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"description": "Though the boys get some answers, they merely lead to further mysteries. Mike takes a risk to distract his best friend from the recent tragedies, but is it really such a good idea to run off right now?!\nNevertheless, they get their chance to address at least some of the greatest mystery of them all: each other.\n\nThis series contains scenes of occasional coarse language, explicit sexual themes and violence, oftentimes involving \"cubs.\" It's also a novel and contains actual plot. Enjoy!\nThis particular chapter contains scenes of sexual and adult themes involving cubs. You have been warned.\n\nNote: I ask that you download the actual document to see this novel as it was intended. However, for those without patience (i.e., the dumb-asses), I am going to allow the InkBunny preview window to hold the entire story. I repeat: downloading the actual file is VERY much recommended.",
"description_bbcode_parsed": "Though the boys get some answers, they merely lead to further mysteries. Mike takes a risk to distract his best friend from the recent tragedies, but is it really such a good idea to run off right now?!
Nevertheless, they get their chance to address at least some of the greatest mystery of them all: each other.
This series contains scenes of occasional coarse language, explicit sexual themes and violence, oftentimes involving "cubs." It's also a novel and contains actual plot. Enjoy!
This particular chapter contains scenes of sexual and adult themes involving cubs. You have been warned.
Note: I ask that you download the actual document to see this novel as it was intended. However, for those without patience (i.e., the dumb-asses), I am going to allow the InkBunny preview window to hold the entire story. I repeat: downloading the actual file is VERY much recommended.",
"writing": "Tai’s Story - Chapter 8.\nBy Kichigai Kitsune\nCopyright 2005 onwards.\n\nDisclaimer: This story contains coarse language, violence, adult themes and scenes of an adult nature involving two young “cubs” (young anthropomorphic non-humans). If you are under the legal age as prescribed by the laws under which you are subject to reading such material, do not continue beyond this disclaimer. \n\n\tIt had been only several minutes since his son had caught up with him, with Tai in tow. \nTingling with relief and slightly faint, Robert had returned to his office and flopped heavily into his chair. The boys had gone into the bathroom together, apparently to clean Tai up. He’d looked bad indeed when he returned from the roof, though he politely apologized for scaring them.\n\tWith a sigh of resignation, Robert plucked a bottle of cognac from his bureau and poured himself a glass. The damn thing had been festering in his drawer since he’d received it at Mike’s baby-shower. After the stress of today—and especially after the near-heart attack Tai had given him—Robert felt he could use something, even something that tasted like the offspring of vodka and old socks.\n\tHe’d ‘treated’ himself to about three glasses before there was a knock on the door.\n\t“Come in.” He straightened up in the leather chair, and was struck by an intense, unnatural dizziness. He’d had maybe ten beers in ten years, as football and books were his vices. Three shots of the cognac and he already felt like his head had been replaced by a spinning top.\n\tThe door was opened only after he responded, which was a bit different to normal. The two kits walked in slowly, with Tai being supported by Mike. It didn’t seem necessary, though Tai did look like he’d gone through a marathon and a half.\n\t“Dad, can we talk to you?” Mike spoke first. He looked exhausted himself. “About what happened?”\n\tWith a sigh, Robert checked his computer clock. “It’s three in the morning. Are you sure you want to get started now?” He’d promised Tai that he’d explain, and he would, but it was getting absurdly late. He doubted either of the kits had been awake this late before. Surely they were too tired.\n\tTai nodded. “Please.”\n\tThere was a long pause. Robert swallowed, and regretted it. The alcohol burned the back of his throat and the taste of the gag-inducing substance had lingered for minutes after he imbibed it. Finally he nodded and stood. \n\t“Alright.” He cracked his neck and pushed his chair back in. “I think I need a coffee. A real one.” \n\tMike cocked his head in confusion. “What do you mean?” \n\t“I mean, let’s go for a drive.”\n\t“Now?”\n\t“I’d rather not discuss anything here.” Robert frowned and looked from one kit to the next. “Do you think you can stay awake for much longer?” \n\t“I think we can,” replied Mike, “and if not, you could always let us have a coffee too.” \n\t“Not likely, mister. Let’s go.” Robert took a step forwards and swayed on his paws. “Whoa. Um, j-just give me a minute, okay guys?”\n\nThey didn’t drive that far away really. Robert didn’t think he was drunk, but he didn’t want to risk it. They just drove to a small diner that was still open for some baffling reason; a little eatery on the corner of a major road, surrounded by a lot more activity than the late hour suggested. According to Mike, they were a few blocks away from a place called “Time Square” or something. According to Mike, it was a major landmark.\nRobert ordered a coffee, resolutely ignoring the curious expressions of the staff as they wondered why on earth a fox had brought his two sons with him to a diner at half three in the morning. \nWhen Robert asked the boys what they wanted, if anything, Tai at least realized just how starving he was. He’d gone long without eating before, but today, after the vomiting and stress, he needed to eat. He wasn’t just tired, he was faint and exhausted. \nHe quietly requested some sausages and a cola. \nMike followed suit, his grumbling stomach making him regret declining food from his dad earlier. He’d had dinner, but that had been some time ago now. In fact, he belatedly realized this was the latest his dad had ever let him stay up.\nIt certainly qualified as a special occasion, though.\nWhen the waitress left, Robert looked pensive. “I didn’t really want to have to tell you- either of you- any of this,” he admitted softly. The two kits’ ears perked up instantly. “At least not until you were older. In fact, I hoped it wouldn’t ever really be necessary.”\nMike frowned. “Tell us what?” \n“I asked you earlier, Tai, if you knew what your mom did at work.” Robert rubbed at his eyes. “If you’d asked her, she might have said she worked in an office at the docks.”\nTai nodded. Though the truth was, actually, Eraline wouldn’t have given him a straight answer. She never did.\n“That’d be sort of true.” The coffee arrived, and Robert received it gratefully. It wasn’t much better than the cognac in his eyes, but at least he thought it tasted nicer. Of course, he could also do with the help staying awake and counteracting the alcohol. “I’m going to need to go back a long way to explain this all, I think.”\n\t“A long way?” Tai repeated, confused.\n\t“Twelve or so years ago, before either of you were born.” The grownup took a big breath. “When I was younger, and about to graduate from university with honors in Literature, I got a job offer for something I’d wanted to do since I was… well, your age.” He chuckled wryly. “I was still in England at the time, and I had expressed interest in this since I started university at age eighteen. It was an offer from MI5, the British intelligence agency. You know what that is, right Tai?”\n\tThe tawny pup nodded. “Yeah, sort of.” Or at least, he’d heard of it. They were from the time humans and the evolved animals coexisted, eventually inherited by the younger races along with much of the human infrastructure. Cabals of spies and secret agents, to keep watch over enemies and allies alike. Though not even nine years old, Tai could read well, and the amount of books about spies and intelligence agencies written for young boys was understandably many.\n\t“Well, I wasn’t about to say no. I joined up as an analyst.” Robert took another gigantic slurp of coffee as the sausages arrived. “It’s not much fun being in that industry during peace time. It’s not as cool a job as you think. You’re still busy, and there’s always some group, or some other nation, that wants to blow up your country. Don’t forget to eat, you two.”\n\tAbsently, both pups ate a small, fat sausage in two bites, but their eyes never left Robert’s face. \n\t“After a few years of doing this, another opportunity came up. There was a sort of exchange-program; a show of faith between nations. Some agents would be able to move to a new country and work for their agencies instead – provided they renounced their citizenship and swore loyalty to their new country, of course. Naturally this was a big risk, but everybody just picked from allies and even then watched them like hawks.” Robert laughed. “Oh, it took years for them to get off my back and actually trust me – if they even truly have. Oh, getting ahead of myself. Yes, I moved to America to work with one of their agencies.”\n\t“Wait a second!” Mike burst out in alarm. He didn’t like where this was going. “I-I didn’t know any of this! You were a spy?” \n\tRobert shook his head and motioned for his son to keep his voice down. “No, not a spy. I worked in an office. Anyway, I joined the CIA and things looked up for a little while. I started to like America, and work certainly picked up. Even nowadays people want to seriously inconvenience this country. Usually with bombs.\n\t“After about two years, I met a young field agent. A vixen, in fact.” He flushed under his fur. “I, uh, fell in love with her. We became close friends, but in the end, another good friend of mine made the first move. His name was Thomas. Tom Shepherd; and her name was Eraline…” \n\tTai gawked at him. \n\t“Yeah. Tom didn’t know how I felt, and so he made the first move. I never got to find out exactly how much Eraline felt for me, but she was happy with Tom. Very happy. So I let it go.”\n\tMike looked a little bemused. “Huh?” \n\t“My dad…” Tai replied, sounding awed. “He was a…?”\n\t“It wasn’t long then until I met someone else… another field agent. Apparently I was a danger magnet.” Robert fixed his son with a warm look. “Her name was Haley, and she had the most beautiful chestnut colored fur you’d ever seen.” \n\tNow Mike gawked at him.\n\t“Soon, our little family was split up. Eraline had lived in San Francisco for a few years before, so she moved back there with Thomas. They received an assignment together, posing as a married couple.” Robert sighed deeply. “It was much harder for me and Haley, however. I was an analyst, and her job was… very different. \n\t“She was soon pregnant, and the guys upstairs didn’t like that. They tried to get her to terminate, but we refused… soon, we had a little boy. Our jobs were in danger, but for some reason Haley didn’t care. She really didn’t. This was more important to her – and to me.” \n\tMike swallowed. “M-me?” \n\t“Yes. Some things are more important than a career. I had to do something, though. Haley and I had a son, which got in the way of our jobs to begin with, and now there was a definite link between me and her. So… I changed departments, so to speak. I moved to New York with Mike, and instead of being a full-time analyst, they gave me a very different job, a quiet one that let me live a more normal life. I was a contact for agents, both ours and foreign allies, in my area… including Haley, who could easily pose as my wife.” He laughed. “It wasn’t a pose for long. We married before Mike was one year old.”\n\tMike whimpered. “I thought you met in high school!”\n\tRobert looked apologetic. “I’m sorry Mike, we weren’t even in the same country when we were in high school. You were young. You still are. I didn’t think it mattered.” He closed his eyes. “Eventually, Eraline and Thomas had a son too. When Tai was about four, they had to move up to Alaska. The story was they’d lost their home and most of their money, and were going to stay with a relative, but in reality they were told to go there. I don’t know why; I was never privy to the details of their work. That means nobody ever told me, and I wasn’t allowed to know. It was about roughly the same time… Haley died.”\n\tMike choked. “How did she die?” he pleaded with a cracking voice, sudden tears appearing in his eyes. “How did she really die?”\n\t“There were no lies there, Mike,” said Robert, tearful himself. “She crashed into a streetlight. There was nothing to say she’d been made to crash. Or anything that said she did it on purpose either for that matter. I-it was just… an accident. I promise.” \n\tThe barky furred cub nodded and swiped at his eyes. “O-okay.”\n\t“The world was mostly at peace, Mike. It’s not like we were at war. Everything was just run of the mill for us… we weren’t behind enemy lines or anything. Heck, we were still here in America. We just had some pretty exotic jobs.” Robert sighed heavily once more. “Having said that… a few months later, Tom was killed in a boating accident.” \n\tTai inhaled sharply.\n\t“I can’t tell you what your parents were doing, Tai, mostly because I don’t know myself. Nobody ever told me it was murder, though; another accident, I think.”\n\tThe kit nodded, sniffing once. “I remember what they said.” \n\t“And now there’s only one left…” Mike exclaimed, aghast. “Dad!!”\n\t“Shh. I’m going nowhere for awhile yet, Mike. Don’t let your superstitions get the better of you.”\n\tMike looked both hurt and unconvinced. \n\t“Why?” Tai asked quietly. “Why was mom murdered? Why is she the only one?”\n\t“I think, but I don’t know for sure, that whatever she was doing up in Alaska, she was continuing down here. Something about a crime syndicate or terrorists or something. I don’t really know, and I couldn’t tell you directly even if I knew.” \n\tTai looked about to argue, but thought better of it. His quiet, unassertive nature was ironically reasserting itself and his hot anger was cooling fast as the sense of loss came down on him again.\nFinally he slumped forwards, hiding his head in his folded elbows, his long head-fur collapsing over him in a veil. He started to cry quietly.\n\t“This is incredible,” murmured Mike. “It’s like some stupid movie. Our parents were secret agents.” \n\t“The parents never die in movies,” Tai whispered shortly. So he still had no answers. He didn’t want to risk offending Robert by pushing his luck further either. \n\tHe felt so different to the way he did when his dad died. Maybe it was because of how his mother was killed, or maybe it was because now he’d lost both parents, or because he was older, but whatever it was this time he wanted to know everything. He needed to know why it happened. He couldn’t just accept this. \nIt might have been that he wanted something to blame, or something to distract him from the central fact of the matter: that he was alone, kept for the moment by friends who had been specifically told to throw him away. “Did she… um, finish her mission, or whatever?” he enquired, still not looking up.\n\t“… No, I don’t think so.” \n\tRobert looked the stricken cub over. He was exhausted in every way, had been for the past few hours at least. The only thing keeping Tai moving was his immediate hunger for answers, exacerbated by his fear of what was to come, his unknown future, and Robert had given him little to satiate that. “My guess is that she was blown.”\n\tNothing but a half-hearted nod for a reply. Robert didn’t even know if Tai understood what he’d just said.\n\tMike was looking once again at his father, his expression blank even though his eyes watered. Robert swallowed and looked away quickly. He knew the question Mike was asking silently, and he could almost sense how Mike felt so deeply betrayed. But he couldn’t make himself answer that question. Not just yet. \n\tRobert felt sick, and experienced another surge of repugnance towards himself. “I think we all need to sleep. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more to tell you for now.”\n\tAnother nod. Robert stood, paid the bill, and they left. He had to carry the smaller kit to the car, and his own son stumbled as he walked too.\n\n\tAs days went by, it became obvious that Tai was suffering. At first, the kit was just melancholic and withdrawn, still occasionally bursting into tears for very short periods of time before getting himself under control again—he never explained what had set it off. \nThen he started to hide away by himself, which Robert supposed was merely him trying to be alone to deal with the grief, but Mike disagreed. Mike told his father that it seemed more like the grieving eight-year-old was aware of the distress he was causing his friends and was trying to stay out of their way. \n\tRobert eventually had to agree. Tai sometimes tried to feign emotion or interest for their sake, smiling deceptively, before returning to brooding— usually in another room. Sometimes, Mike or his father would look away for just a few seconds and the tawny kit would’ve slipped out of the room.\n\tMike also appreciated the time alone though. The barky-furred ten year old had things to work through too. He was being brave about it, considerate of what Tai had lost, but everything that had happened had shaken his world too. \nHis perception of his own father, as a fur, had changed dramatically – especially since he was now positive his dad knew something about what happened a few years ago, and he was unsure what to think of that. That had happened a long time ago, to his way of thinking, but as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, it had been an awful experience. If his father knew the guy that did it why had he kept it a secret? Mike had described his attacker well… Robert would’ve known it was him.\nBut how could Mike ask about it? There was really no proof that his father knew the ferret, only the disturbing coincidence that it was the same ferret. Yet something told Mike otherwise; his father’s reluctance to even mention the matter was almost proof.\nThe notion that his dad might have betrayed him, or even just kept such an awful secret from him, was utterly terrifying. Mike resolved to put the matter off as long as he could. He could live with being the victim of sexual assault… he couldn’t live without his father. If knowing the truth would cost that much, he didn’t care.\nThough that wasn’t the only thing concerning Mike. Despite the younger pup’s efforts, Mike started to worry more and more about Tai as time went on. He was finding it harder and harder to ignore Tai’s misery, and begun to hate the fact Tai felt he needed to hide from them all. But he wasn’t sure what to do. \nDeath was a terrible thing to dwell on, Mike knew. Tai may have gone through it twice now, but Mike had learned quickly that thinking long and hard about fate, about what happens to the ones you’ve lost, was more than upsetting. It was horrible on a very disturbing level that a lot of people simply didn’t realize. \nWhen someone close to you dies, you ask questions. Your own answers can almost destroy you, and Mike knew this.\nOver a week passed, and the apartment was disturbingly quiet. Mike felt he was waking up every morning in a strange place…\nThen, one day, Robert made the mistake of telling Tai when his mom’s funeral was set. The kit let out a stricken cry and fled. After that, the subject was not raised again.\n\tThe next morning after that episode, two were up earlier than usual. Just as the sun was starting to warm the city streets, Mike was already up and dressed, making his dad a simple breakfast. Even for him that was rather unusual, but he had a good reason.\nRobert growled softly into the study-room phone as Mike walked in with the cereal bowl, resulting in a slightly surprised glance before he returned to the phone call. “What do you mean, he’s not covered?” he demanded incredulously. “We’re not an insurance agency. His mother dies for us and we don’t even give the kid the time of—Yes I… Yes I know that, but I’m not about to…” There was a pause and Robert looked in disgust at the receiver. “Don’t be so god-damned absurd! How the bloody hell can I do this for one and not the other – the one who needs it! Look, never mind.” He slammed the phone down and looked at Mike, who was just fidgeting at the side of the desk. “Thanks, Mike. I have to go to, uh, my job’s office tomorrow.” \n“The university?” asked Mike hopefully. For some reason, it really mattered to him.\n“No, that other job. Sorry.” Robert smiled apologetically. “There are a lot of issues to work out, so it’ll take a long time. I’m trying to get a baby-sitter for you two.” \n“Oh, come on dad, we don’t need one.” They really didn’t, to be honest. Mike could cook simple things, was responsible enough to look after himself for a night and knew how to contact the right people if something went wrong. His father had raised him to be as self reliant as possible. But things were different at the moment.\n“Normally, I’d guess not, but right now I don’t want to take any risks.” Robert sighed angrily. “I tried to get them to send someone down here to protect you both, but they won’t do it for Tai. He’s supposed to be at an orphanage by now, they tell me. Not my business.” \nMike suddenly looked fiercely outraged. “It’s their fault that-!” \n“I know, I know. I’ll still have to get someone I trust though.”\n“…Jake?” \nRobert beamed. “Good idea. He likes you guys too. I’ll have to speak to his dad again soon…” He whirled around and picked up his keys and jacket, but looked around for his wallet. Mike held it out for him, since apparently Robert had left it on the side of the heavy desk. “I have to wait for his school to finish though. Speaking of that, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Where’s Tai? We’ll get him to sit in on it too.” \nMike pointed at the living room. “He’s been up since, like, five, dad. I think he had another nightmare.” The bark furred kit furrowed his brow. “Dad, I think he needs therapy, or at least someone to talk to.” \n “He does. But they won’t let me. You see, when it comes to protecting him, he doesn’t know anything useful, no chance. But when it comes to getting him help, he might know something so we can’t have him seeing a therapist. They’re making him wait a month before they get around to helping him, if they do at all.” \nRobert paused for a moment and regarded his son, keeping his surprise off his features. Mike had opinions about therapists due to his own experiences; he had to be exceptionally concerned to be suggesting them for Tai.\n“But dad…”\n“I know, don’t worry. I’m not going to let them do this without a fight. Look… I have to go out for a little while – I tried, but I can’t get anyone to look after you.” He headed for the door. “I won’t be very long, I promise. You know the drill, okay? Stay inside and don’t answer the door or the phone. Don’t let anyone know it’s just you and Tai. And I mean, not a soul. Don’t talk to anybody at all. If anything goes wrong, get help immediately. Alright?”\n“OK dad, I will.” Mike smiled as his dad whirled down the hallway, in a rush as always. \n\t“…Not.”\n\n\tTai was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the den, leaning backwards with his arms placed on the ground behind him, his weight on them. His expression was the haunting, blank middle-distance stare that he’d adopted recently. The one that unnerved Mike so much. The television was on, showing financial news rather than morning cartoons, and the volume was way down. It didn’t take much deduction for Mike to realize Tai was not paying the slightest bit of attention. \n\tHe hadn’t even got dressed. He was sitting in Mike’s old bathrobe and his boxers, something even his dad wouldn’t normally tolerate after breakfast.\n\tWith a sigh of resignation, Mike walked over to the television in front of the vacant kit, switched it off and knelt down next to Tai, sticking his protruding muzzle next to the small, tawny ear. “Are you okay?” he asked, unnecessarily. “That can’t be good for your eyes.”\n\tTai jumped, looking at Mike as if the intrusion had frightened him. “Oh!” He blinked. “Wh-what? What can’t be good for my ears?”\n\t“I said ‘eyes’,” another sigh. Mike sat down next to Tai’s small form. He reached out and ran a paw through the kit’s head-fur. “Want to do something today?” \n\t“Like what?” came the dull reply. \n\t“Like go out?”\n\tThe younger boy’s expression became wary. “Go where?”\n\t“Anywhere!” There was a heat in Mike’s voice; hadn’t Tai learned by now that Mike was on his side? “Anywhere is better than you sitting on your butt inside like this for the rest of forever! You’re gonna grow mushrooms on that tail if you don’t let it see some sunshine!” \n\tTai gave a noncommittal smile. “But where? Your dad’s out and I don’t think-”\n\tMike cut him off with a stern glare. “What he don’t know won’t hurt him. Besides, he never minds me going around the block… anyway, I want to show you something.”\n\tTai raised an eyebrow. “Show me what?” \n\t“Urgh…” Hazel eyes rolled back in Mike’s head. “That living in the city isn’t a total suck-tail deal. You’re always moping about how you miss stuff in the country, but there’s some interesting stuff here, too. So c’mon Hayseed, change into something you’ve not been wearing for a week and let’s hit the sidewalk!”\n\t“I’m not a hayseed! Do I even get-?”\n\t“A choice? No.”\n\tTai sighed and stared at the floor for a moment. “I’ll get dressed,” he mumbled, standing and stumbling towards his room. He clearly wasn’t happy with this, but Mike didn’t give a crap. He had made up his mind.\n\tAnd so it was that two minutes later the boys were out of the apartment building and padding leisurely down the sidewalk. Tai led the way, but he was guided by Mike. He was almost afraid to look around at his friend, because it felt peculiarly like he was looming behind him with a gargantuan mallet.\n\t“Umm, are we going further than just around the block?” Tai asked, slightly anxious. He felt a little resentful at being bullied out of the house, but to his way of thinking there was nothing he could do. He was still the guest in the Donaldson home.\n\t“Yeah. Look, dad’s gonna be away for a long time, Tai. Just don’t tell him and he won’t be upset.” \n\tTai sighed his agreement. “So where to now?” \n\t“Central Park!” \n\tTai looked up and scanned the tall buildings around him, getting larger and more imposing as they went deeper into the city. “They put a park in here?” he said skeptically. \n\t“They did, actually. It’s a big one, too.”\n\tThey walked on for nearly half an hour, with Mike elaborating on this park Tai didn’t really believe existed. \n\t“Oh, we’re nearly there…” he said speedily, seeming to sense when Tai was going to complain of fatigue. “Where was… oh. Yeah, so the park was actually made by the humans that originally built this place about four thousand years ago!” It was so painfully obvious that Mike was yammering unremittingly just to keep Tai from complaining. \n\tTai, who hadn’t been really listening at all, finally spoke up. “Mike, what are we going to do there? What’s the point of coming to a big park surrounded by hundreds of huge buildings? It’s not even gonna be a real park.” \n\t“Well, why do you go walking in forests?” asked Mike pointedly. \n\tTai finally shot his friend an irascible glare. “I don’t wanna do that either!” He changed topic quickly. “We can’t do anything, can we? We didn’t take anything with us.”\n\tMike coughed nervously. “We’ll be fine,” he said evasively. “Anyway, we’re there!” \n\tTai put his eyes to the front once again, and actually faltered in his stride. There actually was a park. The dull grey cobblestone sidewalk continued, over a quaint little walk-over bridge; beyond the bridge was a grassy hill, littered with sun-bathers, romantic couples and furs just sitting on their backside enjoying a good book; beyond it were other hills, obscured by masses of trees. It was a weekday, so it was unsurprisingly empty of kits but it was certainly by no means empty. \n\tWhat really surprised him, however, was the size and density of the plant life. Vivid green trees lined broad walkways, and here and there thick shrubs and flowers flourished. Tai felt his breath catch in his chest. Instinctively he inhaled deeply through his nose and the myriad scents literally made him lightheaded.\n\tHe didn’t look around, because he knew Mike was sporting his customary grin. “Told ya! This is just the beginning too!” \n\tBut Tai was already looking at the horizon… he considered the distance to the nearest tall building and his muzzle cracked into a smile. The entire space between where he stood upon the quaint little stone bridge and the distant skyscraper was filled with towering trees; a wide river of flowing green leaves and fluttering birds. “H-how big is this place?” he finally asked. \n\t“Well, let’s see…” Mike took the lead, beckoning Tai after him. The kit bounded after him. “So, did I tell you or not? You gotta trust me. I know what I’m talking about. All the time. About everything!” \n\tThe responding glare was devoid of any real resentment. “Alright. Don’t do a big dance about it.” \n\tMike promptly spun around, leaping high in a ludicrously clumsy pirouette. After landing, he started to moonwalk, poorly, away from the younger kit, deeper into the park. “Good idea! Help me out with some ballet, would ya?”\n\t“Are you calling me a girl?” Tai said through his now massive grin. He sprang at Mike, whose eyes widened and he whirled around. \n\tThe chase persisted for a few minutes. Tai kept up extremely well with Mike, surprising the older boy slightly as for most of the time he’d known Tai he wasn’t even capable of running. Yet he kept going, calling out giggling taunts every few seconds. He wasn’t really concentrating, so he used ‘I think your pirouette needs some work, sweet-cakes!’ twice.\n\tWhen he made the mistake of stopping and turning to facilitate a rather loud raspberry, he realized Tai was much closer than he thought, and the skinny mass of fur pounced at him with full force. Surprised, Mike was thrown to the ground with a growling Tai positioning his nose right in front of his own.\n\t“Got you!” Tai said breathlessly, settling down onto Mike’s chest.\n\tMike grinned. “Nuh-uh. I know your weakness!” With that he poked Tai’s rib, causing the smaller fox to jolt up as if he’d just been jabbed with a cattle-prod and clutch his sides. In one moment, Mike reversed the pin, clutching two thin wrists in his paws above his friend’s head, his weight on Tai’s stomach as he lay between the skinny legs. “Who rules, huh? Huh? Huh?” \n\t“Me!” \n\t“Oh reeeaaally?” chortled Mike, some pseudo-malice entered his grin. “Does this seem familiar to you? Let’s see if your answer changes…” With only minimal effort, he managed to hold both wrists down with only one of his hands. “Oh, it’s real easy when I can do this…” His tail began to wag slowly in the air.\n\t“M-Mike… I’ll scream, you know it!” Tai stammered, looking along his t-shirt clad chest at the threatening claw hovering over his belly. \n\t“In public? No problem!” \n\tThe claw descended onto the flat stomach below it. Tai immediately yelped as expected, his legs flailing uselessly behind Mike’s back. It only continued for a short few seconds, as the prisoner quickly surrendered. \n\tOthers were looking their way, though mostly only briefly glances. Not that either of them really cared. They were having some brainless, shameless fun on the thick, dewy green grass in a park under the shade of the trees, and if they annoyed some grown-up trying to read a novel for a grand total of thirty seconds, so?\n\t“I give up!” wailed Tai, breathless. “You rule! Don’t tickle me anymore!” \n\tMike slipped off, lying on his side. The two kits stared upwards, peering through the waving tree branches at the cloudy sky. With a contented sigh, they lay side by side together. The long grass was cool on their furred backs. The warm morning breeze washed calmly over them.\n\t“… I just had to get you out for a bit…” Mike said apologetically.\n\t“It’s alright… thanks.” \n\t“I didn’t want…” But Mike’s voiced trailed off and he looked over at a hot-dog stand about seventy yards away. Then he hissed in alarm, scrabbling to his feet but remaining in a half-crouched position. “C’mon, behind the tree!” \n\tTai got to his feet with speed, but when he glanced back at the hot-dog stand, all he could see was a pair of police receiving two absurdly stuffed hot-dogs. Regardless he darted behind the nearest tree with Mike. “Wh-what’s up?” \n\t“Uh, nothing… just don’t let them see you!” \n\t“The police?” Tai’s eyes narrowed. “Why? We’re allowed to be here right, right?”\n\tMike flushed under his fur and stammered. “Uh-um… well, I learned the hard way that cops don’t carry around a list of the kits who are home-schooled. I don’t want them coming over here and making things complicated!” \n\tTai’s chest constricted. “C-complicated?! You mean we have to hide from the police? When we’re miles from home?!” Though he had whispered, the kit’s voice was high pitched with incredulity. \n\t“I’m sorry, I forgot!” \n\tBut the police wandered in the opposite direction, munching contentedly on their hot-dogs and talking quietly with one another. Mike peered bravely around the tree trunk, giving a loud sigh of relief. If they’d come this way, it might’ve been hard to hide from them. The brown furred kit honestly hated police. \n\tHe felt a tug on his shirt hem. “Mike, let’s go home! Please!” \n\t“Maybe…” Mike whispered, half to himself. “This wasn’t a good idea… but let’s not go home right away.”\n\t“Mike, please!”\n\t“No! Please you!”\n\t“Wh-What?”\n\tWith a mortified groan, Mike looked down at the frightened fox-boy. “I don’t want to have you stuck in the house! We’ll be fine, trust me!” \n\tTai flinched and he looked at his older friend reproachfully. “I’ve heard that before,” he said bitterly.\n\t“Um. Want a hot-dog?” Mike tried, a sheepish smile surfacing again.\n\tThere was a pause. “I’m starving…”\n\t\n\tThey just got their hotdogs from the same stall as the cops. Then they took a walk in the park, holding a ten inch, cheese-drooling, sauce-smothered hotdog each. Tai almost managed to forget that they were taking a huge risk of getting in trouble, and tried to instead enjoy the park. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to have the sun on his face, and he was grateful for the distraction. In fact, he had to admit, this ‘Central Park’ was actually pretty cool. \n\tIt wasn’t just that though. Now more than ever, he realized that Mike really was a lot of fun to be around. They chatted on and on, casually traversing the wide boulevards and pathways as they ate. Whenever Mike got started on a topic he could talk about it almost non-stop, and listening to the older kit with his adult-like inflections and vocabulary was comforting to Tai; it gave him something to focus on, and he was surprised to find himself learning things even as Mike spoke.\n\tAfter some time, which they spent between walking, running, and other forms of messing around, as well as occasionally sneaking behind trees off the exposed paths to explore the grassy areas and thick bushes, they found themselves at a large lake where they finally stopped to finish their hotdogs, sitting on the grass next to the water. The lake was glowing blue in the daylight, and the surface rippled placidly. Mesmerizing little flashes and sparkles of reflected sunlight danced all over it as the kits watched on.\nWhen Mike had finished, he flopped backwards with a groan. “Ooh, stuffed…” he said simply. \n\tTai finished soon afterwards, and he couldn’t deny that the hotdog had been a bit on the massive side, or that it felt like he’d eaten a stone. His paws were covered in sauces and cheese. “Yeah…” But just as his eyelids were closing, he caught himself and sat upright. “We should go home.”\n\t“Wanna check out the statues?” \n\t“The statues you told me about?” Tai screwed his face a little. “Not today… Not even the human statues are all that interesting-sounding. Can we please go home now?”\n\t“Hmm,” Mike replied, “I guess a lot of humans would’ve agreed.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Alright, let’s go home.” He sounded disappointed, and Tai knew why. Mike had hoped to have more fun, anything to take both of their minds off of recent events. They would have, too, but when the situation with the police was made clear to Tai, it had been powerfully sobering. Cops were everywhere in this big park for some reason, and the longer they stayed, the more likely they’d be caught.\n\tIt was just too dangerous.\n\tNot even Mike’s quick talking could hide the truth from Tai. If the cops caught them, thinking them to be truanting students, they’d be harassed by them for the rest of the day. More importantly, they’d eventually have to contact Mike’s father, and it was obvious that if Robert found out they’d left the house, without him knowing, for several hours to go to a place so far away…\n\tHe’d be pretty upset.\n\tSo the two boys, with this fact in mind, cautiously made their way to the exit and prudently avoided main roads on the way back. Thankfully, Mike knew the area well; Tai took some comfort in that, but he was still a little shaken.\n\tBut it was hard to dwell on it, as Mike quickly started talking again. It was hard to dwell on anything when he was focusing on Mike’s words, and Tai was glad for it.\n\tAs they neared the apartment building, Tai had to ask a question. “Hey, Mike, if we’d got caught by the cops, would it have gone on our record?” \n\t“You mean… criminal record?” replied Mike. Tai nodded. “No way. We wouldn’t have actually done anything wrong; we weren’t skipping school, it’s just a major pain, ‘cause they don’t know that.”\n\t“Oh, never mind then.” He grinned weakly. He decided to throw Mike a bone. “So, um, we’ve done swimming and that park… what else is there?”\n\tMike seemed to perk up. “Oh, lots more! Gotta take you indoor rock climbing soon. But let’s leave that for another day.” \n\tThey continued into the gray-walled lobby, passing by the banks of white, metal mailboxes and through the steel doors of the elevator that carried them up to their level. Tai hadn’t yet got used to how drastically the décor changed from the dull, lifeless lobby to the painted, softly lit, carpeted corridors where there was actual habitation. \n\tWhen Mike unlocked and opened the door to the apartment, however, something scared them both to the point where their bladder control was tested.\n\tRobert Donaldson was standing barely two feet back from the doorway. He towered over the pair, a tight smile on his face. “Boys,” he said with no trace of emotion in his tone. “So, where’ve you been?” \n\tMike’s stomach plunged like he’d leaped off the building. “Uhh, just around the block,” he said, trying to look his dad in the eyes. It was amazingly hard for some reason.\n\t“You may have noticed there’s a window in the den that gives spectacular views of the street.” The grownup’s eyes stopped boring into Mike’s and he instead looked at Tai. “Tai, can you please go to Mike’s room for a while? I need to speak with him.” \n\tTai glanced quickly at Mike, who was beginning to look like he was just sentenced to death. “S-sure…” \n\tRobert waited patiently until he was alone with his son, and then he led him into the kitchen, clearly trying to put as much distance between Tai and any possible yelling. “Well,” he began, some of his anger becoming audible. “Where did you really go?” \n\tMike shivered. “Uhh, ok, we went a few blocks down… just wanted a walk!” \n\t“You really suck at lying, Michael. Where did you go?” \n\tThe boy winced, and was amazed to find himself afraid. He expected his dad to be upset if he caught them, and was sure he could handle it, but it felt like the grown up was going to throttle him. He almost never called him that name in that tone. “We went to Central Park…” \n\t“Why the hell did you do that?”\n\t“D-dad, Tai’s been moping around the apartment for so long! I couldn’t stand seeing him like that, so I…” he trailed off and actually whimpered. \n\t“So you decided to take him a god-damn country mile away from home, without telling me? You didn’t wait for me to get home?” Robert touched a paw to his own head in exasperation. His son however was baffled by the depths of anger his father was displaying; it scared him… it meant he’d missed something. “And what really interests me is how you think I wouldn’t notice you’d taken a twenty out of my wallet this morning before I left. But that’s not even why I’m angry…” \n\tSuddenly, Mike felt sick. He didn’t like stealing, and he’d fought with himself to take the bill. He didn’t just waltz over and steal it. He did it so he could maybe spend it on Tai when they went out; he intended to return it if he didn’t use it! \n\t“Michael, what you did was stupid!” hissed Rob, looming over his son. “You know that Tai’s mother was murdered. That they tried to kill him too; and you decide to take a walk to Central Park of all places with him, alone, without even telling me you’d left! Don’t you realize that this isn’t the time to be screwing around like this?!\n\t“You endangered both yourself and Tai. Damn it, Michael, he’s younger than you. I expected better judgment from you when dealing with him. I thought you were smart enough to think about his safety; or at least your own. I’ve been on the phone to the police for the last twenty minutes trying to get them to at least keep an eye out for you!”\n\t“D-dad, I-!” Mike faltered, unsure of how to even begin mounting a defense. He hadn’t thought of it from that angle… just that his friend had lost his mother, something he knew was very painful, and he wanted to help. And the theft… how could he even say anything about that now? \n\tHis eyes watered and yet he felt them burn slightly. He couldn’t even muster the will to wipe his nose and eyes defiantly, as he usually did when someone managed to make him cry. He had just wanted to help. He’d been stupid, yes, but he didn’t think he deserved this. Did he?\n\tBut Robert was relentless. “I would’ve given you the money if you’d asked, and I would’ve taken you somewhere if you’d asked, but you decided to play the sneak-thief,” he said, folding his arms. “Why? What are you telling me, Michael? That I can’t trust you enough to leave you alone anymore? To not do absolutely idiotic things the moment I’m not there? You scared me to death –I told you not to go out! You could’ve been hurt, or killed! You lied to me, stole from me, and then disobeyed me.”\n\tFeeling like his chest was being crushed by a coiling snake, Mike let out a pathetic sniffling sob. He stared at the ground resolutely and just waited for his father to finish giving him the worst scolding of his entire life. He’d never seen his father so angry at him.\n\tWorse… now he agreed with him.\n\t“Very stupid,” his father said quietly, with that tightly controlled fury still in his voice. “And bloody irresponsible. You’re smarter than this, so act like it.”\n\t“D-d-d-dad, I-I’m s-!”\n\t“Just don’t do this again. I shouldn’t have to worry that my own son is stealing from me.” \n\tMike swallowed, reaching into his pocket quickly and holding the folded twenty dollar bill out to his father. “D-dad, please!” he choked, his voice trembling. “Tai was so upset. I couldn’t- couldn’t just do nothing! I-I just want him to stop being sad, dad, I j-just wanted to h-help…”\n\tWith another sob, Mike just let go of the note and ran for the hall, letting the green slip of paper flutter gently to the floor. \n\tWhen the bathroom door slammed loudly, Robert actually jumped, as if shaken out of a dream. Then he sighed and bent to pick up the note, glaring at the thing in his paws for a few moments. \n\tMike’s actions had shocked and scared him, so he had been a lot harsher than normal. Doing something stupid like walking down to Central Park, sure, alright. He was ten years old; he couldn’t be expected to always make perfect decisions. He’s bound to miss something every now and then, especially when he was so concerned for his friend. Especially when Robert’s whole philosophy was to give his son the freedom to learn from those mistakes.\n\tBut stealing from him? Robert couldn’t believe it at first. It took him hours of struggling with the notion, trying to find another explanation for the missing bill, before he had to face the obvious conclusion. Mike never stole. Not even five cents. But what if he started to do it now…? He really didn’t want Mike to get into the habit of thieving from him, or anybody else. This was the sort of idiocy he was bound to worry about as a father. Right?\n\tNo. He knew that was nonsense. Mike wouldn’t ever be like that. He wasn’t like that. He’d proven it just then. He’d proven it his entire life.\n\tRobert almost punched himself. What an incredible asshole he’d just been. Mike only wanted to help his friend. He stole the money because he thought he might be able to spend it on the grieving kit, and even after he took it he didn’t spend it, so gave it back. He probably only took it because he didn’t think his father would give it to him. That said as much about him as it did Mike.\n\tHe threw the note on the counter and set off after Mike, cursing.\n\tMeanwhile, Mike locked the bathroom door behind him and stumbled his way across the floor. He slammed backwards into the wall on the far side, narrowly avoiding tripping and falling into the bath. He wiped at his nose lazily with his wrist.\nHis dad was right. What the hell was he thinking? And he should never have taken the bill. His dad would never trust him again. What had seemed like a trivial, fun idea had turned out to be one of the most significant screw-ups of his short life. A sickening, cold feeling of self-disappointment knotted his stomach. \n\tHe sat down heavily, hurting his backside, with his legs outstretched. “Shit,” he sniffed to himself, glaring at his sneakers.\n\tMoments passed, the fox kit berating himself more and more as they did. The door rattled suddenly. \n\t“What?” Mike asked weakly, imploring whoever it was to just leave him alone. \n\tThere was a pause. Suddenly, he heard a timid, worried voice ring out quietly into the tiled bathroom. “M-Mike? Um. Thanks for taking me out today.”\n\tMike shook his head. It was nice of Tai to try, but he was going to cry anyway. “No biggie.”\n\t“I-it is. Thank you.” Out in the hall, Tai turned and slipped past Robert, who was watching him with guilty eyes. The kit’s eyes never met his, however. \n\tThe adult knocked on the door next. “Mike? Can I talk to you please?” \n\tMike sniffed and glared at the white bathroom door, bitter and injured. Hadn’t his dad said enough? He had to chew him out some more?\n\tClosing his reddened eyes, the fox kit hoisted himself to his paws on the tiled floor, and slowly made his way to unlock the door. When it opened, his dad looked almost as miserable as him. “Wh-what?” asked Mike, swiping the tears from his face. \n\t“I’m sorry,” Robert admitted, smiling feebly at his son. “I overreacted. I didn’t mean any of that. I was just so scared that you’d been hurt, I’m sorry I was such a jerk. You’re a good kit, Mike, thinking of Tai like that. I’m so proud of you.” He pulled the surprised kit to him for a quick embrace. Mike didn’t object. “One question, though. Why didn’t you just ask for me to take you somewhere?” \n\tMike giggled and sniffled at the exact same time, closing his eyes again. At the same time, it seemed so funny and yet such a freaking dumb mistake. “C-coz I didn’t want to make you late for work.”\n\tRobert rolled his eyes and smiled down at his boy. “You dork.” \n\t“… I know.”\n\t\n\tMike came into his own room not twenty minutes later, to see Tai sitting on the edge of his bed, looking lost in thought again. Was he sulking again? \n\tBut the tawny cub looked over at him and jumped to his paws, concerned. “Are you alright, Mike?” he inquired solicitously. \n\t“Sure, I’m fine!” Mike grinned at him. \n\tTai frowned and appeared doubtful. “You look like me,” he said, no trace of humor in his voice as he glanced over the taller kit’s face. “Your eyes are red and your nose is runny.” \n\tWiping his nose conscientiously, Mike chortled. “It’s over now,” he promised, sniffing unconvincingly. “Dad was pissed at me. Like I thought.” He dismissed the matter with a wave of his paw. “It’s alright. We made up.” \n\tTai sat back down. “I’m sorry,” he said, kicking his shoes off his paws. “You got in trouble because you wanted to help me stop being so...” \n\t“It’s no big deal.”\n\t“It’s just…” Tai shuddered. “I can’t forget. I stop thinking about something for a second and I think about mom. Or I’ll think something stupid like ‘wonder what mom would’ve said on my birthday.’ That kind of dumb stuff.”\n\tMike shot him a worried glance, but Tai didn’t seem to be too upset. His tone was matter-of-fact. He was telling his friend why he was so morose all the time.\n\t“That’s why,” explained Tai, talking softly. “I’m sorry you got in trouble for trying to help.”\n\tMike felt a rush of affection for him, and sat down beside him. “It’s fine, it’s not like it’s easy for you,” he said. \n\t“I’ll try to cheer up.” \n\t“Good!” Mike chortled. “I’ll get some toys out. Or I’ll braid your hair. You’d look good.” \n\t“No way!” Tai grinned, his paw going to his head-fur protectively. \n\n\tLater that evening, the two pups sat together on Mike’s bed, toys strewn over the covers and naturally over much of the sizable room’s floor. It was getting late, and Tai was already yawning in Mike’s face as they finished up playing with some of Mike’s action figures under the warm glow of a bedside lamp. It was all surprisingly convoluted, but it essentially boiled down to Tai’s soldier stopping Mike’s mutant ninja from poisoning the entire world.\n\tIt had been a lot of fun, and Tai in particular had enjoyed it all.\n\tMike smiled at him, reaching out to touch his shoulder tenderly. He was getting a little tired too, but nonetheless he felt suddenly so very happy. He’d managed to distract Tai for the entire day; managed to keep the kit from sinking into his ritual depression in the evening.\n\tHe looked so cheerful, almost drunk from the fact he was just playing with another kit. His white furred cheeks were rosy beneath that fluff, and he had a slight grin. Tai had wholeheartedly thrown himself into that silly role-play they’d just finished, tail and ears pricked. Mike was a bit surprised to see just how much energy Tai really had, as he rolled around the bed, messed up the sheets and laughed non-stop. \n\tDespite it all, Tai was a young boy and he did in fact know how to act like one. Sometimes Mike had worried about that.\n\tTai caught the paw, holding it to his shoulder. “What?” he asked softly. \n\t“Hee.” Mike snickered. “You look cute.”\n\tTai smiled back at him, shifting around until he was lying on his side next to Mike. “Why, thanks.” \n\tThe bigger boy-cub slid a little closer to him, before propping himself above the tawny kit, looking down with a contented expression. “Want to talk for a while?” he asked. It had been a quiet day since his father had torn into him for his foolish misadventure that morning, aside from both of them taking a protracted shower-bath together. \n\t“Sure.” Tai once again squirmed on the bed, this time ending up on his back looking up, with his head-fur framing his head messily. \n\t“I just wanted to know some stuff…” Mike frowned a little. \n\t“What about?”\n\t“You.” \n\tThe tawny kit frowned too, looking at his bigger friend in confusion. “About me?” he said slowly. “What?” \n\tAh. So it was still there; Tai’s little shell. Mike felt slightly disappointed. “I… I wanna know more about you. You’re, like, an enigma still.” \n\t“A what?”\n\t“A mystery.” Mike snuffled lightly at the kit’s ears as he lay below him. “You don’t have to answer. Can I at least ask? Do you trust me?”\n\t“Of course I do.” \n\tThe barky fox chuckled. “You sure sound like it. There’s just… some stuff that I don’t get.”\n\t“About me?” \n\t“Yeah.” Mike frowned. Phrasing this was going to suck, but he’d been baffled by it for so long. “You said you were bullied back at your old school.”\n\tTai corrected him absently. “Schools,” he said. “I’ve gone to four different ones.”\n\t“That’s even weirder. What sorts of stuff did they do to you?” \n\t“What sorts of-?” The tawny kit blinked in surprise. Then he almost seemed ashamed—deeply embarrassed for some reason. “All different things,” he muttered, and gave no indication he wanted to continue. \nThey both fell silent for a second before, finally, reluctantly, Tai opened his muzzle again. “Some of it was pretty dumb. Pushing my pencil case off my desk. Saying mean things about me… whether they knew I could hear them or not. For a while, stuff’d go missing from my bag. A couple times, someone kept dropping the stuff I made in art class. Daring me to do something about it. Um, it was usually the older boys; sometimes they took stuff off me; trading cards, money my mom gave me and all that.” \n\t“Seriously?”\n\tTai smiled wryly and touched a paw to his muzzle. “One day, I got shoved into a wall. I had a loose tooth, and it got knocked out, and my nose got all covered in blood.” \n\t“You gotta be kiddin’ me. Did you tell a teacher?” \n\t“Yes.”\n\t“What did he do?” \n\t“Um, she asked them what happened, and they said I fell over. Said that they were just behind me and they could understand if I thought they’d shoved me.” Tai closed his eyes briefly. When he spoke next his tone was brittle. “They caught me after school on the way home. Told me that no one ever listened to poor kits like me… that they’d do it again if I ever told on them ever again.” \n\tMike felt his heart skip. “D-do what again?” \n\tTai swallowed. “Hit me a few times.” He sighed. “It sucks,” he mumbled. “Being poor. Furs notice. They know. They pick on you.”\nOnce again, Tai fell silent, seemingly to compose his next few sentences. Mike held his breath as he waited.\n“I… got angry sometimes. I’d do something stupid. Sometimes to furs that didn’t deserve it. Yell at them. Or run away. I hit or tried to break stuff sometimes, just because I was so mad... I sometimes got in trouble for that.” He brushed his head-fur from his eyes. “I cried a lot. I would say nasty things to some furs. But not to the ones who were mean to me. I mean, if I did, they’d kick my tail.”\n\tMike frowned pensively. He had a little bit of trouble imagining Tai with a temper. Sure, he’d been a little mad the night his mother was killed, but who wouldn’t have been? \nSo he thought further back. The first twenty-four hours they’d known one another came to mind, when Mike had gone home in the morning without telling Tai. “Don’t do that again!” the younger kit had ordered him. He didn’t exactly sound angry then, but could only have been a step away. Hurt as he was, Tai had snapped at his newest friend.\n\t“I once had glue dumped on me,” Tai was saying in an off-hand tone. “Couldn’t get it all out for a week. That was the worst thing that happened in my first school.” Once more he paused, thinking what to tell Mike next. “They did a lot of stuff, Mike.” \n\t“Didn’t you try to stop them? You know, fight back?” \n\t“How?” Tai’s voice quavered briefly. “I’m not strong! I’m tiny and skinny. All it does is make them mad!”\n\t“Why did none of the teachers help?” Mike demanded softly, gingerly stroking the tawny pup’s ear. \n\t“I didn’t… they… I didn’t always tell them.” \n\t“What?!” \n\t“I just… didn’t.” Tai scrunched his eyes shut. “I didn’t tell them. They never did anything anyway when I did. They never listened to me! They always treated me like I was stupid! Or they always let them off, as if what I said wasn’t important!” Now he did sound angry. He looked angry too, and his tiny paws were fists. “’Don’t be silly!’, ‘Why would they do that?’, ‘Uh-huh.’, ‘Mind your tone, Tai!’ Who cares about my tone?!” Mike’s gentle touch worked against his quickening pulse, and Tai held his breath to collect himself. “Um, I’m sorry I was such a jerk to your dad that night. He was being nice too…”\n\t“That’s okay, Tai,” Mike promised him. “Dad’s smart. He knows it wasn’t your fault.” \n\t“I used to stay away from everyone,” Tai went on. “In school, I’d try to be alone. I’d try not to talk to anyone. They’d call me a loner too. I never wanted to be alone though! I just didn’t want anyone to pick on me… or pretend to be my friend.”\n\tMike was shocked to discover that he was crying just from listening to this. Silent tears were pooling in his eyes and his nose was getting slightly stuffy. The littler fox boy was telling him things he’d probably never said to anyone, ever.\n\t “I’m such an idiot,” Tai suddenly whispered, voice cracking. “It was my fault. Always. I always suck at everything.”\n\t“What are you talking about? You’re not an idiot. I think you’re really smart.” \n\tWith reddened eyes, Tai looked shamefully up at Mike. “Did you know I repeated?” he breathed, sounding sick and scared. “Second grade. Twice. And they were gonna make me do it again. No one I know has ever done a year more than once. I… I did twice.”\n\tStunned, Mike just stared in silence down at his friend.\n\t“See? It’s cause of me that I never had any friends. It’s cause of me that others picked on me.” The cub gritted his teeth. “It’s because I’m stupid that I can’t go to the third grade.” He finally let out a broken cry, one that he tried to reign in, but it still burst out from behind his clenched teeth.\n\tStill a little shocked, Mike made his mistake. “But… what about your mom?!” he demanded. “Why didn’t she do anything about this?” Then he physically flinched.\n\tTai looked steadily at him for a moment, expressionless. “My mom?” he said, very slowly. “She was busy. She acted the way my teachers did; as if I was crazy or whatever was wrong didn’t matter. Maybe it really didn’t matter…” \n\tThe very idea of that stung Mike to the core. If his dad didn’t engage him the way he did, the ten-year-old was sure he’d have died inside. But still, when Eraline was killed, Tai was truly heart-broken. He was very, very upset! \n\tAs if reading his thoughts, Tai sniffled. “I miss her. Sometimes she never listened, or didn’t talk to me. But she’d give me hugs sometimes. I could snuggle up with her and watch a movie. She’d forgive me if I got snappy or talked back.”\n\tTai chortled weakly. Not that he often snapped at his mother. It was far more likely to be the other way around, since Tai knew better than to upset his mom. She was his whole world, and something as simple as denying him a hug, or scolding him, was devastating… and she wasn’t above abusing that to keep him in line. They’d been a little distant the last year or so, but that didn’t erase his entire life before that. Eraline may not have been a perfect parent, but she was still his mother.\n\tHe tried not to think about the fact that she would never be there for him again…\n\tMike sighed guiltily, before cuddling right up to Tai’s pensive form. “Listen, Tai,” he said firmly. “I’ll hug you. I’ll watch movies with you. I’ll forgive you. I’ll listen to you and I care what you think! You’re not alone anymore.” He touched his nose to Tai’s. “You’re not stupid, you’re really smart. That’s why I like you. I don’t care how many times you did whatever grade. And you’ve made plenty of friends here. Jake. Me. Ciaran really likes you. And so do Ernie, Aaron and Mills!” He laughed. “My dad loves you!” \n\tTai looked only semi-convinced. “You don’t know me that well,” he disagreed pessimistically, rubbing at an eye. \n\t“And did the jerks who picked on you know you any better?”\n\tThe tawny pup blinked a few times. \n\t“Trust me,” Mike said, saying those words that Tai despised, as he shifted his position until he was almost straddling the little cub. Tai didn’t mind. Being pinned under his bigger, protective friend was something he’d long discovered he liked. “I know you well enough.”\n\tAll of a sudden, Tai giggled. “Alright,” he said finally. Mike could tell that Tai was trying to deflect the subject. That was alright though, it was probably time to let Tai think about other things. “What else did you want to know?”\n\tImmediately, Mike had his next question ready. “Why the heck did you have four different schools? Isn’t that…” \n\t“A different school a year,” interjected Tai. “Mom kept changing my schools.”\n\t“Why?” \n\t“I dunno.”\n\t“Huh…” Mike sat down on the smaller boy’s hips. “Weird.” \n\tTai cocked an ear. “My turn. Why are you so mad with your dad?” \n\t“Wha-?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m not!” \n\t“You aren’t? But what about the night you picked me up from the hospital…?” \n\tMike gulped ruefully. It was surprising that Tai didn’t ask about this sooner. “Oh, that. It’s just… I- uh…” This was surprisingly hard to put into words for the articulate vulpine kit. “The ferret… the one that fell in front of the car? Remember?” \n\t“Uh-huh.” \n\t“That was- I mean, I’m pretty sure it was the guy who, you know.” He stopped and his hazel eyes went a little glazed. “Who mugged me.” \n\t“What? Really?” \n\t“Yeah.” \n\tMike looked away. This was exactly the god-damn subject he didn’t want to think about, but after making Tai relive his own nasty memories, he could hardly refuse to answer. “I think that dad knew him,” he breathed. “There’s so much he hasn’t told me. I don’t know what’s going on!” The older boy’s voice cracked too now. “I’m scared to think about it.” \n\t“Why don’t you ask him?”\n\t“Because I don’t want to know!” Mike replied, sounding almost pleading. In that uncanny way of Mike’s, he no longer sounded like a child at all. It was much less charming at the moment, though. “What if dad knew all along who did it? What if he was... in on it?! Why didn’t he tell me he knew the guy? Or that he knew your mom?”\n\tTai reached up and touched Mike’s muzzle. “Why would you think this stuff?” he asked bluntly, though his leafy eyes were wide with compassion. “Your dad wouldn’t wanna hurt you. Your dad loves you.”\n\t“I don’t know.” Mike hung his head. “It’s all too strange. I think I should be allowed to know these things. Dad’s always said that he never wanted to keep secrets from me like I was a dumb kit. But he kept this from me.”\n\tLeaning forwards, Tai literally yanked his best friend down on top of him and held him in a tight hug with his skinny arms. “It’s okay…” he said uselessly. \n\tMike accepted the hug, but shook his head. “It’s not okay,” he said softly. “It’s not. Nothing’s okay. So much I don’t know…” \n\t“Me neither. I wish someone would tell us…” \n\tThe two kits lay like this for a moment, before finally Mike pushed away, sitting up once again. “I love talking to you,” he said warmly. “But I don’t want tonight to be sad, so let’s stop talking about this stuff. I wanted to keep you happy tonight.”\n\t“You have.” Tai smiled wanly. “I’ve never been able to talk like this.” \n\t“I’ve got an idea for how we can make tonight even happier.” Mike loomed over the tawny kit, sliding down his body and pressing a little harder against him. “Do you want to?” \n\tThe emerald eyes widened, locking right on to his own, and Tai’s smile widened. “Yes!”\n\tTheir noses touched. “Alright then…”\n\tWith a cheeky grin, Mike slipped both arms underneath Tai’s t-shirt, resting his forearms on the fluffy chest-fur. Together, they took off the shirt, which had a few tiny grass-stains on it; testaments to the fun they had at the park. \n\tShirtless, Tai immediately grabbed Mike’s shirt hem too, and lifted it up. Mike allowed the littler kit to remove his top too, raising his arms above his head and leaning forwards. “Team work,” he giggled. \n\tThose skinny arms snaked around his chest again, pulling him down insistently. Tai pressed his chest to Mike’s and sighed deeply. “Hmm.” \n\tMike closed his eyes and rested his cheek on Tai’s. “What’s up?” he breathed. \n\tSoon, a pair of slender legs wrapped around his waist too. “I want a hug,” Tai said weakly. “And I can feel your heart…” \n\tThe brown furred fox boy laughed quietly, and fell silent, listening intently. “Hey… I can feel yours too.”\n\t“Don’t be silly, I don’t have a heart.” Tai shyly nibbled Mike’s ear. “I’m a robot.” \n\t“Then you’re one hot robot.” Mike pushed up, separating them slightly and looking down on his friend. “Oh man.” \n\tTai smiled at him, reaching up to place his paws on the older boy’s shoulders and letting his legs drop. He pressed his own body into the mattress and inhaled deeply. “What?” \n\tLaughing, Mike snagged Tai in a massive hug again. “What did you wanna do?” he asked, grinning. He started to push and rub his groin against Tai’s, to Tai’s surprise. \n\t“Ah…” Tai gasped, spreading his legs some more, elevating his hips slightly. “Hey, that feels nice. Even through our pants.”\n\tAlmost as soon as he said that, Mike’s paws yanked down his track-pants, exposing Tai’s boxers. “Let’s see how much better it is…” Mike removed his own jeans, and hurled both items of clothing onto the floor before resuming his previous position. \n\tTai groaned and writhed on the bed. The cooler air in the room was tingling through his exposed legs and upper body, permeating his fur and skin. He could feel Mike’s penis and groin press and rub against his own through the smooth fabric, and he could tell both of them were quickly stiffening. \n\tBut he paused and pushed Mike gently backwards. A bit confused, Mike leaned back and looked at the kit curiously. “What’s wrong?” \n\tTai looked full into Mike’s face. \n\tSo much had changed so fast. As he looked at Mike now, the little gulf that had existed before was entirely gone. Mike was no longer the confident, smarter, older, dominating boy that he didn’t really, truly know that well. Now they… were best friends. Equals, both looking to one another for comfort. Now they were both after the same things. \n\tMike was now a friend the likes of which he’d never even considered that he could have. \n\tHe didn’t think it in so many words, but he perceived that this really was what love was.\n\t“Mike…” he said, choked up slightly. “Can I say something?” \n\tThe barky kit blinked. “Sure.” \n\t“I love you. You’re my best friend… ever.” The green eyes watered, but Tai smiled. “Don’t leave me. Please. Don’t let your dad throw me out. I don’t want to go.”\n\t“I’ll do whatever I can,” Mike promised instantly. “I don’t want you to go.” \n\t“I trust you.” Tai pulled Mike right back into his position again.\n\tMike laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say that and sound like you really mean it.” He nosed Tai’s neck. “So, what did you want to do?” \n\tTai grinned, aware his breathing was picking up. It was exactly as he’d said in the change-room showers… Mike made him feel so strange at times. So suddenly inclined to snuggle up to him, to press into his warm, bigger body, to do something about the glowing feeling in his lower stomach that now was usually accompanied by a swift erection. “Whatever you want to do,” he said bashfully. “I’m all yours. It all makes me feel good.”\n\tThere was a moment of silence while Mike stared at him. “Whoa,” he finally gasped, his voice shaky. Tai guessed astutely that he wasn’t the only one who was made to feel weird in these situations. “That’s just… Wow. Um, well said.”\n\tTai had to giggle. Mike was stunned by his perfectly worded surrender. \n\tHe meant it though. The brown-furred older pup, so mature, so smart, so strong and funny… Tai’d let him do whatever he wanted now; this time, there was no fear, no confusion. \n\tMike’s head was spinning a little. This was the first time they’d really been in this situation since the night before they both went swimming. The revelation that had come that day, when Tai had seemed to accept his feelings totally in the showers, was evident right now. \n\tThe littler kit was sprawled beneath him, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he breathed from his slightly open mouth. Long head-fur messily framing his delicate, angular muzzle and warm green eyes, Tai looked up at him with total trust and a loving little smile.\n\tHis unusually colored fur seemed to glow slightly in the light from Mike’s bedside lamp. A repressed corona of a sort, while a slight shadow fell across the pup’s form. Mike felt himself wishing he had a camera again.\n\t“Tai, you’re incredible,” Mike said baldly.\n\tTai looked up silently for a few seconds. “No, you are,” he disagreed. “I still can’t believe you’re real.” \n\tMike immediately licked the younger kit’s nose and sighed. “That was for real,” he mumbled dryly.\n\tThe grinding ceased and Mike pulled back slightly, easily undoing the flies on both their boxers. Without a word, he withdrew both of their sensitive members.\n\tTai watched breathlessly as Mike touched them together and began stroking both of them at a slow pace, occasionally rolling them together between a palm. Eventually, he laid back and sighed contently. “That feels nice…” he said quietly.\n\tMike mewled himself, pushing back the foreskins and letting the smooth, rounded tips rub together. He was looking at the twitching organs intently, appreciating the form and feel. \n\tHe briefly considered tying the little kit up again. After all, Tai had said he liked it. But there was something… strange about this time. It was such a tender moment. Such stuff didn’t feel right at this time.\n\tInstead, Mike leaned forwards and gave Tai a gentle kiss, which the younger pup instantly responded to. \n\tHe placed his barky-furred paws on his best friend’s shoulders and slowly rubbed them down the slender arms, as Tai sighed his approval. Mike then returned to the white-fluffed chest, and begun rubbing down the length of Tai’s slim torso before snagging the pup’s blue boxers and pulling them down slowly. \n\tWithout a pause, Tai raised his hips to help and Mike easily tugged the little boxers down and off those legs. “Jeez,” he said in a warm tone. “You’re skinny. And small.” \n\tTai giggled and stretched out on the bed, showing off to Mike just how skinny he was. “I’m allowed to be,” he replied in the same tone. “I’m eight and a fox. So there.” \n\tMike removed his own boxers, joining Tai in his nudity before getting right back into his position between the little legs and once more picking up where he left off. “I’d have you no other way. Everything about you is just exactly what I like.” \n\tWithout pausing for a response, Mike nosed into Tai’s fuzzy armpit playfully before letting his tongue slip out to tease the sensitive button on Tai’s chest near there. \n\t“Ooh!” Tai whispered. \n\tMike moved to the next one, not stopping until they both were wet and stiff. “Does it feel nice?”\n\t“Uh-huh.” \n\t“Alright… then I guess this does too.” Mike slid down a little, before easily engulfing the smaller kit’s penis in his muzzle and suckling for a moment as Tai writhed in reply. Yet after only a few seconds he pulled away and grinned at Tai. \n\tThe little kit looked at him slightly reproachfully. “Jerk.” \n\tWith a laugh, Mike slipped out from between Tai’s legs and lay next to him. Shoulders touching, both on their backs, he laid the nearest arm around Tai’s neck and hugged him close. The other paw slipped across and enveloped the little stiffy. “Here,” he said archly. “Let’s both do it like this.”\n\tBeaming, Tai shifted a little closer, laying his head on Mike’s chest and likewise placing his opposite paw onto Mike’s bared erection. At the exact same moment they begun stroking and tugging slowly. \n\t“This feels nice…” Tai moaned, nuzzling at Mike’s chest. His legs suddenly ensnared Mike’s nearest, and he turned onto his side a little, giving Mike easier access. “It’s like a snuggle, only even nicer.”\n\tThey lay together in this manner for a few minutes, before Tai pushed away suddenly yet again. “Wait…” he said. \n\tWith a sultry grin, he straddled Mike’s belly and snickered. \n\t“What’s on your mind?” Mike enquired, content to see what Tai’s plan was. \n\tTai’s reply was simply to lean down and snuffle at Mike’s chest, using his nose and a paw to search through the silky smooth fur. Soon, his target located, he started to lap at it slowly. \n\tWith a gasp, Mike pressed his chest upwards reflexively. “Oh!” \n\tIt did indeed feel nice. Tai was a quick learner, and he was bestowing the same treatment to Mike as Mike had done to him, only with his smaller tongue. It trailed around and over the fleshy bump, each time it traversed the touchy area brought a groan from Mike. \n\tNaturally, Tai only did this for a few moments before grinning and sitting back.\n\tA little breathless, Mike had to laugh. “Jerk!” he chortled. Tai shrugged and stretched in such a sensual manner it was obvious it was for Mike’s benefit. The older boy felt his breath stop. Tai really was a fast learner!\n\tSwiveling around on top, Tai settled down and beheld Mike’s penis, erect and tasty. “I’m gonna suck your lollipop,” he said cheerily, adjusting position until he could comfortably do so. And then he did. \n\tThe barky furred kit shuddered when he felt it. Tai licked and suckled for a moment or two, before maintaining an air-tight seal and beginning to lick up and down the length of it. The small, warm muzzle was just heaven. \n\tMike groaned softly and relaxed. He looked wistfully at the pup’s groin above him. Then he cackled. \n\tTwo strong arms encircled Tai’s lower back and waist, holding him firm as a tongue swiped at his fluffy scrotum. Tai yipped in surprise. Though he refused to cease sucking. \n\tThe tongue started to do more than swipe then. Mike was pressing on the testes, pushing them around, pulling them down with his muzzle, and lapping at the sensitive space at the back of the scrotum. Both the pups were panting and moaning happily.\n\tSoon Mike shook and whimpered, as Tai almost casually made him orgasm with just that little tongue. “Oh!” he exclaimed, his knees bending as he tensed. “Geez!” \n\tTai let the wet object in his muzzle free for a moment, but it was only a temporary respite. With a big shuddering breath, he quickly enveloped the still hard penis again with his tongue. \n\t“Mrrmph!” whined Mike, squirming a little. He wriggled his toes, trying to distract himself from the increased sensitivity that had come in the wake of his dry climax. Challenging himself to endure it, to let Tai continue as he clearly wanted to. \n\tThe older fox-boy groaned aloud and realized he was shaking now. Had Tai not given him that brief break before continuing, there was no way Mike could’ve endured it.\n\tHis heart skipped a beat when he looked up and saw Tai’s tiny butt. \n\tAn idea flew into his head, but he instantly batted it back out. It flew back in. He swallowed and wrestled with the idea for a few moments.\n\tMeanwhile, Tai was happily, if a little smugly, sucking away at the sensitive pole. His eyes were closed and he chortled as he licked and suckled. He thought it’d be fun to treat Mike the way Mike usually did him. He owed Mike, and he enjoyed doing this, so no problem! \n\tHowever, he squealed when he felt something that was almost certainly a tongue lick right under his tail. It missed his tail-hole by only an inch at most. Then the tongue attacked again, and this time it didn’t miss. He whined plaintively but he didn’t want to stop what he was doing.\n\tMike’s voice from behind him sounded stunned. “Whoa, I just did that?” he gasped. “I-I didn’t taste a thing! Ha-ha!” \n\tTai gulped nervously. That was something new alright. If Mike wanted to do it, he wouldn’t object, but… that was a little icky. Wasn’t it?\n\tMike did it again, still somewhat apprehensively. The tongue pressed firmly against Tai’s anus, licking the muscular ring wetly. Tai gasped and groaned, falling forward slightly. It felt somewhere between icky and wonderful… closer to wonderful. He couldn’t pull away; Mike still had his arms locked around Tai’s hips!\n\tMike grinned. Tai, despite the incredible weirdness of the act, was still diligently slurping away down there, refusing to let Mike break his concentration. “Blech,” he joked, poking at the butt cheeks of the skinny little cub. “If you fart, I’ll tickle you until you die from it. You like it?” \n\t“Y-yeah…” Tai mewed quietly, taking a short break. “It feels weird. It doesn’t taste gross…?”\n\t“Ha-ha!” Mike laughed heartily, almost unable to believe it himself. “Nope! There’s nothing here, Tai!” But Mike most definitely didn’t want to press his luck here. The ick-factor could easily go straight through the roof for him. “But, um, I’d rather do this…” \n\tHe changed his angle of approach and instead lapped at Tai’s erection. It was kind of par for the course, but it wasn’t as icky. Mike’s list was still largely untouched, so it was alright to take his time.\n\tThe tawny boy whined and raised his backside a little to let Mike have his way. It was funny, he realized: even when he was on top, Mike controlled the action, and he was more than willing to accept that. That new thing he’d just done was interesting, but not as interesting as the fact that Tai couldn’t really make himself move away when he did it. That made him feel tingly all over!\n\tHe finally pulled away from Mike’s dick, and the older boy sighed. “Aww!” \n\tTai snickered and spun back around, plopping onto the bed alongside Mike once again. “What now, Mikey?” he asked softly, smiling tenderly. \n\t“Good question.” Mike rolled over and hugged Tai to him. “I’m tired, but I want you to have an orgasm too.” \n\tAn eyebrow above one of those emerald eyes was raised and an ear was perked. “Is that what that nice feeling is called, is it?”\n\t“Yeah, didn’t I tell you that?” \n\t“You might have.” \n\tSitting up, Mike grinned. “Memory like a sieve.” He straddled the kit’s waist once again and grasped the skinny wrists. He noted absently that they were doing a lot of switching position tonight. “Can I say something?”\n\t“No!” Tai replied immediately, grinning impishly.\n\t“I’m gonna anyway. I love you.” Mike laughed and leaned in for a quick nose-lick. “And if you don’t like that, then too bad.”\n\tThe brown-furred kit shifted a little until once more he was between Tai’s legs. Tai quickly spread his long, slender appendages out on the bed, and as Mike looked down the furry body he could see the kit’s wet little stiffy. \n\tSo once more he resumed pumping both of them in his paws at the same time. \n“Mmm…” Mike commented. “The skin is so smooth, huh? Feels good touching them together.”\n“Uh-huh.” Tai closed his eyes and pushed his hips upward. “Nhhn.”\nChuckling, Mike once more wrapped his muzzle around Tai’s little penis. It wasn’t anything new and exciting, but it felt good, and that’s what both of them wanted—needed right now. Mike shut his eyes briefly. Oh, this was just great…\nThe littler fox boy writhed and groaned for only a few moments before he gave a hoarse cry. Mike finished up strong as always, sucking hard on the small, quivering shaft and watching along Tai’s body just so he could take in the kit’s response. \nAs usual, Tai seemed overwhelmed by the sensation. It made Mike whimper just to see the sensual little fox-boy like that, stretching out and arching his back on top of the covers before finally lying still but for a slight tremble.\nWith a laugh, Mike separated again and flopped almost on top of the warm body before him. “Ooh, that feel good?” he asked redundantly. Tai nodded, breathing deeply and looking up at the roof.\nMike snuggled the smaller kit to him. “Good.” \n\tTai sighed, wrapping himself around Mike’s body and nearest leg like a tawny furred octopus. “I think I need to sleep now.”\n\t“Me too…” Mike pawed at the younger pup’s ears. “But we need to get under the covers. It’ll be way too cold otherwise.”\n\t“Ugh. Do I have to move?” \n\t“Uh, I think so…” \n\t“Can we cuddle?”\n\t“Definitely!”\n\tEventually, Mike pulled himself and the sluggish Tai under his thick quilt. Once more, they fell asleep in the warmth and comfort of one another’s arms.\n\tThat was getting to be a habit…\n\tAnd frankly, neither of them minded in the least.\n\nChapter Eight – Fin. \n\n-- By Krazy Kitsune/Kichigai Kitsune\nCopyright 2005 onwards.\n\t\n\n",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "Tai’s Story - Chapter 8.
By Kichigai Kitsune
Copyright 2005 onwards.
Disclaimer: This story contains coarse language, violence, adult themes and scenes of an adult nature involving two young “cubs” (young anthropomorphic non-humans). If you are under the legal age as prescribed by the laws under which you are subject to reading such material, do not continue beyond this disclaimer.
\tIt had been only several minutes since his son had caught up with him, with Tai in tow.
Tingling with relief and slightly faint, Robert had returned to his office and flopped heavily into his chair. The boys had gone into the bathroom together, apparently to clean Tai up. He’d looked bad indeed when he returned from the roof, though he politely apologized for scaring them.
\tWith a sigh of resignation, Robert plucked a bottle of cognac from his bureau and poured himself a glass. The damn thing had been festering in his drawer since he’d received it at Mike’s baby-shower. After the stress of today—and especially after the near-heart attack Tai had given him—Robert felt he could use something, even something that tasted like the offspring of vodka and old socks.
\tHe’d ‘treated’ himself to about three glasses before there was a knock on the door.
\t“Come in.” He straightened up in the leather chair, and was struck by an intense, unnatural dizziness. He’d had maybe ten beers in ten years, as football and books were his vices. Three shots of the cognac and he already felt like his head had been replaced by a spinning top.
\tThe door was opened only after he responded, which was a bit different to normal. The two kits walked in slowly, with Tai being supported by Mike. It didn’t seem necessary, though Tai did look like he’d gone through a marathon and a half.
\t“Dad, can we talk to you?” Mike spoke first. He looked exhausted himself. “About what happened?”
\tWith a sigh, Robert checked his computer clock. “It’s three in the morning. Are you sure you want to get started now?” He’d promised Tai that he’d explain, and he would, but it was getting absurdly late. He doubted either of the kits had been awake this late before. Surely they were too tired.
\tTai nodded. “Please.”
\tThere was a long pause. Robert swallowed, and regretted it. The alcohol burned the back of his throat and the taste of the gag-inducing substance had lingered for minutes after he imbibed it. Finally he nodded and stood.
\t“Alright.” He cracked his neck and pushed his chair back in. “I think I need a coffee. A real one.”
\tMike cocked his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”
\t“I mean, let’s go for a drive.”
\t“Now?”
\t“I’d rather not discuss anything here.” Robert frowned and looked from one kit to the next. “Do you think you can stay awake for much longer?”
\t“I think we can,” replied Mike, “and if not, you could always let us have a coffee too.”
\t“Not likely, mister. Let’s go.” Robert took a step forwards and swayed on his paws. “Whoa. Um, j-just give me a minute, okay guys?”
They didn’t drive that far away really. Robert didn’t think he was drunk, but he didn’t want to risk it. They just drove to a small diner that was still open for some baffling reason; a little eatery on the corner of a major road, surrounded by a lot more activity than the late hour suggested. According to Mike, they were a few blocks away from a place called “Time Square” or something. According to Mike, it was a major landmark.
Robert ordered a coffee, resolutely ignoring the curious expressions of the staff as they wondered why on earth a fox had brought his two sons with him to a diner at half three in the morning.
When Robert asked the boys what they wanted, if anything, Tai at least realized just how starving he was. He’d gone long without eating before, but today, after the vomiting and stress, he needed to eat. He wasn’t just tired, he was faint and exhausted.
He quietly requested some sausages and a cola.
Mike followed suit, his grumbling stomach making him regret declining food from his dad earlier. He’d had dinner, but that had been some time ago now. In fact, he belatedly realized this was the latest his dad had ever let him stay up.
It certainly qualified as a special occasion, though.
When the waitress left, Robert looked pensive. “I didn’t really want to have to tell you- either of you- any of this,” he admitted softly. The two kits’ ears perked up instantly. “At least not until you were older. In fact, I hoped it wouldn’t ever really be necessary.”
Mike frowned. “Tell us what?”
“I asked you earlier, Tai, if you knew what your mom did at work.” Robert rubbed at his eyes. “If you’d asked her, she might have said she worked in an office at the docks.”
Tai nodded. Though the truth was, actually, Eraline wouldn’t have given him a straight answer. She never did.
“That’d be sort of true.” The coffee arrived, and Robert received it gratefully. It wasn’t much better than the cognac in his eyes, but at least he thought it tasted nicer. Of course, he could also do with the help staying awake and counteracting the alcohol. “I’m going to need to go back a long way to explain this all, I think.”
\t“A long way?” Tai repeated, confused.
\t“Twelve or so years ago, before either of you were born.” The grownup took a big breath. “When I was younger, and about to graduate from university with honors in Literature, I got a job offer for something I’d wanted to do since I was… well, your age.” He chuckled wryly. “I was still in England at the time, and I had expressed interest in this since I started university at age eighteen. It was an offer from MI5, the British intelligence agency. You know what that is, right Tai?”
\tThe tawny pup nodded. “Yeah, sort of.” Or at least, he’d heard of it. They were from the time humans and the evolved animals coexisted, eventually inherited by the younger races along with much of the human infrastructure. Cabals of spies and secret agents, to keep watch over enemies and allies alike. Though not even nine years old, Tai could read well, and the amount of books about spies and intelligence agencies written for young boys was understandably many.
\t“Well, I wasn’t about to say no. I joined up as an analyst.” Robert took another gigantic slurp of coffee as the sausages arrived. “It’s not much fun being in that industry during peace time. It’s not as cool a job as you think. You’re still busy, and there’s always some group, or some other nation, that wants to blow up your country. Don’t forget to eat, you two.”
\tAbsently, both pups ate a small, fat sausage in two bites, but their eyes never left Robert’s face.
\t“After a few years of doing this, another opportunity came up. There was a sort of exchange-program; a show of faith between nations. Some agents would be able to move to a new country and work for their agencies instead – provided they renounced their citizenship and swore loyalty to their new country, of course. Naturally this was a big risk, but everybody just picked from allies and even then watched them like hawks.” Robert laughed. “Oh, it took years for them to get off my back and actually trust me – if they even truly have. Oh, getting ahead of myself. Yes, I moved to America to work with one of their agencies.”
\t“Wait a second!” Mike burst out in alarm. He didn’t like where this was going. “I-I didn’t know any of this! You were a spy?”
\tRobert shook his head and motioned for his son to keep his voice down. “No, not a spy. I worked in an office. Anyway, I joined the CIA and things looked up for a little while. I started to like America, and work certainly picked up. Even nowadays people want to seriously inconvenience this country. Usually with bombs.
\t“After about two years, I met a young field agent. A vixen, in fact.” He flushed under his fur. “I, uh, fell in love with her. We became close friends, but in the end, another good friend of mine made the first move. His name was Thomas. Tom Shepherd; and her name was Eraline…”
\tTai gawked at him.
\t“Yeah. Tom didn’t know how I felt, and so he made the first move. I never got to find out exactly how much Eraline felt for me, but she was happy with Tom. Very happy. So I let it go.”
\tMike looked a little bemused. “Huh?”
\t“My dad…” Tai replied, sounding awed. “He was a…?”
\t“It wasn’t long then until I met someone else… another field agent. Apparently I was a danger magnet.” Robert fixed his son with a warm look. “Her name was Haley, and she had the most beautiful chestnut colored fur you’d ever seen.”
\tNow Mike gawked at him.
\t“Soon, our little family was split up. Eraline had lived in San Francisco for a few years before, so she moved back there with Thomas. They received an assignment together, posing as a married couple.” Robert sighed deeply. “It was much harder for me and Haley, however. I was an analyst, and her job was… very different.
\t“She was soon pregnant, and the guys upstairs didn’t like that. They tried to get her to terminate, but we refused… soon, we had a little boy. Our jobs were in danger, but for some reason Haley didn’t care. She really didn’t. This was more important to her – and to me.”
\tMike swallowed. “M-me?”
\t“Yes. Some things are more important than a career. I had to do something, though. Haley and I had a son, which got in the way of our jobs to begin with, and now there was a definite link between me and her. So… I changed departments, so to speak. I moved to New York with Mike, and instead of being a full-time analyst, they gave me a very different job, a quiet one that let me live a more normal life. I was a contact for agents, both ours and foreign allies, in my area… including Haley, who could easily pose as my wife.” He laughed. “It wasn’t a pose for long. We married before Mike was one year old.”
\tMike whimpered. “I thought you met in high school!”
\tRobert looked apologetic. “I’m sorry Mike, we weren’t even in the same country when we were in high school. You were young. You still are. I didn’t think it mattered.” He closed his eyes. “Eventually, Eraline and Thomas had a son too. When Tai was about four, they had to move up to Alaska. The story was they’d lost their home and most of their money, and were going to stay with a relative, but in reality they were told to go there. I don’t know why; I was never privy to the details of their work. That means nobody ever told me, and I wasn’t allowed to know. It was about roughly the same time… Haley died.”
\tMike choked. “How did she die?” he pleaded with a cracking voice, sudden tears appearing in his eyes. “How did she really die?”
\t“There were no lies there, Mike,” said Robert, tearful himself. “She crashed into a streetlight. There was nothing to say she’d been made to crash. Or anything that said she did it on purpose either for that matter. I-it was just… an accident. I promise.”
\tThe barky furred cub nodded and swiped at his eyes. “O-okay.”
\t“The world was mostly at peace, Mike. It’s not like we were at war. Everything was just run of the mill for us… we weren’t behind enemy lines or anything. Heck, we were still here in America. We just had some pretty exotic jobs.” Robert sighed heavily once more. “Having said that… a few months later, Tom was killed in a boating accident.”
\tTai inhaled sharply.
\t“I can’t tell you what your parents were doing, Tai, mostly because I don’t know myself. Nobody ever told me it was murder, though; another accident, I think.”
\tThe kit nodded, sniffing once. “I remember what they said.”
\t“And now there’s only one left…” Mike exclaimed, aghast. “Dad!!”
\t“Shh. I’m going nowhere for awhile yet, Mike. Don’t let your superstitions get the better of you.”
\tMike looked both hurt and unconvinced.
\t“Why?” Tai asked quietly. “Why was mom murdered? Why is she the only one?”
\t“I think, but I don’t know for sure, that whatever she was doing up in Alaska, she was continuing down here. Something about a crime syndicate or terrorists or something. I don’t really know, and I couldn’t tell you directly even if I knew.”
\tTai looked about to argue, but thought better of it. His quiet, unassertive nature was ironically reasserting itself and his hot anger was cooling fast as the sense of loss came down on him again.
Finally he slumped forwards, hiding his head in his folded elbows, his long head-fur collapsing over him in a veil. He started to cry quietly.
\t“This is incredible,” murmured Mike. “It’s like some stupid movie. Our parents were secret agents.”
\t“The parents never die in movies,” Tai whispered shortly. So he still had no answers. He didn’t want to risk offending Robert by pushing his luck further either.
\tHe felt so different to the way he did when his dad died. Maybe it was because of how his mother was killed, or maybe it was because now he’d lost both parents, or because he was older, but whatever it was this time he wanted to know everything. He needed to know why it happened. He couldn’t just accept this.
It might have been that he wanted something to blame, or something to distract him from the central fact of the matter: that he was alone, kept for the moment by friends who had been specifically told to throw him away. “Did she… um, finish her mission, or whatever?” he enquired, still not looking up.
\t“… No, I don’t think so.”
\tRobert looked the stricken cub over. He was exhausted in every way, had been for the past few hours at least. The only thing keeping Tai moving was his immediate hunger for answers, exacerbated by his fear of what was to come, his unknown future, and Robert had given him little to satiate that. “My guess is that she was blown.”
\tNothing but a half-hearted nod for a reply. Robert didn’t even know if Tai understood what he’d just said.
\tMike was looking once again at his father, his expression blank even though his eyes watered. Robert swallowed and looked away quickly. He knew the question Mike was asking silently, and he could almost sense how Mike felt so deeply betrayed. But he couldn’t make himself answer that question. Not just yet.
\tRobert felt sick, and experienced another surge of repugnance towards himself. “I think we all need to sleep. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more to tell you for now.”
\tAnother nod. Robert stood, paid the bill, and they left. He had to carry the smaller kit to the car, and his own son stumbled as he walked too.
\tAs days went by, it became obvious that Tai was suffering. At first, the kit was just melancholic and withdrawn, still occasionally bursting into tears for very short periods of time before getting himself under control again—he never explained what had set it off.
Then he started to hide away by himself, which Robert supposed was merely him trying to be alone to deal with the grief, but Mike disagreed. Mike told his father that it seemed more like the grieving eight-year-old was aware of the distress he was causing his friends and was trying to stay out of their way.
\tRobert eventually had to agree. Tai sometimes tried to feign emotion or interest for their sake, smiling deceptively, before returning to brooding— usually in another room. Sometimes, Mike or his father would look away for just a few seconds and the tawny kit would’ve slipped out of the room.
\tMike also appreciated the time alone though. The barky-furred ten year old had things to work through too. He was being brave about it, considerate of what Tai had lost, but everything that had happened had shaken his world too.
His perception of his own father, as a fur, had changed dramatically – especially since he was now positive his dad knew something about what happened a few years ago, and he was unsure what to think of that. That had happened a long time ago, to his way of thinking, but as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, it had been an awful experience. If his father knew the guy that did it why had he kept it a secret? Mike had described his attacker well… Robert would’ve known it was him.
But how could Mike ask about it? There was really no proof that his father knew the ferret, only the disturbing coincidence that it was the same ferret. Yet something told Mike otherwise; his father’s reluctance to even mention the matter was almost proof.
The notion that his dad might have betrayed him, or even just kept such an awful secret from him, was utterly terrifying. Mike resolved to put the matter off as long as he could. He could live with being the victim of sexual assault… he couldn’t live without his father. If knowing the truth would cost that much, he didn’t care.
Though that wasn’t the only thing concerning Mike. Despite the younger pup’s efforts, Mike started to worry more and more about Tai as time went on. He was finding it harder and harder to ignore Tai’s misery, and begun to hate the fact Tai felt he needed to hide from them all. But he wasn’t sure what to do.
Death was a terrible thing to dwell on, Mike knew. Tai may have gone through it twice now, but Mike had learned quickly that thinking long and hard about fate, about what happens to the ones you’ve lost, was more than upsetting. It was horrible on a very disturbing level that a lot of people simply didn’t realize.
When someone close to you dies, you ask questions. Your own answers can almost destroy you, and Mike knew this.
Over a week passed, and the apartment was disturbingly quiet. Mike felt he was waking up every morning in a strange place…
Then, one day, Robert made the mistake of telling Tai when his mom’s funeral was set. The kit let out a stricken cry and fled. After that, the subject was not raised again.
\tThe next morning after that episode, two were up earlier than usual. Just as the sun was starting to warm the city streets, Mike was already up and dressed, making his dad a simple breakfast. Even for him that was rather unusual, but he had a good reason.
Robert growled softly into the study-room phone as Mike walked in with the cereal bowl, resulting in a slightly surprised glance before he returned to the phone call. “What do you mean, he’s not covered?” he demanded incredulously. “We’re not an insurance agency. His mother dies for us and we don’t even give the kid the time of—Yes I… Yes I know that, but I’m not about to…” There was a pause and Robert looked in disgust at the receiver. “Don’t be so god-damned absurd! How the bloody hell can I do this for one and not the other – the one who needs it! Look, never mind.” He slammed the phone down and looked at Mike, who was just fidgeting at the side of the desk. “Thanks, Mike. I have to go to, uh, my job’s office tomorrow.”
“The university?” asked Mike hopefully. For some reason, it really mattered to him.
“No, that other job. Sorry.” Robert smiled apologetically. “There are a lot of issues to work out, so it’ll take a long time. I’m trying to get a baby-sitter for you two.”
“Oh, come on dad, we don’t need one.” They really didn’t, to be honest. Mike could cook simple things, was responsible enough to look after himself for a night and knew how to contact the right people if something went wrong. His father had raised him to be as self reliant as possible. But things were different at the moment.
“Normally, I’d guess not, but right now I don’t want to take any risks.” Robert sighed angrily. “I tried to get them to send someone down here to protect you both, but they won’t do it for Tai. He’s supposed to be at an orphanage by now, they tell me. Not my business.”
Mike suddenly looked fiercely outraged. “It’s their fault that-!”
“I know, I know. I’ll still have to get someone I trust though.”
“…Jake?”
Robert beamed. “Good idea. He likes you guys too. I’ll have to speak to his dad again soon…” He whirled around and picked up his keys and jacket, but looked around for his wallet. Mike held it out for him, since apparently Robert had left it on the side of the heavy desk. “I have to wait for his school to finish though. Speaking of that, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Where’s Tai? We’ll get him to sit in on it too.”
Mike pointed at the living room. “He’s been up since, like, five, dad. I think he had another nightmare.” The bark furred kit furrowed his brow. “Dad, I think he needs therapy, or at least someone to talk to.”
“He does. But they won’t let me. You see, when it comes to protecting him, he doesn’t know anything useful, no chance. But when it comes to getting him help, he might know something so we can’t have him seeing a therapist. They’re making him wait a month before they get around to helping him, if they do at all.”
Robert paused for a moment and regarded his son, keeping his surprise off his features. Mike had opinions about therapists due to his own experiences; he had to be exceptionally concerned to be suggesting them for Tai.
“But dad…”
“I know, don’t worry. I’m not going to let them do this without a fight. Look… I have to go out for a little while – I tried, but I can’t get anyone to look after you.” He headed for the door. “I won’t be very long, I promise. You know the drill, okay? Stay inside and don’t answer the door or the phone. Don’t let anyone know it’s just you and Tai. And I mean, not a soul. Don’t talk to anybody at all. If anything goes wrong, get help immediately. Alright?”
“OK dad, I will.” Mike smiled as his dad whirled down the hallway, in a rush as always.
\t“…Not.”
\tTai was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the den, leaning backwards with his arms placed on the ground behind him, his weight on them. His expression was the haunting, blank middle-distance stare that he’d adopted recently. The one that unnerved Mike so much. The television was on, showing financial news rather than morning cartoons, and the volume was way down. It didn’t take much deduction for Mike to realize Tai was not paying the slightest bit of attention.
\tHe hadn’t even got dressed. He was sitting in Mike’s old bathrobe and his boxers, something even his dad wouldn’t normally tolerate after breakfast.
\tWith a sigh of resignation, Mike walked over to the television in front of the vacant kit, switched it off and knelt down next to Tai, sticking his protruding muzzle next to the small, tawny ear. “Are you okay?” he asked, unnecessarily. “That can’t be good for your eyes.”
\tTai jumped, looking at Mike as if the intrusion had frightened him. “Oh!” He blinked. “Wh-what? What can’t be good for my ears?”
\t“I said ‘eyes’,” another sigh. Mike sat down next to Tai’s small form. He reached out and ran a paw through the kit’s head-fur. “Want to do something today?”
\t“Like what?” came the dull reply.
\t“Like go out?”
\tThe younger boy’s expression became wary. “Go where?”
\t“Anywhere!” There was a heat in Mike’s voice; hadn’t Tai learned by now that Mike was on his side? “Anywhere is better than you sitting on your butt inside like this for the rest of forever! You’re gonna grow mushrooms on that tail if you don’t let it see some sunshine!”
\tTai gave a noncommittal smile. “But where? Your dad’s out and I don’t think-”
\tMike cut him off with a stern glare. “What he don’t know won’t hurt him. Besides, he never minds me going around the block… anyway, I want to show you something.”
\tTai raised an eyebrow. “Show me what?”
\t“Urgh…” Hazel eyes rolled back in Mike’s head. “That living in the city isn’t a total suck-tail deal. You’re always moping about how you miss stuff in the country, but there’s some interesting stuff here, too. So c’mon Hayseed, change into something you’ve not been wearing for a week and let’s hit the sidewalk!”
\t“I’m not a hayseed! Do I even get-?”
\t“A choice? No.”
\tTai sighed and stared at the floor for a moment. “I’ll get dressed,” he mumbled, standing and stumbling towards his room. He clearly wasn’t happy with this, but Mike didn’t give a crap. He had made up his mind.
\tAnd so it was that two minutes later the boys were out of the apartment building and padding leisurely down the sidewalk. Tai led the way, but he was guided by Mike. He was almost afraid to look around at his friend, because it felt peculiarly like he was looming behind him with a gargantuan mallet.
\t“Umm, are we going further than just around the block?” Tai asked, slightly anxious. He felt a little resentful at being bullied out of the house, but to his way of thinking there was nothing he could do. He was still the guest in the Donaldson home.
\t“Yeah. Look, dad’s gonna be away for a long time, Tai. Just don’t tell him and he won’t be upset.”
\tTai sighed his agreement. “So where to now?”
\t“Central Park!”
\tTai looked up and scanned the tall buildings around him, getting larger and more imposing as they went deeper into the city. “They put a park in here?” he said skeptically.
\t“They did, actually. It’s a big one, too.”
\tThey walked on for nearly half an hour, with Mike elaborating on this park Tai didn’t really believe existed.
\t“Oh, we’re nearly there…” he said speedily, seeming to sense when Tai was going to complain of fatigue. “Where was… oh. Yeah, so the park was actually made by the humans that originally built this place about four thousand years ago!” It was so painfully obvious that Mike was yammering unremittingly just to keep Tai from complaining.
\tTai, who hadn’t been really listening at all, finally spoke up. “Mike, what are we going to do there? What’s the point of coming to a big park surrounded by hundreds of huge buildings? It’s not even gonna be a real park.”
\t“Well, why do you go walking in forests?” asked Mike pointedly.
\tTai finally shot his friend an irascible glare. “I don’t wanna do that either!” He changed topic quickly. “We can’t do anything, can we? We didn’t take anything with us.”
\tMike coughed nervously. “We’ll be fine,” he said evasively. “Anyway, we’re there!”
\tTai put his eyes to the front once again, and actually faltered in his stride. There actually was a park. The dull grey cobblestone sidewalk continued, over a quaint little walk-over bridge; beyond the bridge was a grassy hill, littered with sun-bathers, romantic couples and furs just sitting on their backside enjoying a good book; beyond it were other hills, obscured by masses of trees. It was a weekday, so it was unsurprisingly empty of kits but it was certainly by no means empty.
\tWhat really surprised him, however, was the size and density of the plant life. Vivid green trees lined broad walkways, and here and there thick shrubs and flowers flourished. Tai felt his breath catch in his chest. Instinctively he inhaled deeply through his nose and the myriad scents literally made him lightheaded.
\tHe didn’t look around, because he knew Mike was sporting his customary grin. “Told ya! This is just the beginning too!”
\tBut Tai was already looking at the horizon… he considered the distance to the nearest tall building and his muzzle cracked into a smile. The entire space between where he stood upon the quaint little stone bridge and the distant skyscraper was filled with towering trees; a wide river of flowing green leaves and fluttering birds. “H-how big is this place?” he finally asked.
\t“Well, let’s see…” Mike took the lead, beckoning Tai after him. The kit bounded after him. “So, did I tell you or not? You gotta trust me. I know what I’m talking about. All the time. About everything!”
\tThe responding glare was devoid of any real resentment. “Alright. Don’t do a big dance about it.”
\tMike promptly spun around, leaping high in a ludicrously clumsy pirouette. After landing, he started to moonwalk, poorly, away from the younger kit, deeper into the park. “Good idea! Help me out with some ballet, would ya?”
\t“Are you calling me a girl?” Tai said through his now massive grin. He sprang at Mike, whose eyes widened and he whirled around.
\tThe chase persisted for a few minutes. Tai kept up extremely well with Mike, surprising the older boy slightly as for most of the time he’d known Tai he wasn’t even capable of running. Yet he kept going, calling out giggling taunts every few seconds. He wasn’t really concentrating, so he used ‘I think your pirouette needs some work, sweet-cakes!’ twice.
\tWhen he made the mistake of stopping and turning to facilitate a rather loud raspberry, he realized Tai was much closer than he thought, and the skinny mass of fur pounced at him with full force. Surprised, Mike was thrown to the ground with a growling Tai positioning his nose right in front of his own.
\t“Got you!” Tai said breathlessly, settling down onto Mike’s chest.
\tMike grinned. “Nuh-uh. I know your weakness!” With that he poked Tai’s rib, causing the smaller fox to jolt up as if he’d just been jabbed with a cattle-prod and clutch his sides. In one moment, Mike reversed the pin, clutching two thin wrists in his paws above his friend’s head, his weight on Tai’s stomach as he lay between the skinny legs. “Who rules, huh? Huh? Huh?”
\t“Me!”
\t“Oh reeeaaally?” chortled Mike, some pseudo-malice entered his grin. “Does this seem familiar to you? Let’s see if your answer changes…” With only minimal effort, he managed to hold both wrists down with only one of his hands. “Oh, it’s real easy when I can do this…” His tail began to wag slowly in the air.
\t“M-Mike… I’ll scream, you know it!” Tai stammered, looking along his t-shirt clad chest at the threatening claw hovering over his belly.
\t“In public? No problem!”
\tThe claw descended onto the flat stomach below it. Tai immediately yelped as expected, his legs flailing uselessly behind Mike’s back. It only continued for a short few seconds, as the prisoner quickly surrendered.
\tOthers were looking their way, though mostly only briefly glances. Not that either of them really cared. They were having some brainless, shameless fun on the thick, dewy green grass in a park under the shade of the trees, and if they annoyed some grown-up trying to read a novel for a grand total of thirty seconds, so?
\t“I give up!” wailed Tai, breathless. “You rule! Don’t tickle me anymore!”
\tMike slipped off, lying on his side. The two kits stared upwards, peering through the waving tree branches at the cloudy sky. With a contented sigh, they lay side by side together. The long grass was cool on their furred backs. The warm morning breeze washed calmly over them.
\t“… I just had to get you out for a bit…” Mike said apologetically.
\t“It’s alright… thanks.”
\t“I didn’t want…” But Mike’s voiced trailed off and he looked over at a hot-dog stand about seventy yards away. Then he hissed in alarm, scrabbling to his feet but remaining in a half-crouched position. “C’mon, behind the tree!”
\tTai got to his feet with speed, but when he glanced back at the hot-dog stand, all he could see was a pair of police receiving two absurdly stuffed hot-dogs. Regardless he darted behind the nearest tree with Mike. “Wh-what’s up?”
\t“Uh, nothing… just don’t let them see you!”
\t“The police?” Tai’s eyes narrowed. “Why? We’re allowed to be here right, right?”
\tMike flushed under his fur and stammered. “Uh-um… well, I learned the hard way that cops don’t carry around a list of the kits who are home-schooled. I don’t want them coming over here and making things complicated!”
\tTai’s chest constricted. “C-complicated?! You mean we have to hide from the police? When we’re miles from home?!” Though he had whispered, the kit’s voice was high pitched with incredulity.
\t“I’m sorry, I forgot!”
\tBut the police wandered in the opposite direction, munching contentedly on their hot-dogs and talking quietly with one another. Mike peered bravely around the tree trunk, giving a loud sigh of relief. If they’d come this way, it might’ve been hard to hide from them. The brown furred kit honestly hated police.
\tHe felt a tug on his shirt hem. “Mike, let’s go home! Please!”
\t“Maybe…” Mike whispered, half to himself. “This wasn’t a good idea… but let’s not go home right away.”
\t“Mike, please!”
\t“No! Please you!”
\t“Wh-What?”
\tWith a mortified groan, Mike looked down at the frightened fox-boy. “I don’t want to have you stuck in the house! We’ll be fine, trust me!”
\tTai flinched and he looked at his older friend reproachfully. “I’ve heard that before,” he said bitterly.
\t“Um. Want a hot-dog?” Mike tried, a sheepish smile surfacing again.
\tThere was a pause. “I’m starving…”
\t
\tThey just got their hotdogs from the same stall as the cops. Then they took a walk in the park, holding a ten inch, cheese-drooling, sauce-smothered hotdog each. Tai almost managed to forget that they were taking a huge risk of getting in trouble, and tried to instead enjoy the park. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to have the sun on his face, and he was grateful for the distraction. In fact, he had to admit, this ‘Central Park’ was actually pretty cool.
\tIt wasn’t just that though. Now more than ever, he realized that Mike really was a lot of fun to be around. They chatted on and on, casually traversing the wide boulevards and pathways as they ate. Whenever Mike got started on a topic he could talk about it almost non-stop, and listening to the older kit with his adult-like inflections and vocabulary was comforting to Tai; it gave him something to focus on, and he was surprised to find himself learning things even as Mike spoke.
\tAfter some time, which they spent between walking, running, and other forms of messing around, as well as occasionally sneaking behind trees off the exposed paths to explore the grassy areas and thick bushes, they found themselves at a large lake where they finally stopped to finish their hotdogs, sitting on the grass next to the water. The lake was glowing blue in the daylight, and the surface rippled placidly. Mesmerizing little flashes and sparkles of reflected sunlight danced all over it as the kits watched on.
When Mike had finished, he flopped backwards with a groan. “Ooh, stuffed…” he said simply.
\tTai finished soon afterwards, and he couldn’t deny that the hotdog had been a bit on the massive side, or that it felt like he’d eaten a stone. His paws were covered in sauces and cheese. “Yeah…” But just as his eyelids were closing, he caught himself and sat upright. “We should go home.”
\t“Wanna check out the statues?”
\t“The statues you told me about?” Tai screwed his face a little. “Not today… Not even the human statues are all that interesting-sounding. Can we please go home now?”
\t“Hmm,” Mike replied, “I guess a lot of humans would’ve agreed.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Alright, let’s go home.” He sounded disappointed, and Tai knew why. Mike had hoped to have more fun, anything to take both of their minds off of recent events. They would have, too, but when the situation with the police was made clear to Tai, it had been powerfully sobering. Cops were everywhere in this big park for some reason, and the longer they stayed, the more likely they’d be caught.
\tIt was just too dangerous.
\tNot even Mike’s quick talking could hide the truth from Tai. If the cops caught them, thinking them to be truanting students, they’d be harassed by them for the rest of the day. More importantly, they’d eventually have to contact Mike’s father, and it was obvious that if Robert found out they’d left the house, without him knowing, for several hours to go to a place so far away…
\tHe’d be pretty upset.
\tSo the two boys, with this fact in mind, cautiously made their way to the exit and prudently avoided main roads on the way back. Thankfully, Mike knew the area well; Tai took some comfort in that, but he was still a little shaken.
\tBut it was hard to dwell on it, as Mike quickly started talking again. It was hard to dwell on anything when he was focusing on Mike’s words, and Tai was glad for it.
\tAs they neared the apartment building, Tai had to ask a question. “Hey, Mike, if we’d got caught by the cops, would it have gone on our record?”
\t“You mean… criminal record?” replied Mike. Tai nodded. “No way. We wouldn’t have actually done anything wrong; we weren’t skipping school, it’s just a major pain, ‘cause they don’t know that.”
\t“Oh, never mind then.” He grinned weakly. He decided to throw Mike a bone. “So, um, we’ve done swimming and that park… what else is there?”
\tMike seemed to perk up. “Oh, lots more! Gotta take you indoor rock climbing soon. But let’s leave that for another day.”
\tThey continued into the gray-walled lobby, passing by the banks of white, metal mailboxes and through the steel doors of the elevator that carried them up to their level. Tai hadn’t yet got used to how drastically the décor changed from the dull, lifeless lobby to the painted, softly lit, carpeted corridors where there was actual habitation.
\tWhen Mike unlocked and opened the door to the apartment, however, something scared them both to the point where their bladder control was tested.
\tRobert Donaldson was standing barely two feet back from the doorway. He towered over the pair, a tight smile on his face. “Boys,” he said with no trace of emotion in his tone. “So, where’ve you been?”
\tMike’s stomach plunged like he’d leaped off the building. “Uhh, just around the block,” he said, trying to look his dad in the eyes. It was amazingly hard for some reason.
\t“You may have noticed there’s a window in the den that gives spectacular views of the street.” The grownup’s eyes stopped boring into Mike’s and he instead looked at Tai. “Tai, can you please go to Mike’s room for a while? I need to speak with him.”
\tTai glanced quickly at Mike, who was beginning to look like he was just sentenced to death. “S-sure…”
\tRobert waited patiently until he was alone with his son, and then he led him into the kitchen, clearly trying to put as much distance between Tai and any possible yelling. “Well,” he began, some of his anger becoming audible. “Where did you really go?”
\tMike shivered. “Uhh, ok, we went a few blocks down… just wanted a walk!”
\t“You really suck at lying, Michael. Where did you go?”
\tThe boy winced, and was amazed to find himself afraid. He expected his dad to be upset if he caught them, and was sure he could handle it, but it felt like the grown up was going to throttle him. He almost never called him that name in that tone. “We went to Central Park…”
\t“Why the hell did you do that?”
\t“D-dad, Tai’s been moping around the apartment for so long! I couldn’t stand seeing him like that, so I…” he trailed off and actually whimpered.
\t“So you decided to take him a god-damn country mile away from home, without telling me? You didn’t wait for me to get home?” Robert touched a paw to his own head in exasperation. His son however was baffled by the depths of anger his father was displaying; it scared him… it meant he’d missed something. “And what really interests me is how you think I wouldn’t notice you’d taken a twenty out of my wallet this morning before I left. But that’s not even why I’m angry…”
\tSuddenly, Mike felt sick. He didn’t like stealing, and he’d fought with himself to take the bill. He didn’t just waltz over and steal it. He did it so he could maybe spend it on Tai when they went out; he intended to return it if he didn’t use it!
\t“Michael, what you did was stupid!” hissed Rob, looming over his son. “You know that Tai’s mother was murdered. That they tried to kill him too; and you decide to take a walk to Central Park of all places with him, alone, without even telling me you’d left! Don’t you realize that this isn’t the time to be screwing around like this?!
\t“You endangered both yourself and Tai. Damn it, Michael, he’s younger than you. I expected better judgment from you when dealing with him. I thought you were smart enough to think about his safety; or at least your own. I’ve been on the phone to the police for the last twenty minutes trying to get them to at least keep an eye out for you!”
\t“D-dad, I-!” Mike faltered, unsure of how to even begin mounting a defense. He hadn’t thought of it from that angle… just that his friend had lost his mother, something he knew was very painful, and he wanted to help. And the theft… how could he even say anything about that now?
\tHis eyes watered and yet he felt them burn slightly. He couldn’t even muster the will to wipe his nose and eyes defiantly, as he usually did when someone managed to make him cry. He had just wanted to help. He’d been stupid, yes, but he didn’t think he deserved this. Did he?
\tBut Robert was relentless. “I would’ve given you the money if you’d asked, and I would’ve taken you somewhere if you’d asked, but you decided to play the sneak-thief,” he said, folding his arms. “Why? What are you telling me, Michael? That I can’t trust you enough to leave you alone anymore? To not do absolutely idiotic things the moment I’m not there? You scared me to death –I told you not to go out! You could’ve been hurt, or killed! You lied to me, stole from me, and then disobeyed me.”
\tFeeling like his chest was being crushed by a coiling snake, Mike let out a pathetic sniffling sob. He stared at the ground resolutely and just waited for his father to finish giving him the worst scolding of his entire life. He’d never seen his father so angry at him.
\tWorse… now he agreed with him.
\t“Very stupid,” his father said quietly, with that tightly controlled fury still in his voice. “And bloody irresponsible. You’re smarter than this, so act like it.”
\t“D-d-d-dad, I-I’m s-!”
\t“Just don’t do this again. I shouldn’t have to worry that my own son is stealing from me.”
\tMike swallowed, reaching into his pocket quickly and holding the folded twenty dollar bill out to his father. “D-dad, please!” he choked, his voice trembling. “Tai was so upset. I couldn’t- couldn’t just do nothing! I-I just want him to stop being sad, dad, I j-just wanted to h-help…”
\tWith another sob, Mike just let go of the note and ran for the hall, letting the green slip of paper flutter gently to the floor.
\tWhen the bathroom door slammed loudly, Robert actually jumped, as if shaken out of a dream. Then he sighed and bent to pick up the note, glaring at the thing in his paws for a few moments.
\tMike’s actions had shocked and scared him, so he had been a lot harsher than normal. Doing something stupid like walking down to Central Park, sure, alright. He was ten years old; he couldn’t be expected to always make perfect decisions. He’s bound to miss something every now and then, especially when he was so concerned for his friend. Especially when Robert’s whole philosophy was to give his son the freedom to learn from those mistakes.
\tBut stealing from him? Robert couldn’t believe it at first. It took him hours of struggling with the notion, trying to find another explanation for the missing bill, before he had to face the obvious conclusion. Mike never stole. Not even five cents. But what if he started to do it now…? He really didn’t want Mike to get into the habit of thieving from him, or anybody else. This was the sort of idiocy he was bound to worry about as a father. Right?
\tNo. He knew that was nonsense. Mike wouldn’t ever be like that. He wasn’t like that. He’d proven it just then. He’d proven it his entire life.
\tRobert almost punched himself. What an incredible asshole he’d just been. Mike only wanted to help his friend. He stole the money because he thought he might be able to spend it on the grieving kit, and even after he took it he didn’t spend it, so gave it back. He probably only took it because he didn’t think his father would give it to him. That said as much about him as it did Mike.
\tHe threw the note on the counter and set off after Mike, cursing.
\tMeanwhile, Mike locked the bathroom door behind him and stumbled his way across the floor. He slammed backwards into the wall on the far side, narrowly avoiding tripping and falling into the bath. He wiped at his nose lazily with his wrist.
His dad was right. What the hell was he thinking? And he should never have taken the bill. His dad would never trust him again. What had seemed like a trivial, fun idea had turned out to be one of the most significant screw-ups of his short life. A sickening, cold feeling of self-disappointment knotted his stomach.
\tHe sat down heavily, hurting his backside, with his legs outstretched. “Shit,” he sniffed to himself, glaring at his sneakers.
\tMoments passed, the fox kit berating himself more and more as they did. The door rattled suddenly.
\t“What?” Mike asked weakly, imploring whoever it was to just leave him alone.
\tThere was a pause. Suddenly, he heard a timid, worried voice ring out quietly into the tiled bathroom. “M-Mike? Um. Thanks for taking me out today.”
\tMike shook his head. It was nice of Tai to try, but he was going to cry anyway. “No biggie.”
\t“I-it is. Thank you.” Out in the hall, Tai turned and slipped past Robert, who was watching him with guilty eyes. The kit’s eyes never met his, however.
\tThe adult knocked on the door next. “Mike? Can I talk to you please?”
\tMike sniffed and glared at the white bathroom door, bitter and injured. Hadn’t his dad said enough? He had to chew him out some more?
\tClosing his reddened eyes, the fox kit hoisted himself to his paws on the tiled floor, and slowly made his way to unlock the door. When it opened, his dad looked almost as miserable as him. “Wh-what?” asked Mike, swiping the tears from his face.
\t“I’m sorry,” Robert admitted, smiling feebly at his son. “I overreacted. I didn’t mean any of that. I was just so scared that you’d been hurt, I’m sorry I was such a jerk. You’re a good kit, Mike, thinking of Tai like that. I’m so proud of you.” He pulled the surprised kit to him for a quick embrace. Mike didn’t object. “One question, though. Why didn’t you just ask for me to take you somewhere?”
\tMike giggled and sniffled at the exact same time, closing his eyes again. At the same time, it seemed so funny and yet such a freaking dumb mistake. “C-coz I didn’t want to make you late for work.”
\tRobert rolled his eyes and smiled down at his boy. “You dork.”
\t“… I know.”
\t
\tMike came into his own room not twenty minutes later, to see Tai sitting on the edge of his bed, looking lost in thought again. Was he sulking again?
\tBut the tawny cub looked over at him and jumped to his paws, concerned. “Are you alright, Mike?” he inquired solicitously.
\t“Sure, I’m fine!” Mike grinned at him.
\tTai frowned and appeared doubtful. “You look like me,” he said, no trace of humor in his voice as he glanced over the taller kit’s face. “Your eyes are red and your nose is runny.”
\tWiping his nose conscientiously, Mike chortled. “It’s over now,” he promised, sniffing unconvincingly. “Dad was pissed at me. Like I thought.” He dismissed the matter with a wave of his paw. “It’s alright. We made up.”
\tTai sat back down. “I’m sorry,” he said, kicking his shoes off his paws. “You got in trouble because you wanted to help me stop being so...”
\t“It’s no big deal.”
\t“It’s just…” Tai shuddered. “I can’t forget. I stop thinking about something for a second and I think about mom. Or I’ll think something stupid like ‘wonder what mom would’ve said on my birthday.’ That kind of dumb stuff.”
\tMike shot him a worried glance, but Tai didn’t seem to be too upset. His tone was matter-of-fact. He was telling his friend why he was so morose all the time.
\t“That’s why,” explained Tai, talking softly. “I’m sorry you got in trouble for trying to help.”
\tMike felt a rush of affection for him, and sat down beside him. “It’s fine, it’s not like it’s easy for you,” he said.
\t“I’ll try to cheer up.”
\t“Good!” Mike chortled. “I’ll get some toys out. Or I’ll braid your hair. You’d look good.”
\t“No way!” Tai grinned, his paw going to his head-fur protectively.
\tLater that evening, the two pups sat together on Mike’s bed, toys strewn over the covers and naturally over much of the sizable room’s floor. It was getting late, and Tai was already yawning in Mike’s face as they finished up playing with some of Mike’s action figures under the warm glow of a bedside lamp. It was all surprisingly convoluted, but it essentially boiled down to Tai’s soldier stopping Mike’s mutant ninja from poisoning the entire world.
\tIt had been a lot of fun, and Tai in particular had enjoyed it all.
\tMike smiled at him, reaching out to touch his shoulder tenderly. He was getting a little tired too, but nonetheless he felt suddenly so very happy. He’d managed to distract Tai for the entire day; managed to keep the kit from sinking into his ritual depression in the evening.
\tHe looked so cheerful, almost drunk from the fact he was just playing with another kit. His white furred cheeks were rosy beneath that fluff, and he had a slight grin. Tai had wholeheartedly thrown himself into that silly role-play they’d just finished, tail and ears pricked. Mike was a bit surprised to see just how much energy Tai really had, as he rolled around the bed, messed up the sheets and laughed non-stop.
\tDespite it all, Tai was a young boy and he did in fact know how to act like one. Sometimes Mike had worried about that.
\tTai caught the paw, holding it to his shoulder. “What?” he asked softly.
\t“Hee.” Mike snickered. “You look cute.”
\tTai smiled back at him, shifting around until he was lying on his side next to Mike. “Why, thanks.”
\tThe bigger boy-cub slid a little closer to him, before propping himself above the tawny kit, looking down with a contented expression. “Want to talk for a while?” he asked. It had been a quiet day since his father had torn into him for his foolish misadventure that morning, aside from both of them taking a protracted shower-bath together.
\t“Sure.” Tai once again squirmed on the bed, this time ending up on his back looking up, with his head-fur framing his head messily.
\t“I just wanted to know some stuff…” Mike frowned a little.
\t“What about?”
\t“You.”
\tThe tawny kit frowned too, looking at his bigger friend in confusion. “About me?” he said slowly. “What?”
\tAh. So it was still there; Tai’s little shell. Mike felt slightly disappointed. “I… I wanna know more about you. You’re, like, an enigma still.”
\t“A what?”
\t“A mystery.” Mike snuffled lightly at the kit’s ears as he lay below him. “You don’t have to answer. Can I at least ask? Do you trust me?”
\t“Of course I do.”
\tThe barky fox chuckled. “You sure sound like it. There’s just… some stuff that I don’t get.”
\t“About me?”
\t“Yeah.” Mike frowned. Phrasing this was going to suck, but he’d been baffled by it for so long. “You said you were bullied back at your old school.”
\tTai corrected him absently. “Schools,” he said. “I’ve gone to four different ones.”
\t“That’s even weirder. What sorts of stuff did they do to you?”
\t“What sorts of-?” The tawny kit blinked in surprise. Then he almost seemed ashamed—deeply embarrassed for some reason. “All different things,” he muttered, and gave no indication he wanted to continue.
They both fell silent for a second before, finally, reluctantly, Tai opened his muzzle again. “Some of it was pretty dumb. Pushing my pencil case off my desk. Saying mean things about me… whether they knew I could hear them or not. For a while, stuff’d go missing from my bag. A couple times, someone kept dropping the stuff I made in art class. Daring me to do something about it. Um, it was usually the older boys; sometimes they took stuff off me; trading cards, money my mom gave me and all that.”
\t“Seriously?”
\tTai smiled wryly and touched a paw to his muzzle. “One day, I got shoved into a wall. I had a loose tooth, and it got knocked out, and my nose got all covered in blood.”
\t“You gotta be kiddin’ me. Did you tell a teacher?”
\t“Yes.”
\t“What did he do?”
\t“Um, she asked them what happened, and they said I fell over. Said that they were just behind me and they could understand if I thought they’d shoved me.” Tai closed his eyes briefly. When he spoke next his tone was brittle. “They caught me after school on the way home. Told me that no one ever listened to poor kits like me… that they’d do it again if I ever told on them ever again.”
\tMike felt his heart skip. “D-do what again?”
\tTai swallowed. “Hit me a few times.” He sighed. “It sucks,” he mumbled. “Being poor. Furs notice. They know. They pick on you.”
Once again, Tai fell silent, seemingly to compose his next few sentences. Mike held his breath as he waited.
“I… got angry sometimes. I’d do something stupid. Sometimes to furs that didn’t deserve it. Yell at them. Or run away. I hit or tried to break stuff sometimes, just because I was so mad... I sometimes got in trouble for that.” He brushed his head-fur from his eyes. “I cried a lot. I would say nasty things to some furs. But not to the ones who were mean to me. I mean, if I did, they’d kick my tail.”
\tMike frowned pensively. He had a little bit of trouble imagining Tai with a temper. Sure, he’d been a little mad the night his mother was killed, but who wouldn’t have been?
So he thought further back. The first twenty-four hours they’d known one another came to mind, when Mike had gone home in the morning without telling Tai. “Don’t do that again!” the younger kit had ordered him. He didn’t exactly sound angry then, but could only have been a step away. Hurt as he was, Tai had snapped at his newest friend.
\t“I once had glue dumped on me,” Tai was saying in an off-hand tone. “Couldn’t get it all out for a week. That was the worst thing that happened in my first school.” Once more he paused, thinking what to tell Mike next. “They did a lot of stuff, Mike.”
\t“Didn’t you try to stop them? You know, fight back?”
\t“How?” Tai’s voice quavered briefly. “I’m not strong! I’m tiny and skinny. All it does is make them mad!”
\t“Why did none of the teachers help?” Mike demanded softly, gingerly stroking the tawny pup’s ear.
\t“I didn’t… they… I didn’t always tell them.”
\t“What?!”
\t“I just… didn’t.” Tai scrunched his eyes shut. “I didn’t tell them. They never did anything anyway when I did. They never listened to me! They always treated me like I was stupid! Or they always let them off, as if what I said wasn’t important!” Now he did sound angry. He looked angry too, and his tiny paws were fists. “’Don’t be silly!’, ‘Why would they do that?’, ‘Uh-huh.’, ‘Mind your tone, Tai!’ Who cares about my tone?!” Mike’s gentle touch worked against his quickening pulse, and Tai held his breath to collect himself. “Um, I’m sorry I was such a jerk to your dad that night. He was being nice too…”
\t“That’s okay, Tai,” Mike promised him. “Dad’s smart. He knows it wasn’t your fault.”
\t“I used to stay away from everyone,” Tai went on. “In school, I’d try to be alone. I’d try not to talk to anyone. They’d call me a loner too. I never wanted to be alone though! I just didn’t want anyone to pick on me… or pretend to be my friend.”
\tMike was shocked to discover that he was crying just from listening to this. Silent tears were pooling in his eyes and his nose was getting slightly stuffy. The littler fox boy was telling him things he’d probably never said to anyone, ever.
\t “I’m such an idiot,” Tai suddenly whispered, voice cracking. “It was my fault. Always. I always suck at everything.”
\t“What are you talking about? You’re not an idiot. I think you’re really smart.”
\tWith reddened eyes, Tai looked shamefully up at Mike. “Did you know I repeated?” he breathed, sounding sick and scared. “Second grade. Twice. And they were gonna make me do it again. No one I know has ever done a year more than once. I… I did twice.”
\tStunned, Mike just stared in silence down at his friend.
\t“See? It’s cause of me that I never had any friends. It’s cause of me that others picked on me.” The cub gritted his teeth. “It’s because I’m stupid that I can’t go to the third grade.” He finally let out a broken cry, one that he tried to reign in, but it still burst out from behind his clenched teeth.
\tStill a little shocked, Mike made his mistake. “But… what about your mom?!” he demanded. “Why didn’t she do anything about this?” Then he physically flinched.
\tTai looked steadily at him for a moment, expressionless. “My mom?” he said, very slowly. “She was busy. She acted the way my teachers did; as if I was crazy or whatever was wrong didn’t matter. Maybe it really didn’t matter…”
\tThe very idea of that stung Mike to the core. If his dad didn’t engage him the way he did, the ten-year-old was sure he’d have died inside. But still, when Eraline was killed, Tai was truly heart-broken. He was very, very upset!
\tAs if reading his thoughts, Tai sniffled. “I miss her. Sometimes she never listened, or didn’t talk to me. But she’d give me hugs sometimes. I could snuggle up with her and watch a movie. She’d forgive me if I got snappy or talked back.”
\tTai chortled weakly. Not that he often snapped at his mother. It was far more likely to be the other way around, since Tai knew better than to upset his mom. She was his whole world, and something as simple as denying him a hug, or scolding him, was devastating… and she wasn’t above abusing that to keep him in line. They’d been a little distant the last year or so, but that didn’t erase his entire life before that. Eraline may not have been a perfect parent, but she was still his mother.
\tHe tried not to think about the fact that she would never be there for him again…
\tMike sighed guiltily, before cuddling right up to Tai’s pensive form. “Listen, Tai,” he said firmly. “I’ll hug you. I’ll watch movies with you. I’ll forgive you. I’ll listen to you and I care what you think! You’re not alone anymore.” He touched his nose to Tai’s. “You’re not stupid, you’re really smart. That’s why I like you. I don’t care how many times you did whatever grade. And you’ve made plenty of friends here. Jake. Me. Ciaran really likes you. And so do Ernie, Aaron and Mills!” He laughed. “My dad loves you!”
\tTai looked only semi-convinced. “You don’t know me that well,” he disagreed pessimistically, rubbing at an eye.
\t“And did the jerks who picked on you know you any better?”
\tThe tawny pup blinked a few times.
\t“Trust me,” Mike said, saying those words that Tai despised, as he shifted his position until he was almost straddling the little cub. Tai didn’t mind. Being pinned under his bigger, protective friend was something he’d long discovered he liked. “I know you well enough.”
\tAll of a sudden, Tai giggled. “Alright,” he said finally. Mike could tell that Tai was trying to deflect the subject. That was alright though, it was probably time to let Tai think about other things. “What else did you want to know?”
\tImmediately, Mike had his next question ready. “Why the heck did you have four different schools? Isn’t that…”
\t“A different school a year,” interjected Tai. “Mom kept changing my schools.”
\t“Why?”
\t“I dunno.”
\t“Huh…” Mike sat down on the smaller boy’s hips. “Weird.”
\tTai cocked an ear. “My turn. Why are you so mad with your dad?”
\t“Wha-?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m not!”
\t“You aren’t? But what about the night you picked me up from the hospital…?”
\tMike gulped ruefully. It was surprising that Tai didn’t ask about this sooner. “Oh, that. It’s just… I- uh…” This was surprisingly hard to put into words for the articulate vulpine kit. “The ferret… the one that fell in front of the car? Remember?”
\t“Uh-huh.”
\t“That was- I mean, I’m pretty sure it was the guy who, you know.” He stopped and his hazel eyes went a little glazed. “Who mugged me.”
\t“What? Really?”
\t“Yeah.”
\tMike looked away. This was exactly the god-damn subject he didn’t want to think about, but after making Tai relive his own nasty memories, he could hardly refuse to answer. “I think that dad knew him,” he breathed. “There’s so much he hasn’t told me. I don’t know what’s going on!” The older boy’s voice cracked too now. “I’m scared to think about it.”
\t“Why don’t you ask him?”
\t“Because I don’t want to know!” Mike replied, sounding almost pleading. In that uncanny way of Mike’s, he no longer sounded like a child at all. It was much less charming at the moment, though. “What if dad knew all along who did it? What if he was... in on it?! Why didn’t he tell me he knew the guy? Or that he knew your mom?”
\tTai reached up and touched Mike’s muzzle. “Why would you think this stuff?” he asked bluntly, though his leafy eyes were wide with compassion. “Your dad wouldn’t wanna hurt you. Your dad loves you.”
\t“I don’t know.” Mike hung his head. “It’s all too strange. I think I should be allowed to know these things. Dad’s always said that he never wanted to keep secrets from me like I was a dumb kit. But he kept this from me.”
\tLeaning forwards, Tai literally yanked his best friend down on top of him and held him in a tight hug with his skinny arms. “It’s okay…” he said uselessly.
\tMike accepted the hug, but shook his head. “It’s not okay,” he said softly. “It’s not. Nothing’s okay. So much I don’t know…”
\t“Me neither. I wish someone would tell us…”
\tThe two kits lay like this for a moment, before finally Mike pushed away, sitting up once again. “I love talking to you,” he said warmly. “But I don’t want tonight to be sad, so let’s stop talking about this stuff. I wanted to keep you happy tonight.”
\t“You have.” Tai smiled wanly. “I’ve never been able to talk like this.”
\t“I’ve got an idea for how we can make tonight even happier.” Mike loomed over the tawny kit, sliding down his body and pressing a little harder against him. “Do you want to?”
\tThe emerald eyes widened, locking right on to his own, and Tai’s smile widened. “Yes!”
\tTheir noses touched. “Alright then…”
\tWith a cheeky grin, Mike slipped both arms underneath Tai’s t-shirt, resting his forearms on the fluffy chest-fur. Together, they took off the shirt, which had a few tiny grass-stains on it; testaments to the fun they had at the park.
\tShirtless, Tai immediately grabbed Mike’s shirt hem too, and lifted it up. Mike allowed the littler kit to remove his top too, raising his arms above his head and leaning forwards. “Team work,” he giggled.
\tThose skinny arms snaked around his chest again, pulling him down insistently. Tai pressed his chest to Mike’s and sighed deeply. “Hmm.”
\tMike closed his eyes and rested his cheek on Tai’s. “What’s up?” he breathed.
\tSoon, a pair of slender legs wrapped around his waist too. “I want a hug,” Tai said weakly. “And I can feel your heart…”
\tThe brown furred fox boy laughed quietly, and fell silent, listening intently. “Hey… I can feel yours too.”
\t“Don’t be silly, I don’t have a heart.” Tai shyly nibbled Mike’s ear. “I’m a robot.”
\t“Then you’re one hot robot.” Mike pushed up, separating them slightly and looking down on his friend. “Oh man.”
\tTai smiled at him, reaching up to place his paws on the older boy’s shoulders and letting his legs drop. He pressed his own body into the mattress and inhaled deeply. “What?”
\tLaughing, Mike snagged Tai in a massive hug again. “What did you wanna do?” he asked, grinning. He started to push and rub his groin against Tai’s, to Tai’s surprise.
\t“Ah…” Tai gasped, spreading his legs some more, elevating his hips slightly. “Hey, that feels nice. Even through our pants.”
\tAlmost as soon as he said that, Mike’s paws yanked down his track-pants, exposing Tai’s boxers. “Let’s see how much better it is…” Mike removed his own jeans, and hurled both items of clothing onto the floor before resuming his previous position.
\tTai groaned and writhed on the bed. The cooler air in the room was tingling through his exposed legs and upper body, permeating his fur and skin. He could feel Mike’s penis and groin press and rub against his own through the smooth fabric, and he could tell both of them were quickly stiffening.
\tBut he paused and pushed Mike gently backwards. A bit confused, Mike leaned back and looked at the kit curiously. “What’s wrong?”
\tTai looked full into Mike’s face.
\tSo much had changed so fast. As he looked at Mike now, the little gulf that had existed before was entirely gone. Mike was no longer the confident, smarter, older, dominating boy that he didn’t really, truly know that well. Now they… were best friends. Equals, both looking to one another for comfort. Now they were both after the same things.
\tMike was now a friend the likes of which he’d never even considered that he could have.
\tHe didn’t think it in so many words, but he perceived that this really was what love was.
\t“Mike…” he said, choked up slightly. “Can I say something?”
\tThe barky kit blinked. “Sure.”
\t“I love you. You’re my best friend… ever.” The green eyes watered, but Tai smiled. “Don’t leave me. Please. Don’t let your dad throw me out. I don’t want to go.”
\t“I’ll do whatever I can,” Mike promised instantly. “I don’t want you to go.”
\t“I trust you.” Tai pulled Mike right back into his position again.
\tMike laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say that and sound like you really mean it.” He nosed Tai’s neck. “So, what did you want to do?”
\tTai grinned, aware his breathing was picking up. It was exactly as he’d said in the change-room showers… Mike made him feel so strange at times. So suddenly inclined to snuggle up to him, to press into his warm, bigger body, to do something about the glowing feeling in his lower stomach that now was usually accompanied by a swift erection. “Whatever you want to do,” he said bashfully. “I’m all yours. It all makes me feel good.”
\tThere was a moment of silence while Mike stared at him. “Whoa,” he finally gasped, his voice shaky. Tai guessed astutely that he wasn’t the only one who was made to feel weird in these situations. “That’s just… Wow. Um, well said.”
\tTai had to giggle. Mike was stunned by his perfectly worded surrender.
\tHe meant it though. The brown-furred older pup, so mature, so smart, so strong and funny… Tai’d let him do whatever he wanted now; this time, there was no fear, no confusion.
\tMike’s head was spinning a little. This was the first time they’d really been in this situation since the night before they both went swimming. The revelation that had come that day, when Tai had seemed to accept his feelings totally in the showers, was evident right now.
\tThe littler kit was sprawled beneath him, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he breathed from his slightly open mouth. Long head-fur messily framing his delicate, angular muzzle and warm green eyes, Tai looked up at him with total trust and a loving little smile.
\tHis unusually colored fur seemed to glow slightly in the light from Mike’s bedside lamp. A repressed corona of a sort, while a slight shadow fell across the pup’s form. Mike felt himself wishing he had a camera again.
\t“Tai, you’re incredible,” Mike said baldly.
\tTai looked up silently for a few seconds. “No, you are,” he disagreed. “I still can’t believe you’re real.”
\tMike immediately licked the younger kit’s nose and sighed. “That was for real,” he mumbled dryly.
\tThe grinding ceased and Mike pulled back slightly, easily undoing the flies on both their boxers. Without a word, he withdrew both of their sensitive members.
\tTai watched breathlessly as Mike touched them together and began stroking both of them at a slow pace, occasionally rolling them together between a palm. Eventually, he laid back and sighed contently. “That feels nice…” he said quietly.
\tMike mewled himself, pushing back the foreskins and letting the smooth, rounded tips rub together. He was looking at the twitching organs intently, appreciating the form and feel.
\tHe briefly considered tying the little kit up again. After all, Tai had said he liked it. But there was something… strange about this time. It was such a tender moment. Such stuff didn’t feel right at this time.
\tInstead, Mike leaned forwards and gave Tai a gentle kiss, which the younger pup instantly responded to.
\tHe placed his barky-furred paws on his best friend’s shoulders and slowly rubbed them down the slender arms, as Tai sighed his approval. Mike then returned to the white-fluffed chest, and begun rubbing down the length of Tai’s slim torso before snagging the pup’s blue boxers and pulling them down slowly.
\tWithout a pause, Tai raised his hips to help and Mike easily tugged the little boxers down and off those legs. “Jeez,” he said in a warm tone. “You’re skinny. And small.”
\tTai giggled and stretched out on the bed, showing off to Mike just how skinny he was. “I’m allowed to be,” he replied in the same tone. “I’m eight and a fox. So there.”
\tMike removed his own boxers, joining Tai in his nudity before getting right back into his position between the little legs and once more picking up where he left off. “I’d have you no other way. Everything about you is just exactly what I like.”
\tWithout pausing for a response, Mike nosed into Tai’s fuzzy armpit playfully before letting his tongue slip out to tease the sensitive button on Tai’s chest near there.
\t“Ooh!” Tai whispered.
\tMike moved to the next one, not stopping until they both were wet and stiff. “Does it feel nice?”
\t“Uh-huh.”
\t“Alright… then I guess this does too.” Mike slid down a little, before easily engulfing the smaller kit’s penis in his muzzle and suckling for a moment as Tai writhed in reply. Yet after only a few seconds he pulled away and grinned at Tai.
\tThe little kit looked at him slightly reproachfully. “Jerk.”
\tWith a laugh, Mike slipped out from between Tai’s legs and lay next to him. Shoulders touching, both on their backs, he laid the nearest arm around Tai’s neck and hugged him close. The other paw slipped across and enveloped the little stiffy. “Here,” he said archly. “Let’s both do it like this.”
\tBeaming, Tai shifted a little closer, laying his head on Mike’s chest and likewise placing his opposite paw onto Mike’s bared erection. At the exact same moment they begun stroking and tugging slowly.
\t“This feels nice…” Tai moaned, nuzzling at Mike’s chest. His legs suddenly ensnared Mike’s nearest, and he turned onto his side a little, giving Mike easier access. “It’s like a snuggle, only even nicer.”
\tThey lay together in this manner for a few minutes, before Tai pushed away suddenly yet again. “Wait…” he said.
\tWith a sultry grin, he straddled Mike’s belly and snickered.
\t“What’s on your mind?” Mike enquired, content to see what Tai’s plan was.
\tTai’s reply was simply to lean down and snuffle at Mike’s chest, using his nose and a paw to search through the silky smooth fur. Soon, his target located, he started to lap at it slowly.
\tWith a gasp, Mike pressed his chest upwards reflexively. “Oh!”
\tIt did indeed feel nice. Tai was a quick learner, and he was bestowing the same treatment to Mike as Mike had done to him, only with his smaller tongue. It trailed around and over the fleshy bump, each time it traversed the touchy area brought a groan from Mike.
\tNaturally, Tai only did this for a few moments before grinning and sitting back.
\tA little breathless, Mike had to laugh. “Jerk!” he chortled. Tai shrugged and stretched in such a sensual manner it was obvious it was for Mike’s benefit. The older boy felt his breath stop. Tai really was a fast learner!
\tSwiveling around on top, Tai settled down and beheld Mike’s penis, erect and tasty. “I’m gonna suck your lollipop,” he said cheerily, adjusting position until he could comfortably do so. And then he did.
\tThe barky furred kit shuddered when he felt it. Tai licked and suckled for a moment or two, before maintaining an air-tight seal and beginning to lick up and down the length of it. The small, warm muzzle was just heaven.
\tMike groaned softly and relaxed. He looked wistfully at the pup’s groin above him. Then he cackled.
\tTwo strong arms encircled Tai’s lower back and waist, holding him firm as a tongue swiped at his fluffy scrotum. Tai yipped in surprise. Though he refused to cease sucking.
\tThe tongue started to do more than swipe then. Mike was pressing on the testes, pushing them around, pulling them down with his muzzle, and lapping at the sensitive space at the back of the scrotum. Both the pups were panting and moaning happily.
\tSoon Mike shook and whimpered, as Tai almost casually made him orgasm with just that little tongue. “Oh!” he exclaimed, his knees bending as he tensed. “Geez!”
\tTai let the wet object in his muzzle free for a moment, but it was only a temporary respite. With a big shuddering breath, he quickly enveloped the still hard penis again with his tongue.
\t“Mrrmph!” whined Mike, squirming a little. He wriggled his toes, trying to distract himself from the increased sensitivity that had come in the wake of his dry climax. Challenging himself to endure it, to let Tai continue as he clearly wanted to.
\tThe older fox-boy groaned aloud and realized he was shaking now. Had Tai not given him that brief break before continuing, there was no way Mike could’ve endured it.
\tHis heart skipped a beat when he looked up and saw Tai’s tiny butt.
\tAn idea flew into his head, but he instantly batted it back out. It flew back in. He swallowed and wrestled with the idea for a few moments.
\tMeanwhile, Tai was happily, if a little smugly, sucking away at the sensitive pole. His eyes were closed and he chortled as he licked and suckled. He thought it’d be fun to treat Mike the way Mike usually did him. He owed Mike, and he enjoyed doing this, so no problem!
\tHowever, he squealed when he felt something that was almost certainly a tongue lick right under his tail. It missed his tail-hole by only an inch at most. Then the tongue attacked again, and this time it didn’t miss. He whined plaintively but he didn’t want to stop what he was doing.
\tMike’s voice from behind him sounded stunned. “Whoa, I just did that?” he gasped. “I-I didn’t taste a thing! Ha-ha!”
\tTai gulped nervously. That was something new alright. If Mike wanted to do it, he wouldn’t object, but… that was a little icky. Wasn’t it?
\tMike did it again, still somewhat apprehensively. The tongue pressed firmly against Tai’s anus, licking the muscular ring wetly. Tai gasped and groaned, falling forward slightly. It felt somewhere between icky and wonderful… closer to wonderful. He couldn’t pull away; Mike still had his arms locked around Tai’s hips!
\tMike grinned. Tai, despite the incredible weirdness of the act, was still diligently slurping away down there, refusing to let Mike break his concentration. “Blech,” he joked, poking at the butt cheeks of the skinny little cub. “If you fart, I’ll tickle you until you die from it. You like it?”
\t“Y-yeah…” Tai mewed quietly, taking a short break. “It feels weird. It doesn’t taste gross…?”
\t“Ha-ha!” Mike laughed heartily, almost unable to believe it himself. “Nope! There’s nothing here, Tai!” But Mike most definitely didn’t want to press his luck here. The ick-factor could easily go straight through the roof for him. “But, um, I’d rather do this…”
\tHe changed his angle of approach and instead lapped at Tai’s erection. It was kind of par for the course, but it wasn’t as icky. Mike’s list was still largely untouched, so it was alright to take his time.
\tThe tawny boy whined and raised his backside a little to let Mike have his way. It was funny, he realized: even when he was on top, Mike controlled the action, and he was more than willing to accept that. That new thing he’d just done was interesting, but not as interesting as the fact that Tai couldn’t really make himself move away when he did it. That made him feel tingly all over!
\tHe finally pulled away from Mike’s dick, and the older boy sighed. “Aww!”
\tTai snickered and spun back around, plopping onto the bed alongside Mike once again. “What now, Mikey?” he asked softly, smiling tenderly.
\t“Good question.” Mike rolled over and hugged Tai to him. “I’m tired, but I want you to have an orgasm too.”
\tAn eyebrow above one of those emerald eyes was raised and an ear was perked. “Is that what that nice feeling is called, is it?”
\t“Yeah, didn’t I tell you that?”
\t“You might have.”
\tSitting up, Mike grinned. “Memory like a sieve.” He straddled the kit’s waist once again and grasped the skinny wrists. He noted absently that they were doing a lot of switching position tonight. “Can I say something?”
\t“No!” Tai replied immediately, grinning impishly.
\t“I’m gonna anyway. I love you.” Mike laughed and leaned in for a quick nose-lick. “And if you don’t like that, then too bad.”
\tThe brown-furred kit shifted a little until once more he was between Tai’s legs. Tai quickly spread his long, slender appendages out on the bed, and as Mike looked down the furry body he could see the kit’s wet little stiffy.
\tSo once more he resumed pumping both of them in his paws at the same time.
“Mmm…” Mike commented. “The skin is so smooth, huh? Feels good touching them together.”
“Uh-huh.” Tai closed his eyes and pushed his hips upward. “Nhhn.”
Chuckling, Mike once more wrapped his muzzle around Tai’s little penis. It wasn’t anything new and exciting, but it felt good, and that’s what both of them wanted—needed right now. Mike shut his eyes briefly. Oh, this was just great…
The littler fox boy writhed and groaned for only a few moments before he gave a hoarse cry. Mike finished up strong as always, sucking hard on the small, quivering shaft and watching along Tai’s body just so he could take in the kit’s response.
As usual, Tai seemed overwhelmed by the sensation. It made Mike whimper just to see the sensual little fox-boy like that, stretching out and arching his back on top of the covers before finally lying still but for a slight tremble.
With a laugh, Mike separated again and flopped almost on top of the warm body before him. “Ooh, that feel good?” he asked redundantly. Tai nodded, breathing deeply and looking up at the roof.
Mike snuggled the smaller kit to him. “Good.”
\tTai sighed, wrapping himself around Mike’s body and nearest leg like a tawny furred octopus. “I think I need to sleep now.”
\t“Me too…” Mike pawed at the younger pup’s ears. “But we need to get under the covers. It’ll be way too cold otherwise.”
\t“Ugh. Do I have to move?”
\t“Uh, I think so…”
\t“Can we cuddle?”
\t“Definitely!”
\tEventually, Mike pulled himself and the sluggish Tai under his thick quilt. Once more, they fell asleep in the warmth and comfort of one another’s arms.
\tThat was getting to be a habit…
\tAnd frankly, neither of them minded in the least.
Chapter Eight – Fin.
-- By Krazy Kitsune/Kichigai Kitsune
Copyright 2005 onwards.
\t
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