“I’m glad I could a find a santa costume that fit me,” joked Clawhauser, giggling a little and glancing over to his friend Oxnard. The large cheetah and the small hamster made their way through the Sahara Square Mall, the former in a bright red santa costume and the latter with a large camera hanging from his neck. “Hehe, me too,” giggled Oxnard, glancing back to his friend and admiring the costume he was wearing. “It’s really nice that you’re doing this. I don’t know many mammals who could stand sitting in that boring chair for three whole hours.” Clawhauser grinned upon hearing how his friend admired him for what he was doing. “Heh, thanks,” he said, blushing a little, “you’re also doing me a huge favor for being the photographer. Nick ducked out last minute because of something he had to go do with Judy.” “Aw, it’s no problem, really,” said Oxnard, continuing to walk along with Clawhauser until they finally reached the area the mall had set up for santa volunteers. A bear just a bit larger than Clawhauser saw that his replacement had arrived, and just on time too. The relieved ursine stood up from his post and made his way over to Clawhauser. “Alright, pal,” said the bear, walking by Clawhauser and giving him a pat on the back, “it’s all you.” Clawhauser barely had time to say thanks before the bear was gone and the seat was open. “Well, here goes nothin’,” said Clawhauser, making his way over to the chair and sitting his big cheetah butt down. He looked out to Oxnard, who was setting up the camera, then to the area where animals were supposed to line up, where he saw a lion cub and his mother approaching. “You ready, Oxnard?” asked Clawhauser, looking somewhat nervously over to his friend. Oxnard had just finished setting up the camera and his computer, giving the cheetah a thumbs up to let him know he was ready. The lioness walked up to Clawhauser with her son and, with the help of the cheetah, lifted him up onto his lap. “Ho ho ho, young lion!” exclaimed Clawhauser in the most resonant santa voice he could muster, “what would you like for christmas this year?” “Ummm, uhhh…” the lion cub began, trying to think of what to say. “Well…I wanted some, uh…video games and, umm...some candy?” Clawhauser giggled softly to himself seeing how cute the indecisive little lion was. “Well, I’ll let the elves know to get working on some things for you,” said Clawhauser, looking down to the lion cub, “I’m pretty sure I remember you being on the ‘nice’ list this year.” Seeing the cub smile, he then looked over to Oxnard and the camera. “Alright, look to the camera and say ‘cheese!’,” said Clawhauser, smiling to his friend. The first photo was snapped and all went smoothly. The cub’s mother retrieved her son from santa’s lap and Clawhauser waved them goodbye. “Hey, this isn’t so bad!” said Clawhauser to Oxnard. “Yeah, you’re doing a good job,” encouraged Oxnard, “they’re not all gonna be easy like that, though.” The hamster grinned after saying this, looking over to the next cub in line. It was a rambunctious looking otter, totally bursting at the seams with energy. His parents looked absolutely exhausted, likely having had to keep control of him for the whole day in the mall. The little otter was fidgeting around quite a bit and continued to do so even after his parents plopped him down on Clawhauser’s lap. Clawhauser smiled down to the little critter and began to talk to him in his big santa voice. “Ho ho ho! Well, hello there young otter,” started Clawhauser, “What would you like for Chri--” “--hey, how many spots do you have on your face, Mister?” the otter cut in, poking a little at Clawhauser’s cheek. Clawhauser blushed a light shade of pink under his fur. “Well, I’m not sure,” Clawhauser replied, “I haven’t really ever counted!” “Ollie!” said the otter’s mother, trying her best to get his attention. “Tell Santa Claws what you want him to bring you for Christmas!” It was almost as if the otter couldn’t hear a single thing his mother said as he continued to poke at Clawhauser. He then directed his gaze down to the cheetah’s pants and reached his paw out. “Hahaha, what kind of undies do you wear, santa?” he asked playfully, pulling the front of Clawhauser’s pants out and peeking inside. Clawhauser gave a panicked look to the otter’s parents before the mother came up and got Ollie’s attention. “OLLIE! What did we say about doing things like this?” asked the mother with a disappointed look on her face. “Keep our paws to ourselves,” said Ollie in a droll tone, settling back down but remaining just as fidgety as before. The little otter appeared to be thinking of what to say next, but Clawhauser found something a bit odd in the look on his face. Was it...relaxation? Relief? ‘He couldn’t be...no way,’ thought Clawhauser. The sound of pattering on the floor in front of Clawhauser coupled by a warm wetness under the otter confirmed Clawhauser’s suspicions. The cheetah heard Oxnard gasp before he saw his hamster friend get behind the camera and snap a quick picture of the scene. The otter’s mother immediately ran up and picked Ollie up off of Clawhauser’s lap. “Oh, sorry, sir! He usually tells us when he has to go,” said his mother, placing the little otter on the ground as he nervously held his paws over his now soaked pants. “Honey, we have to get going,” said the otter’s father, approaching the mother and placing his paw on her shoulder, “Ollie’s got a playdate over at Max’s house in twenty minutes and we need to get him cleaned up before he goes over.” The otter’s mother frantically dug through her purse and pulled out a five dollar bill, handing it to Clawhauser. “Here, this should cover the cleaning. From the look of the material of those pants, I’d suggest you get them cleaned within the next ten minutes, or the stain and the smell might stay,” said Ollie’s mother, grabbing her son’s paw and leading him away. Turning back to Clawhauser, she smiled and said “trust me, I’m a tailor.” The otters rounded the corner and Clawhauser was left with his friend Oxnard and a pair of soaked Santa pants. “Oxnard, what am I gonna do? This outfit was a rental! I need to get these cleaned, stat!” panicked Clawhauser, looking down nervously at the big, smelly spot on his right thigh. “Well, you heard the lady,” said Oxnard, looking slyly down at Clawhauser’s pants, “we’ve gotta get those pants cleaned. There’s a cleaners over there, I think.” Oxnard pointed back to a cleaners a few stores down. “I can take them over there for you. I just need you to...you know...take them off.” “Take them off?! B-b-but the mall’s packed right now!” said Clawhauser. “Well, if you want your deposit back on the costume, you’re gonna need to fork ‘em over,” said Oxnard. “Are you gonna get me some replacement pants?” asked Clawhauser, nervously fumbling his paws under his waistband. “No can do, buddy,” said Oxnard, trying to hide his smirk, “we’re only allowed a five minute break while we do this and then it’s back to being santa. I’ll be lucky if I just get those pants to the cleaners at this rate.” “Okay, okay,” said Clawhauser, “I get it!” The cheetah checked his surroundings one last time before slipping the bright red pants down and exposing his tighty whities to the mall. He had difficulty finding underwear that was big enough fit him, so the front left very little to the imagination. Not to mention the tailhole was a little too large, giving anyone who saw him from behind quite the generous view of his cheetah tushie. He already felt the eyes of passing mallgoers on him and his lower half. He stepped out of the pants and bent over to pick them up. Just as he was doing so, however. *SNAP* Clawhauser heard the click and saw the flash of a camera behind him, feeling a breeze over the exposed part of his rear end as well. He quickly turned around to see a group of teenage girls all huddled around a phone screen, giggling and looking back up at Clawhauser’s nervous expression. The cheetah blushed deeply, worried that now people would be able to see the red under his fur. He quickly handed Oxnard his pants and the hamster ran off to the cleaners, leaving Clawhauser to fend for himself. The cheetah was about to go sit back down in his chair, when all of the sudden, he heard laughter from a new direction. “Why’s he in his undies?” Clawhauser heard as he looked behind him, seeing a sheep, a rabbit, and a giraffe, all three boys aged around what Clawhauser guessed to be nine or ten. He decided he’d need to ignore them if he wanted them to leave, so he remained faced away from them and standing, which unfortunately left him in a rather vulnerable position. The giraffe and the rabbit ran up to Clawhauser first. The giraffe began by knocking Clawhauser’s hat off of his head and onto the ground in front of him, running away once he did so. The rabbit then ran up, and with one swift motion unclipped the tail clip and dropped Clawhauser’s undies to his ankles, careful to make sure that all he noticed was the hat coming off. “Hey!” shouted Clawhauser, turning back to the giraffe who was now running away and scowling at him. He then turned forward and saw the hat on the ground, deciding he’d need to go pick it up. Trying to take his first step, however, he tripped on the undies that were now around his ankles and fell forward. The sheep was already behind Clawhauser, fully prepared for his task. He quickly snatched Clawhauser’s underwear from his ankles, holding them above his head victoriously as he ran back to his friends and they all got their phones out to capture the chaos that was to ensue. Clawhauser was flat on the ground with nothing to cover his lower half, and he failed to notice until he began to get back up. He began by pushing on the ground with his arms, which in turn pushed his rump out more behind him. The boys giggled and zoomed their cameras in, taking quick snapshots and garnering the attention of other animals passing by, who looked over to see a pudgy cheetah practically mooning them! The boys were giggling especially hard at the sight because of the cheetah’s tiny sac jiggling between his legs. Clawhauser began hearing more giggling behind him, and his stomach began to sink. He looked between his legs and saw a group of animals with their phones out, all snapping pictures and taking videos. Embarrassed that they were all seeing him in his underwear, he decided it’d be best to move somewhere where they couldn’t see him. Right when he stood up, however, he was greeted by Oxnard, who had just returned after dropping his pants off. “Hey, Clawhaus--” said Oxnard before stopping himself and blushing deeply. “Uh...where’d your undies go, Ben?” Clawhauser’s face got ten times redder before he looked down and saw that his cheetah bits were out in the open mall, and while it was busy, to boot! “I mean, I remember you being pretty small, but not that small,” Oxnard said with a playful giggle. Clawhauser looked around, seeing all the animals take notice of his situation, turning their heads and moving closer to the scene. It wasn’t long before a crowd was beginning to form around the santa display, all comprised of animals looking at the display Clawhauser was putting on. “That’s it,” Clawhauser whispered frantically to himself, “I’ve gotta get outta here!” The cheetah searched deep within himself to activate his inner nature of the fastest animal there was, but at his weight, all he could muster was a quick jog. His little winky and balls bounced around lightly between his big furry legs as he ran away from the crowd that had gathered around him. ‘Think, Ben, think! What do you need right now?’ Clawhauser thought to himself, his mind initially too cluttered by the embarrassment of the situation to think clearly. ‘Pants! I need to find a clothing store!’ he decided, now scanning the area for any stores that would carry pants in his size. His eyes stopped at a store called ‘The Purrfect Fit’. “Yes! They should have something!” Clawhauser exclaimed, sprinting over with complete disregard for how much he was exposing to those who were passing by. He burst through the doors to the store, shocking a few of the customers who were inside. Seeing their eyes go wide at his crotch, Clawhauser quickly remembered to cover his privates with his paws before stepping up to a lady working at the store who was turned away, speaking to a different customer. “Uh...miss?” Clawhauser asked, reaching his paw up to tap her shoulder before she turned around and got a glimpse of some of his uncovered bits. She was a cheetah lady, and the look on her face told Clawhauser that he was far from the most impressive cat she’s seen. “Yes?” she said, grinning as she looked down to Clawhauser’s naked lower half, “are you in need of assistance?” Clawhauser’s face went even redder once he noticed her staring at him like that. “Yes, uh...do you guys carry any pants in Acinonyx XXL?” Clawhauser’s tail swished nervously over his enormous rear end as he asked, eyes darting back and forth nervously. “Sorry, sir,” she said, holding back her giggles, “I’m afraid we don’t carry that size for that species.” She looked back down at his furry thighs and blushed. “I’m...also going to have to ask you to leave, sir. This store has a strict ‘no nudity’ policy.” If all the customers in the store weren’t looking, they sure were by now. Clawhauser felt the watching eyes and deafening giggles pierce through him as he turned around and bolted out the store. ‘Where do I go? Where do I go?!’ Clawhauser asked himself, looking from store to store and trying to find one that might carry his size. The cheetah was so focused on the stores he was looking at that he didn’t even notice the countless animals he was passing...or the fact that he had just walked out onto the ice rink. He first felt his paws get a lot colder. He then looked down to see that he was on the ice, and realizing that he was imbalanced, Clawhauser began swinging his arms all over the place to catch himself. This gave the skaters a very personal view of Clawhauser’s bits bouncing back and forth as he tried to catch his balance. Eventually, the inevitable happened, and a rhino skater who didn’t see Clawhauser bumped into the cheetah, sending him on his back and making him slide backwards until he hit his head comically against the fence to the rink. Hitting his head this hard made the cheetah knock himself out, leaving him on his back with his legs spread open. The skaters began to form a crowd around Clawhauser, looking down and seeing his cheetah winky and balls on full display. “I never thought cheetahs could be that small, heheh,” joked a rabbit who was on the ice with his goat buddy. “Yeah, and I don’t think the ice is doing him any favors either,” commented the goat, making some nearby animals snicker. “There you are, Clawhauser!” yelled Oxnard, from the entrance of the rink. “Ben, we need to finish our shif--woah! What happened?!” Oxnard ran up to the crowd and looked down at the half-naked cheetah, blushing at the sight. “Well, I’m no doctor,” said nearby grown lion, “but my guess is he got knocked out after hitting his head on the fence. He’s still breathing.” “Oh, well that’s good, I guess,” said Oxnard, quickly holding up his camera and snapping an up close photo of Clawhauser’s exposed and tiny cheetah parts. “I can take this from here,” said Oxnard, stepping up to Clawhauser, turning around, bending down, and picking up the cheetah from his ankles while he dragged him out of the ice rink with a huge grin on his face. ‘Nick’s gonna flip when he sees these pictures.’