Title: Never Alone Author: Bob J Montonelli Fandom: Ice Age Pairing: Soto/Diego Disclaimer: Not mine. Belongs to 20th century fox.

Diego's always been different. He knows it.
Knows it deep, deep as the winter snow and the water in the river that cuts through his pack's territory.
He's always been.something else, something he could never quite understand as a cub. Because he was just as good, just as strong, just as fast as the others, as Zeke and Hondo and all the rest. Maybe even better, at least better than Zeke is.
But then there's something in him. Different.
He walks down to the water as the sun rises, stares at his reflection amidst the ripples. He doesn't look any different than the others, not really. Fangs. Fur. Likes to think he looks a little like Soto, a little more than the others. Give him more fur to his chin, more whiskers and a little more muscle, yeah, he could pass. At a distance.
But who's he kidding, anyway?
He's different.
He lies down in the soft mud of the riverbank. It's cold and damp against his belly, even through the fur. Rests his head on his paws and keeps staring, staring at his reflection. What's wrong with him?
He knows.
He knows since the others began to choose their mates.
He lets a paw trail in the water.
It began last fall, as they reached adulthood. It began with Zeke talking about Mariah, how she smelled, how she moved, the ivory length of her fangs. It wasn't the first time Diego hadn't understood. She smelled like any other female, warm and soft and milky. Males smelled of blood, females of milk. That was just the way it was, unless it was the hunt and they all smelled like blood. And then it hit him, what Zeke was talking about.
Mates.
Who did he want? Who made his breath quicken the way Zeke described it, as fall turned to winter and mates were chosen and the females were fat with cubs? It wasn't any female in the pack, that was certain. It was the scent of blood that made his hackles rise and would make him strut for any male, show off, hunt down a mammoth on his own if that's what it took.
He stares into the water.
/"Hey, Diego, how come you don't gotta girl, huh?"
"Soto doesn't have one!"
"Soto doesn't need to have one, stupid!"/
He's not stupid, he's just.different.
There's a scent on the breeze behind him. Blood, hot and thick, musky like mating. Soto.
"Diego. What are you doing here, cub?"
Anyone else could be mauled for calling him a cub. He's got half the mane to prove himself an adult, and twice the claws.
"Nothin'."
"Diego. I see you go off alone so much. De others, dey're with their mates, der families. You? You alone, Diego."
He turns and stands in one fluid motion, ashamed of the much on his belly and flank. He turns to lick it off and Soto stops him with a nose to his face.
"Little cub, why you so lonesome?"
"I ain't lonesome."
"But you are." And Soto breathing against him, so warm, smelling of that muskiness, Soto starts to lick him gently, like he's just a cub getting a bath from his mother, licks him with his rough tongue but gently, oh so gently.
"What're ya' doin', Soto?"
"I do not want any of my pack alone, Diego."
"I ain't."
Soto gives his ear a sharp nip and he yowls low and short. "You listen to me Diego. I see you go off, I see you without a mate, I know you."
"Hrrmp."
"Walk with me, Diego. I tell you a story."
Chagrined, frustrated now, Diego walks with Soto, up the river, watching the snow begin to fall.
"Once was a cub. Dis cub, he know he was different. He grew up knowing it, just not knowing what. Dis cub, when other cubs choosing mates, go off alone. Doesn't want a female. Dis cub, he a strange one. He wants de males."
"How'd you know?" Diego asks, slumping back onto his haunches and looking at his forepaws. "How'd you know?" He repeats, hurting now that Soto knows his secret, knows him somehow so well that he can see right through his lies and into his soul.
"De cub was me, Diego. All of them, they wonder, why has Soto never chosen a mate? All of them except the older ones, dey know. I see you, I say to myself, dere is me again, all alone. I have been alone for so long Diego, and then I see you. Little cub. Perhaps two alone is one together, hm?"
"I guess. Maybe. Is that why."
Soto nuzzles Diego gently, licking under his chin, fur rubbing against fang. "Yes, Diego. Dat is why I want you. For my mate. We will be de strongest pack ever seen, you and I, hmm?"
"Yeah." Diego's eyes are slipping shut with pleasure as Soto's tongue works into his fur, works away the grime from his flanks, his foreleg, his belly.
His belly.
He utters a soft "mmrrrrowl." and flops back onto his back on the riverbank, paws up like a young cub. "Soto."
"Diego."
Soto's rough tongue draws in broad strokes down his belly, over his sheath, his balls. He growls and mrrrowls and moans some more.
"Beautiful Diego, beautiful cub."
Soto's licks come heavy and hard, and his penis is out of it's sheath, and he knows, he knows this is why he's different and this is what he's meant for and oh, this is so good.
And over before he knows it, in a shiver, a wash, a shuddering snowcrackavalanchecrash of pleasure that makes him yowl and dig his claws into Soto's headfur.
"Soto!"
"Diego."
And then Soto's licking away the semen from his belly, and licking up to his mouth and nuzzling him.
"Come on, my little cub. Not so alone anymore."
"No." Diego gasping, Diego breathless, "Never."
Never alone.
Ever again.