[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oop.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: The titular [[NameAndName Dev and Lee]]]]

''Out of Position'' is a furry erotic novel by Creator/KyellGold. It takes place in the Forester Universe, in a country that is analogous to the United States. The novel focuses on a romance between Wiley "Lee" Farrel, a red fox and gay rights activist, and Devlin Miski, a tiger who plays football. The first half of the novel is set at Forrester University. Devlin Miski is a cornerback on the University football team. One night, he has a one-night stand with a vixen. As they are about to have sex, he finds out that the vixen is actually male.

The main series has six books in it as of February 2020

# ''Out of Position''
# ''Isolation Play''
# ''Divisions''
# ''Uncovered''
# ''Over Time''
# ''Titles''

In July 2017, a side-story compilation, ''Tales of the Firebirds'', was released, and in November 2018, ''Ty Game'' was released, focusing on Dev's friend and teammate Ty.

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!!The novels contain examples of:
* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Averted. Even after Dev falls in love with Lee, he doesn't seem to find other guys sexually attractive.
* AntiClimax: Invoked in ''Out of Position'' with the last game the Firebirds play. After thoroughly explaining that the Firebirds are losing, all the homosexual slander he goes through during the game, and the lack of support from a few teammates, Dev abruptly summarizes that [[spoiler:they won the game]] very briefly in only two paragraphs.
* AttentionWhore: Lightning Strike and Brian to different degrees. Difference is Lightning Strike is basically well meaning; that's just the kind of guy he is and he isn't malicious about it. Brian on the other hand wants attention only on his own terms and doesn't care who he has to hurt to get it and becomes even more bitter when things don't go his way.
* AttractiveBentGender: Lee can effortlessly turn heads, orientations be damned.
* AwesomeMcCoolName: Lightning Strike. He legally changed his name to that.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Brian]] in ''Divisions'', whereas in ''Out of Position'', he was a full-on {{Jerkass}}.
* TheBusCameBack: Brian shows up again halfway into ''Divisions''. [[spoiler: And then disappears for good in ''Over Time'']]
* CerebusSyndrome: While the series didn't exactly start out tame, it becomes far more depressing and tense the further along it goes on, and both main characters are constantly forced to deal with various personal problems that are much more serious compared to the problems they faced in the first book.
* ClosetKey: Dev never saw it coming.
* DeadpanSnarker: Lee's really good at this.
* {{Determinator}}: You can throw the media, jealous, smug ex-best friends, unsupportive teammates, angry fathers, and homophobic rival football players and fans at Dev all at once and it ''still'' won't matter to him. He's still gonna play football. He's still gonna be in love with Lee.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Lee at first. But as the series progresses, he becomes more vital to the story. By ''Divisions'', he's swapped roles with Dev and becomes the main protagonist.
* DirtyCoward: Somewhat justified with Brian. After he was released from the hospital following the gay bashing, his parents had him transferred to a different college, and he didn't even try to persuade them against it. Lee calls him out on it, at which point Brian admits that he didn't want to stay knowing he'd be reliving the moment and would be branded as "that fag who got beat up."
* DisguisedInDrag: Lee frequently employs this for various reasons.
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: When Dev's father objects to Dev and Lee's relationship Lee assumes it's because he's homophobic. While Mikhail isn't crazy about the idea that Dev is gay, his actual objection was that he felt Dev had changed, and that Lee was pulling him away from his family.
* DrivenToSuicide: How Lee's subplot in ''Divisions'' kicked off. A young gay football player that e-mailed Dev and was traded to the Dragons by Lee AteHisGun. Needless to say, Lee took his death hard. [[spoiler: Happens again with Fisher in ''Over Time'', where, after being forced into retirement, tried to [[AteHisGun shoot himself in the head]], but rethought it at the last minute, only ending up with a broken jaw.]]
* DudeLooksLikeALady: There is a reason people tend to refer to Wiley as a "vixen".
* DumbJock: Lee's initial opinion of Dev and other football players.
* {{Fanservice}}: Downplayed as the series progresses, but the first book had quite a few {{NSFW}} scenes...
* FreudianExcuse: Brian's whole reason for getting involved with gay rights activism and for hating Dev--and football players in general. He was a victim of a gay bashing that was led by typical [[JerkJock Jerk Jocks]], which ended with him having a few broken bones.
* FurryConfusion: Anthropomorphism [[WorldOfMammals only seems to apply to land-based mammals]], as there have yet to be any reptilian, amphibian, fish, avian, or aquatic-based mammalian characters. Also, Lee and his father both mention how Lee used to have a pet ''lizard'' as a pup. Later on in ''Over Time'' this is sorta explained by anthropomorphic furs having feral ancestors and there still being ferals around the wild.
* GreenEyedMonster: Brian is either this or a CrazyJealousGuy.
* ImmediateSequel: ''Isolation Play'' picks up about five minutes where ''Out Of Position'' left off.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Lighting Strike gets Dev bondage gear for Christmas, having somehow come to the conclusion that it was something that Dev would want.
* ItGetsEasier: Inverted, and invoked. [[spoiler:Part of the reason why Dev came out of the closet on live television was because he thought things would be easier in his life. But it doesn't alleviate the situation; if anything, it just made things harder]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Brian to varying degrees.
* JerkJock: There are some, including Dev to some extent at the beginning. In a book that tackles homophobia on a college campus, how could there not be a few of these?
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dev's father is kind of an asshole, but he's (mostly) not prejudiced and actually does care about Dev, he just has a hard time showing it. By the later three novels, the jerk aspect is, for the most part, gone.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler:Dev publicly comes out of the closet at the end of ''Out of Position'']]. Anyone who hasn't read the first book probably shouldn't look at the blurb on ''Isolation Play'' or ''Divisions''...
* ManipulativeBastard: Brian in ''Out of Position''. After all, he did convince Lee to [[spoiler:give him a handjob out of pity after he threatened to get Dev kicked out of the league.]]
* MoodWhiplash: All over the place. Chapter 7 of ''Uncovered'', for example, starts with [[spoiler:the Firebirds winning a game]], and then ''immediately'' switches over to [[spoiler:Lee nearly being beaten up by two drunken homophobes]].
* TheNoseKnows:
** Like most Kyell Gold novels, it's easy for Dev and Lee to tell what species a person is, what a person recently ate or drank, when they recently showered, or what mood they're in just by noticing their scent.
** This actually becomes a plot device in ''Uncovered'', as Dev manages to deduce that [[spoiler:Colin was having sex with Argonne after he smelled Colin's semen on Argonne's breath]].
* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: A lot of the Firebirds players have nicknames that are used more than their real names. Charm's name, in particular, has never been revealed. [[spoiler: Until ''Over Time'', where it's revealed to be Winston Porter.]]
* PottyEmergency: A drunken Lee suffers one in ''Out of Position'' after [[ItMakesSenseInContext Dev shoves him in a closet to hide from two Hellentown coaches]].
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Brian]] in ''Isolation Play''.
* SmugSnake: Brian.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Usually between Brian and Lee. Lee actually tries his best ''not'' to act snarky or angry around him, because Brian's basically a {{Troll}} who wants Lee to get mad just so he can throw more snarky insults at him.
* StraightGay: Dev.
* TearsOfJoy: Lee, after [[spoiler:Dev finally admits he's in love with him to the public]].
* TimeSkip: There's a ten year gap between ''Over Time'' and ''Titles''.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** Deconstructed with Dev. In ''Divisions'' (and especially ''Uncovered''), Dev becomes increasingly bitter and prickly towards Lee because he's constantly bothering him about Vince King's suicide and all his other personal problems, which distract Dev from his football career. Nevertheless, Dev is, at least, self-aware of his hostile attitude, and he always regrets and beats himself up over the things he says and/or does to Lee, and he (or Lee) try to get past their various arguments.
** Fisher in ''Uncovered'', although that may have to do with [[spoiler:the steroids he started taking]].
* TookALevelInKindness:
** Dev's father Mikhail. In ''Isolation Play'', he's an ordinary {{Jerkass}}, but by the end of the book, [[spoiler:he's finally accepted Lee into the family and becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold]]. By ''Divisions'', the "Jerk" part of him is pretty much gone.
** In a similar view, Lee's mother, Eileen, [[spoiler: after she cut her ties with Family's United. She's still not ready to move on, but it's FAR better than burning her son's belongings. By the end of the series, they're even on speaking terms again.]]
** Some of Dev's teammates didn't approve of the tiger's relationship with Lee and his sexual orientation either. Most of them got over it by ''Divisions'', or at least tolerate it and don't outwardly disapprove it.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: Wiley's relationship with his mother was already strained at best, but then Eileen joined some kind of support group for parents whose children were "corrupted" by the gays, and started spending time with [[JerkAss Mrs. Hedley]], who ended up driving an even bigger wedge between Eileen and Wiley.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Dev and Lee's subplots usually take place at the same time, but are told from different perspectives. In addition to that, most of what Lee does ends up impacting Dev later on in the series, and vice versa.
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Causing panic, anger, frustration, denial, and ultimately, introspection.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Brian and Lee.
* WhamEpisode: ''Uncovered'' could very well qualify for being a ''Wham Book'', for several reasons.
** Chapter 5 reveals that [[spoiler:there ''is'' another gay player on the Firebirds team. It's Kodi]].
** Chapter 6 ends with [[spoiler:Fisher getting a concussion after being normally tackled to the ground]].
** Chapter 7 starts with [[spoiler:the Firebirds winning the game]], but then immediately switches over to [[spoiler:Lee being assaulted by two drunk homophobes and filing charges against one of them, while the other escapes. Later, Gena confesses that Fisher has been taking drugs to help him cope with his leg injury, and it's heavily implied he's also taking steroids.]]
** Chapter 10, one of the biggest WHAMS in the series. [[spoiler:Dev finds out about Lee's court case and confesses about it to him. They get into another argument that makes Lee realize he can't be around him without "screwing up his career." So Lee, temporarily, leaves. Dev doesn't even try to convince him to come back.]]
** Chapter 11 reveals that [[spoiler:Dev's brother, Gregory, is one of the lawyers defending Families United. Dev angrily tells Lee to stay away right when Lee is about to apologize for leaving. Lee calls his father and Dev's mother and tells them about what happened between him and Dev and about Gregory. Lee decides to stay with Hal until the championship is over, and he seriously wonders how long his relationship with Dev will last.]]
** Chapter 28: [[spoiler:After several nail-biting [[HopeSpot Hope Spots]], the Firebirds lose the championship. ''By one point''.]]
** Chapter 29: Immediately after the game ends, [[spoiler:Polecki, one of the Sabretooths, comes out of the closet on live TV, confirming to the world that Dev was not the first (or last) gay football player in Forester]].
** Chapter 30 reveals that [[spoiler:there's a ''third'' gay player in the Firebirds. This time it's Colin, who's been cheating on his wife with Argonne.]]
* WhamLine: Same as above. ''Uncovered'' features several revelations, some of which are exposed with just one or two lines.
** This line from ''Uncovered'', which had "foreboding" written all over it:
--> '''Dev''': [[spoiler:"I know about the court case."]]
** The beginning of Chapter 11 has Lee dropping one hell of a revelation to the readers regarding [[spoiler:Dev finding out about Lee's court case against Families United]]:
--> '''Lee''': [[spoiler:He didn't find out from his brother, who is one of the attorneys defending Families United.]]
** And again, from the same chapter, a mere ''three-worded text message'' practically changes Dev's character throughout the series:
--> '''Dev''': Fine. Stay there.
** Chapter 29 has this line from the press conference after the game, which changes the series ''entirely''.
--> '''Polecki''': [[spoiler:"I wish I had had the courage to do this before the game, so that this would be recorded as the first game in which two openly gay players faced each other."]]
** There's also this line from Chapter 30, after Dev confronts Colin:
--> '''Dev''': [[spoiler:"You do know that his name is 'Argonne,' right? The fox who's been blowing you before road games?"]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Both Dev and Lee have called each other out on some of the morally wrong things they've done during their relationship.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Lee is sort of one. He doesn't always wear women's clothes, just every so often. It gets mostly dropped in the later books.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: [[spoiler:Colin can't stand Dev for being gay, yet he refuses to admit that he's also gay and is constantly receiving blowjobs from Argonne]].