Editor's note: this story contains scenes of gay male sexual content.
This is a short work of erotic fiction containing furry, or anthropomorphic, characters, which are animals that either demonstrate human intelligence or walk on two legs, for the purposes of these tales. It is a thriving and growing fandom in which creators are prevalent in art and writing especially.
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Studs at Work
Hard at work, the farm hands grunted and sweated in the noonday sun, refusing to give up on the tasks of the day when there was still a fair deal of work to be done. A tiger, a horse and a zebra sounded just like the beginning of a bad joke but there was no joke to be made about the work they were doing in the golden field, hay cut down and baled up, all ready to be collected. The rolling path of the field stretched out before them as if it went on forever and Michael, the horse driving the team of, ironically, heavy horses (ferals, not anthros, that is) on while they pulled the cart behind that was swiftly becoming stacked with bales.
The wheels ground over with a creak that spoke of the number of times, years upon years, that that same cart had been used to collect hay, keeping on regardless of how it was abused. And the horses threw their weight into the collars, drawing them on as the zebra called up cheerily, taking his cues from Matthias who helped him heft up the bales along with his own when Qadir tired just a little quicker than him. It had to be said, however, that the tiger's muscled physique helped more than a little in that regard.
"Alright..." Michael called, keeping a close eye on them as he glanced back yet again, one ear flicking down in concern as Qadir huffed and puffed, fighting to keep up with the surprisingly steadily rapid pace that the draft horses set. "We should stop for a break. Do you want me to take over for a while?"
"What?" Matthias called back, the blue-striped tiger grinning widely in a flash of sharp, white fangs. "We're fine! Aren't we, Qadir? We can keep going?"
The little zebra -- well, little in comparison to Matthias with his muscle easily showing through his T-shirt -- groaned and tried to nod, happily amenable to whatever they wanted to do despite his slowing down. Truly, even the tiger was getting more and more tired with every passing second, hefting up a bale with a thicker grunt than usual, T-shirt soaked through to his fur with sweat, although defining the lines in his musculature, as a result, was a pleasant side-effect.
"Y-yes!" Qadir chirped, although his breath was stolen from him, whipping away any further words that he may or may not have had.
It was as good a sign as any that Michael's call had been right and, although he was more of a follower than a leader when it came to new situations, he slowed the cart, drawing the reins back in one paw while he set the whip aside. Positioning the cart with a little clunky difficulty beneath the overhanging branches of a thickly deciduous tree (he didn't really have enough knowledge about such things to accurately tell what kind of tree it was further than that), Michael slowed the team and gestured to the others, reaching beneath his seat for the waters and food that had been pre-packed for them that day.
The tiger and zebra fell on them like locusts, Matthias growling with sheer pleasure as he tipped his head back, getting half of the water over his face and down his chin, fur slickening down to his skin. Qadir was more restrained, sipping at the drink with his large, soft lips that seemed too big for the bottle itself, eyes half-lidded in the simple little pleasure of just having his thirst sated.
For a moment, there were no other sounds, all three of them relaxing in the shade, birdsong cutting through where, before, there had been the snort and shift of the horses and the rattling cart to contend with. The fields seemed a lot quieter without them hard at work, even though Matthias' eyes rolled, tugging at his shirt as if he was trying to get at least the semblance of a cool waft of air up beneath the already soaked fabric. Like so much else in the world yet on a much smaller scale, it truly was a futile effort.
"Unnff... Is it right that we're paying for this?" Matthias grunted, fur sticking up in clumps of sweat around his neck, fur poking out of his T-shirt as if it was striving to escape. "It was meant to be...huff...god damn it..."
But not even he had the breath to say what the working holiday was supposed to be: a time where they exchanged a set period of work for free board and food. It wasn't entirely a bad deal but perhaps a deal that may have been better planned for easier times of year than collecting hay off the fields. To add to the experience, they'd not been passed over a trailer or a lorry of any sort to get the bales but a pair of draft horses, snorting and shaking their heads in gleaming, immaculate tack. Those had been interesting at first -- and more than one joke had been made about Michael taking the reins, although he had, ultimately, been the one to drive the team -- but the displeasure of work that was hard on the muscles took over soon enough for the amusement to quickly fade away.
It was interesting though and all of them had signed up to do something that was out of the ordinary, so there really wasn't all that much that they could complain about. Muscles ached from being hard at work and Michael insisted on going back to heft up the bales, since driving the team who seemed to know just where they were going anyway was such an easy job. Matthias smirked, pulling off his T-shirt to air as the horse's eyes trailed down his chest, muscle so very easily showing through the fur there in stark, clear definition. Not even the stripes curling around to his chest and abdomen could hide his tone and the tiger flexed covertly, further drawing the equine's attention to one of his best features.
Michael swallowed hard, exchanging a look with the other ungulate of their strange little group. Although they'd all been sleeping together in the shared accommodation, the old bunkhouse, they hadn't really looked when, perhaps, they should have done so already. A body could tell so much, after all, and Matthias' muscle spoke of hours on hours in the gym, working away the ill times of the day in the best way he knew how. Of course, he was hardly a cat who wanted for company but there was a benefit to taking time to oneself too, something that he by no means was shy to do.
