Out of Position by Kyell Gold

week after our first night together, when he’d tricked me into bed. He didn’t know whether I was going to kiss him or beat him up, and though he had a brave face on, as he does now, it was clear that he was a little scared. Once I realize it, it’s as obvious to me as all the signs that he’s male.
    “Hey, Lee,” I say, and his muzzle snaps over to me. “Didn’t you say you have an early class tomorrow? Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
    He looks like he wants to argue, especially when Jack says, “Ah, just sleep through it,” but I reach out and take his paw, and he gets up.
    “Awfully nice to meet you all,” he says, the brush of his tail going down and his ears settling as well. “Hope we can do this again sometime.”
    Outside, he walks stiffly beside me, the chill of the wintry air nothing to what he’s giving off. “So how did you—” I finally start, trying to make conversation, and he interrupts.
    “Rescued the poor, helpless fairy from the big, mean, football players,” he said. “That what you’re thinking?” He’s not using his vixen’s voice, which is a little disconcerting.
    “Huh?”
    “Didn’t I tell you that I could take care of myself?”
    “What, tonight?” I’m thoroughly confused. I thought I was doing something nice by helping him out of a scary situation. I can’t figure out what I did wrong.
    “I certainly don’t need your help to protect myself from a bunch of primitive jocks like that.”
    “Hey,” I say. “They’re not all that bright, but they’re not bad guys.”
    “Sure,” he says, “if you need a pickle jar opened or a faggot beaten up.”
    “Is that what this is about? I told you, those guys aren’t on the team any more. We don’t hang out with them.”
    “Oh, like it makes a difference which specific guys it was. They’re all the same.”
    I stop, paws on my hips, and for a moment I think he’s not going to stop. Then he does, a few steps further, turns and looks at me. “Well?”
    “What about me?”
    Blue eyes narrow in the yellow light of the street lamp. A raccoon walks past us and we endure his nervous glances as he walks between us, not wanting to get in the middle of our quarrel. Whether he heard the vixen talking with a tod’s voice, we can’t tell, but he disappears around the corner and then Lee talks, more quietly, but no less passionately.
    “Well, I’ve been a good influence on you, haven’t I?”
    “You? You?” Now I’m the one raising my voice, and he walks away. “Hey! Don’t… Listen, I…” I’m incoherent, sputtering, trying to form the thoughts into words, and I don’t want to run after him because I know that’s what he wants me to do, and I curse my paws as they take me down the street and around the corner he’s just turned.
    “Listen, Doc,” I say, “I am who I am, and… and don’t take credit for how I act just because you think you’re clever. It’s not because of you that you didn’t get beat up that night when I came back. It’s because of me.”
    “Oh,” he says in his smug voice, the one that sets my fur on end, “I think it had something to do with me.”
    “Christ!” I explode. “You can be such a fucking bitch sometimes!”
    A white fox on the opposite side of the street turns at my words and looks at us for a moment, clearly wondering if he should intervene and hoping he won’t have to. I wave him on, growling, “Sorry. It’s okay,” and a moment later he wraps his leather jacket around himself and moves on.
    “And you, stud,” Lee hisses, “can be a tremendous idiot.”
    He walks on. I clench my fists, willing myself to just turn around and go home. Don’t follow him, I tell myself.
    “Look,” I say, striding alongside him. He lifts his nose just a bit and doesn’t look at me. “I got you out of there because it looked like a bad situation. I was just trying to help!”
    “I’ve told you, I don’t need your help,” he says.
    “I know,” I say. “You keep