Chapter Text
Cale Henituse had lived a privileged but complicated life that enabled him to have an expansive education and enough money to experience the world as openly as he desired. With all of these opportunities presented to him on a silver platter and served with the golden spoon already inside of his mouth, it was only sensible that Cale knew quite a bit about the world he lived in.
He knew about beast people. At least, enough that there shouldn’t be any surprises offered to him even when he ran into a beast person. He knew enough about the varying cultures to at least know that each culture was different and enough about the biology to know that there were certain differences between beast people and humans.
Still, there were some things that were closely held secrets within those communities. Usually for the protection of beast people. While humans might generally be aware of the fact that beast people had a berserker form, they were normally largely unaware of how the first transformation occurred and how it impacted each type of beast person differently.
A particularly closely held secret within beast tribes was even more biologically debilitating than that.
Therefore, despite Cale’s extensive education and general interest in knowledge, he had absolutely no way of knowing what was wrong with the slumped man he found in the forest. There were certain hints about him that he probably wasn’t human so Cale had already guessed he was a beast person, most humans didn’t have huge fluffy tails, but a glance at his face and Cale assumed he was sick.
Feverish by the look of it and barely conscious of his surroundings.
Cale was normally quite obsessive about maintaining his trashy persona no matter the circumstances but in the middle of the forest alone with a man who looked like he might die if he didn’t get proper help it was a little hard to justify acting like trash.
Cale knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his feverish forehead and hoping whatever he had wasn’t contagious. “Are you okay?”
Glazed over brown eyes met Cale’s and the man let out a whimper that sounded like it could have been an objection before collapsing against Cale, clinging to Cale’s shirt as his uneven breaths came out in whimpering panting.
“...definitely not okay then.” Cale noted, almost in passing, that the beast person in his arms was drop dead gorgeous. It wasn’t really the time to take note of that sort of thing but he was one of those people that was so attractive that it was hard not to notice even in a dire situation like this.
It felt a bit unfair that his first experience having a person this breathtakingly attractive held in his arms was under completely inappropriate circumstances to appreciate it.
Cale let out a grumbly sigh, reaching out to gather the beast person in his arms so that he could carry him back to town and hopefully find someone who could help.
He wasn’t expecting the beast person to let out an honest to god moan when Cale’s hands touched his waist.
“...s…sorry…” He whimpered and buried his face in Cale’s neck, far too close for comfort and now that he was so close, Cale could tell there was a lot more going on than just a fever.
He was aroused.
Cale somehow felt as though he walked into a situation completely outside of his scope of understanding. This was what he got for taking a brisk walk through the forest near Rain City. An incredibly hot guy who was probably dying and definitely horny.
What the hell was his life coming down to?
Still, Cale wouldn’t be Cale if he didn’t roll with the punches. “What’s wrong with you?” After a moment's hesitation. “Can I help?”
The brown haired beast person trembled in his arms, and Cale noticed that his bushy tail was hiding shamefully between his legs.
He mumbled something that Cale didn’t hear so he prompted the man to repeat himself.
“H… he… heat…” He said, his voice coming out in strangled gasps.
Cale could swear that the guy was getting off just being near him. And the thing was, Cale really didn’t mind that as much as he should. He knew how wrong it was but a gasping, whimpering, and moaning man in his arms who was clearly aroused wasn’t doing anything to make Cale consider a life of celibacy.
And if he was really honest with himself, he’d admit that the reason he kept taking notice of the twitching tail was that he found it cute.
He would bet money that this was a squirrel beast person.
The nonsensical explanation finally struck.
From Cale’s studies, he’d never heard of a beast person in heat but one didn’t need to live far from stray cats to know that it was a common animal experience.
Ah. A beastly experience.
Cale swallowed thickly.
That complicated matters.
He certainly wasn’t opposed to having sex with a stranger, especially not a stranger as effortlessly attractive as this man, but there was a serious issue with consent here. He looked half out of his mind when Cale approached and anyone who ever experienced post nut clarity knows that you don’t make the best decisions when you’re horny.
Considering that for this squirrel, being horny was an entire unstoppable and painful physiological experience that practically forced his brain into a state of fuck or die , it was something like impossible to get enthusiastic consent, much less informed consent.
But from what Cale did know about heat, which was precious little, the only way to help was to fuck.
It was an unfortunate quagmire to find himself in, especially when his own arousal was growing in intensity. It was like there was something in the air making it harder and harder to think straight.
Ah. Right. Pheromones.
Cale closed his eyes and tried to keep a clear head. It would be wrong of him to fuck this desperate squirrel man into a tree. There should be another way to help. Perhaps there were more squirrels nearby? They were likely to know a better way.
A trembling hand touched his cheek pleadingly and Cale looked down into warm brown eyes swimming with desire.
Ah, fuck it.
“Would it help you?” He said, the last vestiges of his self control threatening to disappear.
The squirrel beast person nodded, pressing his body against Cale’s needily.
His eyes glistened with unshed tears, there was something like an apology on his lips, his chestnut skin perfectly framed by brown hair only served to entice Cale further.
Shit. He was going to hell for this.
He was going to fuck a squirrel.
And he felt absolutely no regret over it.
With that final thought, he dragged the squirrel into a passionate kiss, pleased with the way he melted into Cale’s arms.