“Sir?”

Cody grunted softly, stirred from a doze. He blinked several times, looking around blearily, realizing he’d dozed off. He took in his surroundings, seated in a sitting area near the food court of the truck stop. Looking out the large pane window before him, the same site he’d seen a few hours ago greeted him: a black night sky and a furious blizzard’s clumps and flakes billowing past.

“Sir? I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t sleep here,” came the voice again, belonging to a small ferret, a clerk, the coyote surmised, based on the name tag.

Blinking away the remaining daze, he simply nodded. “Yeah uhm… sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

The ferret smiled, chuckling. “I can tell. Here,” he replied as held up one of the stop’s paper mugs towards the sleepy canine. “My manager won’t try to get me to kick you out as long as you’re awake. I’m sorry we don’t have any spare bunks right now, with the blizzard.”

The coyote nodded, a weak smile flashed in return. The ferret was cute, he thought to himself, as he quietly accepted the mug, taking a long sip. “Thank you,” he replied softly. He held the mug close.

As the TV mounted high behind the ferret blinked, the coyote’s eyes quickly snapped to it, drawn by the change, realizing it was a weather screen. The gaze caught the ferret’s attention as well, who turned to look up at the forecast, and back to Cody with a grim expression. “Looks like we’re both gonna be stuck here for a while… listen, uh,” the ferret turned back to the coyote, pausing a moment.

The coyote chuckled. “Cody...my name’s Cody.”

Smiling, the ferret nodded. “Thomas. Listen, Cody, if uh...your...friends...don’t arrive for you soon…” he started.

Cody’s expression fell slightly, his ears leaning back. “It’s that obvious?” The tone, the phrasing and pauses, all told a story that the ferret knew the reality.

Thomas’ expression fell as well. “Only to someone like me. But, uh,” he quieted his voice to just over a whisper, for only the canine’s ears. “If a room doesn’t clear up, and you don’t find someone to hitch a ride with, within the next 3 hours, I’ll meet you by the employee door down the shower hall. My employee bunk’s big enough for both of us short skinny guys.”

Cody paused a moment after listening. “Tom…”

The ferret put a finger to the coyote’s muzzle, hushing him gently, before speaking again with a lowered voice. “You’re cute, and I’ve seen you here twice before in the past couple months, and based on who you left with and showed up with, I can tell what happened, and I don’t want you hurt or worse,” he whispered, before grinning up at the coyote more goofily. “And it’s ‘Thomas’, not ‘Tom’… gay guys don’t go by short names.”

The coyote burst out in an intense laugh, far stronger than he expected to at the response and struggling not to spill his gifted coffee. “Ahaha, I...thank you, Thomas, I...I needed that. And...thank you,” he replied as he calmed back down, a softer expression having replaced the more forlorn one he wore before.

Thomas smiled, turning to head back towards the counter. “Don’t thank me yet, it’s only for a night, and I don’t put out,” he replied as he padded towards the register he’d been working.

Cody turned back to face the window and the storm, as he leaned onto his knees, the warm aroma of the coffee drifting to his nose. “After what brought me here...me neither,” he whispered to the concoction, whilst staring into the swirling snowscape outside as if it held answers he was desperate to divine.

---

“It’s a lot cleaner than the normal bunks,” Cody murmured as the door closed.

The ferret quietly giggled, reaching over to click on a switch, illuminating a rope light tethered to the wall in an organic squiggle. “Well yeah, each employee gets their own little room like this. Now don’t be too loud, there’s nothing saying I can’t do this, but I don’t want to test things,” he said, reaching behind the coyote to lock the door to the ferret’s tiny, private bunk room.

“I would’ve figured they’d have y’all sharing stacked bunks, this is kinda nice,” Cody added, more quietly. Casting his glances around, he found a small nook under the folding desk to drop his backpack, before turning to the ferret, who’d already shimmied out of his company smock and hung it on a peg on the wall.

“Nah, this place was built before they started doing that at the other locations. Both of our luck,” Thomas replied as he poked the coyote’s middle gently. “I won’t push you to take off any more than you want, don’t worry. The only payment I want is to snuggle up with a cute guy.”

Cody chuckled, but smiled warmly at the response. “Well at least someone is into me for more than just sexual favors,” he mused, as he started tugging his thick hoodie and shirt up over his head, his ears flicking as the hems cleared them, his gray, tawny, and brown fur slightly matted.

Thomas was down to just boxers by the time the coyote slipped the top garments off, and wore a soft frown. “That bad?” he asked, softly, with a tone of concern.

After starting to undo his jeans, Cody paused, and then sat on the small bed beside Thomas. “Yeah. I...I should’ve seen it coming. I moved clear across the country for that asshole and he got pissed just cause I wouldn’t fuck his friends or do drugs with them, and told me I was too ‘weird’ with...my..uhm…”

The ferret poked at the coyote’s barely-covered waist, trying not to outright grope him. “With making the house smell like latex or balloons?” Thomas asked with a bit of a grin, gently pinching the waistband of the black latex boxer briefs the coyote’d stopped undressing to hide.

Cody’s cheeks tinged pink for a moment, but he nodded, slipping those jeans off entirely to let the glossy garment shine in the dim light. “Both. You’re uh...you’re good.”

Thomas laughed softly, then bent over for a small bag on the floor. After retrieving something, he stripped his boxers off entirely, not making any attempt to hide his cute butt from the coyote, until he stepped into the garment he’d fetched and slid it up. And as he sat back beside Cody, their hips squeaked lightly, the ferret changed into a matching pair of latex shorts, though purple. “Comes with familiarity, I guess. Now get under the covers here; I’ve always wanted to snuggle up wearing these with a guy who also is, and it’s fucking cold, you damn canines have no concept of indoor temps with that warmer coat.”

The coyote paused, taken by significant surprise, and blushing a little more as he shifted to the back of the cot to let Thomas slide in in front of him, and drew the blankets up over the pair. He wrapped an arm around Thomas’ side, gentle at first, and then relaxing as he settled into the contact, quietly.

After a few moments of the quiet affection, with hips lightly squeaking with their gentle movements, the ferret turned to face Cody, and pressed his face into that warm, fluffy chest. “Hope we both can find who we’re looking for,” he spoke softly.

“Cause you don’t have room or money to take me in; I wasn’t even thinking of asking, don’t worry,” Cody replied.

“No, you silly dog, because we’re both such bottoms we’d drive each other nuts!”

The coyote had to tuck his snout into the pillow to muffle his laughter. Clocked, teased, and it all true. “Fuck, you’re right, snrk… But this?” he asked, emphasizing his intent as he stroked his claws softly through the ferret’s fur along his back.

Thomas squirmed and wiggled in true noodle fashion with a chitter, followed by a giggle. “This? Cuddling a cutie like you? I’m hoping I get to again some night,” he replied sweetly.

The coyote rested a paw on the ferret’s rubbery-coated flank, gently squeezing, clearly more to explore the material than outright grope his new friend. “Me too.”