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May feature non sexual violence or abuse, mental illness, or other potentially triggering topics", "count": "7", "submission_right_submission_id": "3451211", "submission_right_file_name": "5255986_StupidSquirrel_stray.doc", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5255/5255986_StupidSquirrel_stray.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5255/5255986_StupidSquirrel_stray.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5255/5255986_StupidSquirrel_stray.jpg", "submission_right_thumb_huge_x": "300", "submission_right_thumb_huge_y": "300", "submission_right_thumb_large_x": "200", "submission_right_thumb_large_y": "200", "submission_right_thumb_medium_x": "120", "submission_right_thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "description": "[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3421506]Chapter 1[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3421512]Chapter 2[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3421513]Chapter 3[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3421515]Chapter 4[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3421518]Chapter 5[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3421520]Chapter 6[/url]\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3520831]This story has a sequel!(still in progress)[/url]\n\nI wanted to write something very different from my first story, and this is the idea that popped into my head. I don’t know the “proper” way to write, I just think of an idea and write shit off the cuff as I think of it.\nI enjoyed writing this one, even if the ending may feel rushed. I’d thought of a different ending at first, but I personally like how this one turned out.\nMy girlfriend of 10 years broke up with me half way through this one, I hope there’s no noticeable shift in style from that. I tried not to let it change anything.\nThis is only my second time writing, and I’ve found that it’s something I really love. It’s quickly become my happy place, just writing for me, the stories that I would want to read. It’s still nice to share them here, too. I hope you enjoy them.\nEvery favorite watch and comment genuinely means the world to me, seeing people like something that I made. It’s a special feeling.\nCharlie will be back as a character in the future. He didn’t exist before I started writing this one, but I love him now :3", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

This story has a sequel!(still in progress)

I wanted to write something very different from my first story, and this is the idea that popped into my head. I don’t know the “proper” way to write, I just think of an idea and write shit off the cuff as I think of it.
I enjoyed writing this one, even if the ending may feel rushed. I’d thought of a different ending at first, but I personally like how this one turned out.
My girlfriend of 10 years broke up with me half way through this one, I hope there’s no noticeable shift in style from that. I tried not to let it change anything.
This is only my second time writing, and I’ve found that it’s something I really love. It’s quickly become my happy place, just writing for me, the stories that I would want to read. It’s still nice to share them here, too. I hope you enjoy them.
Every favorite watch and comment genuinely means the world to me, seeing people like something that I made. It’s a special feeling.
Charlie will be back as a character in the future. He didn’t exist before I started writing this one, but I love him now :3", "writing": "[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3520831]This story has a sequel!(Still in progress)[/url]\n\nThis story contains depictions of non sexual child abuse, both verbal and physical. It contains scenes of homophobia, and a scene of homophobic violence. This story deals with mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and ADHD along with the guilt that comes attached with them. It will be tagged accordingly, please use your blacklist if you cannot handle these themes.\n\nm/m, teen(14/15), oral sex, awkward, shy, first time, romance, gratuitous blushing and crying\n\nPlease read the description for separate chapter uploads if you don't want to/can't read a ~30000 word story all at once. All chapters will be rated and tagged the same, and have the same warning at the start.\n\nCharlie\n\nDexter was a shy little gray squirrel, and little he was. Having just turned 14 two weeks earlier, he stood at a meager 4 feet 6 inches tall. Feeling anxious as he slowly sat up in bed, dark green eyes adjusting to the small amount of light creeping through his bedroom window, his mind started to race. Today was the first day of high school, and the slightly chubby squirrel was not looking forward to officially being a freshman and having to deal with yet another year of being the choice target for all of the local bullies. He stood, wiping the sleepy crust from his eyes and walked over to the beat up old dresser in the corner of his still mostly dark room. Feeling around through all the junk he'd filled his top drawer with until he felt the handle to his heavily mangled brush, he began to run it through his long gray hair to attempt to remove all of the small knots and tangles that formed as he rolled around nervously in his sleep every night.\n\nCarelessly tossing the now thoroughly hair filled brush back into his junk drawer, the boy padded across the room to flick on the light. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, wearing nothing but an old stretched out pair of bright red boxer briefs, he noticed his belly and sighed to himself sadly. ``Thanks for giving me the fat genes and not the sick facial hair genes, dad. Ugh'' He thought to himself. Puberty had hit the boy in a very frustrating way for him, giving him the awkward random erections and slight weight gain, but not yet giving him the height, facial hair, or deeper voice he desperately hoped for. The poor boy was often mistaken for a girl from behind with his curves and long hair, his voice not helping matters much when trying to correct people, often leading to more ridicule from his classmates. \n\nBlindly pulling on an over sized black tee-shirt from the basket of clean clothes on the floor he'd yet to find the time to fold and put away, he yawned and leaned over to pick his shorts up off the floor. Sliding them up his legs as he hobbles towards the door, almost tripping, he steps out of his bedroom and into the bathroom directly across from it. After relieving the pressure in his bladder, Dexter leaned over the sink to wash his hands and examine his face in the mirror. Lightly slapping at his cheeks splashing them with cold water in an attempt to wake himself up, he groans at the dark bags under his eyes. He'd always suffered from nightmares since he was little, and it made sleep an endless struggle for him. Adding on to that struggle was the anxiety from the last week after realizing school was starting up again. Summer never lasted long enough, as much as the tiny squirrel boy struggled with the heat.\n\nWiping his still damp hands off on his shirt, Dexter exits the bathroom and rounds the hallway corner into the living room spotting the top of his fathers head peeking up over the couch as he's watching the local news for the weather report. 100 degrees today, 96 tomorrow, 102 on Friday. ``Fucking hell,'' Dexter quietly exclaims, making his father jump at the unexpected voice behind him. ``I know they start school on Wednesday so we start with a short week, but couldn't they at least let school start in cooler weather? This week is going to be a nightmare...'' he huffs dejectedly. ``Jesus, Dex.'' the man said, quickly reaching for the napkin next to him to dab at the coffee he'd spilled in his lap from his son's surprise appearance behind him. ``How the hell do you move so quietly, kid? Haha. I know you struggle with the heat like me, but your classes should at least have air conditioning,'' he said sympathetically. ``Also don't let your mother hear you talking like that. I'd prefer she not find out letting you swear around me was part of your birthday present. Just pretend I'm a responsible parent and still wash your mouth out for it or something,'' he added quietly. \n\nDexter couldn't help but chuckle at that. He was 14 now, and his father had never really had an issue with the boy swearing, but his mother was quite the opposite. Dexter was her darling little baby boy, teenager or not, and she couldn't help but gasp in shock whenever she heard anything even resembling a bad word leave the kid's mouth. His size certainly didn't help his case in her eyes, still often treating him as if he was 10 or 11. Just last week at dinner she'd given him quite the scolding when he exclaimed ``shit!'' after the bottom of his greasy box of fries gave out and spilled all over his lap. He didn't know a gray squirrel could turn so red until he'd seen how hard his cheeks were burning in embarrassment in the mirror as he tried to calm down in the bathroom.\n\nHearing a sizzle from the kitchen, Dexter made his way across the living room to peek his head in and see his mom standing over the stove carefully laying thick, fatty slices of bacon into a large frying pan. The strong, delicious stench of salty, savory, smokey meat filled the house as the boy's mouth watered relentlessly. ``Morning, mom.'' He said groggily as he walked up next to her to give her a quick side hug to stay out of her way as she made everybody breakfast. Briefly leaning into his hug, unable to take her raw pork covered hands away from their current task, she responds. ``Good morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling? Did you sleep okay? Big day today. Oh, I'm so nervous, Dexter. High school is a big deal. My little boy's a freshman already. I can't believe it...'' She sniffled a little, seemingly trying to hold back tears.\n\nDexter most certainly loved his parents, and he knew his mother meant well, but she was most definitely far too overbearing sometimes to an utterly embarrassing degree. Slowly shuffling his feet towards the sink, the boy grabs a glass out of the cupboard and holds his hand under the running faucet waiting for the water to feel sufficiently cold. Taking three large, desperate gulps from his cup as water sloppily drips down the sides of his mouth and onto his shirt, Dexter sighs in satisfaction having relieved his dry morning mouth. ``I'm ok, mom. A little nervous, but no worse than any other first day. I don't remember waking up at all last night but I definitely don't feel like I got much sleep. I'm sure I'll be f-fine...'' he doubted himself at the end of that sentence, his nervous stutter briefly making an appearance. ``I'm 14 now, mom. I?m sure I can handle it. It-it's just school. I've made it through every other year so far.'' Hearing a sigh from his mother over the renewed sizzle as she flipped the bacon, he noticed her shoulders slump down a little. He thought she was about to start crying again, as was practically tradition on big days like this every year, but she held firm and picked her shoulders up again after a huff. \n\nDexter decided to be helpful and set the table for breakfast while his mom fished the finished bacon out of the pan and started to scramble a few eggs. ``Plates, forks, napkins, butter dish, butter knife, orange juice jug...'' he whispered to himself as he went over his mental checklist of breakfast necessities. Stomach growling, he took a quick peek into the kitchen again just in time to see his mother sliding the eggs out into a small serving dish. ``Come eat, boys.'' \n\nDexter is already in his chair as his father rounds the corner into the dining area while his mother sets the dish of fluffy, cheesy scrambled eggs down in the middle of the old, beat up kitchen table. ``Four bacon each, the rest is for my sandwich later,'' she states as she plops down a decent serving spoon full of eggs onto her plate with a freshly buttered slice of toast. Despite what his slight pudge would tell you, Dexter didn't really eat all that much. Certainly enough to be full and healthy, but he didn't think he ate enough to justify his ever growing stomach that so poorly effected his mental state. \n\nPicking at his small pile of eggs while chewing up the last bite of his bacon, Dexter snuck a quick peek at the clock on the microwave. ``Oh, fuck.'' he thought to himself, heart rate rapidly increasing as his anxiety kicked up realizing he only had 10 minutes before he had to leave for his new school year. Rapidly shaking his leg in his seat, hands clasped together in a ball nervously twiddling his thumbs, Dexter looked down at nothing in particular and zoned out trying to control his breathing before his mom could notice the panic in his eyes. He seemed to be successful, as she stood up and took all of the now empty plates to the kitchen sink. Taking one last deep breath before standing up, the boy tried to tell himself it would be ok. That everything would be just fine. That this year wouldn't be like every other year. He wasn't very convincing.\n\nQuickly running back to his room to double check he had everything he needed in his backpack already, Dexter grabbed his phone and unlocked the screen for a moment. ``No notifications, of course. Why would there be. They don't care.'' His hopes crushed after seeing none of his small circle of internet friends had messaged him, his already anxious and sad brain conveniently making him forget they were all in different time zones around the world and busy with their own school and work or sleep. Slipping the phone in his pocket, he slings the one intact strap of his backpack over one shoulder and dejectedly walks out to his mom's running car waiting in the driveway. Wiping his face with his shirt to remove the slight traces of tears he felt welling up in his eyes before his mom could baby him any further, Dexter plopped down in the back seat of his mothers car. He wasn't allowed to sit in the front seat despite his age, his mother refusing to let him due to his height still resembling a child several years younger. He was always embarrassed showing up to school in the back seat when all the other kids got to sit in the front.\n\nCity blocks zooming by as he dissociated staring out the window, the boy no longer felt real. Feeling as though he was dreaming, or watching the world through a strangers eyes, he tried and failed to calm his mind as his mother's car pulled into the school drop off zone. After a few seconds of silence, his mother spoke. ``Dexter? We're here, sweetie. It's time to go now, okay? You're going to-'' he turned to face his mother, not quite able to process what he was hearing, a blank and glassy expression in his eyes that she recognized all too well. ``Oh, no...come here baby.'' She leaned over the center console to hug the boy as he leaned forward into her, and offer what little reassurance she knew she was able to. She knew he was nervous about high school, but seeing that dead look in his eyes she knew he wasn't fully there right now. That look always killed her more than anything, even more than the crying she'd hear through the walls so often at night as he struggled to sleep. She felt him start to shake in her arms, and heard him sniffle as he could no longer hold back his building fear and sadness. Gently petting him reassuringly, she lays a kiss on top of his head and starts tearing up herself at the anguish her son is feeling. ``You're going to be okay, Dex. I promise. I know how scary high school is, I know how overwhelming and intimidating everything is, I do. It was a struggle for me, it was a struggle for your father, but we got through it. I promise you'll get through it too.'' \n\nDexter could feel his mothers tears soaking through his hair as he tried not to have a full breakdown in the back seat of her car in the school parking lot. Shaking as reality started to come back to him, the haze in his eyes began to clear slightly as he absorbed his mothers words. She wasn't talking to him as a baby right now, she was talking to him as a son. A son who she saw in pain and struggling in a way she couldn't imagine, a way she so desperately wished he would speak about. He didn't like to talk about his problems with his parents, as much as he loved them and needed help with everything. He didn't like the way he was constantly babied by the woman he knew only wanted what was best for him. Taking a deep breath, he opens his mouth to speak. ``I-I'm sorry mom. I know,'' he stops to sniffle again as he pointlessly tries to wipe the still flowing tears from his eyes. ``I know you want to help. I?m sorry I don't talk about it. I n-need to work on s-some things, I know. I?m sorry. I?m sorry.'' he sniffles again, his mothers reassuring head petting starting to work as his pounding heart slows and the streams gushing from his eyes turn to slow drips. He feels another light kiss on top of his slightly damp head where his mom's tears had been landing.\n\nGently pulling away from the woman comforting him, Dexter wipes his eyes as the tears finally stop, and his shaking body goes mostly back to normal. Giving a shaky smile to his mother, she notices some of the light coming back to his eyes and smiles back comfortingly. ``I know you're growing up, Dexter. I?m going to try to stop treating you like a little kid. It just scares me, realizing you're not my little baby boy anymore trying to climb all the trees in the park playing hide and seek with your dad.'' with a sniffle and a wipe of her own eyes, she strokes her hand across Dexter?s long gray hair one more time before leaning in and placing a gentle peck on his forehead. ``It's a big day, sweetheart. We're going to have whatever you want for dinner tonight, okay? You just have to make it through your first day. Be brave. Go on, now. Grab your bag.''\n\nClosing the car door, Dexter sneaks one last wipe of his eyes before turning to face his fate. Sycamore high. ``Welcome to hell, Dexter'' he thinks to himself sarcastically as he reads the sign in the middle of the grass in front of the main building. Setting his backpack down in front of him, he unzips the main pocket to pull out the folder holding his schedule. ``Oh...oh no where is it?'' Feeling around in his bag, the folder is nowhere to be found. He'd forgotten to put the folder in his bag after he'd kicked it under the bed by accident a few nights earlier. Panic setting in once again, Dexter takes a deep breath and does his best to hold off his tears from returning. Zipping his bag and quickly slinging it over his shoulder, the small boy eyeballs the utterly massive pileup of students near the entrance and stretching into the main hallway of the school and feels his eyes start to glaze over once again.\n\nTerrified of crowds, Dexter slowly starts walking towards the open door to the hallway before feeling a hand on his shoulder. ``Yo, short king, you in the right place? Middle school is down that way, haha.'' Dexter whimpers and tries to shrink down, wishing for nothing more than to disappear from existence entirely at that moment. Crouching down as low as possible, hands clasped tightly behind his head, the terrified squirrel gently rocks back and forth in place trying his absolute hardest not to break down in tears in front of the countless students crowded around the area, conversing with each other in their little groups. ``Hey, hey man...'' Dexter hears as the owner of the voice crouches down next to him and catches a look at his face. ``Oh, shit. Are you okay? I?m sorry, man. I was just messing with you. I promise I didn't mean anything by it. Fuck, I'm sorry...'' \n\nDexter looks up to catch a look at the face of the now very apologetic looking cheetah boy next to him, feeling a hand on his back as he speaks again. ``Are you ok? I mean, like, I can see you're not, like, ok. But I mean, are you ok? Like for real?'' the squirrel can't help but feel bad for the effect his surprise reaction was having on the boy next to him, taking all of his remaining mental strength to speak up. ``U-uhm, I-I'm fine,'' he says unconvincingly, ending with a deep sniffle. ``s-sorry for s-scaring you, uhm, I'll be f-fine.'' Trying to stand up, the squirrel boy stumbles backwards, the cheetah quickly catching him to keep him from falling all the way over, looking as though he was about to cry, too. ``Come sit with me, ok? I think you need to sit and breathe for a minute. You look like my brother having a panic attack right now.''\n\nSitting down on a bench a good distance away from the other students, Dexter stares at the ground between his feet to avoid the gaze of the tall, young cheetah next to him. ``Hey, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you I swear, I just needed to get your attention for something and it sounded funny in my head. I didn't mean anything by it.'' The kid nervously stumbled his apology and Dexter couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the turn this seemingly nightmarish event had taken, having fully expected to be mocked and ridiculed further like he usually was. ``It-it's okay. Really. Its just b-been an intense m-morning.'' Looking up to reassure the taller boy, Dexter saw nothing but sympathy in those big brown eyes staring back down at him. ``First day, squirrelly?'' he asked, eyes immediately growing wide realizing how dumb his question was. ``I-shit, I mean, first day of high school not-obviously I mean, it's the first day of sch-'' Dexter laughed for real, this time, cutting the boy off mid ramble. ``Yeah, it's my first day.'' Giving a nervous chuckle himself, the cheetah asks ``what's your name? I'm Charlie.'' Surprised by the immediate giggle from the tiny rodent next to him, the cheetah asks ``w-what's so funny?'' still giggling a little, Dexter replies ``you-you're a cheetah...and your name is Charlie?'' feeling self conscious, the cheetah speaks up to defend himself, still very confused by the boys reaction. ``Y-yeah? What's wrong with that? Why's that funny?'' \n\nDexter quickly fished a small foil bag out of his backpack, tossing it to the boy next to him. ``You're Charlie cheetah, like the chip guy haha.'' Now it was Charlie's turn to cringe and shrink down. ``Oh. I guess I am, huh?'' he said, looking down at the snack sized pack of chips the squirrel had tossed to him. Dexter immediately felt bad for his joke after seeing the boys shoulders slump down. ``Hey, don't feel bad. Those chips are great. Y-you can havem. I mean, if you want. I have more. S-sorry for laughing, it just c-caught me off guard is all. I'm Dexter.'' \n\nJust as Charlie was opening his mouth to speak, the bell had rung signaling 5 minutes to get to class. Dexter jumped ``shit I needed to go to the office to get a new schedule. I left mine at home by accident.'' The cheetah stood and grabbed Dexter?s hand, quickly leading him away from their bench. ``C'mon, I'll show you where the office is. It's my fault we're late, anyway.'' Hallways now devoid of life, the boys made it to the office just as the final bell rang. ``New friend, Charlie?'' the cheetah perked up hearing his name from the receptionist at the desk. ``I hope so, Ms. Rue.'' Charlie replied. That caught Dexter entirely off guard, his cheeks feeling slightly warm as he blushed a little. He'd been so caught up in everything going on he hadn't even stopped to consider the boy would ever want to be friends. ``Dexter here lost his schedule and I made him late by accident, so I came to show him where the office was.'' Dexter stepped forward to the receptionist. ``H-hi, sorry. I-i know being l-late on the first day is b-bad, but-'' he was cut off by the woman at the desk. ``Don't you worry bout a thing, dear. It happens. First days are stressful and chaotic. Things happen. Charlie here's a good boy, making up for making you late. Neither one of you is gunna be in trouble I just gotta write a couple notes for ya.'' Dexter let out a deep sigh of relief hearing Ms. Rue speak. Pulling a warm, freshly printed schedule from the printer, she reaches over to hand it to Dexter. ``Looks like you boys share a first period. Charlie, be a dear and show him around today, would you?'' the young cheetah gives a slight bow for comedic effect. ``of course, Ms. Rue. I'd planned to already if he'd let me.'' Dexter felt the cheetah grab his hand and lead him out of the office and into the silent, seemingly endless hallways of Sycamore high. ``Aww, man. Fucking math first period. Bunk. Hate math.'' Charlie complained. Dexter was confused. ``You're a freshman too?'' Dexter replied. Charlie looked down in shame. ``No,'' he sighs. ``I'm a sophomore, I just always struggled with math. Mom says it's just cuz I'm stupid. Brother says I'm retarded, but dad calls it `special needs'. Maybe they're right. I can just never seem to understand it when they explain how to do shit. I?m not too smart with school stuff period but I'm definitely the worst at math.'' \n\nDexter was shocked hearing Charlie talk about his family saying those things about him. After the incident this morning, he seemed so nice and apologetic for his mistake. He was maybe a little excitable, and rambled a bit, but Dexter most certainly wouldn't call him...those things. Seeing how sad the cheetah now looked, Dexter gave a gentle and reassuring squeeze to his hand as they made it to their first period class. ``Here we are, room 403. Let's hope we're late enough now that we missed the stupid `stand up and say something interesting about yourself' introduction Mr. Harris insists on.'' reaching for the handle, Dexter opens the door and both boys enter the class. The teacher looks to the door and greets the boys, gesturing to the 2 remaining empty desks next to each other in the back corner of the room.\n\nTrying to get comfortable in the hard plastic seats, the boys both felt happy about being assigned next to each other. He wouldn't make it known, but Charlie was relieved to have seemingly made a new friend already. Having always struggled to keep friends because of his excitability and rambling, he was always too much for others to be around for long, and what friends he thought he'd had always slowly left him after a short while. Being the first day of school, there wasn't much in the way of class work, mostly just being introductions and going over the syllabus while handing out textbooks. \n\nStanding to take a big stretch as the bell rang, Charlie tapped Dexter's shoulder to ask ``what do you have next?'' Pulling his folded up schedule out of his pocket, the squirrel quickly scans through it. ``I got english in room 501.'' Charlie sighed sympathetically. ``Oof. That's rough, bud. 501 is the cursed room.'' Dexter felt a chill down his spine, now even more worried about his second class than he already was. ``W-what? Cursed? N-no way...'' Dexter stuttered out, trying not to show his fear. ``Oh, it's not like, haunted or anything. Teacher is just insanely boring. Like, actual snooze fest honk-shoo type shit.'' Dexter let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. ``Oh...that's a relief.'' He squeaked out quietly. ``C'mon I'll show you where it's at.'' Charlie said as he grabbed the squirrels sweaty hand, quickly leading him through the halls.\n\nStanding outside the door, Charlie bids the boy farewell and makes his way towards his own class. Dexter waves, sad to now be alone. Just as Dexter steels his nerves to open the door, he hears rapid foot steps behind him, and turns to see a now hunched over and panting cheetah. Charlie holds up one finger. ``Just-'' he pants, ``just a sec.'' Finally catching his breath, he speaks once again. ``I almost forgot. Meet me back at that bench at lunch.'' Quickly turning to run down the hall once again, he shouts ``OK BYE!'' Dexter chuckles to himself as he finally enters the ``cursed'' classroom.\n\nDexter spent second period fidgeting nervously, trying to look normal and attentive as his mind raced with thoughts of not fitting in, believing everyone around him was quietly judging him for his looks or his personality. Did he smell bad? He didn't, and nobody paid him any mind, but the poor squirrel could have convinced himself he?d somehow skunk sprayed in that moment. Anxious about being sat smack dab in the middle of the front row, his leg shook in place relentlessly, his heel quietly but rapidly tapping off the floor. Thankful there was no real classwork, Dexter filled his school bag with the book and papers the teacher handed out waiting not-so-patiently for the bell to ring once again.\n\nFinally able to stand and leave, the anxious boy looks up and down the hall for the bathroom sign. Spotting it in the distance, he slowly makes his way through the hall, avoiding the small clusters of students scattered throughout and blocking the way. There was a 15 minute break after second period, giving the boy time to do his business and maybe explore a little to find his next classes before the bell rang for third period. Finally rounding the corner into the alcove hiding the bathrooms, Dexter pushes the door open with his foot and is immediately assaulted with the stench of cleaning chemicals and cheap bulk sale hand soap.\n\nUnzipping his black cargo shorts, Dexter stands in front of a urinal and attempts to relieve himself. Hearing a quiet sniffle from the stall next to him, the squirrel listens closely to the only other student in the bathroom with him. ``Mom, please. I'm not-'' he sniffles and sobs a little, clearly on the phone, and more loudly than intended. ``Please, I didn't do it. I swear. Did you even check Jimmy's-'' cut off again, Dexter could hear the yelling from the students phone, not quite loud enough to understand. Feeling awful for his eavesdropping, the squirrel finishes emptying his bladder into the urinal and reaches to zip up his pants as he hears the stall door next to him open with a creak. \n\nSmacking down the flusher on the urinal, Dexter turns just in time to see Charlie as he wipes his damp eyes with the back of his hand. ``Oh. Hi, Dexter. Um, sorry if you heard that. Don't-uh, I have to go.'' the bright yellow feline a blur as he rushed out the door before Dexter could say anything. Briefly wetting his hands under the frustratingly low pressure faucet before wiping them dry on his shirt, the squirrel rushes out of the bathroom to try to see where his sad companion had run off to. Having been too late to see the boy running among the crowd of students in the hall, Dexter sighs to himself sadly while wishing he could have asked what was wrong before he'd run off in a flash, faster than he'd ever seen anyone run before. ``I guess cheetah speed isn't just a myth.'' he jokes to himself sadly.\n\nCh 2\n\nThird and fourth period both passed by in a blur as Dexter zoned out entirely after the teachers took attendance. Dexter jolted back to reality at the unexpected sound of the lunch bell, quickly grabbing his bag and rushing out of the room to avoid the crowds that would soon form in the halls. Remembering what the lanky cheetah boy had told him at second period, Dexter quickly headed off towards the wrought iron bench he'd been talked out of a panic attack on just a few hours earlier. Finding it empty, the boy plopped himself down and waited for Charlie to meet up with him. \n\n10 minutes had passed as Dexter quietly waited for the spotted boy to join him. Stomach growling, he decides to start eating alone having nothing else to do and being far too anxious to get up and walk anywhere else lest he get lost in the endless intimidating piles of teens scattered throughout the campus. Pulling a now very flat pb&j sandwich from under his math book, Dexter takes a bite as he notices a familiar yellow blur rapidly growing in the distance. Noisily gasping for breath and nearly spilling his lunch tray on the squirrel in front of him, the thoroughly winded cheetah sets his tray down on the bench and attempts to speak between gasps. ``OHGODIMS-'' gasp. ``SOSORRYIMLATEI-'' gasp. Dexter cut him off, picking his tray up off the bench and gesturing for him to sit. ``It's okay, Charlie. Catch your breath.''\n\nCharlie reaches over to the tray on Dexter?s lap to pick up a carrot stick and dip it in the small cup of cheap, watery ranch dressing next to it. Mouth still full he mumbles, ``I?m sorry I was late. I had to pee and the lunch line-'' he paused to swallow his carrot, ``was stupid long when I got there. I was scared you wouldn't even be here.'' Dexter was surprised at the cheetah's words. ``Why wouldn't I be?'' The squirrel asks, confused. ``I dunno. I thought after this morning you probably wouldn't wanna spend lunch with me or something cuz I was dumb or whatever. People don't usually show up when I ask so I was preparing to eat alone again.'' Gasping slightly at his words, Dexter looked over to the boy beside him as he reached for another carrot stick. ``Why do you think you're dumb?'' The squirrel asks, green eyes shining brightly as the sun bounced off of them. Charlie looks at the dirt below as he kicks his feet before replying. ``I dunno. Mom says-uh, mom says I was born broken and talk too much, and the other kids usually stop talking to me after a couple days and call me stupid n stuff. I'm-'' the boy sniffles a little, a small catch in his breath as he continues. ``I'm used to it. I figured today would be the same.''\n\nDexter is saddened by the cheetah's words. Still nervous talking to someone new, always expecting the worst, the little squirrel decides to open up a little. ``I-I think you're pretty, uhm, pretty cool, Charlie.'' He squeaks out nervously. ``You-you're actually the first person to talk nice to me since second grade. Except for the, uh, the short king thing.'' Charlie cringed to himself remembering his actions this morning that set this all in motion. ``God I'm so sorry about that, really, I was trying to be funny to get your attention but I guess it wasn't really funny considering your reaction n stuff and I've kinda been beating myself up all day for that and then you saw me cryin in the bathroom cuz my mom and today's just been a big ol' mess-'' the cheetah spoke without pausing at a speed Dexter could barely keep up with. ``if I'm ever talkin too much you can just tell me to shut up or fuck off or whatever. I kinda ramble a lot and it's what everyone started doing so yeah.'' Charlie took a deep breath to calm himself down and give the overwhelmed looking squirrel next to him a chance to process the words he was hearing.\n\nDexter was overwhelmed, but not at all for the reason the cheetah thought. ``Charlie I'm not gunna do that. That- that's mean!'' He snapped a little louder than he'd meant to. ``You've been nice to me, I'm not going to be mean to you like that.'' Surprised by his squirrel companions reaction, Charlie couldn't explain the warmth he felt inside of him. He'd thought it was mean at first when his friends started cutting him off, but he got used to it years ago as just a part of life because of how he was. Hearing another kid say he was nice was something he certainly wasn't used to. Annoying, stupid, loud, obnoxious, these were the things Charlie had come to expect from the kids he spent time with.\n\n``Dexter?'' Charlie quietly squeaked out, feeling small and nervous as the lunch bell rang. ``Do you wanna be my friend?'' Feeling heat rapidly rise in his cheeks, rapidly reddening skin clearly peeking through his soft gray fur, Dexter nervously replied ``Y-yeah, Charlie. I think I'd like that.'' Heart pounding out of his chest, he could hardly believe the turn of events today had took as he heard his new friend quietly shout ``yes!'' before he ran off to his next class. Now alone, Dexter buzzed with excitement having officially made his first friend in high school.\n\nFifth period was uneventful, but Dexter was happy to find his assigned seat was once again in the back corner of the class, out of everyone's view so he could zone out without feeling too self conscious about it. He spent the period replaying the events of the day in his head, from his episode in the car to the incredible sparkle in his feline friend's eyes when he accepted his friendship. Dexter couldn't help but smile to himself as the bell for the final class rang. Unfolding his schedule once again to see where his final class was, he groaned to himself as he saw the 2 letters he hated the most printed across the 6th period slot. \n\nPatiently standing a few feet behind the large crowd of students impatiently pushing and shoving their way through the door to the gymnasium, the pudgy little squirrel huffed as he mentally prepared himself for PE class. Noticing the rest of the crowd had finished filtering in through the double doors, Dexter made his way in as well, hoping there would be no exercise today. After the teacher finished going over the syllabus explaining what sports and all they'd be playing throughout the year, he stood the class up and led them towards the locker rooms to collect their gym clothes and assign lockers. Color drained from the boys face as he realized he'd be getting borderline naked every day in this large open space in front of everyone. Before he could worry too much about that, the final bell rang, officially signaling that he had, in fact, survived his first day of high school.\n\nManeuvering his way through the endless crowds of chaotic chatty teens blocking the hall once again, Dexter made his way out into the front of the school. Quickly running over to the shaded bench he'd made his first friend on, he patiently waited for his mom to come pick him up. Saddened by not seeing Charlie again before his mother pulled in, Dexter stood and ran to the car waiting for him in the driveway. \n\nOut of breath from the short jog, he closed the car door as he made himself comfortable in the back seat and looked up to see his mother anxiously staring at him in the rear view mirror. ``Mom!'' the squirrel in the driver seat jolted at the unexpected outburst. ``Mom I made a friend!'' he shouted excitedly, as tears began to rapidly stream down his cheeks. ``I really-I really made a friend!'' He began to sniffle as his mother turned around in surprise, eyes wide at the site of her son crying in her car for the second time today. Unable to hold back the waterworks herself, she leaned towards the boy and grabbed him in a tight squeeze giving a sniffle of her own, this time in joy. ``H-he scared me this morning b-but then he felt bad and sat with me til I calmed down. He helped show me around a little because we were late and I had to get a new schedule.'' \n\nThoroughly surprised and certainly overjoyed by what she was hearing, Dexter?s mother couldn't help but see her son as he was the last time he made a friend. It was half way through the school year in second grade when a new student had moved into town, and the little otter had immediately taken to the boy after seeing him curled into a ball in the tan bark, being picked on by a small group of third graders. She'd ran to grab a teacher for help and sat with him in the office as the principal grilled the sobbing boy for an explanation of the situation. She decided then that she liked this tiny, gray squirrel boy and had begun to sit with him at lunch every day, telling off any of the mean kids who tried to pick on him at recess. \n\nRemembering the devastation on Dexter?s face when he told her his little otter friend was moving away, she held out hope that this time would be different. She didn't want to see him like that ever again. She didn't think any child should ever feel the way her son had felt, becoming a shut in at 8 years old. He'd always struggled with bullying in school, but he was still always such a happy boy at home until then. His only friend moving away set off such an intense sadness in Dexter that he'd fallen into a severe depression that no amount of therapy or medication they'd tried had been able to help even until now, only occasionally clearing up for small stretches of time, but always coming back shortly after. \n\nLaying one last long stroke along her sons long, gray hair as he excitedly talked about his new cheetah friend, she laughed gently. ``I'm so happy for you, Dexter. My baby boy really is growing up, isn't he?'' she let out a small sigh. ``Alright, I promised dinner. What do you want, Mr. social?'' she joked, eliciting a small groan from the boy behind her before he answered.\n\nSitting at the dinner table and looking down at the mountain of fries on the disturbingly grease stained paper in front of him, Dexter swallows his bite of burger before picking one up to chomp down on. Washing it all down with a large gulp of disappointingly flat and watery fountain cola, Dexter examines the damage. Half a double cheeseburger and a decent handful of fries gone, the squirrel was amazed to see how much he'd eaten. A burger that size normally lasted 3 or 4 meals for him, but today he felt like a king. He was celebrating not just surviving his first day of high school, but making a friend. Wrapping the remainder of his burger for later, Dexter notices the surprised look on his parent's faces as they eye his significantly shrunken meal. ``Well now I know you're in a good mood. I'm proud of you, Dex. Making a friend on the first day, that?s big.'' his father chimes in. Dexter blushes, embarrassed.\n\nPlacing his leftovers in the fridge, Dexter feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. Seeing a message notification from his friends chat app, he unlocks his phone to see a message from his favorite gaming buddy. ``Hey m8, I ment 2 txt u earlier but my phone died last night n I had 2 go 2 school b4 I could charge it. 2Day was ur first day rite?'' Dexter felt a pang of guilt as he remembered how he felt this morning not seeing any messages from his friends before replying. ``ye! It was weird n scary. I made a friend, tho! He?s cool!'' While he was generally very shy and reserved in person, Dexter was very open and social online, having always found it much easier to find nice people with similar interests there. Dexter saw another notification on top of his screen as he attempted to catch up on the days conversations in his small number of chat rooms. ``WHOA WHAT? MR ANTISOCIAL MADE A FRIEND???'' Dexter felt his cheeks warm again. ``well u don't hafta say it like that >.> but ya he?s a cheetah. His names Charlie.'' Dexter chuckled as he immediately got another response. ``LMFAO LIKE THE CHIP GUY?!'' \n\nCharlie unlocked his phone to see the time in the corner of his heavily shattered screen. Sitting alone in the darkness outside his family's trailer, he listened to his mother as she broke yet another cheap glass against the wall in anger. ``10:40. 20 more minutes and she'll be drunk enough to pass out.'' he thought to himself as he attempted to drown out the insults and swears she spewed about him for something his older brother had done. His stomach growled, having not eaten since lunch at school that day. Charlie had grown used to these sounds of anger and feelings of hunger, his mother having grown into a raging alcoholic since his father left 2 years ago. Having caught her cheating in the bathroom at a work related Christmas party, he'd decided right then to file for divorce and pack his things. \n\nHis mother had fallen into a depression and started filling her normal nightly wine glass higher and higher to cope, until she was drinking a bottle a day, quickly trading wine for cheap flavored vodka to save money while getting an even stronger effect. The only days she didn't drink herself into a blind rage were the days she was passed out from drinking too much the night before. Charlie liked those days the most, when not even a gun going off next to her would be able to shake her awake. Those were the only days he didn't feel bad about himself. Charlie was still in close contact with his father, the man being much the opposite of the woman the young cheetah lived with. He'd heard the stories of the woman's vile behavior from the boy, and could often hear the screaming himself through the boys phone when they spoke. He'd felt immense guilt for leaving Charlie with her, but he was in no place to take care of a child, only living out of his car as he tried to save for his own apartment in another city a few hours away. Charlie held no ill feelings towards the man who raised him, loving the man deeply and seeing no reason whatsoever to blame him for his mothers treatment of him, nor blaming him for leaving.\n\nCharlie opened his contacts list to send a message to his dad. ``hey dad. School was good. Made a kid cry by accident but we're friends now. He's kinda cute. Mom mad at me cuz Jimmy stole her smokes again but mr perfect can do no wrong. Prolly gunna go for a late walk n crash at the park again. Love u.'' seeing his battery at 4% the boy slips his phone in his pocket, hoping it would last til morning. The slim feline hears a slight crinkle in his pocket as he stands, reminded of the bag of chips his new little rodent friend had given him at lunch. Smiling, he began eating his cheesy snack while he walked to the park a few blocks away under cover of darkness. Arriving at the park, the young cheetah boy made his way to the tall set of heavily graffiti coated steel bleachers and crawled through the bars underneath them to his favorite place to sleep away from home. Pulling out the small, thin, tattered blanket he kept in his backpack, he wraps himself up and leans against a heavily splintered plywood board leaned against the edge of the bleachers. Thinking back to his new friend, he smiles to himself slightly and falls asleep.\n\nDexter woke up on his own a few minutes before his alarm. Light streaming through the crack in his window curtain, he slides it open a little more to see more of the room around him. Grabbing his bottle from the floor next to his bed, the pudgy little squirrel takes several large gulps of water to moisten his dry mouth. Going through his normal morning routine, he makes his way to his dresser to brush his hair. He feels significantly fewer knots and snags than normal this morning, also realizing he feels mostly awake already. Quickly pulling on his clothes and heading to the bathroom, he relieves the pressure in his bladder and leans into the sink to wash his hands. He looked into the mirror and was shocked to see the dark, sunken in bags normally present under his eyes were several shades lighter than normal. \n\nMaking his way to the kitchen, he finds his mother setting a small plastic tray of store bought breakfast pastries down on the table. ``Morning, mom.'' he says as he plops down in a chair and grabs a sweet cheese danish from the tray. ``Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep okay?'' she asks, gently petting his head for a moment. ``I think I did, actually. I dunno. I feel ok this morning.'' the older squirrel smiled brightly hearing her son speak, overjoyed to have her suspicions confirmed having not heard the normal sobbing or tossing and turning through the wall last night. ``I'm kind of looking forward to school today.'' Dexter hears a gasp as his mothers pastry hits the floor.\n\nMaking sure he has all of his things, Dexter pulls his phone off the charger next to his bed and slips it in his pocket while slinging his backpack on one arm. Heading towards his mom's car, he sighs to himself, feeling strangely content. Getting situated in the back seat, he hears his mother speak up. ``I'm really happy for you, Dexter. I think things will be different this year. I hope they will. I believe in you, sweetheart.'' Dexter sees her eyes start to sparkle with a telltale wetness, but stop just short of shedding actual tears. ``I love you, mom. I think I'll be ok. I hope.'' \n\nArriving at the drop off zone, Dexter grabs his bag and turns to get out of the car before his mother speaks. ``Your father will be home late tonight. He got called in early for a big project so it'll just be us for dinner.'' ``Okay, mom. Love you!'' Dexter closes the door and heads to sit at the dirty black bench in the shade to wait for his new friend.\n\nFeeling saddened as the bell for first period rings with no sign of his excitable new friend, Dexter makes his way to his first period math class in hopes of seeing him there. Settling down in the back of the room, Dexter?s shoulders slump as the late bell rings with still not a glimpse of the boy he'd been so excited to see. He felt like crying, but he knew he'd be seen and ridiculed for being the ``little bitch baby'' that everyone in middle school had taken to calling him during his episodes. Steeling his nerves, Dexter tries and fails to focus during class, his eyes glassing over as he dissociates through his first few classes, his brain on autopilot controlling his hand to take hastily scribbled notes when needed.\n\nCharlie shot awake with a loud gasp, his tattered blanket and shirt already soaked through as the poorly aimed sprinkler in the grass next to him shot through the bleachers support bars and hit him square in the face. The sun was bright and he could hear parents with their small children on the playground a few yards away from him, thankfully having not been seen or woken up by anyone thanks to the strategically placed plywood sheets propped up against the edge of the bleachers. Groggy and very wet, the poor boy grabbed his things and crawled out of his hiding spot to head back to his trailer and hopefully find some clean, dry clothes.\n\nPulling his old, broken phone from his pocket he presses the power button with his thumb only for the screen to stay black. ``Shit. So much for that.'' he huffs to himself as he puts the dead black rectangle back in his pocket. Charlie didn't mind living in a mobile home park. It wasn't like the stereotypes you'd see in movies and TV the way he'd expected it to be. It was actually a nice, very calm and peaceful area. All the neighbors were quite fond of the lanky teen, always happy to see him and accept his offers of help with whatever they were busy with at the time. He thoroughly enjoyed being helpful, but it definitely helped that it gave him a reason to be away from home. Away from his mother and brother. \n\nCutting across the communal lawn, Charlie sees an elderly kangaroo woman trying to trim the flowers in the cheap planter pots outside her home. Coming up next to her to hand her the small pair of clippers just out of her reach, Charlie greets his favorite neighbor. ``Here you go, Mrs. Blythe.'' Smiling warmly at the damp feline, a hint of concern clear on her face noticing the state of the boy she considered like a second grandson. ``Sorry if you heard all that last night. I'm ok. Jimmy's been stealin again and she keeps blaming me for it is all.'' Her concern unchanged, she sets down her clippers and places a cloth gloved hand on his shoulder. ``I don't know how you can stay there, Charlie. One of these days she's going to go too far.'' Charlie smiled unconvincingly. Opening his mouth to speak, he was immediately cut off by the growling of his stomach. ``Come inside, dear. Let me feed you at least.''\n\nLeaving the woman's home with a full stomach and some kind parting words, Charlie finishes his journey home. While the park he lived in was nice and clean, the cheetah families plot was exactly how it looked in the movies. Stepping over a small pile of empty plastic liquor jugs and broken glass, he gently opens the front door hoping to not disturb the woman inside. Seeing her asleep on the couch with a hefty drool spot staining the couch, he breathes a deep sigh of relief as he quietly steps over more broken glass and garbage on the way to his cramped, dirty bedroom. Stripping out of his damp clothes, the boy catches a glimpse of himself in the tall mirror propped up against the wall next to his door. He cringes a little upon seeing how noticeable his ribs were through his fur. His mother had lost her job a few months back due to her incessant drinking, and his older brother Jimmy was the only one bringing in any money from his minimum wage job at the gas up the street. There wasn't much to go around after the lot rent and his moms drink budget was taken out, and he often scraped by on no name instant noodles and dollar store snacks.\n\nRemembering his phone, he pulls it out of the pants now on the floor and quickly plugs it in next to his bed hoping to at least get a little juice in it before he heads to school. Seeing the screen light up as the device desperately sucks power from the wall, Charlie sees a message on his lock screen. ``Go get `em, tiger ;)'' from dad. Confused, he quickly unlocks his phone to see several more messages from his father earlier in the morning. ``cute, eh? Interesting. Didn't know you went that way. Proud of you for opening up. Go get `em, tiger ;)'' Charlie's face is on fire with pure embarrassment as he see's what he typed last night. ``oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck'' he panics to himself, rapidly typing to his father. ``COOL. I meant he?s kinda COOL! AUTOCORRECT'' shakily setting his phone down, heat up past the tips of his fuzzy yellow ears, he anxiously looks around on his floor for a moderately presentable shirt. Finding a light gray tank top crumpled in a pile next to the door, he gives it a deep sniff to make sure it wasn't too dirty to go out in public with. \n\nGrabbing his phone and slipping it into his pocket, Charlie finishes getting dressed and feels a hand on his back pushing him forward roughly. ``Where the fuck are they, Charles? I know you have them.'' the cheetah is just as surprised from the violent shove as he is to hear his mothers groggy, hungover voice. ``I didn't take your fucking smokes, mom. I don't even like those. I told you Jim-'' he's cut off as a bony fist collides with his right eye. ``Don't fucking lie to me, Charlie. Stop blaming your fucking brother for everything. Where. Are. They.'' Charlie is in shock, too dazed by the surprise impact to process what's going on, let alone respond to it. Feeling her grip his shirt, his mother roughly shoves him against the wall, the back of his head bouncing off of it as he grips her arms in an attempt to pry them off of him. ``Mom what the f-fu-'' he's cut off by another, much harder slam as his head violently smacks into the wall behind him once again. His vision blurred from the jarring impact and the salty water now welling up around the bottom of his eyes, Charlie tries to speak once more ``m-mom please s-sto-'' with one last slam she pulls the battered boy from the wall and throws him onto the floor, face down straight into a small pile of dirty dishes as she screams at the top of her lungs. ``WHY COULDN'T HE FUCKING TAKE YOU WITH HIM. PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT STUPID GOD DAMN GOOD FOR NOTHING RETARDED GOD DAMNED KID. FUCK!'' she spits and kicks a small pile of clothes towards him before she turns to walk away, still screaming. \n\nTerrified and shaky, Charlie stands up from the pile of now broken dishes on the floor and stumbles around attempting to steady himself as his legs nearly give out. He'd stayed on the floor for what felt like an hour, but in reality was about 2 minutes as he waited for the noise to die down, signaling the end of the rampage. Hoping she'd screamed herself into a coma, the boy quickly runs out of his home and runs to the only safe place he can think of. Trembling hand making contact with the wood, Charlie anxiously knocks on his neighbors door. Looking down at the ground below, Charlie speaks when he hears it open. ``H-hello again, Mrs. Blythe. U-uhm, does-'' he pauses for a sniffle. ``Does billy still leave clothes here when he visits?'' Eyes wide in shock as she sees the rapidly darkening spot forming around the boys eye and the small stream of blood from his nose staining his shirt, she brings him inside.\n\nDexter anxiously waited for lunch, time seemingly moving slower and slower as he watched the second hand stutter its way around the face of the clock above the blackboard over and over again as the teacher droned on about some old railroad. Saddened by his new friends no-show, Dexter grabs his bag as the lunch bell finally rings and makes his way to the bench to eat. ``Charlie?'' Dexter shouts in surprise seeing a familiar tall yellow figure slowly hobbling towards him, staring at the dirt in front of him as he shakily walks towards the bench. His ears twitch as his head perks up upon hearing the squirrels voice, his mind briefly ignoring the pain as he speeds up to sit down next to the boy. ``Charlie what's wrong? I didn't see you all day I thought you got sick or something.'' \n\nCharlie lifts his head to look at Dexter and speak, but he couldn't quite make words form on his lips as he starts sobbing, feeling physical pain in his face, and a deep emotional pain from his mothers ridicule. He was mostly used to the yelling, but the beating he took today was new, and it made him feel more small and powerless than he'd ever felt before. Unable to do anything but watch in shock as his feline friend broke down in tears next to him, Dexter was unable to hold back his own tears. ``Ch-charlie what's wrong? What h-happened? Why are we crying?'' He asks between his own light sobs as he gently places his hand on the boys back. Charlie flinches in shock at the contact and immediately stares up at the squirrel, eyes wide in fear as Dexter yanks his arm back and gasps at the surprise reaction. \n\nDexter feels worthless, unable to do anything but watch his only friend tremble and sob uncontrollably next to him, thankful no other students had paid them any mind. 20 minutes had passed by before Charlie had finally begun to calm down, choked sobs slowly becoming less frequent as his eyes ran out of water to shed. ``H-hi Dexter. I'm h-happy to see you.'' he softly whispers out as he wipes his eyes across the unkempt fur on his arm. ``S-sorry I ditched this m-morning. My phone d-died so my alarm didn't g-go off and I wasn't home to ch-charge it til a little bit ago. Thanks for uhm, thanks for s-sitting with me. I appreciate it.'' He showed his appreciation by suddenly leaning towards the boy and taking him into a tight hug as he held his tears from coming back. Dexter gently hugged him back in stunned silence, not knowing how to react to the sudden embrace.\n\nStomach growling, the little squirrel realized he'd been unable to eat his lunch. Reaching into his backpack, he pulls out a brown paper bag and reaches in to pull out his half eaten burger from the night before. Hearing his friends stomach growl as he watches the cheetah kick his feet under him, he pulls it in half and gently nudges the feline with his elbow to get his attention, holding part of the burger up in offer to him. Charlie eyes the offer in surprise, quickly motioning to say no, feeling immensely guilty for even considering taking food from his friend. He'd always struggled accepting help from people, feeling terrible thinking about people missing out because he needed something. ``Please? I promise I wasn't gunna eat the whole thing anyway.'' Charlie grabbed the burger, a grateful but guilty look on his face as he bit through the cold meat.\n\nFinishing his food first, Charlie looks over to his friend has he chews on his own last bite. ``Sorry for just hugging you like that. I hope it didn't make you uncomfortable or anything I just really needed it and wasn't thinking right. It was- it was nice, though.'' He squeaked out, blushing slightly. ``It's okay, Charlie. It just surprised me is all. I can?t remember the last time somebody who wasn't my mom hugged me. I don't mind. It felt good.'' he says warmly, feeling a slight blush of his own that he desperately hoped wouldn't grow bright enough to peek through his fur. The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the boys parted ways. Dexter heading to 5th period, and Charlie making his way to the office to get an ice pack for his severely darkened eye socket. He felt bad for not telling Dexter what happened, but he couldn't bring himself to vomit out his story without fear the boy would run away and never come back.\n\n5th period passed Dexter by in a flash as he mentally prepared himself for the first real PE class of the year. Even before his belly started to grow out a little, Dexter had always struggled with physical activity. He always had fun running around playing as a kid, but something about the structure and rigidity of PE class made him tire far too easily, quickly running out of breath and almost always being last on every running day or sports game. Nervously making his way into the boys locker room, his sense of smell is immediately overrun with the stench of sweaty young boys and cheap aerosol body spray as he steps through the doorway. Struggling to breathe through the overpowering cloud of cologne, he makes his way to his locker and pulls out his gym uniform. Looking around nervously at all the other boys in various states of undress, making sure no eyes are on him, he quickly pulls off his shirt as he hears light footsteps coming up next to him. \n\nDexter nervously looks up to find a familiar feline beside him, holding a damp napkin to his eye and attempting to unlock his locker having seemingly not noticed the squirrel. ``Charlie?'' the cheetah quickly looks around in surprise before looking down, his eyes settling on the much shorter squirrel he'd missed getting ready for class. ``Oh! Hey Dexter.'' he said, just before he noticed the shirtless boys torso and blushing slightly as his eyes went wide at what he saw. Quickly looking away, the tall boy opens his locker and removes his own uniform, quickly undressing as the squirrel speaks again. ``You have PE 6th too?'' he asked curiously. ``I didn't see you yesterday.'' Charlie felt bad for not being there with his friend. ``oh, I had a doctors appointment after lunch. I asked Ms. Rue if she could have someone set my locker up for me. S-sorry.'' the boy looked down in an attempt to hide the shame on his face as he lied to his friend. His mother had called the school to pull him out of class and send him home for an appointment, but she just needed an excuse to get him home and grill him over her missing cigarettes. She'd grown tired of fishing butts out of her ash trays between glugs of vodka, and wished to confront her favorite verbal punching bag.\n\nCharlie's mother blamed the boy for the divorce. At 13, he was awkwardly attempting to fit in at his mother's company Christmas party 2 years prior when his father had come by to ask the him if he'd seen her anywhere. He saw her set her drink on the table and walk towards the bathroom alone several minutes prior, figuring one of the greasier snacks laid out on the table had gotten to her. The women's bathroom was out of order due to a plumbing issue that night, so everyone had to share the men's room, the men sticking to the urinals and saving the stalls for the women. Charlie wasn't watching the door the whole time, uncomfortably shifting around in his too-small dress clothes he'd been forced to wear to make a good impression on his mother's coworkers. He hadn't seen his mother subtly gesturing towards the large wolf man a few feet behind her as she entered the restroom, nor said wolf man quickly sneaking in behind her. Charlie thought nothing of it when he told his father where he'd last seen her.\n\nPulling on his gym clothes, Charlie gestures for Dexter to follow as he heads towards the teachers little office attached to the locker room. ``Coach Dempsey?'' the large middle aged bull turns around in his swivel chair to see the boys standing in the doorway. ``Charlie! Good to see ya, kid. What can I do for ya?'' Charlie smiled a little, always finding it funny how kind the man was despite his incredibly intimidating appearance. ``I have to sit out today,'' he said, gesturing towards the damp rag he was holding on his eye. ``I was wondering if it would be ok for Dexter to sit out with me. I don't really want to be alone right now.'' shooting a sympathetic and understanding look at the boy, the man nods his head and gestures for them to come in. ``Of course, Charlie. What's going on? What's with the rag?'' the man asks, as he reaches down to open the mini fridge hidden beside his desk to pull out a couple juice boxes he kept on hand for students who got hurt or were otherwise having a bad time during class. ``here.'' he hands the juice to the boys as Charlie opens his mouth to speak again. ``I don't really think I can talk about it right now but I will soon I promise. It's just been a bad day.'' the man nods in understanding. ``Alright. You boys can stay in here or sit out on the bleachers in the gym and watch everyone else suffer, haha. Your choice.''\n\nQuietly sipping their juice together as they watch the rest of the class stretch and run laps around the gymnasium, both boys silently enjoy each others presence. Charlie finally feels at peace for the first time since he was so rudely awoken that morning, but feels nervous as he turns to ask his friend a question he'd been feeling awfully guilty to ask. ``Dexter? Uh, do you think your mom would be ok with me coming over after school?'' Dexter briefly chokes on his juice in surprise, turning to face the boy with wide eyes as the liquid dribbles down the side of his mouth. ``OH! I don't know. W-we can ask when she comes to pick me up. I nev-'' the squirrel stops himself, too embarrassed to admit he's never actually had a friend over before. ``uh, never mind...''\n\nch 3\n\nHearing the final bell, both boys quickly make their way back into the locker room to change into their normal clothes and rush out into the hallway, happy to be done with school. Sitting down on what had now become their favorite place on campus, they sat and waited while Dexter kept an eye out for his mother's car, excited but so very nervous about asking to have a friend over. Spotting the car among the sea of vehicles rapidly flowing in and out of the parking lot, Dexter nudges his friend to get his attention and leads him towards it. Dexter opens the door and peeks his head in to see his mother, nervously opening his mouth to ask a question he was now for some reason terrified to ask. Not seeing the cheetah off to the side behind her son, she looks back at him, confused by the look on his face, only hearing his question as she gets ready to ask what was wrong. ``M-mom? Uhm, would-'' he stops to clear his throat. ``Would it be okay if Charlie came over today?'' Eyes shooting wide in surprise as the taller boy steps into view, she is overjoyed to accept, both boys sighing deeply in relief.\n\nBoth boys feeling a nervous excitement as they pull into Dexter?s driveway, they share a brief look and smile at each other before turning to get out of the car. Stepping in through the front door, Dexter?s mother speaks. ``This is so exciting. I can?t believe my boy is having a friend over for the first time!'' she laughs, giddy with pride and happiness, meanwhile Dexter's fur couldn't possibly be thick enough to hide the shade of red burning through his face up to the fluffy tufts on his fuzzy little ears as his eyes widened. Charlie can?t help but to laugh at his friends reaction, surprised to hear he was the first visitor to enter the boys home. \n\n``Charlie dear, would you like a snack?'' the older squirrel asks. ``Oh! No thank you ma'am, i-'' the boy was cut off as he was once again betrayed by his growling stomach. Gesturing towards the tray of leftover pastries from breakfast, she leaves the room to give her son and his new friend some privacy while they eat. ``Your mom is nice.'' the cheetah says as he bites down into a soggy raspberry jam filled pastry. Dexter smiles. ``Yeah, she is. She can be pretty overbearing sometimes, It's a little embarrassing, but I know she means well.'' Charlie feels a mix of emotions he can't quite describe. Jealousy? No. Well, yes. Jealous that his friend got to experience what he so desperately craved, but also happy to hear that his friend's home life was nothing like his. It all combined into a bittersweet feeling that quickly fades as he remembers something important. ``Hey, Dexter? I have to talk to your mom for a minute. Do you know where she went?'' Dexter points at the sliver of door in the hallway visible from the table. ``Thanks. I'll be back in a minute.''\n\nFear welled up in the cheetah boy's chest as he stood in the hall just outside the door Dexter had pointed to, steeling his nerves as he gently knocks. ``It's open!'' he hears through the anxiety buzzing in his brain. He enters the room and closes the door behind him, the squirrel inside clearly sensing something wrong before he even opens his mouth. ``U-uhm, can I talk to you for a minute? it- it's really important.'' she gestures to the corner of her bed, inviting the terrified boy to sit. ``of course. What's wrong?'' taking several deep, shaky breaths, Charlie explains ``uhm, my dad, uh, my dad always told me t-to talk to a safe adult if i?m ever in t-trouble.'' he pauses to catch his breath and try to hold back his tears as he thinks back on his day. The woman's heart sinks in her chest like a boulder as she notices the state of the boy, shivering and beginning to cry, allowing him to take his time and speak when he can. ``uh, m-my mom got arrested this morning.'' he states, pointing to his black eye. ``I-i don't have anywhere to go.'' he pauses again to sniffle and breathe, trying to calm himself to speak clearly. ``would- would it be okay if I stayed here for a few days until my dad c-can come get me? I-i know you don't know me an- and I just met Dexter yesterday and it feels terrible to ask. I- I'm sorry. I can sleep out back if- if you need, I'm used to sleeping outside.'' \n\nDexter?s mother is utterly disgusted at what Charlie had told her, him having finished explaining his morning up to the point where Mrs. Blythe gave him some of her grandsons clothes to borrow and snuck him to school when they first heard the sirens on the way from another neighbor placing a call, not wanting the boy to go through the stress of talking to the police again on top of what he'd already gone through. ``Absolutely not.'' Charlies heart feels like a black hole as he hears the answer he was so utterly terrified of hearing. ``You will sleep in Dexter?s room or you can sleep on the couch. No child should ever have to sleep outside.'' the cheetah looks up, confused. ``I- I can stay?'' a deep wave of relief washes through him as she speaks again to reassure him. ``Of course you can stay. Do you have everything you need?'' Charlie thinks for a moment, a small sense of guilt in the back of his mind as he asks his friends mom for yet another favor in such a short span. ``c-can you take me home to grab some stuff, please? It- it's too far to walk from here.'' he asks. The woman nods, happy to help as Charlie remembers another important detail. ``Oh! Uhm, Dexter doesn't- he doesn't know any of this. Can you keep it a secret please? I'll tell him I promise I just...i can't right now.'' She offers another understanding nod.\n\nHaving waited a few minutes for his friend to come back, Dexter had gotten bored and gone to his room to clean up a little before his guest came in. Hearing a knock on his door, he jumps up excitedly running over to show Charlie around, confused to see his mother looking down at him, his friend behind her having clearly been crying. ``Dexter dear? I'm going to take Charlie out for a few minutes to grab some things.'' Dexter is confused, looking to his friend who can't bring himself to meet the tiny boys eyes. ``Don't worry. We won't be long, he's going to stay the night tonight.'' she tells him, not wanting to give away the boys situation. Dexter perks up excitedly at that, but still senses something wrong from the pain radiating from his friend. Not wanting to push things, he simply nods and closes his door as they turn to talk away. ``Well I have more time to clean up at least.'' he thinks to himself as he hears his mother's car pull out of the driveway.\n\nStepping out of the car, Charlie's heart is pounding as he once again find himself staring at his front door. The older squirrel woman behind him is in shock at the state of the boys home, saddened to know he's been living like this. ``Y-you can wait out here. It-it's worse inside.'' Shaking her head, she replies, ``No, I think I need to see this.'' stepping inside, Charlie holds the door open for the woman as her nostrils immediately burn with the stench of stale cigarettes, alcohol, and rotting garbage from the pile of dishes in the sink. ``Charlie...'' the cheetah turns around to see a look he couldn't quite describe on her face. A mix of sadness and disgust. ``Charlie, does your father know it's this bad?'' the cheetah gasps, realizing he'd forgotten to call his dad to tell him about everything. ``N-no...i uh, I haven't had the chance to tell him about- about today, yet.'' Pulling out her phone and handing it to the boy, she speaks. ``give me his number, please. I'd like to talk to him. I'll tell him what's going on while you go grab some things. Take anything and everything you think you'll need. You won't be back here for a while.'' Charlie nods as he punches the number into her phone, and the woman turns to step over a small pile of broken glass as she steps outside to make the call.\n\nDexter?s ears perk up as he hears the sound of a car in the driveway, quickly running to the door to see his friend stepping out with a comically overflowing backpack, shirt sleeves and pant legs sticking out from half closed zippers every which way. ``Dexter, sweetie, could you come help Charlie with his bags please?'' He hears his mother shout from the drivers seat as she struggles to exit the car with fast food bags and a cardboard cup holder. Making his way to the back seat to grab a bag, the young squirrel is surprised at how many clothes they'd brought home. ``What's all this?'' he asks, confused. ``I uh-'' Charlie begins to speak but is cut off by Dexter?s mom. ``Charlie will be staying here for a little while until his dad's back in town. He's out on a business trip and asked us to watch him.'' she half lied to her son, receiving a thankful nod from the cheetah as she finishes speaking. \n\nDexter sits on the cold tile floor in the laundry room, helping his his friend dig through bags of clothes having just finished showing him how to use the washer and drier. ``Uhm, thank you for helping me. I appreciate it.'' Dexter smiles at him. ``Of course! I'm kind of excited. I never had a sleepover before. I hope you like it here. My rooms not too big but I got games and stuff we can play. Ooh, and we could have a movie night! I always wanted a friend to watch my movies with!'' Dexter exclaims excitedly. The stress of his situation had melted from Charlie instantly as he saw how happy his new friend was to have him, noticing the squirrel seeming far more open and comfortable at home than school as they talked more. \n\nExcitedly, Dexter opens the door to his room and gestures his friend inside, quickly closing the door behind them as he flicks on the light to reveal his favorite place to be. ``Whoa...your room is HUGE!'' the young cheetah exclaims, having grown so used to the borderline walk in closet he'd been living in. Excitedly, Charlie runs up to examine what he'd considered to be an expansive collection of games on a small shelf under the squirrel's TV. ``Did you want to play something?'' Dexter asks as he sits on the floor watching the cheetah boy's eyes sparkle happily as he turns and excitedly nods his head.\n\nHearing a light knock, Dexter pauses their game and jumps up to open his door. Peeking her head in, Dexter?s mother holds out a bag of fresh laundry, straight form the drier along with a towel and wash rag. ``Charlie dear, your clothes are ready if you wanted to take a shower. Dexter can show you how to control the water.'' She smiles as she sets the bag down inside the door and turns to walk away. Charlie gets up and grabs a fresh warm shirt from the bag, holding it to his nose and inhaling deeply to enjoy the fresh scent of the laundry soap perfuming it. Quickly pulling out a pair of basketball shorts and boxer briefs, Charlie grabs the towel and wash rag and follows Dexter directly across the hall to the bathroom.\n\nFinishing up giving his short tutorial on how to use the knobs in the tub, Dexter turns to see his friend already shirtless, halfway through pulling off his dirty jeans. His eyes widening in surprise, the young squirrel blushes brightly, staring at the tall boys body and seeming unable to look away. Amazed at how thin he is, Dexter?s eyes wander lower and lower seemingly of their own free will before settling on the small amount of bright yellow fluff peeking out just above the waistband of the boy's green boxer briefs. Frozen in place as his eyes peek just ever so slightly lower, Dexter feels his heart race faster than ever before as Charlie's hands reach up, quickly sinking his thumbs under the elastic band holding his most private place at bay before quickly shoving his underwear down. You could have fried an egg on the young squirrel's face with how hot he'd felt upon seeing Charlie's most private place. Dangling down between his legs hung a hefty pouch of fuzzy yellow orbs, and a flaccid 6 inches of uncut humanoid penis gently swaying with his body as he finishes undressing and quickly steps into the tub, having been lost in his own mind not noticing the pair of bright green eyes laser focused on his adolescent cock. Quickly closing the curtain and turning the knobs as he'd just been shown, Charlie begins washing several days worth of dirt and grime from his fur as his friend attempts to calm his heart before it explodes from seeing a naked boy for the first time in his young life.\n\nClosing his bedroom door, Dexter slumps down in front of it trying to make sense of what he was feeling. Dexter was a fairly innocent boy, having been quite sheltered, his only exposure to sex being brief uncomfortable scenes in movies and games. They always made his privates twitch, but he never knew why or what to do when it happened, always being frustrated at the discomfort in his pants as he had to wait for the bulging to cease on its own. His mother never thought it appropriate for him to take sex ed, always being called out of school for those days throughout elementary and middle school, but having planned to let him learn this year as she finally felt him old enough. His lack of education had led to frustration and confusion with his body, always too embarrassed to ask about anything he needed to know and too afraid of getting in trouble should one of his parents happen to see his search history had he looked them up online.\n\nCharlie was at peace, his mind calm as he thoroughly scrubbed a weeks worth of stress and grime from his knotted fur under the steaming water spraying down from above. He didn't get to bathe often at home, the bathroom plumbing in their small mobile home having been in desperate need of repair for a while but remaining unfixed as his mother cared for nothing but her drink. He'd occasionally have to sneak his way into the sports club building up the street to steal a free shower, far too embarrassed and ashamed to ask one of the neighbors if he could use theirs. Thoughts of his short little rodent friend in the other room slowly flood their way into his brain. Feelings of happiness, truly grateful for having been so quickly welcomed into the boys home, his private space no one before him had ever been invited to. His mind flashes back to the short part of school he'd been present for, after having been calmed down at lunch. Thinking back to 6th period when he heard a familiar voice next to him and caught his first glimpse of the smaller boy's body. His cheeks flushed remembering the brief view, his chest feeling warm and a pressure growing in his groin as his penis begins to swell. He'd very much enjoyed what he saw of Dexter?s exposed stomach, finding the slight chub on the boy to be very nice, and perfectly matching the overall cuteness he saw in him. \n\nGuilt flooded through the young cheetah at the feelings and thoughts he was experiencing, actively fighting against his body as his hand subconsciously moved down his belly to grip his rapidly expanding shaft. Sighing as his fingers wrapped themselves around his most intimate place, he slowly strokes back and forth, the very tip of his glans peeking through his thick foreskin as he curses himself in his head for his behavior. ``God, Charlie. What's wrong with you. He's a boy. He's a nice boy and he-'' the cheetah shivers and gasps, cutting his thoughts off briefly as his strokes become longer as his penis reaches its fully hardened 7 inches. ``He's a nice boy and he's letting you stay with him and...and he's so cute. His eyes-'' the boy shudders in guilty pleasure as his hand is a blur across his penis, foreskin rapidly exposing and hiding the sensitive tip of his penis as slick, clear fluids pool up at his slit, carried away to lubricate him as his protective hood bunches up and spreads the substance in a thin sheen across his tip with every stroke. ``His eyes...'' The thought of those big green eyes staring up at him fill his brain as he feels a telltale pressure in his pelvis, pulling at the base of his young meat as he nears his climax. ``Please just look at me...'' passing the point of no return, Charlie feels his testicles pull up slightly as the sensation of liquid heat builds pressure at the base of his cock, quickly overpowering his body as the dam bursts and intense pleasure overtakes him. Hot, thick, white fluid rushes up his shaft and shoots hard from his tip, quickly splattering against the wall in front of him in six large bursts, his entire body shaking and straining during the most intense orgasm he's felt in his life as he struggled to remain standing.\n\nAn intense wave of relief washes over the young boy's body, quickly replaced with an immense sense of guilt as tears begin to well up in his eyes. ``What the fuck is wrong with you, Charlie. You can't like him like that. You don't even know him yet...'' he thinks to himself as he attempts to scrub his shame from his now slimy crotch fur. Trying to once again relax under the heat of the shower, the guilty buzzing in his brain slows and he rinses the last bit of shampoo from his fur. Turning off the water, he opens the plastic curtain and steps out onto the plush white bath matt resting on the floor and grabs his towel from the rod screwed to the wall. Quickly rubbing the large cloth in long strokes across his body to soak up the majority of the water dripping from him, Charlie leans down to scoop up his clothes and exit the bathroom after wrapping the towel around his waist, his mind on autopilot.\n\nDexter lays on his bed, his ears perking up as he hears the telltale squeak of the knob on the tub faucet turning off. Eyeing the door as he waits for his friend, his eyes grow wide as the cheetah enters his room, clad in nothing but a damp white towel. Charlie closes the door behind him, not thinking as his hands move towards his towel to drop it as he hears a gasp, snapping him back to reality as he realizes where he is and what he's just done. Both boy's eyes widen as they meet, faces lighting up hotter than ever as they both open their mouths to speak, Charlie winning the race as Dexter?s eyes slowly move down the exposed teen blocking his door. ``Oh god I'm so sorry! I forgot where I was and I wasn't paying attention and I was kinda lost in my own head and I didn't even notice you were there til I heard you gasp and now i-'' Charlie pauses, realizing he's still standing naked in his new friends room in full view of the boy, quickly bending down to grab his clean underwear and yank it up his legs faster than he'd ever put anything on before in his life. \n\nAnxious silence hangs in the air, Charlie unable to look at his friend due to shame, Dexter unable to look away from the boy he'd just seen far more of than he ever thought he would for the second time in just a few minutes. Dexter sees the boy sitting on the floor begin to tremble slightly as he tries to pull on his basketball shorts without standing to expose his lower half. ``Charlie? Are you crying?'' Dexter asks quietly, almost a whisper. Charlie turns his head to look at the squirrel on the bed and respond. ``Uh, n-no?'' he says unconvincingly, confirming Dexter?s suspicions as he sniffles and wipes his eyes on his still damp arm fur. ``What's wrong?'' Charlie takes a moment to compose himself before replying. ``Uhm, I'm sorry f-for getting naked l-like that. I wasn't thinking when I got d-done in the shower and kinda just c-came back in here to get dressed. I didn't even see you on t-the bed til I heard you.'' he stops to take a few deep breaths to speak more clearly. ``You and your mom have been real nice to me, and helped me out a lot letting me come here and stay over and I went and fucked it up already. I?m sorry.'' saddened by the hopeless and apologetic look on his friends face, Dexter gets up to sit on the floor next to him. ``What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong. You just surprised me is all. You didn't fuck anything up.'' \n\nStill shirtless as his fur slowly air dries in his friend's room, Charlie works up the courage to ask for a small favor from the gray rodent boy next to him playing a game on the TV. ``Dexter?'' the squirrel pauses his game, immediately attentive to the young cheetah. ``Do you have a brush I could borrow?'' Dexter jumps up and rushes to his dresser to dig through his junk drawer up top. Finding the handle of his heavily used brush, he quickly pulls as many clumps of gray hair and fur as he can from it before running back to hand it to his friend. ``Thanks.'' Dexter watches as the boy struggles to run it through his arm fur in an attempt to pull and smooth out the little knots scattered throughout his poorly groomed body. ``Hold on a sec, Charlie.'' Standing and walking over to his dresser once again, Dexter pulls out a discolored and clearly old cardboard box as he pulls out a yet unused steel wire fur brush.\n\nSitting down next to the cheetah he grabs the boys arm and gently runs the stiff metal bristles across it in small, gentle strokes. Gasping in surprise, the cheetah looks in the boys eyes just as the squirrel asks ``Is this ok? You looked like you were having a hard time. My mom bought me this a couple years ago but I never had too much trouble with my fur knotting, and my normal hair brush usually works just fine when I do.'' only able to gently nod his approval as he blushes slightly he relaxes as he feels another gentle stroke across his fur, hissing quietly as he feels a quick snag as the brush does its job untangling him. Working his way up and down the boys arm, Dexter finishes his work there and moves to sit behind the boy, getting to work on his back not thinking to stop and ask to keep going. ``hmmm...'' Dexter thinks out loud behind the cheetah, quickly reaching over to his bed to pull down a pillow. ``Charlie lay down on your belly here'' he says, gesturing to the pillow to lay his head on.\n\nIn a far more comfortable position now, Charlie feels the wires gently scratch across his back, pulling out knots he'd never dreamed of being able to remove. Fully relaxing, his fears and stresses fading rapidly as he feels his friend work on him, he lets his mind go quiet simply enjoying the attention his little rodent friend was all too happy to give him. Dexter goes in for another stroke as he feels a strange vibration in his brush. Confused, he goes in for another and feels it even stronger, and then he hears it. A slight rumble radiating out from his friend as he fully gives into the happiness he feels at his treatment. Dexter blushes and giggles a little, his laugh catching his friends attention. ``What's funny?'' he asks. Giggling more, he replies. ``Charlie you're purring. I didn't know cheetahs could do that.'' the felines glows red, shining right through his yellow fur as he moves to get up and speak. ``Oh, god. I?m sor-'' Charlie is cut off as Dexter pushes him back down, not letting him get up. ``Stop, Charlie. There's nothing to be sorry for. I think It's cu-'' Dexter catches himself before he says something truly embarrassing. ``Uh, I think it's nice. It's good you're comfy.'' He continues brushing as Charlie buries his face in the pillow, ashamed as he once again allows himself to just enjoy his friend in silence.\n\nDexter fell into a trance almost, losing track of time while enjoying brushing his feline friend as he relaxed and melted into an embarrassed puddle of purrs on the boys floor. Having felt the last knot untangle itself from the boy below, he gave several final long, slow strokes across the boys back to make sure they were gone before he sets the brush down on the floor and opens his mouth to speak. ``I'm all done now, Charlie.'' Silence. Dexter leaned down to look at the boys face, noting his closed eyes and steady breathing among the gentle rumbles still emanating from him. Charlie had fallen asleep during his brushing, finally allowing himself rest after the exhaustion of the day had set in. Dexter smiled to himself, happy to see his friend smiling in his sleep. Looking out his window, the young squirrel noticed it was dark now, the sun having fully gone down over 2 hours ago. It was hot that day, and the heat hadn't relented during the night. Dexter looked down at his shirtless friend as he slept on the floor, chest rising and falling slowly with each breath, and wished to join him in his comfort.\n\nGrabbing 2 thin blankets from his closet and a second pillow from his bed, Dexter lays his head next to his friend after laying one of the blankets on top of him in case it got cold during the early hours of the morning. Facing the cheetah, Dexter covers himself and gets ready to sleep. He sees the calm look of happiness on the boys face and feels a strange warmth within he'd never felt before, a slight flutter in his chest as his cheeks warm in the barely moonlit darkness of his now quiet bedroom. ``goodnight, Charlie.'' he says, just barely a faint whisper as the words leave his lips. ``I'm happy I met you.'' he whispers as he adjusts himself to a comfortable position, smiling as he closes his eyes and drifts off into his own peaceful slumber, the last thought in his mind being his sleeping friend's smiling face.\n\nCh 4\n\nCharlie slowly opened his eyes, the faintest sliver of light hitting his eyes as the sun began to rise and shine through the half opened curtain in Dexter?s room. Momentarily disoriented and confused, Charlie remembers where he is upon seeing the sleeping gray boy next to him. The young cheetah can?t help but stop and look at the figure next to him, taking in his sleeping features in the dim light and smiling, happiness filling him as he slowly comes to full consciousness. ``Dexter?'' he whispers, ever so gently nudging the boy's shoulder in an attempt to wake him peacefully. Not wanting to make too much noise in case Dexter?s mother is still sleeping in the room next to them, he leans in close to the boy, just next to his ear to whisper again. ``Dexter, wake up. it-'' Charlie is stopped as Dexter?s eyes slowly crack open and his face turns towards the quiet, breathy voice he's hearing, close enough that their noses make contact. Charlie is briefly frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth agape as his cheeks burn brightly before quietly squeaking out a small noise of embarrassment and jumping back as Dexter?s face begins to rapidly redden along with him.\n\nBoth boys share a long moment of awkward silence, eyes locked as neither quite has the courage to speak through their embarrassment. Dexter is the first to speak, shocked to full consciousness by his surprise awakening. ``Uh, h-hi Charlie. What were you d-doing?'' he manages to squeak out. ``i- uh, I was just trying to w-wake you up. I didn't want to be too loud so I just l-leaned in too far by accident.'' he looks down at the floor to avoid the boys gaze, hands clasped together in front of him and nervously twiddling his thumbs. ``Oh.'' is all Dexter can think to say. Charlie works up the courage to tear his eyes from the floor and look at the squirrel again. ``W-why are you on the floor?'' Dexter turns his head slightly, embarrassed to maintain eye contact as he feels that strange fluttering feeling in his chest again as he remembers last night. ``I uh, you f-fell asleep when I was brushing you. You l-looked real comfy and I didn't want to leave you down here a-alone...'' Charlie can?t hold back a shy smile at what his friend says, his own heart radiating a comforting warmth throughout his body at the squirrel's admission. ``Oh...uhm, t-thank you. It was- uh, it was nice to see you when I woke up. I was c-confused at first I thought I f-fell asleep at the park again, haha.'' The confusion on Dexter?s face could be seen from miles away. ``Fell asleep at the park again? What do you mean?'' Charlie gasps slightly as his heart sinks upon realizing what he'd just said out loud, accidentally revealing a secret he hadn't yet wanted his new friend to know.\n\nCharlie forces himself to come clean about some of his situation, leaving out the worst parts for now. ``So, yeah. Sometimes I sleep at the park. It's not as bad as it sounds, honest. I uh, I promise I'll tell you the rest later...'' he finishes his explanation. Dexter feels awful as he takes a minute to fully absorb the information he'd been given. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be if he'd felt unwelcome in his own home to the point he had to sleep outside alone just to feel some level of peace and comfort. He couldn't imagine how awful it would be to have an older sibling at home who spent all his time making him feel small and stupid for no reason. Home was the only place Dexter had ever felt comfortable, able to really be himself. The one place he felt safe and loved, despite his depression and anxiety often overwhelming at night. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and hug his new friend, but as he was getting ready to stand, Charlie stood too. ``C-can we watch something on the big TV in the living room? I never seen one that size before.''\n\nStepping through the hallway, the boys hear quiet talking from the dining room table they couldn't make out. ``We would be more than happy to watch him for as long as you need. I've never seen Dexter so excited before.'' the boys heard the familiar voice of Dexter?s mother finish speaking as they rounded the corner to investigate. ``Dad!'' Charlie shouted, excitedly running up to a mystery figure Dexter had never seen before seated at the table with his parents as they spoke over steaming cups of coffee. ``Charlie!'' the older cheetah stands from his seat to embrace his son, happy to see the boy in person for the first time in months, having not been able to take enough time off work to make his way over for a secret visit. Dexter was in awe of the man, truly the tallest person he'd ever seen in his life. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, Charlie's father looked just like an older and taller version of the boy, same spots and all. \n\nDexter?s mother gestures for the boys to take a seat at the table with them, having pulled out some folding chairs they stored in the closet in case of guests. Sitting next to each other, the boys looked confused as they waited for someone to explain what was going on. ``Charlie, there's coffee or orange juice on the counter in the kitchen if you'd like some, help yourself.'' Charlie looked over to the voice he just heard, noticing an older chubby squirrel he hadn't noticed before. ``Oh! H-hello. I guess you're Dexter?s dad, huh? I thought- never mind. It- it's nice to meet you!'' He says before heading into the kitchen to get a drink. Dexter gets up behind him to fill up a tall glass of orange juice as he sees his friend preparing a cup of coffee. ``How can you drink that stuff?'' the squirrel asks, curious. ``It's so bitter and weird, even when I put sugar and stuff in it.'' Charlie turns to the boy next to him before responding. ``It helps my brain shut up.'' Dexter is even more confused as he hears this. ``What? How? It always made me feel all jittery n stuff. I can't even drink more than a small cola without feeling like I'll vibrate out of my skin, haha.'' he laughs. Charlie feels a little embarrassed explaining himself, despite knowing his friend had no intention of making him feel bad or uncomfortable. ``It uh, I dunno. I went to the doctor as a kid and they told me I had, uh, AHD or something like that? Makes my brain kinda dumb. It just kinda races a lot without really thinking all that much and I can't focus too well. Caffeine makes it quiet for a little while. Makes me ramble less.'' He explains. ``Oh. You mean ADHD? I have that too. We tried medication for it but it just made me feel weird.'' Dexter replies, before adding ``I hope it doesn't make you too quiet, I like your rambles...'' Charlie's face flushes bright red as butterflies form in his stomach when he hears this. He waits for Dexter to turn and sit back at the table before taking a sip of his coffee and then opting for the juice instead.\n\nRejoining the adults at the table, the boys turn to the middle aged cheetah sitting at the end of the table as he starts to speak. ``Charlie, I got a few days off work for a family emergency when Dexter?s mom called yesterday and told me everything. I rushed over as fast as I could. I just got in town 2 hours ago and came straight here. I'm going to be staying at the motel right up the street from here, I?m going to give you a spare room key and you're free to come and go as you please, but Dexter?s parents here have agreed to take care of you for as long as you'd like to stay. I called Mrs. Blythe at the trailer park and she said the cops taped up the trailer and talked to the neighbors with management. It's being condemned after they saw the state of it, they found mold everywhere. They talked to Jimmy at work, he's staying with his girlfriend now. I have to take you down to make a statement later, it's up to you what you want to tell them. Nobody's going to pressure you to say anything you don't want to.'' Charlie nods along as his father speaks, not at all surprised to hear any of it. ``Cops? What? What happened?'' Dexter squeaks out, confused and anxious looking to his friend. Charlie looks at his friend, ashamed and heavily apologetic for mostly keeping him in the dark. ``I'll tell you later, I promise.'' he holds up his hand and sticks out his pinky, the squirrel quickly locking it with his own to seal the deal.\n\nPiling into Dexter's mom's car, the group make their way to the local diner for a nice special breakfast together. The drive is quiet and uneventful, Dexter staring out the window, Charlie unable to look away from the squirrel next to him, truly grateful for these last 2 days as he looks forward to the next few as he begins to feel warm inside thinking of how nice everyone has been in is time of need. The joy he felt was nice, feeling as though he'd actually mattered, but just below the happiness was a gnawing sense of guilt for asking for and accepting help. He always hated needing help, always preferring to be the helper and going out of his way to repay whatever debt he felt he owed for the acts of kindness he was shown. He promised himself during that car ride that he'd find a way to repay the squirrel family for their generosity and for treating him as one of their own. \n\nPulling into a parking space just outside the door, everyone gets out of the car and makes their way inside. ``Man, we haven't been to Benny's in ages. I hope they still have my country fried steak.'' Dexter says as they walk up to the front counter. Charlie's ears perk up at this, intrigued. ``Country fried steak? What's that?'' Dexter turns, a playful shocked gasp as he feigns offense at his feline friends question. ``what's country- Charlie I'm hurt. It's only the bestest thing on any cheap diner menu. Only the finest cuts of bargain bin beef, pounded flat by the rage of a minimum wage line cook with a steel hammer, breaded and deep fried and smothered with gravy.'' Charlie can?t help but laugh at his friend's sarcastic tone. ``Far from the crying kid on the grass at school when he's comfortable, huh?'' the cheetah thinks to himself, smiling at the thought of the boy being at peace around him so soon. ``that sounds pretty good. I think I'll get one too if it's not too much.'' Dexter smiles at getting his friend to try one of his favorite foods. ``They're real big and it also comes with scrambled eggs n stuff. We can split one if you want, I can never eat more than half and it's not very good reheated.'' Charlie smiles and blushes lightly at the thought of sharing a meal with the boy as the fluttering feeling inside of him comes back for a moment as they're taken to their booth.\n\nDexter sits at the open end of the booth together with his parents, Charlie sat directly across from him on the other side with his dad as they look over the menu. Dexter sees the older cheetah nudge Charlie and lean down to whisper something to the boy he can't hear. ``you were right, Charlie. He is cute. Good eye.'' Dexter watches as Charlie's eyes nearly pop out of his skull as his face flushes redder than ever. ``Dad! Shut up!'' he whispers a little louder than he'd meant to, briefly catching Dexter?s confused look across from him as he quickly picks up his menu to hide behind in shame, his father laughing next to him as if he'd just heard the funniest joke of his life. Lost in his makeshift hiding spot as he zoned out in his embarrassment, Charlie hadn't noticed the waitress coming to take everybody's order until his father nudged him to get his attention. ``Huh?'' he says, as he lifts his head up and folds the menu. ``What can I get ya, kitty?'' Charlie quickly thinks back to a minute ago before they'd sat down. ``Oh! Uh, we're gunna split one of the country fried steaks.'' he says as he motions towards the small boy seated across from him. ``Oh and can I get a coff- er, do you have chocolate milk?'' he adds. ``sure do, sweetheart. Comin' right up. Y'all two are adorable together. Oh, to be young again.'' she looks between the boys as she turns to walk away. All the adults at the table try their hardest to hold back laughter as they see two tomato red boys, wide eyed staring at each other, mouths agape as they realize what the waitress just said.\n\n``Whoa, that thing is huge!'' Charlie says, surprised at the slab of fried meat the waitress had just set down between him and his squirrel friend. ``No wonder you can never finish it.'' the waitress finishes serving everyone's food and drinks, looking down and realizing something. ``Aw, shoot. I forgot to grab an extra plate for you two. I'll be right back.'' She starts to turn around before Dexter chimes in ``Oh don't worry about it. We can share.'' he says. ``can we switch spots?'' he asks charlies father, the man happily nodding and getting up to switch with the boy, giving his son a sly wink nobody else can see.\n\nCharlie and Dexter look down at the large plate of food in front of them as the adults across from them smile at the sight of the boys together briefly before digging into their own meals. ``Go on, Charlie. You can have some first. I'll just eat some eggs.'' Dexter says as he turns the plate so the pile of eggs is in front of him. Charlie nods and picks up his fork, easily slicing through the meat with the side of it, not even needing his knife. He sees the squirrel next to him bring a large forkful of fluffy scrambled eggs to his mouth and bite down happily, not noticing the cheetah's looks. Charlie smiles to himself, seeing how happy the boy looks as he stabs the chunk of meat he cut off the slab and brings it to his nose for a sniff. Dexter turns to stare intently at the boy as he motions to take his first bite, anxiously waiting for his reaction to the squirrel's favorite diner food. Charlie opens his mouth and takes the full bite off his fork, chewing through the juicy tender meat as his eyes light up and his mouth waters. ``Whoa that is good. It's so tender. And peppery!'' he says as he quickly chews and swallows while cutting off another chunk from the slab. ``I can't believe you've never had it before. It's always been my favorite every time we go to a diner.'' Dexter says as he happily watches his friend eat. ``We were always more of a pancake shack family before the div- er, before things changed.'' Charlie's father says. ``You wouldn't know it looking at him now, but this boy could pack down short stacks like nobody's business. Sausage links, too! I swear he swallowed em whole!'' the man finishes, another sly wink at his son as Charlie's eyes go wide as he hears his father speak across from him. ``Dad! What the hell!'' Charlie blushes at the implication of the last half of what the man said. ``Whoa. I wanna see that! Mom can we get Charlie some sausages?'' Dexter asks, oblivious to why all of the adults burst out in laughter at his question as the cheetah next to him feels the heat boiling his cheeks burn up to the ceiling.\n\nCharlie eats the rest of his fill of breakfast in silence and quietly turns the plate to face the steak towards the squirrel next to him. Dexter noticed Charlie's silence and had been catching glimpses of his face as he ate, clearly upset at something. Dexter slides over a little to butt his leg up against his friends, leaning over to whisper to him. ``Are you okay, Charlie? You look sad. Did- did I say something wrong?'' Charlie looks down at the shorter boy, surprised at his question. ``No, you didn't do anything, Dexter. My dad's sausage joke just got to me a little. You're fine, promise!'' Dexter looks up at the boy. ``Joke? Oh, do you not really like them that much?'' Charlie opens his mouth to respond again. ``No, I like them it's just the- you really didn't get it, did you?'' he asks, Dexter looking confused. ``Get what?'' the squirrel asks. Charlie can't help but smile at his little friend's innocence. ``Nothing, Dexter. Don't worry about it, haha.'' the cheetah can't help but laugh at his friends confusion.\n\nCharlie watches Dexter chow down on his half of their meal as his thoughts flood in, thankfully quieter now than when he was eating. He'd always struggled with his feelings, just recently having become more confused than ever before. The cheetah had his fair share of crushes on girls he thought were cute, nothing ever coming from it after they spent time with him when he was trying to make friends. He talked fast, and he talked a lot when he was excited or talking about things he enjoyed, his demeanor always putting people off rather quickly when they couldn't keep up with him. Kids always had a special level of cruelty towards those who were different, Charlie was always thankful he hadn't fallen into the far end of that category. He remembered the time a boy he tried being friends in elementary school with was seen holding hands with another boy at recess. Charlie had been ridiculed by his peers many times before, but he'd never seen that level of torment before or since. He'd never forgotten the words he heard that day as he saw those kids huddled up and crying in front of the swing set, one of them holding a shirt over his bloody nose from being kicked after he was pushed down. ``Daddy says faggots like you belong in the ground where you can't hurt nobody!'' Charlie remembered his blood running cold hearing that, as he ran to find a teacher while the rest of the kids on the playground stood around and watched the beating. \n\nIt was far too late to salvage the situation by the time he got back. Both boys had been beaten unconscious by a small group of 4 as half of the kids on the playground cheered them on, the rest watching on in shock unable to move or look away. He remembered one boys face so swollen he was unrecognizable, unable to even open his eyes and his nose broken and misshapen from being kicked and hit with sticks. The other boy had fared no better, his face recognizable but bloody, his left arm broken and bent the wrong way at the elbow, suffering several broken ribs as well. Charlie was terrified. He'd never seen so much blood before, never seen someone in so much pain or witnessed violence like that. It sat with him for life. The group of 4 was suspended from school for 2 weeks. The police got involved but nothing came of it. The two boys who were beaten to the brink of death spent 2 months in the hospital before they could even imagine going to school again. Charlie never wanted to be treated like that, thankful for getting off light with some ridicule for his behavior. He was happy he never had a crush on a boy. He never understood why it was wrong, he never thought it was. The worst part was he knew the beating was a misunderstanding. They weren't holding hands, they'd been shaking hands after making a deal when the leader of the group turned and saw them.\n\nCharlie had never liked a boy before. He was always terrified at the thought of it, remembering that day. He still never thought it was wrong, why anybody else should care, but now he was cursing himself, flooded with endless guilt as the first boy who'd ever given him that fluttery feeling inside sat and happily ate a greasy slab of gravy smothered beef next to him. This pudgy, short little squirrel boy with those big green eyes he couldn't get enough of, talking to him like an actual person, treating him normally, showing interest in his problems, showing genuine concern. In just two days Charlie knew for sure. He had a crush on Dexter, having fallen for him far harder than any crush before in such a short time. He remembered his shower yesterday, the guilt he felt at his behavior in there, the awkward changing in the boys room after, the calm and warmth that flooded his chest as the boy started to brush him. His shock at the instant transformation of the boys demeanor from the huddled up crying ball at school to the boy pushing him down to stay on the floor for his brushing when he tried to get up in shame. He smiled despite his shame and guilt, the boy next to him none the wiser to anything running through the cheetah's head as he finished his king sized meal.\n\nEveryone sat and talked at the table for a while as Dexter?s parents waited for the check to arrive. Charlie sipped his chocolate milk when he noticed the boy eyeing his glass. ``Oh, did you want some?'' he asked, holding his drink up to his friend. ``Are you sure?'' Dexter asks, green eyes sparkling from the light hanging just above their table. Charlies heart soars, like he'd just seen an adorable puppy at the park. ``Yes, please, have some.'' he smiles as the squirrel takes the glass, not even thinking as he drinks straight from where Charlie had been drinking from. Dexter is oblivious as Charlie blushes slightly. ``I love chocolate milk. I didn't know they had it here, it's not in the drink menu. Thanks, Charlie. You're real nice.'' Just as he finished talking the waitress arrived with the check.\n\nOn the way home in the back of the car, Charlie thought about how to tell his friend everything that was going on. He didn't know why it was so hard. He'd told all the adults just fine, he felt terrible leaving Dexter in the dark, but something deep down made him terrified the boy would judge him, turn him away and never talk to him again. Or worse yet, ridicule him like all the other kids he tried to befriend. Even if part of him knew it wasn't true, he wasn't like that, the fear was too much as his mind raced with hypothetical scenarios where his friend left him alone forever, never getting to see the sparkle in those eyes again, never getting to hear his voice as he explained how to play the games he'd needed help with because he never played before. Never getting to see him smile so wide when he finally beat a level he'd struggled on.\n\nDexter could see stress in his friends eyes as the boy stared blankly out through the front of the car while his mind raced. He knew there was something wrong, but he knew the boy wasn't ready to explain things yet. He wanted so badly to help his friend, but he didn't know how. He decided to help the only way he could think of as he placed his own hand on top of Charlie's as it rested on his thigh and gave a gentle squeeze letting him know he wasn't alone, not wanting to push him to say something he wasn't ready for. Dexter knew those feelings, dealing with his mother growing up. He was all too familiar with being pushed to say things he didn't want anybody to know, things he still needed time to think about himself before he asked for help. He'd never wanted to make anybody feel that way. He felt a gentle rumbling in his hand as he looked over to see Charlie looking down to where it rested on his, eyes tearing up slightly as he smiles gratefully at his friend, involuntarily purring without realizing it. Charlies father had given a brief glance over, noticing the boys' hands together as he heard the telltale rumbling sound of a comfortable kitty, smiling at seeing his son happy despite his painful situation.\n\nAs the car pulled into the driveway back at home, Charlie's father spoke. ``Alright, Charlie. I gotta take you away from your friend for a little while, we got things to do. We'll be back before dinner tonight, I promise. I gotta get you down to the station and then I think it's time we had a good talk to catch up.'' he says, placing his hand on the boys shoulder and giving a light squeeze. ``Thank you both very much for breakfast. I'll go hit the ATM for some cash to pay you back before we come back.'' he says, turning his head towards the adult squirrels in the front of the car. ``Don't you dare. We're more than happy to help, it was our treat.'' Dexter?s mother replies, turning to face the man with a stern look, offended he'd even considered it. He quickly surrendered the idea of paying them back.\n\nDexter watched from the porch as Charlie and his father drove away, waving goodbye, sad to see his friend go but happy to know he'd be back later and they'd be able to talk again. ``mom?'' he says as he walks up next to his mother as she sets her purse down on the kitchen counter. ``What is it, sweetie?'' she replies, looking down at her son as he fidgets nervously. ``Do we still have that air mattress from when we went camping a few years ago? I don't want Charlie to sleep on the floor again. He should get to sleep good, too.'' The woman smiles and nods, quickly heading to the closet in her room and pulling out an old dusty box with an air mattress and a bike pump. ``You're a good boy, Dexter. I?m so proud of you. You made a friend on your first day and 2 days later you're already making feel at home here.'' Dexter blushes at his mothers words, his blush deepening slightly when he feels her hand land on top of his head, giving a few gentle strokes along his hair as she leans down to lay a gentle kiss on his forehead. ``You go pump that up and I'll see about getting you guys somethi-'' she's interrupted as her phone rings in her pocket, startled slightly by the noise. Quickly pulling it out, she glances at the screen and gasps in realization. ``Oh no, we forgot to call the school to say you kids wouldn't be in today.'' she says as she answers the phone. ``Hello?'' is the last thing the boy hears as he goes to his room to make his friend's bed.\n\nCharlie's face was soaked through as he sniffled and sobbed, sitting on the corner of his fathers bed in his hotel room. He decided to tell the police everything about the last 2 years leading up to yesterday, and not just that incident. He wanted it to be over, he wanted that part of his life gone and behind him. No more abuse, no more screaming and broken glass, no more sleeping alone in the park. He let out every little detail between sorrowful sobs recounting his verbal torment and living conditions. He asked to have his father in the room, wanting him to know everything as well. Even the older cheetah couldn't hold back his tears as he heard how truly downhill everything had been since the divorce. He always wanted to take Charlie with him, but alone he had no funds, and had been homeless living in his car to save for a place. He'd occasionally come to visit the boy in secret, not wanting to cross paths with the woman who'd destroyed their marriage, often bringing little trinkets and small bits of pocket money so he could take care of himself for a while, never knowing the state of the boys home outside of the yelling he occasionally heard over the phone. Charlie never wanted his father to feel bad, to feel responsible for any of these problems. They weren't his fault, they were her fault entirely. But Charlie took the blame almost daily, from both his mother and brother, never understanding why even Jimmy hated him so much. They used to be so close before all this started. He'd taken so many verbal beatings that he'd also started blaming himself for ruining his own life over a year ago.\n\nHe felt a large comforting hand gently set itself on his back, the weight of the man sitting down next to him making the mattress sink down, forcing the boy to lean towards his father. He turned to fully face the man, wrapping his arms around him tightly and laying his head on his shoulder as he fully let go, letting everything out that he'd been holding back. The man felt powerless to help his son, knowing the only thing that would help would be holding the boy and letting him scream his torment out. He was unable to hold back his own flood of emotion, sobbing with his son, neither speaking a word until the well dried up and neither had anything left to cry out. ``I'm so sorry, Charlie. I didn't know...'' is all his father can say before he falls silent again. ``I didn't want you to.'' Charlie responds before getting up to find a towel to try his tear streaked face. ``Dad?'' he asks as he finishes blotting the wet spots from his cheeks. ``Can you take me to the store before we go back? I'd like to- uh, I'd like to get something for Dexter if that's ok.'' \n\nDexter laid on his belly on the floor in his room, looking up at his TV as he made the little farmer in his favorite comfort game plant blueberries all over his farm. He heard a light knock at his door, normal for his mother. ``It's open!'' he shouts, pausing his game and turning to face her as she opens the door. She spots the fully made air mattress on the floor, complete with sheets blankets and pillows along with Dexter?s favorite stuffed animal. She smiles and asks ``That's sweet, Dexter. Giving him your plushie for comfort.'' Dexter looks confused for a moment, then understands what she means. ``Oh, no! The air bed is for me. I changed the sheets on my bed n stuff for Charlie so he wouldn't have to be uncomfortable on the floor while he's here. S'not fair. I dunno what's going on but he seems sad and that's not cool.'' The older squirrel smiles wide, eyes welling up before she stops herself from fully crying. ``You really like him, don't you, Dex?'' she asks. ``Yeah! He scared me when we first met but he's real cool and he's been nice to me. It's weird to have a friend, It feels like we get along good. It feels like I've known him for years already.'' She understood well what he felt, having met the boys father at a similar age and hitting it off instantly. ``Oh, Charlie's father called. He wanted me to give you this. He said they'd be back in a couple hours.'' She hands the boy a small piece of paper with a phone number on in labeled ``Charlie''.\n\nCharlie feels a buzz in his pocket as he sits in a cheap office chair, eating a cup of instant noodles at the flimsy desk in the corner of his dad's hotel room while his father watches an animal documentary on the nature channel from the bed. Pulling out his phone he turns on the screen and sees a message from an unknown number. ``Hi Charlie :) I hope ur doing ok. U seemed pretty sad when u left.'' confused, he turns to the man on the bed. ``Dad? Did you give Dexter my number?'' turning from his documentary on the TV, he faces his son and replies ``Yeah I called his mom earlier to give it to him. You looked like you could use a friend to talk to. Now you don't have to wait til we get back.'' he watched his son's face light up with a smile as he thanked him and turned around to talk to his friend. ``Hey squirrelly :3 i?m doin better now. Ill tell u everything after dinner tonight. How r u?'' his phone vibrated again almost instantly. ``i?m good. I wana show u another game later. It's not actiony like the other ones but it's my favorite n it makes me happy. I hope u like it too.'' Charlie smiles, looking forward to tonight. ``i'm sure I'll love it. What r u up to?'' Charlie's father smiles to himself at the instant change in the boys demeanor when he started messaging his friend, hearing the boy laugh to himself quietly and smiling wide as he turns around in his chair.\n\nCh 5\n\nDexter jumped up from his floor in excitement hearing a knock at the front door, quickly rushing out of his room as he heard the door open. Disappointment and a hint of sadness were clear on his face as he saw his mom talking to the delivery guy from the chinese place they ordered from for dinner. She notices her son's face as she turns to put everything down on the kitchen table. ``What's wrong, sweetie?'' she asks the sad boy next to her as he helps her lay takeout boxes out on the table. ``Oh, it's nothing. I heard the door and I thought cha-'' Dexter freezes mid sentence as he hears another knock at the door, eyes widening in excitement and smiling as he rushes to the door. The older squirrel behind him can't help but smile and laugh at the instant change in energy as he opens the door to see the young cheetah he'd been so impatiently waiting for. ``Hi Charlie! Dinner just got here you guys are right on time.'' he greeted his friend excitedly, as if he hadn't just been pouting. ``He's just like a little kid on Christmas.'' his mother thinks to herself as everyone sits down for dinner.\n\nCharlie watched as everyone pulled small piles of food out of the little boxes strewn across the table, unsure of what to take, somewhat put off by most of the choices. ``Not hungry?'' he hears from the short squirrel boy seated next to him. ``Oh, uh, I don't know what I want. I don't think I've ever had chinese food. What are you having?'' he asks as he sees the boy looking through several small boxes until his eye light up finding what he was looking for. ``I'm kind of a picky eater so I always just get orange chicken and the fried rice. I tried some of the other stuff before and I didn't like it very much. But this stuffs real good! It looks like we got extra this time. Do you wanna try some?'' he asks, holding up the box of sticky glazed fried chicken chunks to the cheetah. ``Well, if breakfast is anything to go by you have great taste, so this will probably be another new favorite.''\n\nDexter sat and watched his friend go in for his first taste, noticing a pattern from this morning he'd found inexplicably endearing. He noticed the cheetah go in for a quick sniff, wiggling his nose slightly before he'd go in to taste a new food. He saw Charlie smile as the sweet glazed chicken nugget touched his tongue, quickly eating it down with a little rice. Satisfied his friend was enjoying his meal, he dug into his own, everyone eating in relative silence.\n\n``I'd like to thank you both again very much for your help in this situation. I have no idea what I would even do without your generosity, thank you.'' Charlie looks up from his plate to see his dad stand as he talks to Dexter?s parents when he feels a hand on his head, quickly ruffling his head fur. ``Charlie, I have to go now. I'll be in town until Friday, you can come back to the hotel with me or you can stay here. Id imagine you'd like to stay with your new friend, though.'' he states, as he slides a plastic key card in front of the boy. ``stop by whenever, I'll be in contact with Dexter?s parents as we work out details of this arrangement.'' Charlie stands up to hug his father as Dexter?s mother responds ``Think nothing of it. I've never seen Dexter so happy. I think this will end up being good for both of them, despite the circumstances. We're still not taking your money, so don't even think about it.'' she shoots another stern look as she sees the man reach for his wallet in attempt to at least cover part of dinner. He quickly moves his hand back away from it before he turns to leave. ``You two can go, we'll take care of the leftovers.'' she says with a smile. ``Goodnight, boys.''\n\nCharlie is surprised and excited when Dexter opens his door, seeing the air bed on the floor. ``You didn't have to set that up for me, Dexter. I was ok on the floor, really.'' He felt a little guilty inside even through his gratefulness at the boys gesture as he felt that telltale fluttering inside him again. ``I don't mind, Charlie. The air mattress is comfy enough, I won't have a problem.'' the cheetah gives the boy a confused look before opening his mouth to speak again. ``What do you mean you won't have a problem?'' Dexter sets himself down on the air mattress as he pats his bed, telling the cheetah to come sit. ``I mean I won't have an issue on the air bed while you're on the real one. I put on fresh sheets and everything!'' Charlie blushes bright at his friends words, butterflies intensifying as he walks to sit down where the boy was patting for him. ``Dexter you didn-'' he's cut off by the tiny squirrel just next to him as he holds up a finger to playfully wag at him. ``You're sleeping on the bed, Charlie. I didn't do it because I thought I had to. I did it because I wanted to. I don't know what all's going on right now but you're my friend now and you deserve to be comfortable and happy, too.'' Charlie smiles and starts to tear up, warmth radiating through him. ``Dexter?'' he says in a quiet, shaky voice. ``I think i?m ready to tell you the rest, now...''\n\nBoth boys sat with tear stained faces as Dexter listens to his friend recount his last 2 years, just as he'd done for the police earlier in the day, holding nothing back. Charlie was utterly terrified of the little squirrel next to him running away and never talking to him again, or seeing him in a different light, but he felt wrong hiding it. When he finished his story, Dexter couldn't find words to speak, as if someone had removed his ability to speak entirely. He looked his friend in the eyes and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly as he finally understood Charlie's feelings. Charlie wiped his eyes with his free hand and sniffled before he could talk again. ``I'm s-sorry I kept it f-from you. I was scared you wouldn't...I thought you might run away and not want to be friends if you knew I was so f-fucked up.'' looking off to the side, not wanting to hold eye contact while he sniffled, he didn't notice his friend stand up from his air bed until he felt the bed he sat on sink down and he felt arms around him. He tilted his head to rest on his friends shoulder as he let go and cried until he couldn't cry anymore. They were the warmest and most welcoming arms he'd ever felt.\n\nDexter sat and held his friend for 20 minutes before either felt they could speak again, a few minutes after they'd both stopped crying and just felt comfort in each other. ``You're going to be okay, Charlie. I promise. I'm happy you're here.'' Dexter gave one strong squeeze momentarily before finally breaking their extended hug and getting up to turn on the TV. ``Come sit with me, Charlie. I want to show you something.'' Dexter felt a little embarrassed as his game booted up and the ``FARMER VALLEY'' logo lit up across the TV screen, feeling as though his cheetah friend probably wouldn't enjoy it the way he did. ``What's this?'' Charlie asks as he sit on the floor next to the squirrel. ``I wanted to show you my favorite game. It always makes me feel better when I?m depressed, so I thought maybe it would be nice to show you, too. It's okay if you don't like it, I just wanted to show it to you and let you try it for a little.'' he said, handing the controller to Charlie. ``If you like it, there's a multiplayer mode so we can have a farm together, but I think it's better to start alone first to get a feel for it.'' Charlie smiled, happy to have a friend who wanted to share his favorite things.\n\nCharlie had played for about an hour before he wanted to restart with Dexter, having been very much enjoying himself even with as slow as it was to start with. Their farm grew quickly, both boys losing track of time until Dexter noticed the young cheetah next to him dozing off. Dexter picked up his phone to check the time, eyes wide as he saw 2am on the clock. Reaching over, the squirrel gently nudged the cheetah boy to try to wake him up. ``Charlie, come on, lets go to bed. I don't want you to sleep on the floor again.'' Charlie groggily stood up, mostly unconscious as the young squirrel led him to the bed. He rubbed his eyes and opened them for a moment to lean forward and grab Dexter in a tight hug. ``Mmmh, g'night Dexter. Thanks for being so nice.'' he let go of the squirrel and flopped down on the mattress, quickly crashing out before he could even think of pulling the blanket over him. Dexter looked at the young cheetah sprawled out on his bed, seeing a slight smile on the sleeping boys face as he felt a pleasant warmth overtake him. He quickly leaned over the boy to pull the blanket over him, tucking the edges in under him before turning off the light and laying down on the air mattress on the floor after butting it up against the bed. ``Goodnight, Charlie.'' he smiled as he fell asleep still feeling that warm fluttering inside him.\n\nDexter woke up at noon, drenched in sweat from the heat radiating in through his window and blasting down on him while he was wrapped in his blanket. He grabbed his water bottle off the floor next to him and quickly chugged it down, cooling him slightly and moistening his dry mouth. Groggily, he stood and made his way out of his room and opened the bathroom door to relieve himself. His eyes shot open wide when he saw the naked cheetah boy standing in front of him drying his head and ears, having just stepped out of the shower not hearing the door open until he heard a gasp. ``Holy fucking shit...'' he heard quietly, quickly uncovering his damp face to spot his friend standing in the door way, eyes glued to the cheetah's half erect member jutting out in front of him as he quickly blushed and covered himself. ``Oh, god, I'm so sorry, I-'' Dexter couldn't hear the rest of what the boy said as he'd bolted back into his room, slamming the bathroom door behind him in shock as he buried his face in his pillow, cheeks burning hot as he processed what he'd just seen. ``Jesus he's huge.'' he thought to himself as he felt his own bulge begin to painfully press into the air bed. He didn't understand the feelings he was having, they confused and scared him, making him feel strange inside as he had no idea how to deal with them.\n\nDexter heard his bedroom door gently close as he looked up to see an equally red faced shirtless cheetah boy standing there, stammering as he tried to squeak out an apology. ``I'm so sorry, Dexter. I should have woken- I mean, I didn't want to bother you so I just- I woke up all sweaty and felt gross so I went to wash it off and I-'' Dexter cut him off. ``W-why are you apologizing? I mean, I- I wasn't even thinking, I didn't even knock o-or anything! I didn't even n-notice you weren't still in the bed!'' Charlie was struggling to calm down, feeling awful for the situation even if deep down he knew it wasn't anybody's fault. ``I didn't want- uh, I didn't want you to see me like that...'' Dexter looked confused through his intense blush. ``I- I mean it's not like it's the first time I saw it, it just s-surprised-'' Charlie butted in ``what do you mean it's not the f-first time? When did you-'' he quickly remembered his shower the other day, not noticing through his mental fog at the time that he'd fully stripped in front of the squirrel without even a thought in his mind about it. ``Oh, shit.'' Charlie rushed to pull a shirt on and run out of Dexter's room before the boy could say anything, having been out of the house entirely by the time Dexter had been able to process what happened and leave his room to see where the boy had gone.\n\nCharlie felt his pocket vibrate repeatedly as he ran towards the park, trying and failing to fight off tears as a panic attack over took him. ``Stupid, stupid, stupid, fucking idiot, Charlie! Fuck!'' he yelled to himself under his breath as his brain turned to angry static, giving him no thoughts, but filling him with horrible, awful feelings of guilt and anger and sadness as he finished the extensive run to the park and slipped through the bars under the set of bleachers he knew so well. He sat, butted up against an old, heavily splintered sheet of plywood, not feeling the handful of slivers of wood stabbing into his back through his brain static. ``Fucking stupid idiot. Stupid fucking airhead dipshit. He's never going to like you. Of course he wouldn't. He's seen you naked twice in his house in 3 days. Fucking freak. Who could like you Charlie. Fucking retard. Mom was right. Mom was right...'' he hugged his knees as he sat and cried to himself waiting for the bad feelings to pass. He knew they would, eventually. He knew they always did, but he still always struggled with them.\n\nCharlie's father jumped as he heard a frantic pounding at his door, quickly running up to open it and seeing a panicked and out of breath squirrel boy hunched over attempting to catch his breath. ``Dexter? What's going on? What's wrong? Where's Charlie?'' he asked, his heart racing as he thought the worst. ``He ran-'' Dexter struggled to breathe for a moment before he spoke again. ``He ran away a few minutes ago. I thought h-he might be here. He wont pick up his phone.'' the man invited the squirrel inside, quickly sitting with him on the bed. ``He's not here. He hasn't called or anything. I?m sure he's okay. What happened?'' Dexter blushed and looked down in shame as he began to explain what happened. ``I- uh, I walked in on him coming out of the shower b-by accident and he k-kinda just freaked out and r-ran...'' the man couldn't help but laugh slightly at the blushing, stuttering boy. ``Haha, oh, you poor kids. I don't know where he went, but it sounds like he's probably having a panic attack or something. It happens sometimes, it's scary. He likes to run. I don't know for sure where he would have gone, but he's probably at the park.'' Dexter was up and out the door before the man even had a chance to continue.\n\nTwo hours had passed since Charlie ran, he still sat under the bleachers hugging his knees, though the bad feelings had mostly passed as he sat feeling deeply guilty and childish for his behavior. He looked over as he heard an intense gasping as someone nearby had fallen over. He runs over to the mass on the ground and recognizes the familiar squirrel struggling to pick himself back up. ``Dexter? Are you okay? What happened?'' he asked as he helped the immensely sweaty boy back onto his feet. He saw the boy struggling to catch his breath and quickly led him to the water fountain. Having gotten a drink and caught his breath for the most part, Charlie led Dexter under the bleachers to sit with him so they could talk. ``I ran. I ran to see your dad because I thought-'' Dexter sniffled as he held back his tears. ``I thought you might have ran to see him. But he said you weren't there and you were probably at the park, but I didn't ask which park before I ran out and- and then I went to 3 different parks around here before I found this one. I tripped on a stick. Ow.'' the squirrel gently rubbed his knee as the soreness set in from landing on it when he fell. ``Charlie why did you run? I was so worried about you, you didn't answer your phone.'' Charlie struggled to find his words when he saw how concerned Dexter was. ``I panicked. I felt bad, I felt guilty, I felt stupid. I do a lot of things without thinking. I didn't even realize I stripped in front of you until you told me today wasn't the first time you saw me...like that. I felt like a freak, and I panicked, and I ran. I'm sorry.'' He felt a hand on his shoulder as he finished talking. ``It's okay, I was just worried. You didn't do anything wrong, Charlie. I?m the one who walked in on you, not the other way around.'' \n\nThe boys sat together under the bleachers and talked while they waited for Charlie's father to pick them up. ``Well, now we've both had stupid pointless panic attacks around each other, so I guess we're even for Wednesday.'' Dexter said, and both boys couldn't help but share a laugh at their mental misfortune. ``You run way too fast, by the way.'' the squirrel added as his laughter died down. Charlie laughed again. ``Well, I am a cheetah. You'll never keep up on the running days in PE.'' Dexter groaned, ``Oh, god. I forgot we still have school. At least we ended up with a 3 day weekend for all this.'' They heard footsteps nearby as Charlie peeked his head out to see his dad coming towards them. ``Our ride's here, squirrelly. Let's get back and farm. That game is nice.'' Dexter smiled hearing his friend also liked his favorite game, and the boys made their way out from under the bleachers to walk with the older cheetah to his car.\n\n``Thanks for coming to get us, dad. Sorry for the trouble.'' the man gave an understanding and sympathetic nod, looking at the boy in the rear view mirror as they piled into his car. ``It's fine, buddy. Shit happens. It's what I'm here for. I?m glad you seem to be doing better. You should have seen Dexter?s face when he came pounding on my door ready to collapse. I thought you fucking died or something, kid.'' the boys in the back seat briefly made eye contact, blushing before Dexter turned to look away and began nervously nibbling at his finger nails. ``Dad?'' Charlie said nervously. ``can we...can we just keep this whole thing between us 3, please?'' the man in the driver's seat nodded. ``Of course, Charlie.'' with that, he started the car and they made their way back to Dexter's house.\n\nPulling into the driveway, Dexter opened the door to step out as Charlie followed, quickly stopped by his dad for a moment. ``Charlie, I thought you might want this. You forgot it in my room when we came back yesterday.'' He pulls up a plastic grocery bag to hand to the younger cheetah, smiling as he lets him leave. ``Thanks, dad.'' The man nods and smiles before driving away as the boys make their way back inside and run to Dexter?s room.\n\nDexter heard his phone go off and saw a text from his dad. ``We're getting dinner with Charlie?s dad to talk over things. don't know when we'll be home. There's plenty of leftovers in the fridge for you 2. Have fun Dex :)'' Dexter put his phone down and smiled, happy to continue his farming adventure with the cheetah boy next to him as he resumed their game. ``My parents are going to dinner with your dad to talk, they'll probably be back kinda late tonight. There's loads of leftovers from yesterday for us, though.'' Charlie looked over to his friend. ``Oh, cool. It's kinda nice to just be alone with you.'' Charlie quickly blushed hearing what he'd said, Dexter quickly following with his own face lighting up slightly. ``It- it is nice, yeah. I know it's because of a fucked up situation, but I?m happy you're here, Charlie. Uh, thanks for, y'know, being my friend.'' they shared a moment of silence with each other before Dexter remembered something else. ``Hey, what was that bag your dad gave you?'' ``Oh!'' Charlie quickly jumped up to grab the tied up bag on the bed, opening it and pulling out a few small snacks. ``You've been really cool helping me and making me feel comfortable here n stuff and I remembered at breakfast yesterday you said you loved chocolate milk so I went and, uh, well, it's not real chocolate milk, but I got you my favorite kind from when I was little. And a couple other snacks I really like, because you showed me some of your favorite foods and I thought that was really nice.'' he blushes as he holds up a small plastic bottle of a thick chocolate drink and a small bag of sour candy strips to the boy next to him.\n\nDexter smiled wide and his eyes sparkled with joy as he opened the treats his cheetah friend gave him, quickly taking a big sip of the chocolate drink after shaking it thoroughly. ``Whoa, that's really good. It's like a protein shake but better.'' Charlie smiled hearing his friend enjoying his gift, pulling out his own bottle from the bag and joining him. ``I'm glad you like it. I know it's nothing real special, they kinda only sell it at the dollar store but I always loved it.'' Dexter reached over and hugged Charlie when he finished talking. ``Of course it's special, Charlie. It's from you.'' Charlie couldn't control his purring as he hugged his friend back, the butterflies in his stomach overtaking him as he squeezed his little squirrel friend as hard as he could without hurting him. ``Hey, Dexter? Uhm, would it be ok if i- I mean, would you mind, uh, b-brushing me again? I didn't get the chance before I r-ran earlier.'' he asked, unable to make eye contact through his embarrassing request. ``I would love to.'' Dexter responded, pushing the boy down onto the floor and grabbing the pillow from his air bed.\n\nCharlie blushed hard as Dexter pulled his shirt up and off of him as he lay on the floor. Dexter grabbed the wire fur brush off the night stand and got to work, gently working out the tangles in Charlie?s arm fur as the boy melted into a puddle of embarrassed purring, both unable and unwilling to control himself as he relaxed through his special treatment. Finishing his arms, Dexter moved onto the boys back, starting at the shoulders and slowly, gently working his way down as he made sure to push the brush deep into the fluffy cheetah's fur, applying a gentle pressure down into his skin as he got to work thoroughly detangling the boys fur. ``hmm...'' Dexter thought out loud as he struggled to reach across the boy, having to get up and change sides frequently as he finished brushing different sections of his back. ``Charlie, go lay on the bed like this so I can finish there. I need a better position to sit.'' Charlie got up in a daze as he quickly flopped face down onto the mattress, all too happy for his friend to continue.\n\nDexter sat with his knees spread on either side of the boys waist, eliciting an embarrassed mewl from the cheetah below him as he felt some of the squirrels weight press down on his butt. ``D-Dexter what are y-'' he was cut off as he began purring again when the boy continued his thorough brushing across the boy's exposed back, making sure to get every little inch he could, not wanting to miss anything as he enjoyed the heavy vibrations emanating from his feline friend. With one final long stroke of the brush, Dexter was sure he'd gotten every inch of the boy possible. ``Alright, flip over. I gotta do your belly, too.'' \n\nIn a daze, Charlie rolled over onto his back, eyelids heavy in his relaxed state as he felt the pressure of the boy sitting on him let up so he could move a little, until he sat back down in the same position once Charlie had finished rolling over. Neither boy was thinking about it at first, and neither had noticed, until Dexter bent over to reach the front of the boys shoulders, unintentionally grinding his crotch into Charlie?s. The young feline yelped in embarrassment as he tried to speak up, but words failed to fall from his mouth as he looked up at the squirrel above him, bent over him and brushing away while he still purred even through his shame. Charlie felt himself slowly hardening in his shorts, Dexter?s movements adding more and more pressure and stimulation to his covered crotch with each stroke as he bent over to dig into his fur with the brush. Charlie?s cheeks burned hotter than ever as he looked at his friend, but the squirrel hadn't noticed anything, being in a comfortable trance himself through the repeated strokes he was giving the cheetah. \n\nDexter had felt a pleasant tingling in his crotch, his own adolescent cock hardening as the boy below him purred, never noticing his face or his failure to speak as he opened his mouth repeatedly. Charlie had resigned himself to his fate as the pressure and stimulation on his penis increased, reaching full mast in his shorts as his penis was squished down between the squirrels crotch and the cheetah's belly. Gentle back and forth motions tormented Charlie as Dexter brushed more small sections of his belly, reaching lower and lower until the cheetah was panting and blushing, nearing his unintentional climax. Charlie squeaked out loud as he reached the point of no return, breaking Dexter out of his trance as he finished one final long stroke down the middle of his belly, his hand stopping just above the waistband of the cheetah's loose fitting basketball shorts. ``D-Dexter! H-haaaah~'' was all he could squeak out as Dexter quickly locked eyes with him as orgasm took over, forcing the boy to throb hard in his shorts, forcefully ejaculating through them as his body seized up, shaking uncontrollably as the squirrel stared at him wide eyed and concerned, confused as he felt the hard throbbing just beneath him, pressing into his own now fully hard erection.\n\n``Ch-charlie? What just happened? Are you okay?! Did I hurt you?'' Charlie couldn't speak through his immense shame and embarrassment, turning his head to the side as his eyes flooded over with guilty tears. Dexter was scared as he jumped off the boy, rushing to sit next to him and look at his face as he tried to see what just happened. ``Charlie I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you, what's wrong?'' the squirrel felt a pit in his stomach as he watched the boy cry in front of him, unable to bring himself to respond until the tears died down again. ``S-sorry, Dexter. I t-tried to get you to stop b-but I couldn't s-say anything...'' he managed to sniffle out. ``Sorry for what? What happened? You just, like, seized up? Did...did you wet yourself?'' He asked as he noticed the damp spot on his crotch. Charlie blushed again as he managed to work up the mental strength to talk again. ``N-no I- wait, you really d-don't know?'' he asked. ``N-no?...i was just brushing you and then- well, then that happened...''\n\nCharlie sat up, trying to think of how to explain the situation, face still bright red. ``H-have you never taken s-sex ed?'' Dexter looked up to explain himself, now also embarrassed. ``M-my mom never let me take it. S-she always thought I was too young. I'm still really s-small so she kind of treats me like a little kid a lot.'' Charlie laughed at the stammering squirrel sitting next to him as they both dealt with their own internal struggles. ``Okay I-I'll explain a little.'' Charlie said, Dexter immediately sitting up to pay close attention. ``So, uh, w-when boys hit puberty uh, y-your dick will start to g-get hard sometimes, and it'll feel weird at first b-but it feels good. When you or s-someone else plays with it enough, you uh, c-cum. It's like, your whole body k-kinda just loses control for a few seconds and your penis shoots white stuff out of it.'' Dexter tilted his head and asked ``Oh! So that's what happened? I made you cum?'' Charlie's blush lit up brighter again as he shamefully nodded his head. ``Y-yeah, Dexter. You made me cum rubbing on it when you were sitting on me.'' Dexter looked his friend in the eye, a serious tone in his voice as he asked ``But...I didn't hurt you, right? You said it f-feels good when that happens?'' Charlie whined a little as he forced himself to answer honestly. ``Yeah, Dexter. It felt...really, really fucking good...''\n\nDexter couldn't help but smile and laugh at his tomato faced feline friend as he explained everything. ``I'm happy I could make you feel good. You deserve to feel good, Charlie. You're nice. You don't have to cry about that.'' Charlie had been noticing a sharp change in the young squirrel's demeanor when he was happy or comfortable. A strong sense of confidence that wasn't there before when they'd both been blushing stuttering messes, but that came out instantly when he heard his friend had felt good, or when he noticed Charlie was comfortable or happy around him like when he started purring. His shyness faded instantly when he realized he hadn't hurt Charlie at all, but that he'd just been violently embarrassed at having an orgasm from the squirrel's attention. \n\nCharlie smiled at Dexter?s words. They felt nice to hear, even if he struggled to believe them fully when his own self doubts crept in. He still felt great shame and guilt for letting himself go like that, but Dexter being happy about making him feel good gave him butterflies more intense than he'd ever felt before, fully solidifying his feelings for the pudgy little squirrel as he struggled to hide the extent of them from him. Dexter had gotten up to check his phone, setting it back down as he checked the time. ``it's 5, do you want to come have dinner with me?'' he asked, smiling as the cheetah boy nodded and stood up from the bed, quickly following close behind him as they made their way to the kitchen to heat up some leftover orange chicken.\n\nThe boys sat and ate together at the table in silence, enjoying their time together even without saying or doing anything. Dexter finished eating first and waited for Charlie to finish, quickly standing to take both of their plates to the sink. Now full, they headed back to Dexter?s room. ``Charlie, do you want to keep farming with me?'' the cheetah's eyes lit up. ``yeah!'' he quickly rushed over to grab the second controller, making himself comfortable on the floor as they played until long after the sun had gone down. Dexter checked his phone, feeling sleep setting in seeing it was almost midnight. ``Charlie I think I'm going to go to sleep. You can keep playing if you want.'' Charlie paused the game and put his controller down. ``No, I think sleep sounds good.'' he lied a little. In truth the boy was wide awake, but it felt wrong to keep playing without his friend. Dexter shut down the console and TV and crawled into bed after turning the lights off, Charlie following and flopping onto the mattress, rolling onto his side to face the boy on the air bed on the floor in front of him, watching as he cutely curled up and got comfortable, hugging his big fluffy tail.\n\nCharlie laid awake for what felt like hours as he watched his friend's chest rise and fall calmly with his breathing in the darkness of the boy's room. ``Dexter?'' he whispered quietly, the boy on the floor turning to look up at him. ``Yeah, Charlie?'' the cheetah had to steel his nerves to continue talking. ``Are you having trouble sleeping, too?'' He saw Dexter nod in answer to his question, breathing a shaky sigh as he worked up the nerve to ask something. ``D-do you...uh, would you like to sleep on the bed?'' he asked, his heart pounding hard as it felt like it would burst from his chest at any moment. ``Charlie I told you I made the bed for you, I won't make you sleep on the floor.'' he heard the squirrel respond, making his next question feel all that much harder to squeak out. ``N-no I mean, uh, would you like to sleep on the bed, uh, with me?'' both boys blushed in the darkness of the room, sitting in still silence for a moment before Charlie saw the squirrel stand up off of the air bed and felt him crawl onto the mattress next to him. \n\nCharlie tossed half of the blanket over the small figure next to him and quickly realized just how small the boy's bed truly was, having almost no room to adjust himself. The cheetah blushed as he realized his crush was now laying in bed with him, oblivious to his feelings as he had almost immediately fallen asleep. Charlie thought for a moment about how he would be able to get comfortable with so little space, and quickly decided on just wrapping his free arm around Dexter, pulling him into a snuggle as his face burned hot realizing what he was doing. He struggled to fall asleep for a while, but he'd fully crashed out at some point as he hugged his best friend to sleep.\n\nCh 6\n\nCharlie woke up to the sun in his eyes through the wide open window in Dexter?s room. He felt a warm lump in his arms as he looked down to see the tiny squirrel boy curled into a ball in his arms, facing him with his face buried into his chest as he was curled up holding his tail, a big smile on his face as he slept in immense comfort under the blanket with one of Charlie?s legs trapped between both of his own. Charlie felt a warmth in his chest, immediately purring as he stayed perfectly still, holding the small rodent in his arms, not wanting to disturb his much needed rest. A half an hour had passed as Charlie laid in silence holding the boy before he felt the squirrel begin to stir in his arms, woken up by the intense vibrations from the cheetah's comfort. \n\nDexter had slowly uncurled himself from his ball, realizing where he was and blushing slightly at how nice it felt to be held. He wrapped an arm around the lithe cheetah holding him and gave a tight squeeze, rubbing his face in the boy's chest gently. ``Mnnnnh, good morning, Charlie.'' Charlie was frozen as he tried to keep his heart from exploding in his chest at the adorable display. ``This is nice.'' he squeaked out before the cheetah boy squeezed him tightly. ``It is nice, isn't it...'' there was a quick knock at the bedroom door, both boys jumping up to quickly get out of bed, embarrassed at the idea of being caught together so closely, though Dexter didn't know why he really felt that kind of fear. It felt nice. he didn't understand the shame he felt in the thought of being caught, only that he felt said shame. Dexter had just sat on his air mattress as he remembered to respond to the knock. ``It's open!''\n\nDexter watched his mother peek her head in the door. ``Sorry, I know we don't normally wake you up on the weekend but Charlie's dad got an emergency call from work and has to go back early, so we made breakfast to say goodbye. I know he'd like to talk to both of you before he has to leave.'' she said as she turned and closed the door behind her, giving the boys a chance to get ready to eat. They quickly took turns using the bathroom and getting changed before they headed out to the living room.\n\nEveryone sat at the table as they enjoyed their breakfast. Store bought canned biscuits smothered with white gravy and chunks of breakfast sausage with eggs on the side. Everybody ate in relative silence, Dexter getting up to take everyone's plate when they were finished. ``Thank you very much for your hospitality, once again. I'm very grateful for your help in this situation, especially taking care of Charlie for me. I'm sorry I got called away so soon but I can?t afford to lose this job. Charlie, I need you to come step outside with me for a minute, okay? We need to talk about some stuff.'' the older squirrels nodded from the other end of the table as the cheetah stood and stepped outside with his son.\n\nStepping outside, the cheetahs made their way to sit in the car so they could talk. ``Charlie, I love you. I'm sorry for everything that's happened. I'm sorry I wasn't here for you when you needed me, I'm sorry I didn't know what was going on this whole time. I'm sorry your mother ruined your mental state, and I?m sorry your brother joined her in it. I should have been here. I should have worked things out with her, but I couldn't, and I didn't. I ran away and I left you alone and I fucked up. I don't know why you still talk to me with any level of respect, but I'll be doing my best to work on earning it. You're going to be staying here for as long as you like, these people can take care of you in a way I can't, in a way your mother never would. You always have my number, I will always pick up when you call. I will still be coming to visit once in a while when I can, and it won't be a big secret anymore. I?m so s-'' the man had to stop talking as his guilt and sorrow overtook him, forcing him to fight back sobs tears streamed down his face like a waterfall of shame he'd been holding back. ``I'm so fucking sorry for everything, Charlie. You're such a good boy, you're going to be okay, I promise. Things are going to be so much better here. You have a real friend in there, buddy. A real, actual friend. I see the way you look at each other, and it fills me with hope and happiness. I need you to always be open and honest with him. Promise me you won't ever lie to him. Not about anything important. I can tell he's here for you. It's only been a few days but you two are so good for each other. Please don't let anything change that.''\n\nCharlie sat and cried in his dad's car as the man spoke to him, unable to speak himself as they shared in their sorrow with each other, emotion heavy in the air. ``I love you too, dad. I promise I'll be honest with him. He makes me s-so happy it scares me. H-he's been so nice to me, he goes out of his way to make sure I?m comfortable and having a good time. I don't blame you for any of this. I never did, I never will. I understand why you left. I kept the worst of it a secret because I didn't want you to feel responsible for a-any of it.'' Charlie leaned over the center console to hug the older cheetah, quickly feeling arms around himself as well as they cried together for a few minutes before their sobs ceased. ``I love you so much, Charlie. You're such a strong boy, and I'm so proud of you for making it through everything. I need you to go inside and call Dexter out here now, okay? I need to talk to him and then I have to make my way back.'' The man gave his son one last tight squeeze, placing a kiss on top of his head before he let go. Charlie looked the man in the eye and nodded before turning to leave.\n\nDexter made his way to the car that was running in the driveway, opening the door and sitting down, feeling the air conditioning blast his face as he closed the door. Charlie?s father turned to him as he spoke. ``Dexter, thank you. Thank you for taking care of my son, making him feel welcome and loved. I never saw him this happy even when me and his mother were still together. You're a very special boy, I hope you know that. I know you don't know me, and I have no right to ask you for anything considering everything you've already done and everything your parents are doing for us, but I'd like to ask you to please keep taking care of him. I don't know how long he'll have to stay here, I've been struggling to afford my own place where I am, but it's hard. I?m going to give you my phone number, and I ask that you call me if something's ever going wrong with him. Something that your parents can't know, or that you two don't want them to know. I'll do my best to help you through it. Can you do that for me, Dexter?'' the squirrel nodded, listening to the man intently. ``Thank you. I think you might just be the best thing that's ever happened to him, whether either of you realize it or not. He struggles with some things. Please be patient with him. I know he feels like a burden, even if deep down he knows it's not true. Please don't let him fall back down that hole of despair.''\n\nThe cheetah reaches into his pocket to pull out a card with his phone number on it, and also pulls out his wallet to hand the boy some money. ``Your parents would kill me if they saw this. Please keep it, for you and for Charlie. Buy treats when you're having a bad day, take yourselves out somewhere nice, I don't care. Have fun. Can you do that for me?'' Dexter?s eyes were wide as he listened to the man speak. ``Yes. I promise. I promise to everything.'' the cheetah smiled. ``Thank you, Dexter. I have to go now. Don't let Charlie see that, okay? I'll see you guys again some time soon. Goodbye, Dexter.'' Dexter left the car and watched as the older cheetah drove away, quickly putting the wad of money in his pocket and making his way back inside.\n\nSunday passed by in a flash as the boys spent their time inside again trying to avoid the heat, spending most of the day building up their farm together on their game. There was a knock at the door as Dexter?s father peeked inside without waiting for a response. ``Alright, boys. It's 11, time to pack it up, alright? School tomorrow.'' he said loudly, before peeking his head in further and continuing quietly ``you don't have to go to sleep but at least turn the lights off so mom thinks you're sleeping.'' he winks as he leaves and closes the door. Dexter turns to the boy sitting on the floor with him to ask ``Charlie? Would it be alright if I slept with you again?'' The cheetah quickly nodded and blushed as they both got up to get ready for bed.\n\nDexter turned off the light and turned to jump into the bed next to Charlie, both boys blushing nervously as they enjoyed their closeness even despite the warm night. ``Charlie?'' Dexter whispered. ``I'm so happy you're here. I don't know why, but I feel so warm inside when I'm with you. It makes me nervous, but it feels nice.'' Charlie blushed, hearing the tiny squirrel in his arms confess to having similar feelings out of the blue. ``Dexter? Could you turn around, please?'' the squirrel blushed and nodded, nervously rolling over to face the boy as he felt a hand on his cheek. Dexter could see wetness welling up in Charlie?s eyes even in the darkness as the boy laid there with his mouth open, quivering lightly as he fought for the strength to speak. ``Charlie? What's wrong? Why are y-'' Dexter was cut off by the feeling of the boys lips pressing against his, the squirrel's eyes widening in shock for a moment before he melted into the embrace, kissing him back and squeezing him tightly as they got lost in each other.\n\nCharlie broke their kiss after a minute, their lips still connected by a thin strand of spit as he went to speak. ``Dexter I- I feel so much better when I'm around you. You make me feel like I?m worth something. I don't know how to handle it. You give me that warmth too.'' Dexter?s body was on fire, overwhelmed with his feelings as the butterflies in his stomach spread to his whole body, making him feel as though he could flutter out of his skin at any moment, but it was such a wonderful feeling. He never wanted it to end as he leaned in to kiss Charlie again, letting his feelings overtake him as he gave up control of his body to those feelings. He felt a wetness gently prod at his lips as he opened his mouth slightly to let Charlie?s tongue through, quickly meeting it with his own as they wrestled and swirled around in the little squirrel's mouth while they breathed heavily, eyes closed as they both began to moan quietly into each other's mouths. Dexter?s hands were the first to wander, reaching their way under Charlie?s shirt slightly to feel his way around the boy's thin waste and run gently up and down his side, quickly reaching around near the top of the boys back to grip some of his fur and pull him into their kiss tighter while the cheetah's own hand quickly found itself making its way down from Dexter's face down to his plump ass.\n\nDexter moaned when he felt Charlie?s hand reach his butt, feeling a jolt of excitement as he broke their kiss to catch his breath and feel his hands wander across more of the taller boys body. His hand began creeping its way back down to the boys waist, fingers crawling themselves around to the thin cheetah's stomach as they began to tease themselves lower, Charlie gasping and grabbing the squirrels hand when he felt those crawling fingers begin to tease themselves just into his waistband. ``D-Dexter, wait. Can I- uhm, can I do something for you, please? I'd like t- uhm, I'd like to pay you back. For everything. Please? Can I just do something for you?'' Dexter was confused, but agreed to the boys request. ``Y-yeah, sure. What do you-'' the squirrel gasped as he felt the cheetah push him onto his back, laying a quick kiss on his lips again as he felt his shirt get lifted up to his neck, then feeling gentle kisses pepper their way down his body, making him blush deeply as the fluttering inside him intensified further to the point that he almost didn't feel real anymore.\n\nCharlie oh so painfully slowly made his way down the chubby squirrel's belly, peppering kisses everywhere he could reach, placing one long, wet kiss just between his waistband and bellybutton as his hands shakily made their way to either side of his pajama pants, both boys taking a deep breath in anticipation as Dexter began to feel them pull down, slowly revealing his most intimate place, rock hard and standing at attention, fully covered by its protective hood as it stood proud at 5 inches. Dexter gasped when he felt it spring free from its confinement, Charlie gasping as well, eyes wide as they locked with his best friend's most private area in the moonlit darkness of the boys bedroom. ``whoa...'' the cheetah whispered quietly, awestruck by finally getting to see the boy naked. Dexter felt a shaky hand run its way down from his belly to gently grasp his penis, his whole body shivering slightly as he tried to calm his heart down before it exploded in his chest from both excitement and fear. Dexter felt the hand on his cock gently stroke down, pulling back his foreskin and exposing the engorged, bright pink head of his penis to the moonlight as Charlie?s mouth watered from both the sight and the smell of his friend.\n\nCharlie had very much enjoyed Dexter?s smell when he woke up that morning, having taken in much of it while holding him and trying not to wake him up. It comforted him greatly, and his exposed genitals smelled like him even more, with a hint of something deeper, more raw. The smell of someone special, the smell of the boy that made him feel like he mattered, like he belonged somewhere finally after so long. Dexter had just opened his mouth to speak as he looked down and saw the wide eyed boy staring at his privates. ``C-charlie? What a- AAAAAAHHNN~'' the tiny squirrel couldn't finish his question, bursting out into a loud moan immediately upon feeling the young cheetah's mouth engulf his exposed head, his slick, lubricated but slightly rough tongue gently running across it as the feline swirled his friend's most intimate taste around his mouth, blushing deeply as he began to gently bob his head up and down, taking ever so slightly more of Dexter?s penis into him with each stroke. Dexter had lost the ability to speak, to think, even as he felt that intense warmth engulf his most intimate place. He felt lips touch the chub around the base of his penis, hearing a sharp gag from the young feline as he struggled to swallow down the whole thing, quickly pulling back, wanting nothing more than to pleasure his friend in the most intense way he could ever imagine.\n\nDexter felt an intensely pleasurable rumbling throughout his penis as Charlie began to purr, fully losing himself in the task he'd given himself as he felt an immense pleasure of his own, hearing Dexter?s moans and huffs while feeling his throbs as his cock tickled his throat at the bottom of every stroke his mouth took. He teased his tongue into the boys foreskin, swirling around gently, tasting every last spec of his squirrel friend's privates as his own erection strained hard against his pants as he felt pleasurable throbs of his own just from the oral sex he was giving his friend. Dexter's mind had fallen into an intensely pleasurable static, no thoughts besides the extreme wet warmth eagerly slurping its way up and down his penis as he felt that rough feline tongue tease his tip on every stroke, feeling the cheetah's nose roughly shove itself down into his pelvic fat at the bottom of every stroke, making sure to take the entire thing as the wet sound of light, slurping gags and sputtering coughs filled the room while Dexter moaned uncontrollably.\n\nDexter felt an intense pressure building up in his pelvic muscles, adding to the extreme sensitivity of his cock as it tingled strongly and his mind fully blanked, losing all ability to control his body or think at all. He could no longer even vocalize his moans as he felt that pressure build so intensely until the dam broke, and he violently had his first orgasm inside of his unsuspecting friend's mouth, taking charlie by surprise as he choked and sputtered hard on the strong shot of adolescent semen that forced its way down his throat on his down stroke. Tears formed in his eyes as he fought through his violent gagging to keep sucking on his friend until he felt the intense throbs in his mouth stop, pulling off with a long stretch of squirrel cum still connecting his lips to the boys crotch as he pulled away and coughed violently after struggling to swallow the bulk of his friends first ever orgasm.\n\nDexter?s mind stayed blank for over a minute as he came down from his orgasm, the intense butterflies buzzing throughout his body dying down into a light floaty feeling as he opened his eyes to see the cheetah who'd just given him the most amazing experience of his young life. Dexter felt an immense guilt immediately upon seeing the state of the poor boys face, wet and slimy, cum dripping from his lips and even some from his nose from when he'd caught him by surprise. He quickly sat up to hug the boy, opening his mouth to ask if he was okay as Charlie turned his head and kissed him again, deeply and passionately. Dexter could taste and smell himself on the boys breath, as he lost himself in the embrace once again when he felt the cheetah wrap his arms around him. \n\nCharlie broke their kiss again. ``D-did you like it? Did I do okay?'' he asked, nervously. Dexter blushed and smiled as he responded. ``Charlie that was the most incredible thing I've ever felt in my life, but are you okay? You look like you had a bad time...'' he said as another pang of guilt shot through his heart. Charlie didn't respond at first, simply grabbing the squirrels hand and placing it gently on his own cloth covered crotch. Dexter felt a wetness and blushed. ``Did you...just from doing that for me?'' Charlie smiled and nodded. ``let's go to sleep, Dexter. I bet you're pretty tired after all that, haha.'' Charlie laughed as he coughed one more time, wiping his face and wrapping his arms around the thoroughly drained squirrel boy as he balled up hugging his tail, burying his face into the fluffy cheetah's chest fur. Charlie placed a gentle kiss on the boy's head and let out a satisfied sigh.\n\n``Charlie?'' he heard from below. ``What's up, Dexter?'' Dexter wanted to ask a question that had been burning a hole in his brain since they met. ``Why did you stop me at school the other day?'' he asked in a quiet voice, barely a whisper. Charlie blushed as he remembered the event that started everything. ``I thought your hair was cool. I wanted to ask if you dyed it. I've never seen a kid with gray hair. It looks nice on you.'' Dexter blushed at the boy's confession. ``Oh.'' was all Dexter could say in response. ``Charlie?'' he asked again. ``I love you.'' Dexter felt the boy holding him start to tremble and sob lightly, with a different energy than normal. It was a happy cry. ``I love you too, Dexter.'' He felt another gentle kiss on top of his head as the boys drifted off to sleep.\n\n \n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "This story has a sequel!(Still in progress)

This story contains depictions of non sexual child abuse, both verbal and physical. It contains scenes of homophobia, and a scene of homophobic violence. This story deals with mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and ADHD along with the guilt that comes attached with them. It will be tagged accordingly, please use your blacklist if you cannot handle these themes.

m/m, teen(14/15), oral sex, awkward, shy, first time, romance, gratuitous blushing and crying

Please read the description for separate chapter uploads if you don't want to/can't read a ~30000 word story all at once. All chapters will be rated and tagged the same, and have the same warning at the start.

Charlie

Dexter was a shy little gray squirrel, and little he was. Having just turned 14 two weeks earlier, he stood at a meager 4 feet 6 inches tall. Feeling anxious as he slowly sat up in bed, dark green eyes adjusting to the small amount of light creeping through his bedroom window, his mind started to race. Today was the first day of high school, and the slightly chubby squirrel was not looking forward to officially being a freshman and having to deal with yet another year of being the choice target for all of the local bullies. He stood, wiping the sleepy crust from his eyes and walked over to the beat up old dresser in the corner of his still mostly dark room. Feeling around through all the junk he'd filled his top drawer with until he felt the handle to his heavily mangled brush, he began to run it through his long gray hair to attempt to remove all of the small knots and tangles that formed as he rolled around nervously in his sleep every night.

Carelessly tossing the now thoroughly hair filled brush back into his junk drawer, the boy padded across the room to flick on the light. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, wearing nothing but an old stretched out pair of bright red boxer briefs, he noticed his belly and sighed to himself sadly. ``Thanks for giving me the fat genes and not the sick facial hair genes, dad. Ugh'' He thought to himself. Puberty had hit the boy in a very frustrating way for him, giving him the awkward random erections and slight weight gain, but not yet giving him the height, facial hair, or deeper voice he desperately hoped for. The poor boy was often mistaken for a girl from behind with his curves and long hair, his voice not helping matters much when trying to correct people, often leading to more ridicule from his classmates.

Blindly pulling on an over sized black tee-shirt from the basket of clean clothes on the floor he'd yet to find the time to fold and put away, he yawned and leaned over to pick his shorts up off the floor. Sliding them up his legs as he hobbles towards the door, almost tripping, he steps out of his bedroom and into the bathroom directly across from it. After relieving the pressure in his bladder, Dexter leaned over the sink to wash his hands and examine his face in the mirror. Lightly slapping at his cheeks splashing them with cold water in an attempt to wake himself up, he groans at the dark bags under his eyes. He'd always suffered from nightmares since he was little, and it made sleep an endless struggle for him. Adding on to that struggle was the anxiety from the last week after realizing school was starting up again. Summer never lasted long enough, as much as the tiny squirrel boy struggled with the heat.

Wiping his still damp hands off on his shirt, Dexter exits the bathroom and rounds the hallway corner into the living room spotting the top of his fathers head peeking up over the couch as he's watching the local news for the weather report. 100 degrees today, 96 tomorrow, 102 on Friday. ``Fucking hell,'' Dexter quietly exclaims, making his father jump at the unexpected voice behind him. ``I know they start school on Wednesday so we start with a short week, but couldn't they at least let school start in cooler weather? This week is going to be a nightmare...'' he huffs dejectedly. ``Jesus, Dex.'' the man said, quickly reaching for the napkin next to him to dab at the coffee he'd spilled in his lap from his son's surprise appearance behind him. ``How the hell do you move so quietly, kid? Haha. I know you struggle with the heat like me, but your classes should at least have air conditioning,'' he said sympathetically. ``Also don't let your mother hear you talking like that. I'd prefer she not find out letting you swear around me was part of your birthday present. Just pretend I'm a responsible parent and still wash your mouth out for it or something,'' he added quietly.

Dexter couldn't help but chuckle at that. He was 14 now, and his father had never really had an issue with the boy swearing, but his mother was quite the opposite. Dexter was her darling little baby boy, teenager or not, and she couldn't help but gasp in shock whenever she heard anything even resembling a bad word leave the kid's mouth. His size certainly didn't help his case in her eyes, still often treating him as if he was 10 or 11. Just last week at dinner she'd given him quite the scolding when he exclaimed ``shit!'' after the bottom of his greasy box of fries gave out and spilled all over his lap. He didn't know a gray squirrel could turn so red until he'd seen how hard his cheeks were burning in embarrassment in the mirror as he tried to calm down in the bathroom.

Hearing a sizzle from the kitchen, Dexter made his way across the living room to peek his head in and see his mom standing over the stove carefully laying thick, fatty slices of bacon into a large frying pan. The strong, delicious stench of salty, savory, smokey meat filled the house as the boy's mouth watered relentlessly. ``Morning, mom.'' He said groggily as he walked up next to her to give her a quick side hug to stay out of her way as she made everybody breakfast. Briefly leaning into his hug, unable to take her raw pork covered hands away from their current task, she responds. ``Good morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling? Did you sleep okay? Big day today. Oh, I'm so nervous, Dexter. High school is a big deal. My little boy's a freshman already. I can't believe it...'' She sniffled a little, seemingly trying to hold back tears.

Dexter most certainly loved his parents, and he knew his mother meant well, but she was most definitely far too overbearing sometimes to an utterly embarrassing degree. Slowly shuffling his feet towards the sink, the boy grabs a glass out of the cupboard and holds his hand under the running faucet waiting for the water to feel sufficiently cold. Taking three large, desperate gulps from his cup as water sloppily drips down the sides of his mouth and onto his shirt, Dexter sighs in satisfaction having relieved his dry morning mouth. ``I'm ok, mom. A little nervous, but no worse than any other first day. I don't remember waking up at all last night but I definitely don't feel like I got much sleep. I'm sure I'll be f-fine...'' he doubted himself at the end of that sentence, his nervous stutter briefly making an appearance. ``I'm 14 now, mom. I?m sure I can handle it. It-it's just school. I've made it through every other year so far.'' Hearing a sigh from his mother over the renewed sizzle as she flipped the bacon, he noticed her shoulders slump down a little. He thought she was about to start crying again, as was practically tradition on big days like this every year, but she held firm and picked her shoulders up again after a huff.

Dexter decided to be helpful and set the table for breakfast while his mom fished the finished bacon out of the pan and started to scramble a few eggs. ``Plates, forks, napkins, butter dish, butter knife, orange juice jug...'' he whispered to himself as he went over his mental checklist of breakfast necessities. Stomach growling, he took a quick peek into the kitchen again just in time to see his mother sliding the eggs out into a small serving dish. ``Come eat, boys.''

Dexter is already in his chair as his father rounds the corner into the dining area while his mother sets the dish of fluffy, cheesy scrambled eggs down in the middle of the old, beat up kitchen table. ``Four bacon each, the rest is for my sandwich later,'' she states as she plops down a decent serving spoon full of eggs onto her plate with a freshly buttered slice of toast. Despite what his slight pudge would tell you, Dexter didn't really eat all that much. Certainly enough to be full and healthy, but he didn't think he ate enough to justify his ever growing stomach that so poorly effected his mental state.

Picking at his small pile of eggs while chewing up the last bite of his bacon, Dexter snuck a quick peek at the clock on the microwave. ``Oh, fuck.'' he thought to himself, heart rate rapidly increasing as his anxiety kicked up realizing he only had 10 minutes before he had to leave for his new school year. Rapidly shaking his leg in his seat, hands clasped together in a ball nervously twiddling his thumbs, Dexter looked down at nothing in particular and zoned out trying to control his breathing before his mom could notice the panic in his eyes. He seemed to be successful, as she stood up and took all of the now empty plates to the kitchen sink. Taking one last deep breath before standing up, the boy tried to tell himself it would be ok. That everything would be just fine. That this year wouldn't be like every other year. He wasn't very convincing.

Quickly running back to his room to double check he had everything he needed in his backpack already, Dexter grabbed his phone and unlocked the screen for a moment. ``No notifications, of course. Why would there be. They don't care.'' His hopes crushed after seeing none of his small circle of internet friends had messaged him, his already anxious and sad brain conveniently making him forget they were all in different time zones around the world and busy with their own school and work or sleep. Slipping the phone in his pocket, he slings the one intact strap of his backpack over one shoulder and dejectedly walks out to his mom's running car waiting in the driveway. Wiping his face with his shirt to remove the slight traces of tears he felt welling up in his eyes before his mom could baby him any further, Dexter plopped down in the back seat of his mothers car. He wasn't allowed to sit in the front seat despite his age, his mother refusing to let him due to his height still resembling a child several years younger. He was always embarrassed showing up to school in the back seat when all the other kids got to sit in the front.

City blocks zooming by as he dissociated staring out the window, the boy no longer felt real. Feeling as though he was dreaming, or watching the world through a strangers eyes, he tried and failed to calm his mind as his mother's car pulled into the school drop off zone. After a few seconds of silence, his mother spoke. ``Dexter? We're here, sweetie. It's time to go now, okay? You're going to-'' he turned to face his mother, not quite able to process what he was hearing, a blank and glassy expression in his eyes that she recognized all too well. ``Oh, no...come here baby.'' She leaned over the center console to hug the boy as he leaned forward into her, and offer what little reassurance she knew she was able to. She knew he was nervous about high school, but seeing that dead look in his eyes she knew he wasn't fully there right now. That look always killed her more than anything, even more than the crying she'd hear through the walls so often at night as he struggled to sleep. She felt him start to shake in her arms, and heard him sniffle as he could no longer hold back his building fear and sadness. Gently petting him reassuringly, she lays a kiss on top of his head and starts tearing up herself at the anguish her son is feeling. ``You're going to be okay, Dex. I promise. I know how scary high school is, I know how overwhelming and intimidating everything is, I do. It was a struggle for me, it was a struggle for your father, but we got through it. I promise you'll get through it too.''

Dexter could feel his mothers tears soaking through his hair as he tried not to have a full breakdown in the back seat of her car in the school parking lot. Shaking as reality started to come back to him, the haze in his eyes began to clear slightly as he absorbed his mothers words. She wasn't talking to him as a baby right now, she was talking to him as a son. A son who she saw in pain and struggling in a way she couldn't imagine, a way she so desperately wished he would speak about. He didn't like to talk about his problems with his parents, as much as he loved them and needed help with everything. He didn't like the way he was constantly babied by the woman he knew only wanted what was best for him. Taking a deep breath, he opens his mouth to speak. ``I-I'm sorry mom. I know,'' he stops to sniffle again as he pointlessly tries to wipe the still flowing tears from his eyes. ``I know you want to help. I?m sorry I don't talk about it. I n-need to work on s-some things, I know. I?m sorry. I?m sorry.'' he sniffles again, his mothers reassuring head petting starting to work as his pounding heart slows and the streams gushing from his eyes turn to slow drips. He feels another light kiss on top of his slightly damp head where his mom's tears had been landing.

Gently pulling away from the woman comforting him, Dexter wipes his eyes as the tears finally stop, and his shaking body goes mostly back to normal. Giving a shaky smile to his mother, she notices some of the light coming back to his eyes and smiles back comfortingly. ``I know you're growing up, Dexter. I?m going to try to stop treating you like a little kid. It just scares me, realizing you're not my little baby boy anymore trying to climb all the trees in the park playing hide and seek with your dad.'' with a sniffle and a wipe of her own eyes, she strokes her hand across Dexter?s long gray hair one more time before leaning in and placing a gentle peck on his forehead. ``It's a big day, sweetheart. We're going to have whatever you want for dinner tonight, okay? You just have to make it through your first day. Be brave. Go on, now. Grab your bag.''

Closing the car door, Dexter sneaks one last wipe of his eyes before turning to face his fate. Sycamore high. ``Welcome to hell, Dexter'' he thinks to himself sarcastically as he reads the sign in the middle of the grass in front of the main building. Setting his backpack down in front of him, he unzips the main pocket to pull out the folder holding his schedule. ``Oh...oh no where is it?'' Feeling around in his bag, the folder is nowhere to be found. He'd forgotten to put the folder in his bag after he'd kicked it under the bed by accident a few nights earlier. Panic setting in once again, Dexter takes a deep breath and does his best to hold off his tears from returning. Zipping his bag and quickly slinging it over his shoulder, the small boy eyeballs the utterly massive pileup of students near the entrance and stretching into the main hallway of the school and feels his eyes start to glaze over once again.

Terrified of crowds, Dexter slowly starts walking towards the open door to the hallway before feeling a hand on his shoulder. ``Yo, short king, you in the right place? Middle school is down that way, haha.'' Dexter whimpers and tries to shrink down, wishing for nothing more than to disappear from existence entirely at that moment. Crouching down as low as possible, hands clasped tightly behind his head, the terrified squirrel gently rocks back and forth in place trying his absolute hardest not to break down in tears in front of the countless students crowded around the area, conversing with each other in their little groups. ``Hey, hey man...'' Dexter hears as the owner of the voice crouches down next to him and catches a look at his face. ``Oh, shit. Are you okay? I?m sorry, man. I was just messing with you. I promise I didn't mean anything by it. Fuck, I'm sorry...''

Dexter looks up to catch a look at the face of the now very apologetic looking cheetah boy next to him, feeling a hand on his back as he speaks again. ``Are you ok? I mean, like, I can see you're not, like, ok. But I mean, are you ok? Like for real?'' the squirrel can't help but feel bad for the effect his surprise reaction was having on the boy next to him, taking all of his remaining mental strength to speak up. ``U-uhm, I-I'm fine,'' he says unconvincingly, ending with a deep sniffle. ``s-sorry for s-scaring you, uhm, I'll be f-fine.'' Trying to stand up, the squirrel boy stumbles backwards, the cheetah quickly catching him to keep him from falling all the way over, looking as though he was about to cry, too. ``Come sit with me, ok? I think you need to sit and breathe for a minute. You look like my brother having a panic attack right now.''

Sitting down on a bench a good distance away from the other students, Dexter stares at the ground between his feet to avoid the gaze of the tall, young cheetah next to him. ``Hey, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you I swear, I just needed to get your attention for something and it sounded funny in my head. I didn't mean anything by it.'' The kid nervously stumbled his apology and Dexter couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the turn this seemingly nightmarish event had taken, having fully expected to be mocked and ridiculed further like he usually was. ``It-it's okay. Really. Its just b-been an intense m-morning.'' Looking up to reassure the taller boy, Dexter saw nothing but sympathy in those big brown eyes staring back down at him. ``First day, squirrelly?'' he asked, eyes immediately growing wide realizing how dumb his question was. ``I-shit, I mean, first day of high school not-obviously I mean, it's the first day of sch-'' Dexter laughed for real, this time, cutting the boy off mid ramble. ``Yeah, it's my first day.'' Giving a nervous chuckle himself, the cheetah asks ``what's your name? I'm Charlie.'' Surprised by the immediate giggle from the tiny rodent next to him, the cheetah asks ``w-what's so funny?'' still giggling a little, Dexter replies ``you-you're a cheetah...and your name is Charlie?'' feeling self conscious, the cheetah speaks up to defend himself, still very confused by the boys reaction. ``Y-yeah? What's wrong with that? Why's that funny?''

Dexter quickly fished a small foil bag out of his backpack, tossing it to the boy next to him. ``You're Charlie cheetah, like the chip guy haha.'' Now it was Charlie's turn to cringe and shrink down. ``Oh. I guess I am, huh?'' he said, looking down at the snack sized pack of chips the squirrel had tossed to him. Dexter immediately felt bad for his joke after seeing the boys shoulders slump down. ``Hey, don't feel bad. Those chips are great. Y-you can havem. I mean, if you want. I have more. S-sorry for laughing, it just c-caught me off guard is all. I'm Dexter.''

Just as Charlie was opening his mouth to speak, the bell had rung signaling 5 minutes to get to class. Dexter jumped ``shit I needed to go to the office to get a new schedule. I left mine at home by accident.'' The cheetah stood and grabbed Dexter?s hand, quickly leading him away from their bench. ``C'mon, I'll show you where the office is. It's my fault we're late, anyway.'' Hallways now devoid of life, the boys made it to the office just as the final bell rang. ``New friend, Charlie?'' the cheetah perked up hearing his name from the receptionist at the desk. ``I hope so, Ms. Rue.'' Charlie replied. That caught Dexter entirely off guard, his cheeks feeling slightly warm as he blushed a little. He'd been so caught up in everything going on he hadn't even stopped to consider the boy would ever want to be friends. ``Dexter here lost his schedule and I made him late by accident, so I came to show him where the office was.'' Dexter stepped forward to the receptionist. ``H-hi, sorry. I-i know being l-late on the first day is b-bad, but-'' he was cut off by the woman at the desk. ``Don't you worry bout a thing, dear. It happens. First days are stressful and chaotic. Things happen. Charlie here's a good boy, making up for making you late. Neither one of you is gunna be in trouble I just gotta write a couple notes for ya.'' Dexter let out a deep sigh of relief hearing Ms. Rue speak. Pulling a warm, freshly printed schedule from the printer, she reaches over to hand it to Dexter. ``Looks like you boys share a first period. Charlie, be a dear and show him around today, would you?'' the young cheetah gives a slight bow for comedic effect. ``of course, Ms. Rue. I'd planned to already if he'd let me.'' Dexter felt the cheetah grab his hand and lead him out of the office and into the silent, seemingly endless hallways of Sycamore high. ``Aww, man. Fucking math first period. Bunk. Hate math.'' Charlie complained. Dexter was confused. ``You're a freshman too?'' Dexter replied. Charlie looked down in shame. ``No,'' he sighs. ``I'm a sophomore, I just always struggled with math. Mom says it's just cuz I'm stupid. Brother says I'm retarded, but dad calls it `special needs'. Maybe they're right. I can just never seem to understand it when they explain how to do shit. I?m not too smart with school stuff period but I'm definitely the worst at math.''

Dexter was shocked hearing Charlie talk about his family saying those things about him. After the incident this morning, he seemed so nice and apologetic for his mistake. He was maybe a little excitable, and rambled a bit, but Dexter most certainly wouldn't call him...those things. Seeing how sad the cheetah now looked, Dexter gave a gentle and reassuring squeeze to his hand as they made it to their first period class. ``Here we are, room 403. Let's hope we're late enough now that we missed the stupid `stand up and say something interesting about yourself' introduction Mr. Harris insists on.'' reaching for the handle, Dexter opens the door and both boys enter the class. The teacher looks to the door and greets the boys, gesturing to the 2 remaining empty desks next to each other in the back corner of the room.

Trying to get comfortable in the hard plastic seats, the boys both felt happy about being assigned next to each other. He wouldn't make it known, but Charlie was relieved to have seemingly made a new friend already. Having always struggled to keep friends because of his excitability and rambling, he was always too much for others to be around for long, and what friends he thought he'd had always slowly left him after a short while. Being the first day of school, there wasn't much in the way of class work, mostly just being introductions and going over the syllabus while handing out textbooks.

Standing to take a big stretch as the bell rang, Charlie tapped Dexter's shoulder to ask ``what do you have next?'' Pulling his folded up schedule out of his pocket, the squirrel quickly scans through it. ``I got english in room 501.'' Charlie sighed sympathetically. ``Oof. That's rough, bud. 501 is the cursed room.'' Dexter felt a chill down his spine, now even more worried about his second class than he already was. ``W-what? Cursed? N-no way...'' Dexter stuttered out, trying not to show his fear. ``Oh, it's not like, haunted or anything. Teacher is just insanely boring. Like, actual snooze fest honk-shoo type shit.'' Dexter let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. ``Oh...that's a relief.'' He squeaked out quietly. ``C'mon I'll show you where it's at.'' Charlie said as he grabbed the squirrels sweaty hand, quickly leading him through the halls.

Standing outside the door, Charlie bids the boy farewell and makes his way towards his own class. Dexter waves, sad to now be alone. Just as Dexter steels his nerves to open the door, he hears rapid foot steps behind him, and turns to see a now hunched over and panting cheetah. Charlie holds up one finger. ``Just-'' he pants, ``just a sec.'' Finally catching his breath, he speaks once again. ``I almost forgot. Meet me back at that bench at lunch.'' Quickly turning to run down the hall once again, he shouts ``OK BYE!'' Dexter chuckles to himself as he finally enters the ``cursed'' classroom.

Dexter spent second period fidgeting nervously, trying to look normal and attentive as his mind raced with thoughts of not fitting in, believing everyone around him was quietly judging him for his looks or his personality. Did he smell bad? He didn't, and nobody paid him any mind, but the poor squirrel could have convinced himself he?d somehow skunk sprayed in that moment. Anxious about being sat smack dab in the middle of the front row, his leg shook in place relentlessly, his heel quietly but rapidly tapping off the floor. Thankful there was no real classwork, Dexter filled his school bag with the book and papers the teacher handed out waiting not-so-patiently for the bell to ring once again.

Finally able to stand and leave, the anxious boy looks up and down the hall for the bathroom sign. Spotting it in the distance, he slowly makes his way through the hall, avoiding the small clusters of students scattered throughout and blocking the way. There was a 15 minute break after second period, giving the boy time to do his business and maybe explore a little to find his next classes before the bell rang for third period. Finally rounding the corner into the alcove hiding the bathrooms, Dexter pushes the door open with his foot and is immediately assaulted with the stench of cleaning chemicals and cheap bulk sale hand soap.

Unzipping his black cargo shorts, Dexter stands in front of a urinal and attempts to relieve himself. Hearing a quiet sniffle from the stall next to him, the squirrel listens closely to the only other student in the bathroom with him. ``Mom, please. I'm not-'' he sniffles and sobs a little, clearly on the phone, and more loudly than intended. ``Please, I didn't do it. I swear. Did you even check Jimmy's-'' cut off again, Dexter could hear the yelling from the students phone, not quite loud enough to understand. Feeling awful for his eavesdropping, the squirrel finishes emptying his bladder into the urinal and reaches to zip up his pants as he hears the stall door next to him open with a creak.

Smacking down the flusher on the urinal, Dexter turns just in time to see Charlie as he wipes his damp eyes with the back of his hand. ``Oh. Hi, Dexter. Um, sorry if you heard that. Don't-uh, I have to go.'' the bright yellow feline a blur as he rushed out the door before Dexter could say anything. Briefly wetting his hands under the frustratingly low pressure faucet before wiping them dry on his shirt, the squirrel rushes out of the bathroom to try to see where his sad companion had run off to. Having been too late to see the boy running among the crowd of students in the hall, Dexter sighs to himself sadly while wishing he could have asked what was wrong before he'd run off in a flash, faster than he'd ever seen anyone run before. ``I guess cheetah speed isn't just a myth.'' he jokes to himself sadly.

Ch 2

Third and fourth period both passed by in a blur as Dexter zoned out entirely after the teachers took attendance. Dexter jolted back to reality at the unexpected sound of the lunch bell, quickly grabbing his bag and rushing out of the room to avoid the crowds that would soon form in the halls. Remembering what the lanky cheetah boy had told him at second period, Dexter quickly headed off towards the wrought iron bench he'd been talked out of a panic attack on just a few hours earlier. Finding it empty, the boy plopped himself down and waited for Charlie to meet up with him.

10 minutes had passed as Dexter quietly waited for the spotted boy to join him. Stomach growling, he decides to start eating alone having nothing else to do and being far too anxious to get up and walk anywhere else lest he get lost in the endless intimidating piles of teens scattered throughout the campus. Pulling a now very flat pb&j sandwich from under his math book, Dexter takes a bite as he notices a familiar yellow blur rapidly growing in the distance. Noisily gasping for breath and nearly spilling his lunch tray on the squirrel in front of him, the thoroughly winded cheetah sets his tray down on the bench and attempts to speak between gasps. ``OHGODIMS-'' gasp. ``SOSORRYIMLATEI-'' gasp. Dexter cut him off, picking his tray up off the bench and gesturing for him to sit. ``It's okay, Charlie. Catch your breath.''

Charlie reaches over to the tray on Dexter?s lap to pick up a carrot stick and dip it in the small cup of cheap, watery ranch dressing next to it. Mouth still full he mumbles, ``I?m sorry I was late. I had to pee and the lunch line-'' he paused to swallow his carrot, ``was stupid long when I got there. I was scared you wouldn't even be here.'' Dexter was surprised at the cheetah's words. ``Why wouldn't I be?'' The squirrel asks, confused. ``I dunno. I thought after this morning you probably wouldn't wanna spend lunch with me or something cuz I was dumb or whatever. People don't usually show up when I ask so I was preparing to eat alone again.'' Gasping slightly at his words, Dexter looked over to the boy beside him as he reached for another carrot stick. ``Why do you think you're dumb?'' The squirrel asks, green eyes shining brightly as the sun bounced off of them. Charlie looks at the dirt below as he kicks his feet before replying. ``I dunno. Mom says-uh, mom says I was born broken and talk too much, and the other kids usually stop talking to me after a couple days and call me stupid n stuff. I'm-'' the boy sniffles a little, a small catch in his breath as he continues. ``I'm used to it. I figured today would be the same.''

Dexter is saddened by the cheetah's words. Still nervous talking to someone new, always expecting the worst, the little squirrel decides to open up a little. ``I-I think you're pretty, uhm, pretty cool, Charlie.'' He squeaks out nervously. ``You-you're actually the first person to talk nice to me since second grade. Except for the, uh, the short king thing.'' Charlie cringed to himself remembering his actions this morning that set this all in motion. ``God I'm so sorry about that, really, I was trying to be funny to get your attention but I guess it wasn't really funny considering your reaction n stuff and I've kinda been beating myself up all day for that and then you saw me cryin in the bathroom cuz my mom and today's just been a big ol' mess-'' the cheetah spoke without pausing at a speed Dexter could barely keep up with. ``if I'm ever talkin too much you can just tell me to shut up or fuck off or whatever. I kinda ramble a lot and it's what everyone started doing so yeah.'' Charlie took a deep breath to calm himself down and give the overwhelmed looking squirrel next to him a chance to process the words he was hearing.

Dexter was overwhelmed, but not at all for the reason the cheetah thought. ``Charlie I'm not gunna do that. That- that's mean!'' He snapped a little louder than he'd meant to. ``You've been nice to me, I'm not going to be mean to you like that.'' Surprised by his squirrel companions reaction, Charlie couldn't explain the warmth he felt inside of him. He'd thought it was mean at first when his friends started cutting him off, but he got used to it years ago as just a part of life because of how he was. Hearing another kid say he was nice was something he certainly wasn't used to. Annoying, stupid, loud, obnoxious, these were the things Charlie had come to expect from the kids he spent time with.

``Dexter?'' Charlie quietly squeaked out, feeling small and nervous as the lunch bell rang. ``Do you wanna be my friend?'' Feeling heat rapidly rise in his cheeks, rapidly reddening skin clearly peeking through his soft gray fur, Dexter nervously replied ``Y-yeah, Charlie. I think I'd like that.'' Heart pounding out of his chest, he could hardly believe the turn of events today had took as he heard his new friend quietly shout ``yes!'' before he ran off to his next class. Now alone, Dexter buzzed with excitement having officially made his first friend in high school.

Fifth period was uneventful, but Dexter was happy to find his assigned seat was once again in the back corner of the class, out of everyone's view so he could zone out without feeling too self conscious about it. He spent the period replaying the events of the day in his head, from his episode in the car to the incredible sparkle in his feline friend's eyes when he accepted his friendship. Dexter couldn't help but smile to himself as the bell for the final class rang. Unfolding his schedule once again to see where his final class was, he groaned to himself as he saw the 2 letters he hated the most printed across the 6th period slot.

Patiently standing a few feet behind the large crowd of students impatiently pushing and shoving their way through the door to the gymnasium, the pudgy little squirrel huffed as he mentally prepared himself for PE class. Noticing the rest of the crowd had finished filtering in through the double doors, Dexter made his way in as well, hoping there would be no exercise today. After the teacher finished going over the syllabus explaining what sports and all they'd be playing throughout the year, he stood the class up and led them towards the locker rooms to collect their gym clothes and assign lockers. Color drained from the boys face as he realized he'd be getting borderline naked every day in this large open space in front of everyone. Before he could worry too much about that, the final bell rang, officially signaling that he had, in fact, survived his first day of high school.

Maneuvering his way through the endless crowds of chaotic chatty teens blocking the hall once again, Dexter made his way out into the front of the school. Quickly running over to the shaded bench he'd made his first friend on, he patiently waited for his mom to come pick him up. Saddened by not seeing Charlie again before his mother pulled in, Dexter stood and ran to the car waiting for him in the driveway.

Out of breath from the short jog, he closed the car door as he made himself comfortable in the back seat and looked up to see his mother anxiously staring at him in the rear view mirror. ``Mom!'' the squirrel in the driver seat jolted at the unexpected outburst. ``Mom I made a friend!'' he shouted excitedly, as tears began to rapidly stream down his cheeks. ``I really-I really made a friend!'' He began to sniffle as his mother turned around in surprise, eyes wide at the site of her son crying in her car for the second time today. Unable to hold back the waterworks herself, she leaned towards the boy and grabbed him in a tight squeeze giving a sniffle of her own, this time in joy. ``H-he scared me this morning b-but then he felt bad and sat with me til I calmed down. He helped show me around a little because we were late and I had to get a new schedule.''

Thoroughly surprised and certainly overjoyed by what she was hearing, Dexter?s mother couldn't help but see her son as he was the last time he made a friend. It was half way through the school year in second grade when a new student had moved into town, and the little otter had immediately taken to the boy after seeing him curled into a ball in the tan bark, being picked on by a small group of third graders. She'd ran to grab a teacher for help and sat with him in the office as the principal grilled the sobbing boy for an explanation of the situation. She decided then that she liked this tiny, gray squirrel boy and had begun to sit with him at lunch every day, telling off any of the mean kids who tried to pick on him at recess.

Remembering the devastation on Dexter?s face when he told her his little otter friend was moving away, she held out hope that this time would be different. She didn't want to see him like that ever again. She didn't think any child should ever feel the way her son had felt, becoming a shut in at 8 years old. He'd always struggled with bullying in school, but he was still always such a happy boy at home until then. His only friend moving away set off such an intense sadness in Dexter that he'd fallen into a severe depression that no amount of therapy or medication they'd tried had been able to help even until now, only occasionally clearing up for small stretches of time, but always coming back shortly after.

Laying one last long stroke along her sons long, gray hair as he excitedly talked about his new cheetah friend, she laughed gently. ``I'm so happy for you, Dexter. My baby boy really is growing up, isn't he?'' she let out a small sigh. ``Alright, I promised dinner. What do you want, Mr. social?'' she joked, eliciting a small groan from the boy behind her before he answered.

Sitting at the dinner table and looking down at the mountain of fries on the disturbingly grease stained paper in front of him, Dexter swallows his bite of burger before picking one up to chomp down on. Washing it all down with a large gulp of disappointingly flat and watery fountain cola, Dexter examines the damage. Half a double cheeseburger and a decent handful of fries gone, the squirrel was amazed to see how much he'd eaten. A burger that size normally lasted 3 or 4 meals for him, but today he felt like a king. He was celebrating not just surviving his first day of high school, but making a friend. Wrapping the remainder of his burger for later, Dexter notices the surprised look on his parent's faces as they eye his significantly shrunken meal. ``Well now I know you're in a good mood. I'm proud of you, Dex. Making a friend on the first day, that?s big.'' his father chimes in. Dexter blushes, embarrassed.

Placing his leftovers in the fridge, Dexter feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. Seeing a message notification from his friends chat app, he unlocks his phone to see a message from his favorite gaming buddy. ``Hey m8, I ment 2 txt u earlier but my phone died last night n I had 2 go 2 school b4 I could charge it. 2Day was ur first day rite?'' Dexter felt a pang of guilt as he remembered how he felt this morning not seeing any messages from his friends before replying. ``ye! It was weird n scary. I made a friend, tho! He?s cool!'' While he was generally very shy and reserved in person, Dexter was very open and social online, having always found it much easier to find nice people with similar interests there. Dexter saw another notification on top of his screen as he attempted to catch up on the days conversations in his small number of chat rooms. ``WHOA WHAT? MR ANTISOCIAL MADE A FRIEND???'' Dexter felt his cheeks warm again. ``well u don't hafta say it like that >.> but ya he?s a cheetah. His names Charlie.'' Dexter chuckled as he immediately got another response. ``LMFAO LIKE THE CHIP GUY?!''

Charlie unlocked his phone to see the time in the corner of his heavily shattered screen. Sitting alone in the darkness outside his family's trailer, he listened to his mother as she broke yet another cheap glass against the wall in anger. ``10:40. 20 more minutes and she'll be drunk enough to pass out.'' he thought to himself as he attempted to drown out the insults and swears she spewed about him for something his older brother had done. His stomach growled, having not eaten since lunch at school that day. Charlie had grown used to these sounds of anger and feelings of hunger, his mother having grown into a raging alcoholic since his father left 2 years ago. Having caught her cheating in the bathroom at a work related Christmas party, he'd decided right then to file for divorce and pack his things.

His mother had fallen into a depression and started filling her normal nightly wine glass higher and higher to cope, until she was drinking a bottle a day, quickly trading wine for cheap flavored vodka to save money while getting an even stronger effect. The only days she didn't drink herself into a blind rage were the days she was passed out from drinking too much the night before. Charlie liked those days the most, when not even a gun going off next to her would be able to shake her awake. Those were the only days he didn't feel bad about himself. Charlie was still in close contact with his father, the man being much the opposite of the woman the young cheetah lived with. He'd heard the stories of the woman's vile behavior from the boy, and could often hear the screaming himself through the boys phone when they spoke. He'd felt immense guilt for leaving Charlie with her, but he was in no place to take care of a child, only living out of his car as he tried to save for his own apartment in another city a few hours away. Charlie held no ill feelings towards the man who raised him, loving the man deeply and seeing no reason whatsoever to blame him for his mothers treatment of him, nor blaming him for leaving.

Charlie opened his contacts list to send a message to his dad. ``hey dad. School was good. Made a kid cry by accident but we're friends now. He's kinda cute. Mom mad at me cuz Jimmy stole her smokes again but mr perfect can do no wrong. Prolly gunna go for a late walk n crash at the park again. Love u.'' seeing his battery at 4% the boy slips his phone in his pocket, hoping it would last til morning. The slim feline hears a slight crinkle in his pocket as he stands, reminded of the bag of chips his new little rodent friend had given him at lunch. Smiling, he began eating his cheesy snack while he walked to the park a few blocks away under cover of darkness. Arriving at the park, the young cheetah boy made his way to the tall set of heavily graffiti coated steel bleachers and crawled through the bars underneath them to his favorite place to sleep away from home. Pulling out the small, thin, tattered blanket he kept in his backpack, he wraps himself up and leans against a heavily splintered plywood board leaned against the edge of the bleachers. Thinking back to his new friend, he smiles to himself slightly and falls asleep.

Dexter woke up on his own a few minutes before his alarm. Light streaming through the crack in his window curtain, he slides it open a little more to see more of the room around him. Grabbing his bottle from the floor next to his bed, the pudgy little squirrel takes several large gulps of water to moisten his dry mouth. Going through his normal morning routine, he makes his way to his dresser to brush his hair. He feels significantly fewer knots and snags than normal this morning, also realizing he feels mostly awake already. Quickly pulling on his clothes and heading to the bathroom, he relieves the pressure in his bladder and leans into the sink to wash his hands. He looked into the mirror and was shocked to see the dark, sunken in bags normally present under his eyes were several shades lighter than normal.

Making his way to the kitchen, he finds his mother setting a small plastic tray of store bought breakfast pastries down on the table. ``Morning, mom.'' he says as he plops down in a chair and grabs a sweet cheese danish from the tray. ``Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep okay?'' she asks, gently petting his head for a moment. ``I think I did, actually. I dunno. I feel ok this morning.'' the older squirrel smiled brightly hearing her son speak, overjoyed to have her suspicions confirmed having not heard the normal sobbing or tossing and turning through the wall last night. ``I'm kind of looking forward to school today.'' Dexter hears a gasp as his mothers pastry hits the floor.

Making sure he has all of his things, Dexter pulls his phone off the charger next to his bed and slips it in his pocket while slinging his backpack on one arm. Heading towards his mom's car, he sighs to himself, feeling strangely content. Getting situated in the back seat, he hears his mother speak up. ``I'm really happy for you, Dexter. I think things will be different this year. I hope they will. I believe in you, sweetheart.'' Dexter sees her eyes start to sparkle with a telltale wetness, but stop just short of shedding actual tears. ``I love you, mom. I think I'll be ok. I hope.''

Arriving at the drop off zone, Dexter grabs his bag and turns to get out of the car before his mother speaks. ``Your father will be home late tonight. He got called in early for a big project so it'll just be us for dinner.'' ``Okay, mom. Love you!'' Dexter closes the door and heads to sit at the dirty black bench in the shade to wait for his new friend.

Feeling saddened as the bell for first period rings with no sign of his excitable new friend, Dexter makes his way to his first period math class in hopes of seeing him there. Settling down in the back of the room, Dexter?s shoulders slump as the late bell rings with still not a glimpse of the boy he'd been so excited to see. He felt like crying, but he knew he'd be seen and ridiculed for being the ``little bitch baby'' that everyone in middle school had taken to calling him during his episodes. Steeling his nerves, Dexter tries and fails to focus during class, his eyes glassing over as he dissociates through his first few classes, his brain on autopilot controlling his hand to take hastily scribbled notes when needed.

Charlie shot awake with a loud gasp, his tattered blanket and shirt already soaked through as the poorly aimed sprinkler in the grass next to him shot through the bleachers support bars and hit him square in the face. The sun was bright and he could hear parents with their small children on the playground a few yards away from him, thankfully having not been seen or woken up by anyone thanks to the strategically placed plywood sheets propped up against the edge of the bleachers. Groggy and very wet, the poor boy grabbed his things and crawled out of his hiding spot to head back to his trailer and hopefully find some clean, dry clothes.

Pulling his old, broken phone from his pocket he presses the power button with his thumb only for the screen to stay black. ``Shit. So much for that.'' he huffs to himself as he puts the dead black rectangle back in his pocket. Charlie didn't mind living in a mobile home park. It wasn't like the stereotypes you'd see in movies and TV the way he'd expected it to be. It was actually a nice, very calm and peaceful area. All the neighbors were quite fond of the lanky teen, always happy to see him and accept his offers of help with whatever they were busy with at the time. He thoroughly enjoyed being helpful, but it definitely helped that it gave him a reason to be away from home. Away from his mother and brother.

Cutting across the communal lawn, Charlie sees an elderly kangaroo woman trying to trim the flowers in the cheap planter pots outside her home. Coming up next to her to hand her the small pair of clippers just out of her reach, Charlie greets his favorite neighbor. ``Here you go, Mrs. Blythe.'' Smiling warmly at the damp feline, a hint of concern clear on her face noticing the state of the boy she considered like a second grandson. ``Sorry if you heard all that last night. I'm ok. Jimmy's been stealin again and she keeps blaming me for it is all.'' Her concern unchanged, she sets down her clippers and places a cloth gloved hand on his shoulder. ``I don't know how you can stay there, Charlie. One of these days she's going to go too far.'' Charlie smiled unconvincingly. Opening his mouth to speak, he was immediately cut off by the growling of his stomach. ``Come inside, dear. Let me feed you at least.''

Leaving the woman's home with a full stomach and some kind parting words, Charlie finishes his journey home. While the park he lived in was nice and clean, the cheetah families plot was exactly how it looked in the movies. Stepping over a small pile of empty plastic liquor jugs and broken glass, he gently opens the front door hoping to not disturb the woman inside. Seeing her asleep on the couch with a hefty drool spot staining the couch, he breathes a deep sigh of relief as he quietly steps over more broken glass and garbage on the way to his cramped, dirty bedroom. Stripping out of his damp clothes, the boy catches a glimpse of himself in the tall mirror propped up against the wall next to his door. He cringes a little upon seeing how noticeable his ribs were through his fur. His mother had lost her job a few months back due to her incessant drinking, and his older brother Jimmy was the only one bringing in any money from his minimum wage job at the gas up the street. There wasn't much to go around after the lot rent and his moms drink budget was taken out, and he often scraped by on no name instant noodles and dollar store snacks.

Remembering his phone, he pulls it out of the pants now on the floor and quickly plugs it in next to his bed hoping to at least get a little juice in it before he heads to school. Seeing the screen light up as the device desperately sucks power from the wall, Charlie sees a message on his lock screen. ``Go get `em, tiger ;)'' from dad. Confused, he quickly unlocks his phone to see several more messages from his father earlier in the morning. ``cute, eh? Interesting. Didn't know you went that way. Proud of you for opening up. Go get `em, tiger ;)'' Charlie's face is on fire with pure embarrassment as he see's what he typed last night. ``oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck'' he panics to himself, rapidly typing to his father. ``COOL. I meant he?s kinda COOL! AUTOCORRECT'' shakily setting his phone down, heat up past the tips of his fuzzy yellow ears, he anxiously looks around on his floor for a moderately presentable shirt. Finding a light gray tank top crumpled in a pile next to the door, he gives it a deep sniff to make sure it wasn't too dirty to go out in public with.

Grabbing his phone and slipping it into his pocket, Charlie finishes getting dressed and feels a hand on his back pushing him forward roughly. ``Where the fuck are they, Charles? I know you have them.'' the cheetah is just as surprised from the violent shove as he is to hear his mothers groggy, hungover voice. ``I didn't take your fucking smokes, mom. I don't even like those. I told you Jim-'' he's cut off as a bony fist collides with his right eye. ``Don't fucking lie to me, Charlie. Stop blaming your fucking brother for everything. Where. Are. They.'' Charlie is in shock, too dazed by the surprise impact to process what's going on, let alone respond to it. Feeling her grip his shirt, his mother roughly shoves him against the wall, the back of his head bouncing off of it as he grips her arms in an attempt to pry them off of him. ``Mom what the f-fu-'' he's cut off by another, much harder slam as his head violently smacks into the wall behind him once again. His vision blurred from the jarring impact and the salty water now welling up around the bottom of his eyes, Charlie tries to speak once more ``m-mom please s-sto-'' with one last slam she pulls the battered boy from the wall and throws him onto the floor, face down straight into a small pile of dirty dishes as she screams at the top of her lungs. ``WHY COULDN'T HE FUCKING TAKE YOU WITH HIM. PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT STUPID GOD DAMN GOOD FOR NOTHING RETARDED GOD DAMNED KID. FUCK!'' she spits and kicks a small pile of clothes towards him before she turns to walk away, still screaming.

Terrified and shaky, Charlie stands up from the pile of now broken dishes on the floor and stumbles around attempting to steady himself as his legs nearly give out. He'd stayed on the floor for what felt like an hour, but in reality was about 2 minutes as he waited for the noise to die down, signaling the end of the rampage. Hoping she'd screamed herself into a coma, the boy quickly runs out of his home and runs to the only safe place he can think of. Trembling hand making contact with the wood, Charlie anxiously knocks on his neighbors door. Looking down at the ground below, Charlie speaks when he hears it open. ``H-hello again, Mrs. Blythe. U-uhm, does-'' he pauses for a sniffle. ``Does billy still leave clothes here when he visits?'' Eyes wide in shock as she sees the rapidly darkening spot forming around the boys eye and the small stream of blood from his nose staining his shirt, she brings him inside.

Dexter anxiously waited for lunch, time seemingly moving slower and slower as he watched the second hand stutter its way around the face of the clock above the blackboard over and over again as the teacher droned on about some old railroad. Saddened by his new friends no-show, Dexter grabs his bag as the lunch bell finally rings and makes his way to the bench to eat. ``Charlie?'' Dexter shouts in surprise seeing a familiar tall yellow figure slowly hobbling towards him, staring at the dirt in front of him as he shakily walks towards the bench. His ears twitch as his head perks up upon hearing the squirrels voice, his mind briefly ignoring the pain as he speeds up to sit down next to the boy. ``Charlie what's wrong? I didn't see you all day I thought you got sick or something.''

Charlie lifts his head to look at Dexter and speak, but he couldn't quite make words form on his lips as he starts sobbing, feeling physical pain in his face, and a deep emotional pain from his mothers ridicule. He was mostly used to the yelling, but the beating he took today was new, and it made him feel more small and powerless than he'd ever felt before. Unable to do anything but watch in shock as his feline friend broke down in tears next to him, Dexter was unable to hold back his own tears. ``Ch-charlie what's wrong? What h-happened? Why are we crying?'' He asks between his own light sobs as he gently places his hand on the boys back. Charlie flinches in shock at the contact and immediately stares up at the squirrel, eyes wide in fear as Dexter yanks his arm back and gasps at the surprise reaction.

Dexter feels worthless, unable to do anything but watch his only friend tremble and sob uncontrollably next to him, thankful no other students had paid them any mind. 20 minutes had passed by before Charlie had finally begun to calm down, choked sobs slowly becoming less frequent as his eyes ran out of water to shed. ``H-hi Dexter. I'm h-happy to see you.'' he softly whispers out as he wipes his eyes across the unkempt fur on his arm. ``S-sorry I ditched this m-morning. My phone d-died so my alarm didn't g-go off and I wasn't home to ch-charge it til a little bit ago. Thanks for uhm, thanks for s-sitting with me. I appreciate it.'' He showed his appreciation by suddenly leaning towards the boy and taking him into a tight hug as he held his tears from coming back. Dexter gently hugged him back in stunned silence, not knowing how to react to the sudden embrace.

Stomach growling, the little squirrel realized he'd been unable to eat his lunch. Reaching into his backpack, he pulls out a brown paper bag and reaches in to pull out his half eaten burger from the night before. Hearing his friends stomach growl as he watches the cheetah kick his feet under him, he pulls it in half and gently nudges the feline with his elbow to get his attention, holding part of the burger up in offer to him. Charlie eyes the offer in surprise, quickly motioning to say no, feeling immensely guilty for even considering taking food from his friend. He'd always struggled accepting help from people, feeling terrible thinking about people missing out because he needed something. ``Please? I promise I wasn't gunna eat the whole thing anyway.'' Charlie grabbed the burger, a grateful but guilty look on his face as he bit through the cold meat.

Finishing his food first, Charlie looks over to his friend has he chews on his own last bite. ``Sorry for just hugging you like that. I hope it didn't make you uncomfortable or anything I just really needed it and wasn't thinking right. It was- it was nice, though.'' He squeaked out, blushing slightly. ``It's okay, Charlie. It just surprised me is all. I can?t remember the last time somebody who wasn't my mom hugged me. I don't mind. It felt good.'' he says warmly, feeling a slight blush of his own that he desperately hoped wouldn't grow bright enough to peek through his fur. The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the boys parted ways. Dexter heading to 5th period, and Charlie making his way to the office to get an ice pack for his severely darkened eye socket. He felt bad for not telling Dexter what happened, but he couldn't bring himself to vomit out his story without fear the boy would run away and never come back.

5th period passed Dexter by in a flash as he mentally prepared himself for the first real PE class of the year. Even before his belly started to grow out a little, Dexter had always struggled with physical activity. He always had fun running around playing as a kid, but something about the structure and rigidity of PE class made him tire far too easily, quickly running out of breath and almost always being last on every running day or sports game. Nervously making his way into the boys locker room, his sense of smell is immediately overrun with the stench of sweaty young boys and cheap aerosol body spray as he steps through the doorway. Struggling to breathe through the overpowering cloud of cologne, he makes his way to his locker and pulls out his gym uniform. Looking around nervously at all the other boys in various states of undress, making sure no eyes are on him, he quickly pulls off his shirt as he hears light footsteps coming up next to him.

Dexter nervously looks up to find a familiar feline beside him, holding a damp napkin to his eye and attempting to unlock his locker having seemingly not noticed the squirrel. ``Charlie?'' the cheetah quickly looks around in surprise before looking down, his eyes settling on the much shorter squirrel he'd missed getting ready for class. ``Oh! Hey Dexter.'' he said, just before he noticed the shirtless boys torso and blushing slightly as his eyes went wide at what he saw. Quickly looking away, the tall boy opens his locker and removes his own uniform, quickly undressing as the squirrel speaks again. ``You have PE 6th too?'' he asked curiously. ``I didn't see you yesterday.'' Charlie felt bad for not being there with his friend. ``oh, I had a doctors appointment after lunch. I asked Ms. Rue if she could have someone set my locker up for me. S-sorry.'' the boy looked down in an attempt to hide the shame on his face as he lied to his friend. His mother had called the school to pull him out of class and send him home for an appointment, but she just needed an excuse to get him home and grill him over her missing cigarettes. She'd grown tired of fishing butts out of her ash trays between glugs of vodka, and wished to confront her favorite verbal punching bag.

Charlie's mother blamed the boy for the divorce. At 13, he was awkwardly attempting to fit in at his mother's company Christmas party 2 years prior when his father had come by to ask the him if he'd seen her anywhere. He saw her set her drink on the table and walk towards the bathroom alone several minutes prior, figuring one of the greasier snacks laid out on the table had gotten to her. The women's bathroom was out of order due to a plumbing issue that night, so everyone had to share the men's room, the men sticking to the urinals and saving the stalls for the women. Charlie wasn't watching the door the whole time, uncomfortably shifting around in his too-small dress clothes he'd been forced to wear to make a good impression on his mother's coworkers. He hadn't seen his mother subtly gesturing towards the large wolf man a few feet behind her as she entered the restroom, nor said wolf man quickly sneaking in behind her. Charlie thought nothing of it when he told his father where he'd last seen her.

Pulling on his gym clothes, Charlie gestures for Dexter to follow as he heads towards the teachers little office attached to the locker room. ``Coach Dempsey?'' the large middle aged bull turns around in his swivel chair to see the boys standing in the doorway. ``Charlie! Good to see ya, kid. What can I do for ya?'' Charlie smiled a little, always finding it funny how kind the man was despite his incredibly intimidating appearance. ``I have to sit out today,'' he said, gesturing towards the damp rag he was holding on his eye. ``I was wondering if it would be ok for Dexter to sit out with me. I don't really want to be alone right now.'' shooting a sympathetic and understanding look at the boy, the man nods his head and gestures for them to come in. ``Of course, Charlie. What's going on? What's with the rag?'' the man asks, as he reaches down to open the mini fridge hidden beside his desk to pull out a couple juice boxes he kept on hand for students who got hurt or were otherwise having a bad time during class. ``here.'' he hands the juice to the boys as Charlie opens his mouth to speak again. ``I don't really think I can talk about it right now but I will soon I promise. It's just been a bad day.'' the man nods in understanding. ``Alright. You boys can stay in here or sit out on the bleachers in the gym and watch everyone else suffer, haha. Your choice.''

Quietly sipping their juice together as they watch the rest of the class stretch and run laps around the gymnasium, both boys silently enjoy each others presence. Charlie finally feels at peace for the first time since he was so rudely awoken that morning, but feels nervous as he turns to ask his friend a question he'd been feeling awfully guilty to ask. ``Dexter? Uh, do you think your mom would be ok with me coming over after school?'' Dexter briefly chokes on his juice in surprise, turning to face the boy with wide eyes as the liquid dribbles down the side of his mouth. ``OH! I don't know. W-we can ask when she comes to pick me up. I nev-'' the squirrel stops himself, too embarrassed to admit he's never actually had a friend over before. ``uh, never mind...''

ch 3

Hearing the final bell, both boys quickly make their way back into the locker room to change into their normal clothes and rush out into the hallway, happy to be done with school. Sitting down on what had now become their favorite place on campus, they sat and waited while Dexter kept an eye out for his mother's car, excited but so very nervous about asking to have a friend over. Spotting the car among the sea of vehicles rapidly flowing in and out of the parking lot, Dexter nudges his friend to get his attention and leads him towards it. Dexter opens the door and peeks his head in to see his mother, nervously opening his mouth to ask a question he was now for some reason terrified to ask. Not seeing the cheetah off to the side behind her son, she looks back at him, confused by the look on his face, only hearing his question as she gets ready to ask what was wrong. ``M-mom? Uhm, would-'' he stops to clear his throat. ``Would it be okay if Charlie came over today?'' Eyes shooting wide in surprise as the taller boy steps into view, she is overjoyed to accept, both boys sighing deeply in relief.

Both boys feeling a nervous excitement as they pull into Dexter?s driveway, they share a brief look and  smile at each other before turning to get out of the car. Stepping in through the front door, Dexter?s mother speaks. ``This is so exciting. I can?t believe my boy is having a friend over for the first time!'' she laughs, giddy with pride and happiness, meanwhile Dexter's fur couldn't possibly be thick enough to hide the shade of red burning through his face up to the fluffy tufts on his fuzzy little ears as his eyes widened. Charlie can?t help but to laugh at his friends reaction, surprised to hear he was the first visitor to enter the boys home.

``Charlie dear, would you like a snack?'' the older squirrel asks. ``Oh! No thank you ma'am, i-'' the boy was cut off as he was once again betrayed by his growling stomach. Gesturing towards the tray of leftover pastries from breakfast, she leaves the room to give her son and his new friend some privacy while they eat. ``Your mom is nice.'' the cheetah says as he bites down into a soggy raspberry jam filled pastry. Dexter smiles. ``Yeah, she is. She can be pretty overbearing sometimes, It's a little embarrassing, but I know she means well.'' Charlie feels a mix of emotions he can't quite describe. Jealousy? No. Well, yes. Jealous that his friend got to experience what he so desperately craved, but also happy to hear that his friend's home life was nothing like his. It all combined into a bittersweet feeling that quickly fades as he remembers something important. ``Hey, Dexter? I have to talk to your mom for a minute. Do you know where she went?'' Dexter points at the sliver of door in the hallway visible from the table. ``Thanks. I'll be back in a minute.''

Fear welled up in the cheetah boy's chest as he stood in the hall just outside the door Dexter had pointed to, steeling his nerves as he gently knocks. ``It's open!'' he hears through the anxiety buzzing in his brain. He enters the room and closes the door behind him, the squirrel inside clearly sensing something wrong before he even opens his mouth. ``U-uhm, can I talk to you for a minute? it- it's really important.'' she gestures to the corner of her bed, inviting the terrified boy to sit. ``of course. What's wrong?'' taking several deep, shaky breaths, Charlie explains ``uhm, my dad, uh, my dad always told me t-to talk to a safe adult if i?m ever in t-trouble.'' he pauses to catch his breath and try to hold back his tears as he thinks back on his day. The woman's heart sinks in her chest like a boulder as she notices the state of the boy, shivering and beginning to cry, allowing him to take his time and speak when he can. ``uh, m-my mom got arrested this morning.'' he states, pointing to his black eye. ``I-i don't have anywhere to go.'' he pauses again to sniffle and breathe, trying to calm himself to speak clearly. ``would- would it be okay if I stayed here for a few days until my dad c-can come get me? I-i know you don't know me an- and I just met Dexter yesterday and it feels terrible to ask. I- I'm sorry. I can sleep out back if- if you need, I'm used to sleeping outside.''

Dexter?s mother is utterly disgusted at what Charlie had told her, him having finished explaining his morning up to the point where Mrs. Blythe gave him some of her grandsons clothes to borrow and snuck him to school when they first heard the sirens on the way from another neighbor placing a call, not wanting the boy to go through the stress of talking to the police again on top of what he'd already gone through. ``Absolutely not.'' Charlies heart feels like a black hole as he hears the answer he was so utterly terrified of hearing. ``You will sleep in Dexter?s room or you can sleep on the couch. No child should ever have to sleep outside.'' the cheetah looks up, confused. ``I- I can stay?'' a deep wave of relief washes through him as she speaks again to reassure him. ``Of course you can stay. Do you have everything you need?'' Charlie thinks for a moment, a small sense of guilt in the back of his mind as he asks his friends mom for yet another favor in such a short span. ``c-can you take me home to grab some stuff, please? It- it's too far to walk from here.'' he asks. The woman nods, happy to help as Charlie remembers another important detail. ``Oh! Uhm, Dexter doesn't- he doesn't know any of this. Can you keep it a secret please? I'll tell him I promise I just...i can't right now.'' She offers another understanding nod.

Having waited a few minutes for his friend to come back, Dexter had gotten bored and gone to his room to clean up a little before his guest came in. Hearing a knock on his door, he jumps up excitedly running over to show Charlie around, confused to see his mother looking down at him, his friend behind her having clearly been crying. ``Dexter dear? I'm going to take Charlie out for a few minutes to grab some things.'' Dexter is confused, looking to his friend who can't bring himself to meet the tiny boys eyes. ``Don't worry. We won't be long, he's going to stay the night tonight.'' she tells him, not wanting to give away the boys situation. Dexter perks up excitedly at that, but still senses something wrong from the pain radiating from his friend. Not wanting to push things, he simply nods and closes his door as they turn to talk away. ``Well I have more time to clean up at least.'' he thinks to himself as he hears his mother's car pull out of the driveway.

Stepping out of the car, Charlie's heart is pounding as he once again find himself staring at his front door. The older squirrel woman behind him is in shock at the state of the boys home, saddened to know he's been living like this. ``Y-you can wait out here. It-it's worse inside.'' Shaking her head, she replies, ``No, I think I need to see this.'' stepping inside, Charlie holds the door open for the woman as her nostrils immediately burn with the stench of stale cigarettes, alcohol, and rotting garbage from the pile of dishes in the sink. ``Charlie...'' the cheetah turns around to see a look he couldn't quite describe on her face. A mix of sadness and disgust. ``Charlie, does your father know it's this bad?'' the cheetah gasps, realizing he'd forgotten to call his dad to tell him about everything. ``N-no...i uh, I haven't had the chance to tell him about- about today, yet.'' Pulling out her phone and handing it to the boy, she speaks. ``give me his number, please. I'd like to talk to him. I'll tell him what's going on while you go grab some things. Take anything and everything you think you'll need. You won't be back here for a while.'' Charlie nods as he punches the number into her phone, and the woman turns to step over a small pile of broken glass as she steps outside to make the call.

Dexter?s ears perk up as he hears the sound of a car in the driveway, quickly running to the door to see his friend stepping out with a comically overflowing backpack, shirt sleeves and pant legs sticking out from half closed zippers every which way. ``Dexter, sweetie, could you come help Charlie with his bags please?'' He hears his mother shout from the drivers seat as she struggles to exit the car with fast food bags and a cardboard cup holder. Making his way to the back seat to grab a bag, the young squirrel is surprised at how many clothes they'd brought home. ``What's all this?'' he asks, confused. ``I uh-'' Charlie begins to speak but is cut off by Dexter?s mom. ``Charlie will be staying here for a little while until his dad's back in town. He's out on a business trip and asked us to watch him.'' she half lied to her son, receiving a thankful nod from the cheetah as she finishes speaking.

Dexter sits on the cold tile floor in the laundry room, helping his his friend dig through bags of clothes having just finished showing him how to use the washer and drier. ``Uhm, thank you for helping me. I appreciate it.'' Dexter smiles at him. ``Of course! I'm kind of excited. I never had a sleepover before. I hope you like it here. My rooms not too big but I got games and stuff we can play. Ooh, and we could have a movie night! I always wanted a friend to watch my movies with!'' Dexter exclaims excitedly. The stress of his situation had melted from Charlie instantly as he saw how happy his new friend was to have him, noticing the squirrel seeming far more open and comfortable at home than school as they talked more.

Excitedly, Dexter opens the door to his room and gestures his friend inside, quickly closing the door behind them as he flicks on the light to reveal his favorite place to be. ``Whoa...your room is HUGE!'' the young cheetah exclaims, having grown so used to the borderline walk in closet he'd been living in. Excitedly, Charlie runs up to examine what he'd considered to be an expansive collection of games on a small shelf under the squirrel's TV. ``Did you want to play something?'' Dexter asks as he sits on the floor watching the cheetah boy's eyes sparkle happily as he turns and excitedly nods his head.

Hearing a light knock, Dexter pauses their game and jumps up to open his door. Peeking her head in, Dexter?s mother holds out a bag of fresh laundry, straight form the drier along with a towel and wash rag. ``Charlie dear, your clothes are ready if you wanted to take a shower. Dexter can show you how to control the water.'' She smiles as she sets the bag down inside the door and turns to walk away. Charlie gets up and grabs a fresh warm shirt from the bag, holding it to his nose and inhaling deeply to enjoy the fresh scent of the laundry soap perfuming it. Quickly pulling out a pair of basketball shorts and boxer briefs, Charlie grabs the towel and wash rag and follows Dexter directly across the hall to the bathroom.

Finishing up giving his short tutorial on how to use the knobs in the tub, Dexter turns to see his friend already shirtless, halfway through pulling off his dirty jeans. His eyes widening in surprise, the young squirrel blushes brightly, staring at the tall boys body and seeming unable to look away. Amazed at how thin he is, Dexter?s eyes wander lower and lower seemingly of their own free will before settling on the small amount of bright yellow fluff peeking out just above the waistband of the boy's green boxer briefs. Frozen in place as his eyes peek just ever so slightly lower, Dexter feels his heart race faster than ever before as Charlie's hands reach up, quickly sinking his thumbs under the elastic band holding his most private place at bay before quickly shoving his underwear down. You could have fried an egg on the young squirrel's face with how hot he'd felt upon seeing Charlie's most private place. Dangling down between his legs hung a hefty pouch of fuzzy yellow orbs, and a flaccid 6 inches of uncut humanoid penis gently swaying with his body as he finishes undressing and quickly steps into the tub, having been lost in his own mind not noticing the pair of bright green eyes laser focused on his adolescent cock. Quickly closing the curtain and turning the knobs as he'd just been shown, Charlie begins washing several days worth of dirt and grime from his fur as his friend attempts to calm his heart before it explodes from seeing a naked boy for the first time in his young life.

Closing his bedroom door, Dexter slumps down in front of it trying to make sense of what he was feeling. Dexter was a fairly innocent boy, having been quite sheltered, his only exposure to sex being brief uncomfortable scenes in movies and games. They always made his privates twitch, but he never knew why or what to do when it happened, always being frustrated at the discomfort in his pants as he had to wait for the bulging to cease on its own. His mother never thought it appropriate for him to take sex ed, always being called out of school for those days throughout elementary and middle school, but having planned to let him learn this year as she finally felt him old enough. His lack of education had led to frustration and confusion with his body, always too embarrassed to ask about anything he needed to know and too afraid of getting in trouble should one of his parents happen to see his search history had he looked them up online.

Charlie was at peace, his mind calm as he thoroughly scrubbed a weeks worth of stress and grime from his knotted fur under the steaming water spraying down from above. He didn't get to bathe often at home, the bathroom plumbing in their small mobile home having been in desperate need of repair for a while but remaining unfixed as his mother cared for nothing but her drink. He'd occasionally have to sneak his way into the sports club building up the street to steal a free shower, far too embarrassed and ashamed to ask one of the neighbors if he could use theirs. Thoughts of his short little rodent friend in the other room slowly flood their way into his brain. Feelings of happiness, truly grateful for having been so quickly welcomed into the boys home, his private space no one before him had ever been invited to. His mind flashes back to the short part of school he'd been present for, after having been calmed down at lunch. Thinking back to 6th period when he heard a familiar voice next to him and caught his first glimpse of the smaller boy's body. His cheeks flushed remembering the brief view, his chest feeling warm and a pressure growing in his groin as his penis begins to swell. He'd very much enjoyed what he saw of Dexter?s exposed stomach, finding the slight chub on the boy to be very nice, and perfectly matching the overall cuteness he saw in him.

Guilt flooded through the young cheetah at the feelings and thoughts he was experiencing, actively fighting against his body as his hand subconsciously moved down his belly to grip his rapidly expanding shaft. Sighing as his fingers wrapped themselves around his most intimate place, he slowly strokes back and forth, the very tip of his glans peeking through his thick foreskin as he curses himself in his head for his behavior. ``God, Charlie. What's wrong with you. He's a boy. He's a nice boy and he-'' the cheetah shivers and gasps, cutting his thoughts off briefly as his strokes become longer as his penis reaches its fully hardened 7 inches. ``He's a nice boy and he's letting you stay with him and...and he's so cute. His eyes-'' the boy shudders in guilty pleasure as his hand is a blur across his penis, foreskin rapidly exposing and hiding the sensitive tip of his penis as slick, clear fluids pool up at his slit, carried away to lubricate him as his protective hood bunches up and spreads the substance in a thin sheen across his tip with every stroke. ``His eyes...'' The thought of those big green eyes staring up at him fill his brain as he feels a telltale pressure in his pelvis, pulling at the base of his young meat as he nears his climax. ``Please just look at me...'' passing the point of no return, Charlie feels his testicles pull up slightly as the sensation of liquid heat builds pressure at the base of his cock, quickly overpowering his body as the dam bursts and intense pleasure overtakes him. Hot, thick, white fluid rushes up his shaft and shoots hard from his tip, quickly splattering against the wall in front of him in six large bursts, his entire body shaking and straining during the most intense orgasm he's felt in his life as he struggled to remain standing.

An intense wave of relief washes over the young boy's body, quickly replaced with an immense sense of guilt as tears begin to well up in his eyes. ``What the fuck is wrong with you, Charlie. You can't like him like that. You don't even know him yet...'' he thinks to himself as he attempts to scrub his shame from his now slimy crotch fur. Trying to once again relax under the heat of the shower, the guilty buzzing in his brain slows and he rinses the last bit of shampoo from his fur. Turning off the water, he opens the plastic curtain and steps out onto the plush white bath matt resting on the floor and grabs his towel from the rod screwed to the wall. Quickly rubbing the large cloth in long strokes across his body to soak up the majority of the water dripping from him, Charlie leans down to scoop up his clothes and exit the bathroom after wrapping the towel around his waist, his mind on autopilot.

Dexter lays on his bed, his ears perking up as he hears the telltale squeak of the knob on the tub faucet turning off. Eyeing the door as he waits for his friend, his eyes grow wide as the cheetah enters his room, clad in nothing but a damp white towel. Charlie closes the door behind him, not thinking as his hands move towards his towel to drop it as he hears a gasp, snapping him back to reality as he realizes where he is and what he's just done. Both boy's eyes widen as they meet, faces lighting up hotter than ever as they both open their mouths to speak, Charlie winning the race as Dexter?s eyes slowly move down the exposed teen blocking his door. ``Oh god I'm so sorry! I forgot where I was and I wasn't paying attention and I was kinda lost in my own head and I didn't even notice you were there til I heard you gasp and now i-'' Charlie pauses, realizing he's still standing naked in his new friends room in full view of the boy, quickly bending down to grab his clean underwear and yank it up his legs faster than he'd ever put anything on before in his life.

Anxious silence hangs in the air, Charlie unable to look at his friend due to shame, Dexter unable to look away from the boy he'd just seen far more of than he ever thought he would for the second time in just a few minutes. Dexter sees the boy sitting on the floor begin to tremble slightly as he tries to pull on his basketball shorts without standing to expose his lower half. ``Charlie? Are you crying?'' Dexter asks quietly, almost a whisper. Charlie turns his head to look at the squirrel on the bed and respond. ``Uh, n-no?'' he says unconvincingly, confirming Dexter?s suspicions as he sniffles and wipes his eyes on his still damp arm fur. ``What's wrong?'' Charlie takes a moment to compose himself before replying. ``Uhm, I'm sorry f-for getting naked l-like that. I wasn't thinking when I got d-done in the shower and kinda just c-came back in here to get dressed. I didn't even see you on t-the bed til I heard you.'' he stops to take a few deep breaths to speak more clearly. ``You and your mom have been real nice to me, and helped me out a lot letting me come here and stay over and I went and fucked it up already. I?m sorry.'' saddened by the hopeless and apologetic look on his friends face, Dexter gets up to sit on the floor next to him. ``What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong. You just surprised me is all. You didn't fuck anything up.''

Still shirtless as his fur slowly air dries in his friend's room, Charlie works up the courage to ask for a small favor from the gray rodent boy next to him playing a game on the TV. ``Dexter?'' the squirrel pauses his game, immediately attentive to the young cheetah. ``Do you have a brush I could borrow?'' Dexter jumps up and rushes to his dresser to dig through his junk drawer up top. Finding the handle of his heavily used brush, he quickly pulls as many clumps of gray hair and fur as he can from it before running back to hand it to his friend. ``Thanks.'' Dexter watches as the boy struggles to run it through his arm fur in an attempt to pull and smooth out the little knots scattered throughout his poorly groomed body. ``Hold on a sec, Charlie.'' Standing and walking over to his dresser once again, Dexter pulls out a discolored and clearly old cardboard box as he pulls out a yet unused steel wire fur brush.

Sitting down next to the cheetah he grabs the boys arm and gently runs the stiff metal bristles across it in small, gentle strokes. Gasping in surprise, the cheetah looks in the boys eyes just as the squirrel asks ``Is this ok? You looked like you were having a hard time. My mom bought me this a couple years ago but I never had too much trouble with my fur knotting, and my normal hair brush usually works just fine when I do.'' only able to gently nod his approval as he blushes slightly he relaxes as he feels another gentle stroke across his fur, hissing quietly as he feels a quick snag as the brush does its job untangling him. Working his way up and down the boys arm, Dexter finishes his work there and moves to sit behind the boy, getting to work on his back not thinking to stop and ask to keep going. ``hmmm...'' Dexter thinks out loud behind the cheetah, quickly reaching over to his bed to pull down a pillow. ``Charlie lay down on your belly here'' he says, gesturing to the pillow to lay his head on.

In a far more comfortable position now, Charlie feels the wires gently scratch across his back, pulling out knots he'd never dreamed of being able to remove. Fully relaxing, his fears and stresses fading rapidly as he feels his friend work on him, he lets his mind go quiet simply enjoying the attention his little rodent friend was all too happy to give him. Dexter goes in for another stroke as he feels a strange vibration in his brush. Confused, he goes in for another and feels it even stronger, and then he hears it. A slight rumble radiating out from his friend as he fully gives into the happiness he feels at his treatment. Dexter blushes and giggles a little, his laugh catching his friends attention. ``What's funny?'' he asks. Giggling more, he replies. ``Charlie you're purring. I didn't know cheetahs could do that.'' the felines glows red, shining right through his yellow fur as he moves to get up and speak. ``Oh, god. I?m sor-'' Charlie is cut off as Dexter pushes him back down, not letting him get up. ``Stop, Charlie. There's nothing to be sorry for. I think It's cu-'' Dexter catches himself before he says something truly embarrassing. ``Uh, I think it's nice. It's good you're comfy.'' He continues brushing as Charlie buries his face in the pillow, ashamed as he once again allows himself to just enjoy his friend in silence.

Dexter fell into a trance almost, losing track of time while enjoying brushing his feline friend as he relaxed and melted into an embarrassed puddle of purrs on the boys floor. Having felt the last knot untangle itself from the boy below, he gave several final long, slow strokes across the boys back to make sure they were gone before he sets the brush down on the floor and opens his mouth to speak. ``I'm all done now, Charlie.'' Silence. Dexter leaned down to look at the boys face, noting his closed eyes and steady breathing among the gentle rumbles still emanating from him. Charlie had fallen asleep during his brushing, finally allowing himself rest after the exhaustion of the day had set in. Dexter smiled to himself, happy to see his friend smiling in his sleep. Looking out his window, the young squirrel noticed it was dark now, the sun having fully gone down over 2 hours ago. It was hot that day, and the heat hadn't relented during the night. Dexter looked down at his shirtless friend as he slept on the floor, chest rising and falling slowly with each breath, and wished to join him in his comfort.

Grabbing 2 thin blankets from his closet and a second pillow from his bed, Dexter lays his head next to his friend after laying one of the blankets on top of him in case it got cold during the early hours of the morning. Facing the cheetah, Dexter covers himself and gets ready to sleep. He sees the calm look of happiness on the boys face and feels a strange warmth within he'd never felt before, a slight flutter in his chest as his cheeks warm in the barely moonlit darkness of his now quiet bedroom. ``goodnight, Charlie.'' he says, just barely a faint whisper as the words leave his lips. ``I'm happy I met you.'' he whispers as he adjusts himself to a comfortable position, smiling as he closes his eyes and drifts off into his own peaceful slumber, the last thought in his mind being his sleeping friend's smiling face.

Ch 4

Charlie slowly opened his eyes, the faintest sliver of light hitting his eyes as the sun began to rise and shine through the half opened curtain in Dexter?s room. Momentarily disoriented and confused, Charlie remembers where he is upon seeing the sleeping gray boy next to him. The young cheetah can?t help but stop and look at the figure next to him, taking in his sleeping features in the dim light and smiling, happiness filling him as he slowly comes to full consciousness. ``Dexter?'' he whispers, ever so gently nudging the boy's shoulder in an attempt to wake him peacefully. Not wanting to make too much noise in case Dexter?s mother is still sleeping in the room next to them, he leans in close to the boy, just next to his ear to whisper again. ``Dexter, wake up. it-'' Charlie is stopped as Dexter?s eyes slowly crack open and his face turns towards the quiet, breathy voice he's hearing, close enough that their noses make contact. Charlie is briefly frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth agape as his cheeks burn brightly before quietly squeaking out a small noise of embarrassment and jumping back as Dexter?s face begins to rapidly redden along with him.

Both boys share a long moment of awkward silence, eyes locked as neither quite has the courage to speak through their embarrassment. Dexter is the first to speak, shocked to full consciousness by his surprise awakening. ``Uh, h-hi Charlie. What were you d-doing?'' he manages to squeak out. ``i- uh, I was just trying to w-wake you up. I didn't want to be too loud so I just l-leaned in too far by accident.'' he looks down at the floor to avoid the boys gaze, hands clasped together in front of him and nervously twiddling his thumbs. ``Oh.'' is all Dexter can think to say. Charlie works up the courage to tear his eyes from the floor and look at the squirrel again. ``W-why are you on the floor?'' Dexter turns his head slightly, embarrassed to maintain eye contact as he feels that strange fluttering feeling in his chest again as he remembers last night. ``I uh, you f-fell asleep when I was brushing you. You l-looked real comfy and I didn't want to leave you down here a-alone...'' Charlie can?t hold back a shy smile at what his friend says, his own heart radiating a comforting warmth throughout his body at the squirrel's admission. ``Oh...uhm, t-thank you. It was- uh, it was nice to see you when I woke up. I was c-confused at first I thought I f-fell asleep at the park again, haha.'' The confusion on Dexter?s face could be seen from miles away. ``Fell asleep at the park again? What do you mean?'' Charlie gasps slightly as his heart sinks upon realizing what he'd just said out loud, accidentally revealing a secret he hadn't yet wanted his new friend to know.

Charlie forces himself to come clean about some of his situation, leaving out the worst parts for now. ``So, yeah. Sometimes I sleep at the park. It's not as bad as it sounds, honest. I uh, I promise I'll tell you the rest later...'' he finishes his explanation. Dexter feels awful as he takes a minute to fully absorb the information he'd been given. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be if he'd felt unwelcome in his own home to the point he had to sleep outside alone just to feel some level of peace and comfort. He couldn't imagine how awful it would be to have an older sibling at home who spent all his time making him feel small and stupid for no reason. Home was the only place Dexter had ever felt comfortable, able to really be himself. The one place he felt safe and loved, despite his depression and anxiety often overwhelming at night. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and hug his new friend, but as he was getting ready to stand, Charlie stood too. ``C-can we watch something on the big TV in the living room? I never seen one that size before.''

Stepping through the hallway, the boys hear quiet talking from the dining room table they couldn't make out. ``We would be more than happy to watch him for as long as you need. I've never seen Dexter so excited before.'' the boys heard the familiar voice of Dexter?s mother finish speaking as they rounded the corner to investigate. ``Dad!'' Charlie shouted, excitedly running up to a mystery figure Dexter had never seen before seated at the table with his parents as they spoke over steaming cups of coffee. ``Charlie!'' the older cheetah stands from his seat to embrace his son, happy to see the boy in person for the first time in months, having not been able to take enough time off work to make his way over for a secret visit. Dexter was in awe of the man, truly the tallest person he'd ever seen in his life. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, Charlie's father looked just like an older and taller version of the boy, same spots and all.

Dexter?s mother gestures for the boys to take a seat at the table with them, having pulled out some folding chairs they stored in the closet in case of guests. Sitting next to each other, the boys looked confused as they waited for someone to explain what was going on. ``Charlie, there's coffee or orange juice on the counter in the kitchen if you'd like some, help yourself.'' Charlie looked over to the voice he just heard, noticing an older chubby squirrel he hadn't noticed before. ``Oh! H-hello. I guess you're Dexter?s dad, huh? I thought- never mind. It- it's nice to meet you!'' He says before heading into the kitchen to get a drink. Dexter gets up behind him to fill up a tall glass of orange juice as he sees his friend preparing a cup of coffee. ``How can you drink that stuff?'' the squirrel asks, curious. ``It's so bitter and weird, even when I put sugar and stuff in it.'' Charlie turns to the boy next to him before responding. ``It helps my brain shut up.'' Dexter is even more confused as he hears this. ``What? How? It always made me feel all jittery n stuff. I can't even drink more than a small cola without feeling like I'll vibrate out of my skin, haha.'' he laughs. Charlie feels a little embarrassed explaining himself, despite knowing his friend had no intention of making him feel bad or uncomfortable. ``It uh, I dunno. I went to the doctor as a kid and they told me I had, uh, AHD or something like that? Makes my brain kinda dumb. It just kinda races a lot without really thinking all that much and I can't focus too well. Caffeine makes it quiet for a little while. Makes me ramble less.'' He explains. ``Oh. You mean ADHD? I have that too. We tried medication for it but it just made me feel weird.'' Dexter replies, before adding ``I hope it doesn't make you too quiet, I like your rambles...'' Charlie's face flushes bright red as butterflies form in his stomach when he hears this. He waits for Dexter to turn and sit back at the table before taking a sip of his coffee and then opting for the juice instead.

Rejoining the adults at the table, the boys turn to the middle aged cheetah sitting at the end of the table as he starts to speak. ``Charlie, I got a few days off work for a family emergency when Dexter?s mom called yesterday and told me everything. I rushed over as fast as I could. I just got in town 2 hours ago and came straight here. I'm going to be staying at the motel right up the street from here, I?m going to give you a spare room key and you're free to come and go as you please, but Dexter?s parents here have agreed to take care of you for as long as you'd like to stay. I called Mrs. Blythe at the trailer park and she said the cops taped up the trailer and talked to the neighbors with management. It's being condemned after they saw the state of it, they found mold everywhere. They talked to Jimmy at work, he's staying with his girlfriend now. I have to take you down to make a statement later, it's up to you what you want to tell them. Nobody's going to pressure you to say anything you don't want to.'' Charlie nods along as his father speaks, not at all surprised to hear any of it. ``Cops? What? What happened?'' Dexter squeaks out, confused and anxious looking to his friend. Charlie looks at his friend, ashamed and heavily apologetic for mostly keeping him in the dark. ``I'll tell you later, I promise.'' he holds up his hand and sticks out his pinky, the squirrel quickly locking it with his own to seal the deal.

Piling into Dexter's mom's car, the group make their way to the local diner for a nice special breakfast together. The drive is quiet and uneventful, Dexter staring out the window, Charlie unable to look away from the squirrel next to him, truly grateful for these last 2 days as he looks forward to the next few as he begins to feel warm inside thinking of how nice everyone has been in is time of need. The joy he felt was nice, feeling as though he'd actually mattered, but just below the happiness was a gnawing sense of guilt for asking for and accepting help. He always hated needing help, always preferring to be the helper and going out of his way to repay whatever debt he felt he owed for the acts of kindness he was shown. He promised himself during that car ride that he'd find a way to repay the squirrel family for their generosity and for treating him as one of their own.

Pulling into a parking space just outside the door, everyone gets out of the car and makes their way inside. ``Man, we haven't been to Benny's in ages. I hope they still have my country fried steak.'' Dexter says as they walk up to the front counter. Charlie's ears perk up at this, intrigued. ``Country fried steak? What's that?'' Dexter turns, a playful shocked gasp as he feigns offense at his feline friends question. ``what's country- Charlie I'm hurt. It's only the bestest thing on any cheap diner menu. Only the finest cuts of bargain bin beef, pounded flat by the rage of a minimum wage line cook with a steel hammer, breaded and deep fried and smothered with gravy.'' Charlie can?t help but laugh at his friend's sarcastic tone. ``Far from the crying kid on the grass at school when he's comfortable, huh?'' the cheetah thinks to himself, smiling at the thought of the boy being at peace around him so soon. ``that sounds pretty good. I think I'll get one too if it's not too much.'' Dexter smiles at getting his friend to try one of his favorite foods. ``They're real big and it also comes with scrambled eggs n stuff. We can split one if you want, I can never eat more than half and it's not very good reheated.'' Charlie smiles and blushes lightly at the thought of sharing a meal with the boy as the fluttering feeling inside of him comes back for a moment as they're taken to their booth.

Dexter sits at the open end of the booth together with his parents, Charlie sat directly across from him on the other side with his dad as they look over the menu. Dexter sees the older cheetah nudge Charlie and lean down to whisper something to the boy he can't hear. ``you were right, Charlie. He is cute. Good eye.'' Dexter watches as Charlie's eyes nearly pop out of his skull as his face flushes redder than ever. ``Dad! Shut up!'' he whispers a little louder than he'd meant to, briefly catching Dexter?s confused look across from him as he quickly picks up his menu to hide behind in shame, his father laughing next to him as if he'd just heard the funniest joke of his life. Lost in his makeshift hiding spot as he zoned out in his embarrassment, Charlie hadn't noticed the waitress coming to take everybody's order until his father nudged him to get his attention. ``Huh?'' he says, as he lifts his head up and folds the menu. ``What can I get ya, kitty?'' Charlie quickly thinks back to a minute ago before they'd sat down. ``Oh! Uh, we're gunna split one of the country fried steaks.'' he says as he motions towards the small boy seated across from him. ``Oh and can I get a coff- er, do you have chocolate milk?'' he adds. ``sure do, sweetheart. Comin' right up. Y'all two are adorable together. Oh, to be young again.'' she looks between the boys as she turns to walk away. All the adults at the table try their hardest to hold back laughter as they see two tomato red boys, wide eyed staring at each other, mouths agape as they realize what the waitress just said.

``Whoa, that thing is huge!'' Charlie says, surprised at the slab of fried meat the waitress had just set down between him and his squirrel friend. ``No wonder you can never finish it.'' the waitress finishes serving everyone's food and drinks, looking down and realizing something. ``Aw, shoot. I forgot to grab an extra plate for you two. I'll be right back.'' She starts to turn around before Dexter chimes in ``Oh don't worry about it. We can share.'' he says. ``can we switch spots?'' he asks charlies father, the man happily nodding and getting up to switch with the boy, giving his son a sly wink nobody else can see.

Charlie and Dexter look down at the large plate of food in front of them as the adults across from them smile at the sight of the boys together briefly before digging into their own meals. ``Go on, Charlie. You can have some first. I'll just eat some eggs.'' Dexter says as he turns the plate so the pile of eggs is in front of him. Charlie nods and picks up his fork, easily slicing through the meat with the side of it, not even needing his knife. He sees the squirrel next to him bring a large forkful of fluffy scrambled eggs to his mouth and bite down happily, not noticing the cheetah's looks. Charlie smiles to himself, seeing how happy the boy looks as he stabs the chunk of meat he cut off the slab and brings it to his nose for a sniff. Dexter turns to stare intently at the boy as he motions to take his first bite, anxiously waiting for his reaction to the squirrel's favorite diner food. Charlie opens his mouth and takes the full bite off his fork, chewing through the juicy tender meat as his eyes light up and his mouth waters. ``Whoa that is good. It's so tender. And peppery!'' he says as he quickly chews and swallows while cutting off another chunk from the slab. ``I can't believe you've never had it before. It's always been my favorite every time we go to a diner.'' Dexter says as he happily watches his friend eat. ``We were always more of a pancake shack family before the div- er, before things changed.'' Charlie's father says. ``You wouldn't know it looking at him now, but this boy could pack down short stacks like nobody's business. Sausage links, too! I swear he swallowed em whole!'' the man finishes, another sly wink at his son as Charlie's eyes go wide as he hears his father speak across from him. ``Dad! What the hell!'' Charlie blushes at the implication of the last half of what the man said. ``Whoa. I wanna see that! Mom can we get Charlie some sausages?'' Dexter asks, oblivious to why all of the adults burst out in laughter at his question as the cheetah next to him feels the heat boiling his cheeks burn up to the ceiling.

Charlie eats the rest of his fill of breakfast in silence and quietly turns the plate to face the steak towards the squirrel next to him. Dexter noticed Charlie's silence and had been catching glimpses of his face as he ate, clearly upset at something. Dexter slides over a little to butt his leg up against his friends, leaning over to whisper to him. ``Are you okay, Charlie? You look sad. Did- did I say something wrong?'' Charlie looks down at the shorter boy, surprised at his question. ``No, you didn't do anything, Dexter. My dad's sausage joke just got to me a little. You're fine, promise!'' Dexter looks up at the boy. ``Joke? Oh, do you not really like them that much?'' Charlie opens his mouth to respond again. ``No, I like them it's just the- you really didn't get it, did you?'' he asks, Dexter looking confused. ``Get what?'' the squirrel asks. Charlie can't help but smile at his little friend's innocence. ``Nothing, Dexter. Don't worry about it, haha.'' the cheetah can't help but laugh at his friends confusion.

Charlie watches Dexter chow down on his half of their meal as his thoughts flood in, thankfully quieter now than when he was eating. He'd always struggled with his feelings, just recently having become more confused than ever before. The cheetah had his fair share of crushes on girls he thought were cute, nothing ever coming from it after they spent time with him when he was trying to make friends. He talked fast, and he talked a lot when he was excited or talking about things he enjoyed, his demeanor always putting people off rather quickly when they couldn't keep up with him. Kids always had a special level of cruelty towards those who were different, Charlie was always thankful he hadn't fallen into the far end of that category. He remembered the time a boy he tried being friends in elementary school with was seen holding hands with another boy at recess. Charlie had been ridiculed by his peers many times before, but he'd never seen that level of torment before or since. He'd never forgotten the words he heard that day as he saw those kids huddled up and crying in front of the swing set, one of them holding a shirt over his bloody nose from being kicked after he was pushed down. ``Daddy says faggots like you belong in the ground where you can't hurt nobody!'' Charlie remembered his blood running cold hearing that, as he ran to find a teacher while the rest of the kids on the playground stood around and watched the beating.

It was far too late to salvage the situation by the time he got back. Both boys had been beaten unconscious by a small group of 4 as half of the kids on the playground cheered them on, the rest watching on in shock unable to move or look away. He remembered one boys face so swollen he was unrecognizable, unable to even open his eyes and his nose broken and misshapen from being kicked and hit with sticks. The other boy had fared no better, his face recognizable but bloody, his left arm broken and bent the wrong way at the elbow, suffering several broken ribs as well. Charlie was terrified. He'd never seen so much blood before, never seen someone in so much pain or witnessed violence like that. It sat with him for life. The group of 4 was suspended from school for 2 weeks. The police got involved but nothing came of it. The two boys who were beaten to the brink of death spent 2 months in the hospital before they could even imagine going to school again. Charlie never wanted to be treated like that, thankful for getting off light with some ridicule for his behavior. He was happy he never had a crush on a boy. He never understood why it was wrong, he never thought it was. The worst part was he knew the beating was a misunderstanding. They weren't holding hands, they'd been shaking hands after making a deal when the leader of the group turned and saw them.

Charlie had never liked a boy before. He was always terrified at the thought of it, remembering that day. He still never thought it was wrong, why anybody else should care, but now he was cursing himself, flooded with endless guilt as the first boy who'd ever given him that fluttery feeling inside sat and happily ate a greasy slab of gravy smothered beef next to him. This pudgy, short little squirrel boy with those big green eyes he couldn't get enough of, talking to him like an actual person, treating him normally, showing interest in his problems, showing genuine concern. In just two days Charlie knew for sure. He had a crush on Dexter, having fallen for him far harder than any crush before in such a short time. He remembered his shower yesterday, the guilt he felt at his behavior in there, the awkward changing in the boys room after, the calm and warmth that flooded his chest as the boy started to brush him. His shock at the instant transformation of the boys demeanor from the huddled up crying ball at school to the boy pushing him down to stay on the floor for his brushing when he tried to get up in shame. He smiled despite his shame and guilt, the boy next to him none the wiser to anything running through the cheetah's head as he finished his king sized meal.

Everyone sat and talked at the table for a while as Dexter?s parents waited for the check to arrive. Charlie sipped his chocolate milk when he noticed the boy eyeing his glass. ``Oh, did you want some?'' he asked, holding his drink up to his friend. ``Are you sure?'' Dexter asks, green eyes sparkling from the light hanging just above their table. Charlies heart soars, like he'd just seen an adorable puppy at the park. ``Yes, please, have some.'' he smiles as the squirrel takes the glass, not even thinking as he drinks straight from where Charlie had been drinking from. Dexter is oblivious as Charlie blushes slightly. ``I love chocolate milk. I didn't know they had it here, it's not in the drink menu. Thanks, Charlie. You're real nice.'' Just as he finished talking the waitress arrived with the check.

On the way home in the back of the car, Charlie thought about how to tell his friend everything that was going on. He didn't know why it was so hard. He'd told all the adults just fine, he felt terrible leaving Dexter in the dark, but something deep down made him terrified the boy would judge him, turn him away and never talk to him again. Or worse yet, ridicule him like all the other kids he tried to befriend. Even if part of him knew it wasn't true, he wasn't like that, the fear was too much as his mind raced with hypothetical scenarios where his friend left him alone forever, never getting to see the sparkle in those eyes again, never getting to hear his voice as he explained how to play the games he'd needed help with because he never played before. Never getting to see him smile so wide when he finally beat a level he'd struggled on.

Dexter could see stress in his friends eyes as the boy stared blankly out through the front of the car while his mind raced. He knew there was something wrong, but he knew the boy wasn't ready to explain things yet. He wanted so badly to help his friend, but he didn't know how. He decided to help the only way he could think of as he placed his own hand on top of Charlie's as it rested on his thigh and gave a gentle squeeze letting him know he wasn't alone, not wanting to push him to say something he wasn't ready for. Dexter knew those feelings, dealing with his mother growing up. He was all too familiar with being pushed to say things he didn't want anybody to know, things he still needed time to think about himself before he asked for help. He'd never wanted to make anybody feel that way. He felt a gentle rumbling in his hand as he looked over to see Charlie looking down to where it rested on his, eyes tearing up slightly as he smiles gratefully at his friend, involuntarily purring without realizing it. Charlies father had given a brief glance over, noticing the boys' hands together as he heard the telltale rumbling sound of a comfortable kitty, smiling at seeing his son happy despite his painful situation.

As the car pulled into the driveway back at home, Charlie's father spoke. ``Alright, Charlie. I gotta take you away from your friend for a little while, we got things to do. We'll be back before dinner tonight, I promise. I gotta get you down to the station and then I think it's time we had a good talk to catch up.'' he says, placing his hand on the boys shoulder and giving a light squeeze. ``Thank you both very much for breakfast. I'll go hit the ATM for some cash to pay you back before we come back.'' he says, turning his head towards the adult squirrels in the front of the car. ``Don't you dare. We're more than happy to help, it was our treat.'' Dexter?s mother replies, turning to face the man with a stern look, offended he'd even considered it. He quickly surrendered the idea of paying them back.

Dexter watched from the porch as Charlie and his father drove away, waving goodbye, sad to see his friend go but happy to know he'd be back later and they'd be able to talk again. ``mom?'' he says as he walks up next to his mother as she sets her purse down on the kitchen counter. ``What is it, sweetie?'' she replies, looking down at her son as he fidgets nervously. ``Do we still have that air mattress from when we went camping a few years ago? I don't want Charlie to sleep on the floor again. He should get to sleep good, too.'' The woman smiles and nods, quickly heading to the closet in her room and pulling out an old dusty box with an air mattress and a bike pump. ``You're a good boy, Dexter. I?m so proud of you. You made a friend on your first day and 2 days later you're already making feel at home here.'' Dexter blushes at his mothers words, his blush deepening slightly when he feels her hand land on top of his head, giving a few gentle strokes along his hair as she leans down to lay a gentle kiss on his forehead. ``You go pump that up and I'll see about getting you guys somethi-'' she's interrupted as her phone rings in her pocket, startled slightly by the noise. Quickly pulling it out, she glances at the screen and gasps in realization. ``Oh no, we forgot to call the school to say you kids wouldn't be in today.'' she says as she answers the phone. ``Hello?'' is the last thing the boy hears as he goes to his room to make his friend's bed.

Charlie's face was soaked through as he sniffled and sobbed, sitting on the corner of his fathers bed in his hotel room. He decided to tell the police everything about the last 2 years leading up to yesterday, and not just that incident. He wanted it to be over, he wanted that part of his life gone and behind him. No more abuse, no more screaming and broken glass, no more sleeping alone in the park. He let out every little detail between sorrowful sobs recounting his verbal torment and living conditions. He asked to have his father in the room, wanting him to know everything as well. Even the older cheetah couldn't hold back his tears as he heard how truly downhill everything had been since the divorce. He always wanted to take Charlie with him, but alone he had no funds, and had been homeless living in his car to save for a place. He'd occasionally come to visit the boy in secret, not wanting to cross paths with the woman who'd destroyed their marriage, often bringing little trinkets and small bits of pocket money so he could take care of himself for a while, never knowing the state of the boys home outside of the yelling he occasionally heard over the phone. Charlie never wanted his father to feel bad, to feel responsible for any of these problems. They weren't his fault, they were her fault entirely. But Charlie took the blame almost daily, from both his mother and brother, never understanding why even Jimmy hated him so much. They used to be so close before all this started. He'd taken so many verbal beatings that he'd also started blaming himself for ruining his own life over a year ago.

He felt a large comforting hand gently set itself on his back, the weight of the man sitting down next to him making the mattress sink down, forcing the boy to lean towards his father. He turned to fully face the man, wrapping his arms around him tightly and laying his head on his shoulder as he fully let go, letting everything out that he'd been holding back. The man felt powerless to help his son, knowing the only thing that would help would be holding the boy and letting him scream his torment out. He was unable to hold back his own flood of emotion, sobbing with his son, neither speaking a word until the well dried up and neither had anything left to cry out. ``I'm so sorry, Charlie. I didn't know...'' is all his father can say before he falls silent again. ``I didn't want you to.'' Charlie responds before getting up to find a towel to try his tear streaked face. ``Dad?'' he asks as he finishes blotting the wet spots from his cheeks. ``Can you take me to the store before we go back? I'd like to- uh, I'd like to get something for Dexter if that's ok.''

Dexter laid on his belly on the floor in his room, looking up at his TV as he made the little farmer in his favorite comfort game plant blueberries all over his farm. He heard a light knock at his door, normal for his mother. ``It's open!'' he shouts, pausing his game and turning to face her as she opens the door. She spots the fully made air mattress on the floor, complete with sheets blankets and pillows along with Dexter?s favorite stuffed animal. She smiles and asks ``That's sweet, Dexter. Giving him your plushie for comfort.'' Dexter looks confused for a moment, then understands what she means. ``Oh, no! The air bed is for me. I changed the sheets on my bed n stuff for Charlie so he wouldn't have to be uncomfortable on the floor while he's here. S'not fair. I dunno what's going on but he seems sad and that's not cool.'' The older squirrel smiles wide, eyes welling up before she stops herself from fully crying. ``You really like him, don't you, Dex?'' she asks. ``Yeah! He scared me when we first met but he's real cool and he's been nice to me. It's weird to have a friend, It feels like we get along good. It feels like I've known him for years already.'' She understood well what he felt, having met the boys father at a similar age and hitting it off instantly. ``Oh, Charlie's father called. He wanted me to give you this. He said they'd be back in a couple hours.'' She hands the boy a small piece of paper with a phone number on in labeled ``Charlie''.

Charlie feels a buzz in his pocket as he sits in a cheap office chair, eating a cup of instant noodles at the flimsy desk in the corner of his dad's hotel room while his father watches an animal documentary on the nature channel from the bed. Pulling out his phone he turns on the screen and sees a message from an unknown number. ``Hi Charlie :) I hope ur doing ok. U seemed pretty sad when u left.'' confused, he turns to the man on the bed. ``Dad? Did you give Dexter my number?'' turning from his documentary on the TV, he faces his son and replies ``Yeah I called his mom earlier to give it to him. You looked like you could use a friend to talk to. Now you don't have to wait til we get back.'' he watched his son's face light up with a smile as he thanked him and turned around to talk to his friend. ``Hey squirrelly :3 i?m doin better now. Ill tell u everything after dinner tonight. How r u?'' his phone vibrated again almost instantly. ``i?m good. I wana show u another game later. It's not actiony like the other ones but it's my favorite n it makes me happy. I hope u like it too.'' Charlie smiles, looking forward to tonight. ``i'm sure I'll love it. What r u up to?'' Charlie's father smiles to himself at the instant change in the boys demeanor when he started messaging his friend, hearing the boy laugh to himself quietly and smiling wide as he turns around in his chair.

Ch 5

Dexter jumped up from his floor in excitement hearing a knock at the front door, quickly rushing out of his room as he heard the door open. Disappointment and a hint of sadness were clear on his face as he saw his mom talking to the delivery guy from the chinese place they ordered from for dinner. She notices her son's face as she turns to put everything down on the kitchen table. ``What's wrong, sweetie?'' she asks the sad boy next to her as he helps her lay takeout boxes out on the table. ``Oh, it's nothing. I heard the door and I thought cha-'' Dexter freezes mid sentence as he hears another knock at the door, eyes widening in excitement and smiling as he rushes to the door. The older squirrel behind him can't help but smile and laugh at the instant change in energy as he opens the door to see the young cheetah he'd been so impatiently waiting for. ``Hi Charlie! Dinner just got here you guys are right on time.'' he greeted his friend excitedly, as if he hadn't just been pouting. ``He's just like a little kid on Christmas.'' his mother thinks to herself as everyone sits down for dinner.

Charlie watched as everyone pulled small piles of food out of the little boxes strewn across the table, unsure of what to take, somewhat put off by most of the choices. ``Not hungry?'' he hears from the short squirrel boy seated next to him. ``Oh, uh, I don't know what I want. I don't think I've ever had chinese food. What are you having?'' he asks as he sees the boy looking through several small boxes until his eye light up finding what he was looking for. ``I'm kind of a picky eater so I always just get orange chicken and the fried rice. I tried some of the other stuff before and I didn't like it very much. But this stuffs real good! It looks like we got extra this time. Do you wanna try some?'' he asks, holding up the box of sticky glazed fried chicken chunks to the cheetah. ``Well, if breakfast is anything to go by you have great taste, so this will probably be another new favorite.''

Dexter sat and watched his friend go in for his first taste, noticing a pattern from this morning he'd found inexplicably endearing. He noticed the cheetah go in for a quick sniff, wiggling his nose slightly before he'd go in to taste a new food. He saw Charlie smile as the sweet glazed chicken nugget touched his tongue, quickly eating it down with a little rice. Satisfied his friend was enjoying his meal, he dug into his own, everyone eating in relative silence.

``I'd like to thank you both again very much for your help in this situation. I have no idea what I would even do without your generosity, thank you.'' Charlie looks up from his plate to see his dad stand as he talks to Dexter?s parents when he feels a hand on his head, quickly ruffling his head fur. ``Charlie, I have to go now. I'll be in town until Friday, you can come back to the hotel with me or you can stay here. Id imagine you'd like to stay with your new friend, though.'' he states, as he slides a plastic key card in front of the boy. ``stop by whenever, I'll be in contact with Dexter?s parents as we work out details of this arrangement.'' Charlie stands up to hug his father as Dexter?s mother responds ``Think nothing of it. I've never seen Dexter so happy. I think this will end up being good for both of them, despite the circumstances. We're still not taking your money, so don't even think about it.'' she shoots another stern look as she sees the man reach for his wallet in attempt to at least cover part of dinner. He quickly moves his hand back away from it before he turns to leave. ``You two can go, we'll take care of the leftovers.'' she says with a smile. ``Goodnight, boys.''

Charlie is surprised and excited when Dexter opens his door, seeing the air bed on the floor. ``You didn't have to set that up for me, Dexter. I was ok on the floor, really.'' He felt a little guilty inside even  through his gratefulness at the boys gesture as he felt that telltale fluttering inside him again. ``I don't mind, Charlie. The air mattress is comfy enough, I won't have a problem.'' the cheetah gives the boy a confused look before opening his mouth to speak again. ``What do you mean you won't have a problem?'' Dexter sets himself down on the air mattress as he pats his bed, telling the cheetah to come sit. ``I mean I won't have an issue on the air bed while you're on the real one. I put on fresh sheets and everything!'' Charlie blushes bright at his friends words, butterflies intensifying as he walks to sit down where the boy was patting for him. ``Dexter you didn-'' he's cut off by the tiny squirrel just next to him as he holds up a finger to playfully wag at him. ``You're sleeping on the bed, Charlie. I didn't do it because I thought I had to. I did it because I wanted to. I don't know what all's going on right now but you're my friend now and you deserve to be comfortable and happy, too.'' Charlie smiles and starts to tear up, warmth radiating through him. ``Dexter?'' he says in a quiet, shaky voice. ``I think i?m ready to tell you the rest, now...''

Both boys sat with tear stained faces as Dexter listens to his friend recount his last 2 years, just as he'd done for the police earlier in the day, holding nothing back. Charlie was utterly terrified of the little squirrel next to him running away and never talking to him again, or seeing him in a different light, but he felt wrong hiding it. When he finished his story, Dexter couldn't find words to speak, as if someone had removed his ability to speak entirely. He looked his friend in the eyes and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly as he finally understood Charlie's feelings. Charlie wiped his eyes with his free hand and sniffled before he could talk again. ``I'm s-sorry I kept it f-from you. I was scared you wouldn't...I thought you might run away and not want to be friends if you knew I was so f-fucked up.'' looking off to the side, not wanting to hold eye contact while he sniffled, he didn't notice his friend stand up from his air bed until he felt the bed he sat on sink down and he felt arms around him. He tilted his head to rest on his friends shoulder as he let go and cried until he couldn't cry anymore. They were the warmest and most welcoming arms he'd ever felt.

Dexter sat and held his friend for 20 minutes before either felt they could speak again, a few minutes after they'd both stopped crying and just felt comfort in each other. ``You're going to be okay, Charlie. I promise. I'm happy you're here.'' Dexter gave one strong squeeze momentarily before finally breaking their extended hug and getting up to turn on the TV. ``Come sit with me, Charlie. I want to show you something.'' Dexter felt a little embarrassed as his game booted up and the ``FARMER VALLEY'' logo lit up across the TV screen, feeling as though his cheetah friend probably wouldn't enjoy it the way he did. ``What's this?'' Charlie asks as he sit on the floor next to the squirrel. ``I wanted to show you my favorite game. It always makes me feel better when I?m depressed, so I thought maybe it would be nice to show you, too. It's okay if you don't like it, I just wanted to show it to you and let you try it for a little.'' he said, handing the controller to Charlie. ``If you like it, there's a multiplayer mode so we can have a farm together, but I think it's better to start alone first to get a feel for it.'' Charlie smiled, happy to have a friend who wanted to share his favorite things.

Charlie had played for about an hour before he wanted to restart with Dexter, having been very much enjoying himself even with as slow as it was to start with. Their farm grew quickly, both boys losing track of time until Dexter noticed the young cheetah next to him dozing off. Dexter picked up his phone to check the time, eyes wide as he saw 2am on the clock. Reaching over, the squirrel gently nudged the cheetah boy to try to wake him up. ``Charlie, come on, lets go to bed. I don't want you to sleep on the floor again.'' Charlie groggily stood up, mostly unconscious as the young squirrel led him to the bed. He rubbed his eyes and opened them for a moment to lean forward and grab Dexter in a tight hug. ``Mmmh, g'night Dexter. Thanks for being so nice.'' he let go of the squirrel and flopped down on the mattress, quickly crashing out before he could even think of pulling the blanket over him. Dexter looked at the young cheetah sprawled out on his bed, seeing a slight smile on the sleeping boys face as he felt a pleasant warmth overtake him. He quickly leaned over the boy to pull the blanket over him, tucking the edges in under him before turning off the light and laying down on the air mattress on the floor after butting it up against the bed. ``Goodnight, Charlie.'' he smiled as he fell asleep still feeling that warm fluttering inside him.

Dexter woke up at noon, drenched in sweat from the heat radiating in through his window and blasting down on him while he was wrapped in his blanket. He grabbed his water bottle off the floor next to him and quickly chugged it down, cooling him slightly and moistening his dry mouth. Groggily, he stood and made his way out of his room and opened the bathroom door to relieve himself. His eyes shot open wide when he saw the naked cheetah boy standing in front of him drying his head and ears, having just stepped out of the shower not hearing the door open until he heard a gasp. ``Holy fucking shit...'' he heard quietly, quickly uncovering his damp face to spot his friend standing in the door way, eyes glued to the cheetah's half erect member jutting out in front of him as he quickly blushed and covered himself. ``Oh, god, I'm so sorry, I-'' Dexter couldn't hear the rest of what the boy said as he'd bolted back into his room, slamming the bathroom door behind him in shock as he buried his face in his pillow, cheeks burning hot as he processed what he'd just seen. ``Jesus he's huge.'' he thought to himself as he felt his own bulge begin to painfully press into the air bed. He didn't understand the feelings he was having, they confused and scared him, making him feel strange inside as he had no idea how to deal with them.

Dexter heard his bedroom door gently close as he looked up to see an equally red faced shirtless cheetah boy standing there, stammering as he tried to squeak out an apology. ``I'm so sorry, Dexter. I should have woken- I mean, I didn't want to bother you so I just- I woke up all sweaty and felt gross so I went to wash it off and I-'' Dexter cut him off. ``W-why are you apologizing? I mean, I- I wasn't even thinking, I didn't even knock o-or anything! I didn't even n-notice you weren't still in the bed!'' Charlie was struggling to calm down, feeling awful for the situation even if deep down he knew it wasn't anybody's fault. ``I didn't want- uh, I didn't want you to see me like that...'' Dexter looked confused through his intense blush. ``I- I mean it's not like it's the first time I saw it, it just s-surprised-'' Charlie butted in ``what do you mean it's not the f-first time? When did you-'' he quickly remembered his shower the other day, not noticing through his mental fog at the time that he'd fully stripped in front of the squirrel without even a thought in his mind about it. ``Oh, shit.'' Charlie rushed to pull a shirt on and run out of Dexter's room before the boy could say anything, having been out of the house entirely by the time Dexter had been able to process what happened and leave his room to see where the boy had gone.

Charlie felt his pocket vibrate repeatedly as he ran towards the park, trying and failing to fight off tears as a panic attack over took him. ``Stupid, stupid, stupid, fucking idiot, Charlie! Fuck!'' he yelled to himself under his breath as his brain turned to angry static, giving him no thoughts, but filling him with horrible, awful feelings of guilt and anger and sadness as he finished the extensive run to the park and slipped through the bars under the set of bleachers he knew so well. He sat, butted up against an old, heavily splintered sheet of plywood, not feeling the handful of slivers of wood stabbing into his back through his brain static. ``Fucking stupid idiot. Stupid fucking airhead dipshit. He's never going to like you. Of course he wouldn't. He's seen you naked twice in his house in 3 days. Fucking freak. Who could like you Charlie. Fucking retard. Mom was right. Mom was right...'' he hugged his knees as he sat and cried to himself waiting for the bad feelings to pass. He knew they would, eventually. He knew they always did, but he still always struggled with them.

Charlie's father jumped as he heard a frantic pounding at his door, quickly running up to open it and seeing a panicked and out of breath squirrel boy hunched over attempting to catch his breath. ``Dexter? What's going on? What's wrong? Where's Charlie?'' he asked, his heart racing as he thought the worst. ``He ran-'' Dexter struggled to breathe for a moment before he spoke again. ``He ran away a few minutes ago. I thought h-he might be here. He wont pick up his phone.'' the man invited the squirrel inside, quickly sitting with him on the bed. ``He's not here. He hasn't called or anything. I?m sure he's okay. What happened?'' Dexter blushed and looked down in shame as he began to explain what happened. ``I- uh, I walked in on him coming out of the shower b-by accident and he k-kinda just freaked out and r-ran...'' the man couldn't help but laugh slightly at the blushing, stuttering boy. ``Haha, oh, you poor kids. I don't know where he went, but it sounds like he's probably having a panic attack or something. It happens sometimes, it's scary. He likes to run. I don't know for sure where he would have gone, but he's probably at the park.'' Dexter was up and out the door before the man even had a chance to continue.

Two hours had passed since Charlie ran, he still sat under the bleachers hugging his knees, though the bad feelings had mostly passed as he sat feeling deeply guilty and childish for his behavior. He looked over as he heard an intense gasping as someone nearby had fallen over. He runs over to the mass on the ground and recognizes the familiar squirrel struggling to pick himself back up. ``Dexter? Are you okay? What happened?'' he asked as he helped the immensely sweaty boy back onto his feet. He saw the boy struggling to catch his breath and quickly led him to the water fountain. Having gotten a drink and caught his breath for the most part, Charlie led Dexter under the bleachers to sit with him so they could talk. ``I ran. I ran to see your dad because I thought-'' Dexter sniffled as he held back his tears. ``I thought you might have ran to see him. But he said you weren't there and you were probably at the park, but I didn't ask which park before I ran out and- and then I went to 3 different parks around here before I found this one. I tripped on a stick. Ow.'' the squirrel gently rubbed his knee as the soreness set in from landing on it when he fell. ``Charlie why did you run? I was so worried about you, you didn't answer your phone.'' Charlie struggled to find his words when he saw how concerned Dexter was. ``I panicked. I felt bad, I felt guilty, I felt stupid. I do a lot of things without thinking. I didn't even realize I stripped in front of you until you told me today wasn't the first time you saw me...like that. I felt like a freak, and I panicked, and I ran. I'm sorry.'' He felt a hand on his shoulder as he finished talking. ``It's okay, I was just worried. You didn't do anything wrong, Charlie. I?m the one who walked in on you, not the other way around.''

The boys sat together under the bleachers and talked while they waited for Charlie's father to pick them up. ``Well, now we've both had stupid pointless panic attacks around each other, so I guess we're even for Wednesday.'' Dexter said, and both boys couldn't help but share a laugh at their mental misfortune. ``You run way too fast, by the way.'' the squirrel added as his laughter died down. Charlie laughed again. ``Well, I am a cheetah. You'll never keep up on the running days in PE.'' Dexter groaned, ``Oh, god. I forgot we still have school. At least we ended up with a 3 day weekend for all this.'' They heard footsteps nearby as Charlie peeked his head out to see his dad coming towards them. ``Our ride's here, squirrelly. Let's get back and farm. That game is nice.'' Dexter smiled hearing his friend also liked his favorite game, and the boys made their way out from under the bleachers to walk with the older cheetah to his car.

``Thanks for coming to get us, dad. Sorry for the trouble.'' the man gave an understanding and sympathetic nod, looking at the boy in the rear view mirror as they piled into his car. ``It's fine, buddy. Shit happens. It's what I'm here for. I?m glad you seem to be doing better. You should have seen Dexter?s face when he came pounding on my door ready to collapse. I thought you fucking died or something, kid.'' the boys in the back seat briefly made eye contact, blushing before Dexter turned to look away and began nervously nibbling at his finger nails. ``Dad?'' Charlie said nervously. ``can we...can we just keep this whole thing between us 3, please?'' the man in the driver's seat nodded. ``Of course, Charlie.'' with that, he started the car and they made their way back to Dexter's house.

Pulling into the driveway, Dexter opened the door to step out as Charlie followed, quickly stopped by his dad for a moment. ``Charlie, I thought you might want this. You forgot it in my room when we came back yesterday.'' He pulls up a plastic grocery bag to hand to the younger cheetah, smiling as he lets him leave. ``Thanks, dad.'' The man nods and smiles before driving away as the boys make their way back inside and run to Dexter?s room.

Dexter heard his phone go off and saw a text from his dad. ``We're getting dinner with Charlie?s dad to talk over things. don't know when we'll be home. There's plenty of leftovers in the fridge for you 2. Have fun Dex :)'' Dexter put his phone down and smiled, happy to continue his farming adventure with the cheetah boy next to him as he resumed their game. ``My parents are going to dinner with your dad to talk, they'll probably be back kinda late tonight. There's loads of leftovers from yesterday for us, though.'' Charlie looked over to his friend. ``Oh, cool. It's kinda nice to just be alone with you.'' Charlie quickly blushed hearing what he'd said, Dexter quickly following with his own face lighting up slightly. ``It- it is nice, yeah. I know it's because of a fucked up situation, but I?m happy you're here, Charlie. Uh, thanks for, y'know, being my friend.'' they shared a moment of silence with each other before Dexter remembered something else. ``Hey, what was that bag your dad gave you?'' ``Oh!'' Charlie quickly jumped up to grab the tied up bag on the bed, opening it and pulling out a few small snacks. ``You've been really cool helping me and making me feel comfortable here n stuff and I remembered at breakfast yesterday you said you loved chocolate milk so I went and, uh, well, it's not real chocolate milk, but I got you my favorite kind from when I was little. And a couple other snacks I really like, because you showed me some of your favorite foods and I thought that was really nice.'' he blushes as he holds up a small plastic bottle of a thick chocolate drink and a small bag of sour candy strips to the boy next to him.

Dexter smiled wide and his eyes sparkled with joy as he opened the treats his cheetah friend gave him, quickly taking a big sip of the chocolate drink after shaking it thoroughly. ``Whoa, that's really good. It's like a protein shake but better.'' Charlie smiled hearing his friend enjoying his gift, pulling out his own bottle from the bag and joining him. ``I'm glad you like it. I know it's nothing real special, they kinda only sell it at the dollar store but I always loved it.'' Dexter reached over and hugged Charlie when he finished talking. ``Of course it's special, Charlie. It's from you.'' Charlie couldn't control his purring as he hugged his friend back, the butterflies in his stomach overtaking him as he squeezed his little squirrel friend as hard as he could without hurting him. ``Hey, Dexter? Uhm, would it be ok if i- I mean, would you mind, uh, b-brushing me again? I didn't get the chance before I r-ran earlier.'' he asked, unable to make eye contact through his embarrassing request. ``I would love to.'' Dexter responded, pushing the boy down onto the floor and grabbing the pillow from his air bed.

Charlie blushed hard as Dexter pulled his shirt up and off of him as he lay on the floor. Dexter grabbed the wire fur brush off the night stand and got to work, gently working out the tangles in Charlie?s arm fur as the boy melted into a puddle of embarrassed purring, both unable and unwilling to control himself as he relaxed through his special treatment. Finishing his arms, Dexter moved onto the boys back, starting at the shoulders and slowly, gently working his way down as he made sure to push the brush deep into the fluffy cheetah's fur, applying a gentle pressure down into his skin as he got to work thoroughly detangling the boys fur. ``hmm...'' Dexter thought out loud as he struggled to reach across the boy, having to get up and change sides frequently as he finished brushing different sections of his back. ``Charlie, go lay on the bed like this so I can finish there. I need a better position to sit.'' Charlie got up in a daze as he quickly flopped face down onto the mattress, all too happy for his friend to continue.

Dexter sat with his knees spread on either side of the boys waist, eliciting an embarrassed mewl from the cheetah below him as he felt some of the squirrels weight press down on his butt. ``D-Dexter what are y-'' he was cut off as he began purring again when the boy continued his thorough brushing across the boy's exposed back, making sure to get every little inch he could, not wanting to miss anything as he enjoyed the heavy vibrations emanating from his feline friend. With one final long stroke of the brush, Dexter was sure he'd gotten every inch of the boy possible. ``Alright, flip over. I gotta do your belly, too.''

In a daze, Charlie rolled over onto his back, eyelids heavy in his relaxed state as he felt the pressure of the boy sitting on him let up so he could move a little, until he sat back down in the same position once Charlie had finished rolling over. Neither boy was thinking about it at first, and neither had noticed, until Dexter bent over to reach the front of the boys shoulders, unintentionally grinding his crotch into Charlie?s. The young feline yelped in embarrassment as he tried to speak up, but words failed to fall from his mouth as he looked up at the squirrel above him, bent over him and brushing away while he still purred even through his shame. Charlie felt himself slowly hardening in his shorts, Dexter?s movements adding more and more pressure and stimulation to his covered crotch with each stroke as he bent over to dig into his fur with the brush. Charlie?s cheeks burned hotter than ever as he looked at his friend, but the squirrel hadn't noticed anything, being in a comfortable trance himself through the repeated strokes he was giving the cheetah.

Dexter had felt a pleasant tingling in his crotch, his own adolescent cock hardening as the boy below him purred, never noticing his face or his failure to speak as he opened his mouth repeatedly. Charlie had resigned himself to his fate as the pressure and stimulation on his penis increased, reaching full mast in his shorts as his penis was squished down between the squirrels crotch and the cheetah's belly. Gentle back and forth motions tormented Charlie as Dexter brushed more small sections of his belly, reaching lower and lower until the cheetah was panting and blushing, nearing his unintentional climax. Charlie squeaked out loud as he reached the point of no return, breaking Dexter out of his trance as he finished one final long stroke down the middle of his belly, his hand stopping just above the waistband of the cheetah's loose fitting basketball shorts. ``D-Dexter! H-haaaah~'' was all he could squeak out as Dexter quickly locked eyes with him as orgasm took over, forcing the boy to throb hard in his shorts, forcefully ejaculating through them as his body seized up, shaking uncontrollably as the squirrel stared at him wide eyed and concerned, confused as he felt the hard throbbing just beneath him, pressing into his own now fully hard erection.

``Ch-charlie? What just happened? Are you okay?! Did I hurt you?'' Charlie couldn't speak through his immense shame and embarrassment, turning his head to the side as his eyes flooded over with guilty tears. Dexter was scared as he jumped off the boy, rushing to sit next to him and look at his face as he tried to see what just happened. ``Charlie I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you, what's wrong?'' the squirrel felt a pit in his stomach as he watched the boy cry in front of him, unable to bring himself to respond until the tears died down again. ``S-sorry, Dexter. I t-tried to get you to stop b-but I couldn't s-say anything...'' he managed to sniffle out. ``Sorry for what? What happened? You just, like, seized up? Did...did you wet yourself?'' He asked as he noticed the damp spot on his crotch. Charlie blushed again as he managed to work up the mental strength to talk again. ``N-no I- wait, you really d-don't know?'' he asked. ``N-no?...i was just brushing you and then- well, then that happened...''

Charlie sat up, trying to think of how to explain the situation, face still bright red. ``H-have you never taken s-sex ed?'' Dexter looked up to explain himself, now also embarrassed. ``M-my mom never let me take it. S-she always thought I was too young. I'm still really s-small so she kind of treats me like a little kid a lot.'' Charlie laughed at the stammering squirrel sitting next to him as they both dealt with their own internal struggles. ``Okay I-I'll explain a little.'' Charlie said, Dexter immediately sitting up to pay close attention. ``So, uh, w-when boys hit puberty uh, y-your dick will start to g-get hard sometimes, and it'll feel weird at first b-but it feels good. When you or s-someone else plays with it enough, you uh, c-cum. It's like, your whole body k-kinda just loses control for a few seconds and your penis shoots white stuff out of it.'' Dexter tilted his head and asked ``Oh! So that's what happened? I made you cum?'' Charlie's blush lit up brighter again as he shamefully nodded his head. ``Y-yeah, Dexter. You made me cum rubbing on it when you were sitting on me.'' Dexter looked his friend in the eye, a serious tone in his voice as he asked ``But...I didn't hurt you, right? You said it f-feels good when that happens?'' Charlie whined a little as he forced himself to answer honestly. ``Yeah, Dexter. It felt...really, really fucking good...''

Dexter couldn't help but smile and laugh at his tomato faced feline friend as he explained everything. ``I'm happy I could make you feel good. You deserve to feel good, Charlie. You're nice. You don't have to cry about that.'' Charlie had been noticing a sharp change in the young squirrel's demeanor when he was happy or comfortable. A strong sense of confidence that wasn't there before when they'd both been blushing stuttering messes, but that came out instantly when he heard his friend had felt good, or when he noticed Charlie was comfortable or happy around him like when he started purring. His shyness faded instantly when he realized he hadn't hurt Charlie at all, but that he'd just been violently embarrassed at having an orgasm from the squirrel's attention.

Charlie smiled at Dexter?s words. They felt nice to hear, even if he struggled to believe them fully when his own self doubts crept in. He still felt great shame and guilt for letting himself go like that, but Dexter being happy about making him feel good gave him butterflies more intense than he'd ever felt before, fully solidifying his feelings for the pudgy little squirrel as he struggled to hide the extent of them from him. Dexter had gotten up to check his phone, setting it back down as he checked the time. ``it's 5, do you want to come have dinner with me?'' he asked, smiling as the cheetah boy nodded and stood up from the bed, quickly following close behind him as they made their way to the kitchen to heat up some leftover orange chicken.

The boys sat and ate together at the table in silence, enjoying their time together even without saying or doing anything. Dexter finished eating first and waited for Charlie to finish, quickly standing to take both of their plates to the sink. Now full, they headed back to Dexter?s room. ``Charlie, do you want to keep farming with me?'' the cheetah's eyes lit up. ``yeah!'' he quickly rushed over to grab the second controller, making himself comfortable on the floor as they played until long after the sun had gone down. Dexter checked his phone, feeling sleep setting in seeing it was almost midnight. ``Charlie I think I'm going to go to sleep. You can keep playing if you want.'' Charlie paused the game and put his controller down. ``No, I think sleep sounds good.'' he lied a little. In truth the boy was wide awake, but it felt wrong to keep playing without his friend. Dexter shut down the console and TV and crawled into bed after turning the lights off, Charlie following and flopping onto the mattress, rolling onto his side to face the boy on the air bed on the floor in front of him, watching as he cutely curled up and got comfortable, hugging his big fluffy tail.

Charlie laid awake for what felt like hours as he watched his friend's chest rise and fall calmly with his breathing in the darkness of the boy's room. ``Dexter?'' he whispered quietly, the boy on the floor turning to look up at him. ``Yeah, Charlie?'' the cheetah had to steel his nerves to continue talking. ``Are you having trouble sleeping, too?'' He saw Dexter nod in answer to his question, breathing a shaky sigh as he worked up the nerve to ask something. ``D-do you...uh, would you like to sleep on the bed?'' he asked, his heart pounding hard as it felt like it would burst from his chest at any moment. ``Charlie I told you I made the bed for you, I won't make you sleep on the floor.'' he heard the squirrel respond, making his next question feel all that much harder to squeak out. ``N-no I mean, uh, would you like to sleep on the bed, uh, with me?'' both boys blushed in the darkness of the room, sitting in still silence for a moment before Charlie saw the squirrel stand up off of the air bed and felt him crawl onto the mattress next to him.

Charlie tossed half of the blanket over the small figure next to him and quickly realized just how small the boy's bed truly was, having almost no room to adjust himself. The cheetah blushed as he realized his crush was now laying in bed with him, oblivious to his feelings as he had almost immediately fallen asleep. Charlie thought for a moment about how he would be able to get comfortable with so little space, and quickly decided on just wrapping his free arm around Dexter, pulling him into a snuggle as his face burned hot realizing what he was doing. He struggled to fall asleep for a while, but he'd fully crashed out at some point as he hugged his best friend to sleep.

Ch 6

Charlie woke up to the sun in his eyes through the wide open window in Dexter?s room. He felt a warm lump in his arms as he looked down to see the tiny squirrel boy curled into a ball in his arms, facing him with his face buried into his chest as he was curled up holding his tail, a big smile on his face as he slept in immense comfort under the blanket with one of Charlie?s legs trapped between both of his own. Charlie felt a warmth in his chest, immediately purring as he stayed perfectly still, holding the small rodent in his arms, not wanting to disturb his much needed rest. A half an hour had passed as Charlie laid in silence holding the boy before he felt the squirrel begin to stir in his arms, woken up by the intense vibrations from the cheetah's comfort.

Dexter had slowly uncurled himself from his ball, realizing where he was and blushing slightly at how nice it felt to be held. He wrapped an arm around the lithe cheetah holding him and gave a tight squeeze, rubbing his face in the boy's chest gently. ``Mnnnnh, good morning, Charlie.'' Charlie was frozen as he tried to keep his heart from exploding in his chest at the adorable display. ``This is nice.'' he squeaked out before the cheetah boy squeezed him tightly. ``It is nice, isn't it...'' there was a quick knock at the bedroom door, both boys jumping up to quickly get out of bed, embarrassed at the idea of being caught together so closely, though Dexter didn't know why he really felt that kind of fear. It felt nice. he didn't understand the shame he felt in the thought of being caught, only that he felt said shame. Dexter had just sat on his air mattress as he remembered to respond to the knock. ``It's open!''

Dexter watched his mother peek her head in the door. ``Sorry, I know we don't normally wake you up on the weekend but Charlie's dad got an emergency call from work and has to go back early, so we made breakfast to say goodbye. I know he'd like to talk to both of you before he has to leave.'' she said as she turned and closed the door behind her, giving the boys a chance to get ready to eat. They quickly took turns using the bathroom and getting changed before they headed out to the living room.

Everyone sat at the table as they enjoyed their breakfast. Store bought canned biscuits smothered with white gravy and chunks of breakfast sausage with eggs on the side. Everybody ate in relative silence, Dexter getting up to take everyone's plate when they were finished. ``Thank you very much for your hospitality, once again. I'm very grateful for your help in this situation, especially taking care of Charlie for me. I'm sorry I got called away so soon but I can?t afford to lose this job. Charlie, I need you to come step outside with me for a minute, okay? We need to talk about some stuff.'' the older squirrels nodded from the other end of the table as the cheetah stood and stepped outside with his son.

Stepping outside, the cheetahs made their way to sit in the car so they could talk. ``Charlie, I love you. I'm sorry for everything that's happened. I'm sorry I wasn't here for you when you needed me, I'm sorry I didn't know what was going on this whole time. I'm sorry your mother ruined your mental state, and I?m sorry your brother joined her in it. I should have been here. I should have worked things out with her, but I couldn't, and I didn't. I ran away and I left you alone and I fucked up. I don't know why you still talk to me with any level of respect, but I'll be doing my best to work on earning it. You're going to be staying here for as long as you like, these people can take care of you in a way I can't, in a way your mother never would. You always have my number, I will always pick up when you call. I will still be coming to visit once in a while when I can, and it won't be a big secret anymore. I?m so s-'' the man had to stop talking as his guilt and sorrow overtook him, forcing him to fight back sobs tears streamed down his face like a waterfall of shame he'd been holding back. ``I'm so fucking sorry for everything, Charlie. You're such a good boy, you're going to be okay, I promise. Things are going to be so much better here. You have a real friend in there, buddy. A real, actual friend. I see the way you look at each other, and it fills me with hope and happiness. I need you to always be open and honest with him. Promise me you won't ever lie to him. Not about anything important. I can tell he's here for you. It's only been a few days but you two are so good for each other. Please don't let anything change that.''

Charlie sat and cried in his dad's car as the man spoke to him, unable to speak himself as they shared in their sorrow with each other, emotion heavy in the air. ``I love you too, dad. I promise I'll be honest with him. He makes me s-so happy it scares me. H-he's been so nice to me, he goes out of his way to make sure I?m comfortable and having a good time. I don't blame you for any of this. I never did, I never will. I understand why you left. I kept the worst of it a secret because I didn't want you to feel responsible for a-any of it.'' Charlie leaned over the center console to hug the older cheetah, quickly feeling arms around himself as well as they cried together for a few minutes before their sobs ceased. ``I love you so much, Charlie. You're such a strong boy, and I'm so proud of you for making it through everything. I need you to go inside and call Dexter out here now, okay? I need to talk to him and then I have to make my way back.'' The man gave his son one last tight squeeze, placing a kiss on top of his head before he let go. Charlie looked the man in the eye and nodded before turning to leave.

Dexter made his way to the car that was running in the driveway, opening the door and sitting down, feeling the air conditioning blast his face as he closed the door. Charlie?s father turned to him as he spoke. ``Dexter, thank you. Thank you for taking care of my son, making him feel welcome and loved. I never saw him this happy even when me and his mother were still together. You're a very special boy, I hope you know that. I know you don't know me, and I have no right to ask you for anything considering everything you've already done and everything your parents are doing for us, but I'd like to ask you to please keep taking care of him. I don't know how long he'll have to stay here, I've been struggling to afford my own place where I am, but it's hard. I?m going to give you my phone number, and I ask that you call me if something's ever going wrong with him. Something that your parents can't know, or that you two don't want them to know. I'll do my best to help you through it. Can you do that for me, Dexter?'' the squirrel nodded, listening to the man intently. ``Thank you. I think you might just be the best thing that's ever happened to him, whether either of you realize it or not. He struggles with some things. Please be patient with him. I know he feels like a burden, even if deep down he knows it's not true. Please don't let him fall back down that hole of despair.''

The cheetah reaches into his pocket to pull out a card with his phone number on it, and also pulls out his wallet to hand the boy some money. ``Your parents would kill me if they saw this. Please keep it, for you and for Charlie. Buy treats when you're having a bad day, take yourselves out somewhere nice, I don't care. Have fun. Can you do that for me?'' Dexter?s eyes were wide as he listened to the man speak. ``Yes. I promise. I promise to everything.'' the cheetah smiled. ``Thank you, Dexter. I have to go now. Don't let Charlie see that, okay? I'll see you guys again some time soon. Goodbye, Dexter.'' Dexter left the car and watched as the older cheetah drove away, quickly putting the wad of money in his pocket and making his way back inside.

Sunday passed by in a flash as the boys spent their time inside again trying to avoid the heat, spending most of the day building up their farm together on their game. There was a knock at the door as Dexter?s father peeked inside without waiting for a response. ``Alright, boys. It's 11, time to pack it up, alright? School tomorrow.'' he said loudly, before peeking his head in further and continuing quietly ``you don't have to go to sleep but at least turn the lights off so mom thinks you're sleeping.'' he winks as he leaves and closes the door. Dexter turns to the boy sitting on the floor with him to ask ``Charlie? Would it be alright if I slept with you again?'' The cheetah quickly nodded and blushed as they both got up to get ready for bed.

Dexter turned off the light and turned to jump into the bed next to Charlie, both boys blushing nervously as they enjoyed their closeness even despite the warm night. ``Charlie?'' Dexter whispered. ``I'm so happy you're here. I don't know why, but I feel so warm inside when I'm with you. It makes me nervous, but it feels nice.'' Charlie blushed, hearing the tiny squirrel in his arms confess to having similar feelings out of the blue. ``Dexter? Could you turn around, please?'' the squirrel blushed and nodded, nervously rolling over to face the boy as he felt a hand on his cheek. Dexter could see wetness welling up in Charlie?s eyes even in the darkness as the boy laid there with his mouth open, quivering lightly as he fought for the strength to speak. ``Charlie? What's wrong? Why are y-'' Dexter was cut off by the feeling of the boys lips pressing against his, the squirrel's eyes widening in shock for a moment before he melted into the embrace, kissing him back and squeezing him tightly as they got lost in each other.

Charlie broke their kiss after a minute, their lips still connected by a thin strand of spit as he went to speak. ``Dexter I- I feel so much better when I'm around you. You make me feel like I?m worth something. I don't know how to handle it. You give me that warmth too.'' Dexter?s body was on fire, overwhelmed with his feelings as the butterflies in his stomach spread to his whole body, making him feel as though he could flutter out of his skin at any moment, but it was such a wonderful feeling. He never wanted it to end as he leaned in to kiss Charlie again, letting his feelings overtake him as he gave up control of his body to those feelings. He felt a wetness gently prod at his lips as he opened his mouth slightly to let Charlie?s tongue through, quickly meeting it with his own as they wrestled and swirled around in the little squirrel's mouth while they breathed heavily, eyes closed as they both began to moan quietly into each other's mouths. Dexter?s hands were the first to wander, reaching their way under Charlie?s shirt slightly to feel his way around the boy's thin waste and run gently up and down his side, quickly reaching around near the top of the boys back to grip some of his fur and pull him into their kiss tighter while the cheetah's own hand quickly found itself making its way down from Dexter's face down to his plump ass.

Dexter moaned when he felt Charlie?s hand reach his butt, feeling a jolt of excitement as he broke their kiss to catch his breath and feel his hands wander across more of the taller boys body. His hand began creeping its way back down to the boys waist, fingers crawling themselves around to the thin cheetah's stomach as they began to tease themselves lower, Charlie gasping and grabbing the squirrels hand when he felt those crawling fingers begin to tease themselves just into his waistband. ``D-Dexter, wait. Can I- uhm, can I do something for you, please? I'd like t- uhm, I'd like to pay you back. For everything. Please? Can I just do something for you?'' Dexter was confused, but agreed to the boys request. ``Y-yeah, sure. What do you-'' the squirrel gasped as he felt the cheetah push him onto his back, laying a quick kiss on his lips again as he felt his shirt get lifted up to his neck, then feeling gentle kisses pepper their way down his body, making him blush deeply as the fluttering inside him intensified further to the point that he almost didn't feel real anymore.

Charlie oh so painfully slowly made his way down the chubby squirrel's belly, peppering kisses everywhere he could reach, placing one long, wet kiss just between his waistband and bellybutton as his hands shakily made their way to either side of his pajama pants, both boys taking a deep breath in anticipation as Dexter began to feel them pull down, slowly revealing his most intimate place, rock hard and standing at attention, fully covered by its protective hood as it stood proud at 5 inches. Dexter gasped when he felt it spring free from its confinement, Charlie gasping as well, eyes wide as they locked with his best friend's most private area in the moonlit darkness of the boys bedroom. ``whoa...'' the cheetah whispered quietly, awestruck by finally getting to see the boy naked. Dexter felt a shaky hand run its way down from his belly to gently grasp his penis, his whole body shivering slightly as he tried to calm his heart down before it exploded in his chest from both excitement and fear. Dexter felt the hand on his cock gently stroke down, pulling back his foreskin and exposing the engorged, bright pink head of his penis to the moonlight as Charlie?s mouth watered from both the sight and the smell of his friend.

Charlie had very much enjoyed Dexter?s smell when he woke up that morning, having taken in much of it while holding him and trying not to wake him up. It comforted him greatly, and his exposed genitals smelled like him even more, with a hint of something deeper, more raw. The smell of someone special, the smell of the boy that made him feel like he mattered, like he belonged somewhere finally after so long. Dexter had just opened his mouth to speak as he looked down and saw the wide eyed boy staring at his privates. ``C-charlie? What a- AAAAAAHHNN~'' the tiny squirrel couldn't finish his question, bursting out into a loud moan immediately upon feeling the young cheetah's mouth engulf his exposed head, his slick, lubricated but slightly rough tongue gently running across it as the feline swirled his friend's most intimate taste around his mouth, blushing deeply as he began to gently bob his head up and down, taking ever so slightly more of Dexter?s penis into him with each stroke. Dexter had lost the ability to speak, to think, even as he felt that intense warmth engulf his most intimate place. He felt lips touch the chub around the base of his penis, hearing a sharp gag from the young feline as he struggled to swallow down the whole thing, quickly pulling back, wanting nothing more than to pleasure his friend in the most intense way he could ever imagine.

Dexter felt an intensely pleasurable rumbling throughout his penis as Charlie began to purr, fully losing himself in the task he'd given himself as he felt an immense pleasure of his own, hearing Dexter?s moans and huffs while feeling his throbs as his cock tickled his throat at the bottom of every stroke his mouth took. He teased his tongue into the boys foreskin, swirling around gently, tasting every last spec of his squirrel friend's privates as his own erection strained hard against his pants as he felt pleasurable throbs of his own just from the oral sex he was giving his friend. Dexter's mind had fallen into an intensely pleasurable static, no thoughts besides the extreme wet warmth eagerly slurping its way up and down his penis as he felt that rough feline tongue tease his tip on every stroke, feeling the cheetah's nose roughly shove itself down into his pelvic fat at the bottom of every stroke, making sure to take the entire thing as the wet sound of light, slurping gags and sputtering coughs filled the room while Dexter moaned uncontrollably.

Dexter felt an intense pressure building up in his pelvic muscles, adding to the extreme sensitivity of his cock as it tingled strongly and his mind fully blanked, losing all ability to control his body or think at all. He could no longer even vocalize his moans as he felt that pressure build so intensely until the dam broke, and he violently had his first orgasm inside of his unsuspecting friend's mouth, taking charlie by surprise as he choked and sputtered hard on the strong shot of adolescent semen that forced its way down his throat on his down stroke. Tears formed in his eyes as he fought through his violent gagging to keep sucking on his friend until he felt the intense throbs in his mouth stop, pulling off with a long stretch of squirrel cum still connecting his lips to the boys crotch as he pulled away and coughed violently after struggling to swallow the bulk of his friends first ever orgasm.

Dexter?s mind stayed blank for over a minute as he came down from his orgasm, the intense butterflies buzzing throughout his body dying down into a light floaty feeling as he opened his eyes to see the cheetah who'd just given him the most amazing experience of his young life. Dexter felt an immense guilt immediately upon seeing the state of the poor boys face, wet and slimy, cum dripping from his lips and even some from his nose from when he'd caught him by surprise. He quickly sat up to hug the boy, opening his mouth to ask if he was okay as Charlie turned his head and kissed him again, deeply and passionately. Dexter could taste and smell himself on the boys breath, as he lost himself in the embrace once again when he felt the cheetah wrap his arms around him.

Charlie broke their kiss again. ``D-did you like it? Did I do okay?'' he asked, nervously. Dexter blushed and smiled as he responded. ``Charlie that was the most incredible thing I've ever felt in my life, but are you okay? You look like you had a bad time...'' he said as another pang of guilt shot through his heart. Charlie didn't respond at first, simply grabbing the squirrels hand and placing it gently on his own cloth covered crotch. Dexter felt a wetness and blushed. ``Did you...just from doing that for me?'' Charlie smiled and nodded. ``let's go to sleep, Dexter. I bet you're pretty tired after all that, haha.'' Charlie laughed as he coughed one more time, wiping his face and wrapping his arms around the thoroughly drained squirrel boy as he balled up hugging his tail, burying his face into the fluffy cheetah's chest fur. Charlie placed a gentle kiss on the boy's head and let out a satisfied sigh.

``Charlie?'' he heard from below. ``What's up, Dexter?'' Dexter wanted to ask a question that had been burning a hole in his brain since they met. ``Why did you stop me at school the other day?'' he asked in a quiet voice, barely a whisper. Charlie blushed as he remembered the event that started everything. ``I thought your hair was cool. I wanted to ask if you dyed it. I've never seen a kid with gray hair. It looks nice on you.'' Dexter blushed at the boy's confession. ``Oh.'' was all Dexter could say in response. ``Charlie?'' he asked again. ``I love you.'' Dexter felt the boy holding him start to tremble and sob lightly, with a different energy than normal. It was a happy cry. ``I love you too, Dexter.'' He felt another gentle kiss on top of his head as the boys drifted off to sleep.

 

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