Page 10 of Unicorn Unashamed

Except today the thought of trying to go out and find someone to fuck just made him feel tired.

He absentmindedly doodled on his tablet as his mind wandered, having already given up on trying to be productive for the day. What he really needed to do was have a session with Raymond. Burn off his excess energy. Exercising while he was in the middle of his virile period wasn’t the most fun thing, but sometimes moving around with purpose was what he needed, even if it wasn’t sexual.

Of course, having Raymond there, a warm, comforting presence, giving him direction and smelling good and…

Josh blew out a breath. He needed to get it together. He’d dealt with his virile period since puberty, and for almost a year of knowing Raymond and working with him. Okay, yeah, it was true that as his feelings for Raymond had grown, his virile period had gotten somehow even more annoying, but that didn’t mean anything. He wouldn’t let it.

Still, by the time his Wednesday session rolled, Josh was about crawling out of his skin and very ready to see Raymond again. He wasn’t going to do anything. He knew he wouldn’t. He had finely-honed self-control. He would have cancelled the session with Raymond had he really been worried. Besides, he had made sure to put off taking his afternoon dose of libido inhibitor until just before it was time to leave. Having the medicine fresh in his system would help a lot.

That’s what he told himself, as he hastily threw his stuff together in his duffel, pulled on his shoes, and headed out the door.

And stepped right into the rain. Damn it.

He hurried back in, grabbed an umbrella, and headed out again, but he didn’t have high hopes for staying very dry, not with how heavily it was coming down. He sighed and started out. Nothing for it now. His duffel was waterproof and had his shoes and a change of clothes just as an in-case, so really, the best thing he could do was hurry over to Raymond’s studio so that he could change into his dry stuff.

Plan.

He was thoroughly drenched by the time he was running up to the studio door. Part of him cursed himself for not sucking it up and driving, but Raymond’s studio was literally three blocks from Josh’s apartment. He couldn’t justify taking his car out for that.

Still, it was with intense relief that he flung himself inside. Dry. Nice and dry, though fuck, the sudden blast of AC had him shivering.

“Josh!” Raymond rushed forward from where he was moving equipment around. “You walked today? It’s pouring out!”

“Yeah,” Josh said as he fumbled off his shoes. “Fuck it’s cold.”

“Yeah, because you’re soaked! Hang on, I’ll turn on the heat.”

Josh shook his head, even though he was shivering. “It’s okay. I’ll change into my dry stuff and be fine.”

Raymond gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look over his shoulder as he fiddled with the thermostat. “Let me grab you a towel,” he said as the heater kicked on.

Josh accepted it gratefully, taking it and his duffel into the bathroom to change. Just stripping down and toweling off was a relief, getting the dampness off his skin, and he felt much less frigid by the time he was walking out of the bathroom, clothes dry and toweling off his hair.

Raymond smiled at him when he approached. “Feeling better?”

“Much,” Josh said. “Totally ready to work up a sweat now.”

Raymond flicked him a grin, but it slowly fell away as his gaze tracked up and down Josh’s body.

“What?” Josh asked, towel around his shoulders. “Something on my face?”

Raymond’s expression went from confused to concerned to something Josh didn’t entirely recognize. “Um.”

“What?” Josh asked again. Raymond wasn’t the type of guy to get tongue-tied. “What’s wrong?”

Raymond tilted his head, looking uncharacteristically serious. “Are you… are you in your virile period right now?”

“What?” Josh squeaked out a third time, taken aback. “Why?” How did Raymond know? Did Josh do something to broadcast it? Fuck, had Raymond noticed how even-more-extra Josh was on him right now?

Raymond cleared his throat, eyes averting. “Your uh… your scent, it’s…”

“Fuck,” Josh muttered. His stupid scent blocker must have gotten washed off. Raymond probably thought his scent was revolting. “I’m really sorry. Hang on, I can fix it.”

“Fix it?” Raymond asked incredulously as Josh rooted through his duffel.

“Yeah,” Josh said. “I can just reapply my scent blocker and then—” He hissed another curse as he pulled out his regular-grade deodorant designed to mask his shifter undertone, instead of the scent blocker he used specifically to deal with the scent he had while virile. He must have forgotten to throw his extra-strength blocker into his duffel.

Not for the first time, Josh wished that his insurance would cover the script for an extra-strength scent blocker that he could use on a daily basis. If he didn’t have to shell out the full price cost for a blocker that properly worked during his virile period, he wouldn’t have to ration it and get into situations like this.

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