Threadfic:

Hirugami had always been interested in animals before he was even conscious of it. His first birthday had been at the Nagano City Joyama Zoo where he was gifted his very own seal hat. His grandfather gifted him an encyclopedia of animals before he passed.

Sachirou was fascinated by animals, always wondering how they must have felt. He came to feel sad when he'd see them in enclosures or cages, knowing himself how it was like to be stripped of freedom. His sympathy turned into empathy, and that empathy turned into a new identity

It's his 1st year of high school when he stands before the famous Coach Aaron Murphy who tells him about seagulls and how he and his teammates could aspire to be like them. It's a speech that resonates with Sachirou. He doesn't know if he's a seagull exactly in the way Korai is

Sachirou gets home that day and thinks about how nice it'd be to be able to traverse land and water in a way. After all, seagulls could and he thinks it'd be nice to hang out with Kourai-kun who he cares about so much. He imagines it's nice to just float through life. It hits him

An otter. Floating through life without a care in the world, semi-aquatic, and just "vibing." Sachirou picks up a pencil and sketches the otter in his book. He starts giving it more of a human form, capturing his own features. Sleepy eyes. Thick, straight eyebrows, big mitts...

Sachirou can't wait to tell his friends. Gao asks him why he's smiling and Sachirou asks him, "Gao. Have you ever like, imagined yourself as an animal?" He's shocked by Gao's response, as the taller man makes a face. "What are you, a furry?" he asks, like it's a bad thing

"Sachirou, what's wrong?" Hoshiumi asks, sensing his friend's muted distress. Sachirou isn't good with showing his deeper feelings, but Kourai has always been extra sensitive to the feelings of others.

"Oh nothing," Sachirou replies. He keeps it to himself

He looks up what a furry is and comes across all of the mainstream shock images people use. It doesn't feel like the truth, he thinks, able to rationalize that these are outsiders poking fun at a legitimate phenomenon. He continues to poke around forums when he finds FurAffinity

"Maybe I'll share my picture here," Hirugami thinks, uploading his sona. He imagines a name for it, trying to think of something he likes. "Kou..." he starts off... "tarou."

And so Koutarou the Ott is born. He uploads his sona and waits for people to see it. He gets a reply

"Cute!!"

Hirugami giggles to himself over how he could have ever thought this was a nerve-wracking thing. He responds to the message and that message becomes a chain. They invite him to their Telegram chat. He finds out that they are all gay. He finally feels like he has a place

He finds a group of wholesome furries who also must hide their identities and it is a nice support group. One of them works as a vet tech and slowly tells him more about how working with animals is really like. Hirugami realizes what he's interested in at school

He even gives Koutarou the Ott a little bird-like friend on his shoulder named Hoshi. His friends think it's really cute and Hirugami says that it reminds him of someone he knows in real life who helped him find a way out of the darkness. They ask him if his friend knows anything

"Well, not exactly. He's focused on club activities like sports. And I've never really felt part of my team or really get along with athletes despite being in a family of them," Hirugami admits. He's worried they might trace him down.

"Maybe your friend will be different."

Hoshiumi is the type to have knee-jerk reactions to everything. It's one reason Hirugami delays telling him about vet school applications. Hoshiumi always made faces of disgust at new foods, was loud around new people, and wasn't fond of certain animals. Hirugami knew that

"Hey Sachirou," Hoshiumi says one day. They're walking to the konbini together after practice as Hoshiumi wants to make use of the time Kappa Ebisen Ume Flavor is still in stores. "I realized I don't exactly have hobbies outside of volleyball. What do you do outside of practice?"

Hirugami already thinks of his friends in the online forums that he races home to talk to every day. He feels like he can talk to them more about himself than he can trust his real friends, who might judge him. It's why he keeps his thoughts to himself, even if they're meaningful

"I... talk to friends online," Hirugami says, much to Hoshiumi's surprise.

"You have other friends?" Hoshiumi widens his eyes. He's not jealous, just surprised. "Outside of volleyball?"

"Well, yeah," Hirugami says. "Don't you play online games Kourai-kun? You should know."

"Yeah but well, I'm too focused on beating them and getting cards so that I can climb the ladder and show off my inventory. I don't really have time for friends or half-baked alliances," Hoshiumi says curiously. "So these friends. Are you better than them at what you're doing?"

Hirugami laughs, tossing away the wrapper of his chocolate bar. "It's not like that Kourai-kun. It's more of a community. I know you probably don't have time for that, but it's pretty nice."

"That's good," Hoshiumi is still curious. "So like, what do you talk to them about?"

"Oh, my day," Hirugami is half-lying. He thinks about how he mostly roleplays Koutarou the Ott's day with his friends. He wonders how Kourai would react to the fact his online best friend is a fennec fox and that he quarrels with sneps online. "And animals."

"Of course..."

As Hirugami has been on the receiving end of Hoshiumi's long speeches about height, Kourai knows more about animals than the regular volleyball player. "Do you ever get bored talking about animals?" Hoshiumi presses on. "Or do you guys do more than just share animal facts?"

"Uh," Hirugami knows there's no hiding things from Hoshiumi Kourai, who is too curious for his own good. "Um. What do you think of people who like. Act like the animals?"

"Like catgirl maids?" Hoshiumi pipes up, too loud in public. Oh god, people are staring at them.

"Well no."

Hirugami pulls out his phone. He scrolls through one of his innocuously labelled photo albums, aptly called "Dog Pics 2." The cover is a picture of his dog, but the contents are a furry goldmine. He stares back at Koutarou the Ott's character sheet and takes a leap of faith.

"What do you think of him?" Hirugami says, feeling like he's baring his soul to someone. If it's going to be anyone, it has to be Hoshiumi.

Hoshiumi makes a face. It feels like a billion years as his eyebrows twitch and he zooms in with his fingers, thinking. "He's cute."

Hirugami wants to say "thank you" but holds his tongue as Hoshiumi continues to inspect the character sheet. "Favorite food.. shumai. Animal research. Birds. Freedom," Hoshiumi reads outloud. "Dislikes... being forced to do things."

Suddenly, Kourai's eyes become dinner plates.

"Dislikes when his sister talks about her new boyfriend," Hoshiumi looks up, scrunching his face. "Sachirou this sounds a lot like.."

Hoshiumi zooms into the otter's face, squinting. Sleepy brown eyes. Messy hair. Straight eyebrows. Peace sign. Not looking at the camera.

"You?"

Sachirou doesn't know when he's started sweating, but he has the sudden urge to jump into the running fountain beside them. Hoshiumi looks at Hirugami in disbelief. "Three years old... is this what you've been doing?" Hoshiumi asks. "Living a double life as... an otter?"

"Kourai-kun I can explain," Sachirou blurts out. "It's not a sexual thing. It's actually very cathartic for me and it's a fun way to explore who I am and learn more about-"

"Relax dude, you're acting like I caught you with hentai," Hoshiumi laughs. "Oh man. Wait. What's this?"

Hoshiumi points at the small star-shaped white bird on Koutarou's head and Sachirou again feels like running away to the mountains. "Hoshi," Sachirou says quietly. "Koutarou's companion. You see, Koutarou is not good at directions but Hoshi knows where all the stars are."

"..."

"I'm sorry," Sachirou apologizes, "For dragging you into my adventures online. I swear that-"

"Geez stop apologizing. My only problem is why is that bird so damn small," Hoshiumi furrows his brow. "Like can you re-design these things or is it permanent? Hoshi looks like a wimp."

The two boys start walking home as Hoshiumi goes on a long laundry lists of features he thinks that Hoshi the Starbird should have. "He should have like. A huge plummage, but also keep him small," Hoshiumi recites, thinking of features he wants to have. "Feathers instead of fur."

"Do you want to make a character sheet for Hoshi? One of my friends is an artist so I can get a discount. It can be a welcome gift," Sachirou says. "That'd be cool."

"Actually dude," Hoshiumi says, his eyes shining. "Wait can Hoshi be a girl!? I want to lay eggs... offensively."

"Of course. My dragon is a girl actually but I don't have pictures of her on my phone. It sure is fun to roleplay as a sexy dragon so I can bully all of the annoying guys on FA. The ノンケ ones," Sachirou goes on, relieved at Hoshiumi's response. "Thanks for being understanding."

Hoshiumi looks up at Sachirou as if he's crazy. "Why do you sound so shocked?" Hoshiumi protests. "I literally met you at your lowest point right? If you're happy roleplaying as an otter or a sexy dragon online, at least you're happy. Now make Hoshi fucking cool. I want fire."

Smiling to himself, Sachirou takes note of everything that Hoshiumi wants to see on the bird. "Got it. I'll make sure she looks great. I can send you progress sketches," Sachirou says heaving a sigh of relief. "Anyways thanks Kourai. Maybe you can RP with us some day."

[Timeskip]

Hoshiumi smacks down the sticker by the many pictures of himself and his wins. "Ta-da! The great wall of ME!" he says triumphantly.

"Hoshiumi," Ushijima says, pointing at the bird. "This is not you."

"Um yes it is Ushiwaka. It's me. Hoshi the Starbird? I'm a furry?"

Ushijima raises his eyebrows quietly, before digging into his own locker. He pushes away some of his sweaters and pulls out a binder. "A furry," he says, opening his book to a page showing a samurai eagle ferret. "As am I. Tendou got me into it years ago."

"ADD ME ON DISCORD!"

The End.

For those curious Hoshi the Starbird is completely detached from Koutarou Otter's head right now, occasionally she will pick up Koutarou and drop him back into the pond if he gets lost. But Hoshi is finally her own true form and jacked as hell. Still small. But jacked

Hiruhoshi are dating but their sonas aren't because it's funnier that way. Ushijima and Hoshiumi furry con attendees and try to get Kageyama invested. Kageyama wants to be a blob crow named "Settertoss" and Hoshiumi is just like. Really dude but Ushiwaka is like. "Says 'Hoshi.'"