away from the wall to make themself more visible. They tracked Dex’s approach as he bent down and retrieved his shirt, slapping it over his shoulder without putting it on.
The fur of his chest was an even lighter shade of cream than the rest of him and groomed quite short. All of his fur was on the shorter side, actually. At least, compared to, say, Rusty, who wore his fur long and shaggy.
Cya had never noticed the difference before, but with so much of Dex’s body currently on display, they couldn’tnotnotice. Even the cut of his strong muscles was distinguishable through the hairs, and unholy shit, did he have actual abs?
“Well, that’s just uncalled for,” they muttered as heat bubbled in their cheeks.
It wasn’t like they’d never acknowledged that Dex was objectively attractive; they weren’t blind! But this? With the sweat-darkened fur plastered to his skin and the showcase of broad shoulders and the ripplingbiceps and—yes, those were definitely ab muscles. Clearly defined abdominals.
“Entirely unnecessary,” they griped to no one.
Of course, he had to go and dump his bottle water onto his head, drenching himself further, which was honestly just offensive at this point. Laughing, Dex leaned over and shook his head, showering the Nyko with water droplets, and she yowled and swatted him away.
He was so distracted with her that he nearly walked right past Cya without seeing them at all. Which, no, did not hurt their ego in the slightest, thank you very much!
The Nyko actually saw them first, and she smacked Dex’s arm, whispering something in a Mammylion dialect Cya didn’t understand. Dex must have, though, because he looked at her, then followed her pointing hand to Cya. He nearly tripped over his own feet in his shock, but he caught his balance at the last minute.
“Cya? What are you doing here?”
Well, now that they were here, and he was here—and he was shirtless and wet andshirtless—they were asking themself the same question. They’d never regretted choosing to be the bigger and better person more than they did right now at this exact moment.
“I—” they started, but Dex turned away from them to address the Nyko.
“I’ll catch up with you.”
Giving Cya a judgmental, unimpressed onceover, the Nyko tongued at a sharp canine, thin tail serpentining behind her body. “You sure about this?”
“Lynd, would you just…”
Dex shooed her away, and she went but not before curling her upper lip at Cya, liketheywere the one currently stinking up the corridor with theirsweat. They shook their rattle, just enough to acknowledge her disrespect, but before they could flash a fang, a hand was waving in their face.
“Hey, cut it out,” Dex barked, and Cya reared back.
“Me cut it out? What about her? Did you see the way she looked at me?”
His eyes followed the Nyko out of sight before they returned to Cya. “Well, she isn’t your biggest fan, right now.”
“Why not? I don’t even know her.”
“She knows we argued,” he said simply, and Cya’s temper sparked.
“You told her?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Nostrils flaring, they leaned in, dropping their voice to waspish whisper. “But that was private!”
“Private?” the Lupyn echoed in disbelief. “Like how it was private when you called me a parasite in the middle of campus in front of, like, so many witnesses?”
The flames of their temper snuffed out instantly, and they deflated, hugging Dex’s sweatshirt to their chest like a shield. In response, Dex softened too, releasing a weary huff.
