“Lina, I’m so sorry!”

“I said I was fine, Cresta.” Lina laughed, “it’s not the first time I’ve taken a line drive like that. I used to play softball, you know.” The human female held her head back, black hair held in a ponytail, she held a once white shirt to her face, “but maybe learn to control the power of your spikes.” Her dark skin glistened with sweat, wearing only her light blue sports bra now, a few spots of blood on the fabric. Black shorts hugged her toned thighs and tall white socks finished her ensemble.  “I don’t want you to get disqualified for injuring your opponents.”

“Yeah, I’ll try to break that habit,” Cresta, a tall raccoon boy with tanned fur, was a good few inches taller than Lina. His tail waved behind him, rather than having rings, the black marks were joined and spiralled down his long tail. He held one arm to help guide the human towards the locker rooms, the other hand holding onto their tennis rackets.

“Good.” She said with another laugh. “I’ll see you tomorrow, we’ll get some more practice in.” She said as she lifted the shirt off to take a look how messy it had gotten, “yeesh.”

“I'll come help, it was my fault you got hurt.”

“Sorry, Fuzzy. Womens’ Lockers.” She jabbed playfully at the sign as she replaced the shirt over her nose in one of the few dry spots.

“It’ll be fine, I’m gay, I’m sure…”

“I don’t care, and neither will the school. You get caught, we’ll BOTH be in trouble.”

“IF,” he said in a playful way, “if is good.”

“Go, Fluffbutt!” She pointed down the hall towards the other end of the T-Junction, barely able to stave off a laugh as she went into her locker room.

Cresta laughed as well, waving over his shoulder, flicking his long tail. Stepping into the men’s locker room, he looked at himself in the mirror over the sinks. The mask that his species had made his pinkish eyes more vivid. He smiled weakly at himself before he took out the hair tie that kept his long hair back while he played, the tip of his hair reaching the middle of his back. 

Heaving a sigh he walked to his locker, opened it with the combination and tossed his hair tie aimlessly into it. He stripped his shirt, revealing a bit of a chubby form, though he was not entirely out of shape. He rubbed his belly. Both it and his body fur was light brown, peppered with darker brown. Clenching his paws, looking first at his left hand, a black ‘fingerless’ glove  accentuated his fur. Then to his right, a full white glove patterned fur broke up his dark patterned fur. Rubbing his belly with one hand, he used the other to strip and get ready to shower.

XXX

Chewing on a stick of Pocky as he waited in line to order a coffee, he flicked through the newsfeed on his phone. He did his best to ignore the clamouring of others around him, his ears rolled back against the top of his head. His favourite cafe was surprisingly busy today, figured, it was getting near midterm and all the other students at his college were bound to be cramming. 

When he was finally up at the counter, he ordered a Lumberjack; the dark chocolate, maple and salted caramel latte became something of an addiction. He collected his cup when his name was called, and he moved to the back of the dining area, choosing to sit at a small table, one of the few that was free. He pulled out his phone again from his black and white shorts and began to scroll through text after text from his father.

Sighing heavily, he skimmed through most of it, it was the usual. His father talked about the business, about how Cresta was messing up in school. Growling softly, he sipped his coffee and tossed his phone down. Looking out the window, he just watched the city going about their way, the bright blue sky warmed the autumn air just enough all anyone needed was a light jacket. He sneaked another Pocky from the pocket of his black and white diamond patterned hoodie, he saw a group of humans tormenting a small mouse girl.

Shaking his head he heard his phone go off again. He picked it up and saw his father going on another rant about his grades. Slamming it down harder than he’d liked, the whole cafe turning to look at him. “It’s never enough is it?” He mumbled and sipped his latte again.

“Excuse me.”

A voice broke him out of his thoughts. Next to him was a human male, He was pale skinned with black, messy hair. Cresta could tell he was a skinny, lanky boy, especially with the baggy school sweater he wore. He had vivid blue eyes and to Cresta, they shone with a kindness that relaxed him, though he couldn’t explain why. “Y-yes?” Cresta finally answered.

“Everyone’s full, could I sit with you?”

“Oh, of course, yeah.” Cresta smiled and pushed out the seat across from him with his footpaw.

“Thanks,” the boy replied, “I’m Blake.”

“Cresta.” The raccoon gave his own name with a gentle bow of his head before sipping his coffee.

“Cresta…Rashi? Son of Maximillian Rashi?”

Sighing, Cresta nodded, “the one and same.” He answered a bit despondently.

“Wow! That’s gotta be pretty awesome.”

“It’s…something. Got its ups and downs.” Cresta admitted.

“What do you mean?” Blake asked quietly.

“Ah, don’t worry about that, just a small vent. What about you? I see you come from the same school.” He pointed to the school’s seal on the jacket.

“Ah, N-Nothing…big. I’m here…on scholarship.” His light blush was obvious on his skin, “I’ve been granted a full ride because of my scholastic achievements at my old school. Ever watch that film Real Genius? It’s kinda like that.” 

“Oh? That’s cool!”

“Yeah…” an awkward silence grew between them, sipping and occasionally taking glances at the other. “You’re uh, pretty good at Tennis.”

Cresta gave a confused look, his ears sticking straight up in slight alarm.

“I saw you guys playing. It was really good before you gave her that drive.” Black gave a chuckle.

“Uh, Thanks…?” Cresta gave a weak smile…then reached for his phone and quickly texted Lina to see how she was. “But yeah, you getting in on scholarship, I’ve got to say that’s a load better than ‘my-dad-owns-the-biggest-tech-company-in-the-country’ reason for getting in.”

“It can’t be that bad.” 

“I guess.” Cresta just shrugged, letting another silence build between them. Suddenly Cresta’s mobile rang, vibrating on the wooden table top. 

“You…?”

“It’s just Max – Father. I guess I sho-” Just as he reached for the black mobile, it went to voicemail. “It’s fine, he was probably just going to give me an earful.” Cresta gave a weak smile. “I’m sure he’ll understand I’m having coffee with…gods dammit.” He cursed as he looked out of the window. A brand new limousine. 

From the window they both could see a handsome human male looking out, green eyes locking with Cresta. His black hair with greying edges, his goatee was peppered with the same colours. He had lightly tanned skin and a perfect suit to match his high standing. 

“Wow, someone might think he’d been MY dad.” Blake joked and stuck out his tongue, but quickly retracted it. “Cresta?”

“I’ll…have to catch you later, Blake. He’s not giving me much of an option now.” Cresta sighed as he continued to stare his father down.

“Yeah…I’ll see ‘bout finding you between classes tomorrow.” Blake smiled at the raccoon, getting a bit of a forced smile in return before he left.

XXX

“You didn’t answer, Cresta.” He didn’t look up from his hands, adjusting a large sapphire studded gold ring

“I was in the middle of a conversation, Father.” the raccoon grumbled a bit of an answer as he sat in the seats across from Maximillian. “It’s rude to ans-”

“Do not talk back to me, Cresta!” Maximilian shouted, interrupting Cresta. “Drive.” He spoke into an intercom to the chauffeur. “I don’t want you to think you can interact with every riffraff you run into either.” Maximilian looked directly at Blake as they drove off.

Cresta let a low growl out in his throat, but not loud enough the human could hear it. Leaning back in his seat, facing his father. “It’s a lot better than being around YOUR people.” He mumbled, caught by surprise by Maximilian’s backhand.

“Watch your mouth, boy. Until your studies and grades are back up,” he changed the subject quickly as Cresa rubbed his cheek, the ring had broken the skin, blood showing on his paw pads and no doubt dripping into his fur. “You are to come directly home after classes, you’ll be picked up. No tennis practice, no friends, no…coffee shops.” He growled dangerously, for a human it was almost animalistic.

“Ye-yes sir.” Crest said, defeated. The rest of the car ride was kept in silence.

XXX

“Cresta! Cresta!” Lina ran up behind the raccoon, her smile fading quickly at seeing his exhausted face. “Damn, you look rough, you doing okay?” She asked as he turned. “Yeesh, did you get into a fight?” She asked and gently touched his cheek, being careful at the scar he’d gotten yesterday.

“No, Dad…” He mumbled weakly, pointing to his cheek. “The fur and baggy eyes are from the tutor keeping me up all night. I got maaaybe an hour of sleep when it was time for supper.” Crest shrugged and put his forehead against the wall, “I'm so tired.”

“Do…you want to cancel practice?”

“Don’t worry about that…” Cresta sighed, “Dad’s also cut all my extracurriculars, so just the classes HE signed me into. No sports, no breaks, just work, work, work.”

“Don’t forget you’re going to have to go to all of his meetings, too! That’ll be fun, huh?” A sudden jeering voice came from behind them. 

“Glad that it’s you and not us!” Another voice, almost identical to the first, commented back, making Cresta turn around.

The owners of the voices were two human twins, not too much older than Cresta. They were almost his height. THey were pale skinned, with bleached hair, the hint f black at the roots showed their true colour.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than harassing me?” Cresta growled lowly, and tiredly.

“Sorta.” “Kinda.” “Don’t know?”  “Maybe?”

They went back and forth before stopping to grin at Cresta.

“We couldn’t help but stop by to tease our little brother.” They finally said in unison.

“Rio, Leo, can’t you just go prank the cheerleaders again, or something?” Cresta got a firm slap on the arm from Lina.

“Don’t encourage them. Get out of here, the both of you.” She waved them off.” 

“Fine, fine. But we’ve got our eyes on you.” The twins chuckled and walked down the hall.

Cresta gave a deep groan and hit his head against the wall a few times in frustration. “They didn’t want Max’s company, but they don’t mind being his little minions if it is to make me uncomfortable.” Cresta banged his head against the stone wall a few more times.

“Pay them no mind, Now stop that Fluffbutt.” Lina pulled Cresta away from the wall, spinning him to hug him tightly. “We’ll get you out of here tonight, go off to my lake house, it’ll be quiet there.”

“Thanks, Lina.” The raccoon hugged her back, “but we’ll have to go to Antarctica to escape those two.”

“Your brothers will get bored, they always do. I’ll meet you at your last class and we’ll get away.”

“If my father–”

“Stop that.” She flicked his nose playfully. “You need to relax. I’ll see you after class.” Lina walked down the hall, her shoes giving a gentle tap on the marble floors.

XXX

The rest of the day was long and tiring. It was a struggle to keep awake through the boring business classes. Cresta made it look like he was doing work by doodling across the pages. Finally, though, the day ended with the sound of the school bell ringing joyously in Cresta’s ears.

Quickly getting up, he tried to be the first one to leave, but the old goat professor called him back, much to his disappointment.  “Cresta, I just need to speak with you for a moment.” he said and stood up, grabbing a cane beside the desk. “You’re a clever lad. Why, might I ask, is your father insisting that I give you extra assignments?” 

“Because I’m not at a 5.0 GPA.” Cresta replied, a bit sarcastic.

“I’ve noticed that you have been slipping behind on your grades. Do you want to tell me why that is?”

Cresta looked at the wizened old goat, using his cane to walk forward, three clicks sounding off as he stepped to the front of his desk. “I’ll be honest, sir. I’ve kind of been doing it on purpose,” his teacher gave him a quizzical look. “If he’s forcing me to take classes I do not want to, to take over a company I don’t want. Because my brothers messed up and – sorry, I didn’t mean to –”

“You are quite alright.” He chuckled before coughing and clearing his throat. “I appreciate your honesty. I will not give you any extra assignments, but I will ask you to at least start trying again.” 

“Yes, Sir. But are you not worried about repercussions, sir?” Cresta’s tail started to wave slowly.

“Please, I’m not in his back pocket, cause I’m a Fur Kin. Obviously, I’ll be alright.” He jested with a wave of his hand over his entire body, earning a small chuckle from Cresta. “You may go now. Remember your promise.”

“Yes, sir.” he said once more. Cresta opened the heavy wooden door and was about to shut it when someone ran full on into him and fell backwards onto the marble floor. “Ow,” he said looking at the smaller student, “are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine, I – Cresta?” It was Blake that quickly got to his feet and smiled at the raccoon.

“Oh, Blake, right?” This earned a nod in answer. “How’ve you been?”

“Uhm, Right now…I–”

“Hey kid! Where are you goin’?” A voice shouted from down the hall, a group of upperclassmen stomped down the long hall, pushing others out of the way. He quickly grabbed Blake around the shoulders, pulling into a headlock. “You’re fast.”

“Yeah, I’m trying to be anywhere but here.” Blake choked and tried to wiggle free.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing that concerns you FurFag.” The bulked up Jock said and turned around and spoke to Blake. “Now–You’re going to do my homework for me, or I’ll tell the entire school what I found in your gym locker.”

“T-Th-That was planted there!” He said with a bit of panic in his voice.

“Are you seriously so stereotypical?” Cresta interjected.

“I said BUZZ OFF!” The jock grumbled and kicked back at Cresta’s gutt, knocking him over against the wall. 

“As I was saying, Blake. I’ll keep it a secret as long as you keep doing my homework. De–” the bully was caught off guard by a solid punch to the side of his head, sending him skidding across the marble floor into the wall opposite of him. He touched the side of his face, the temple was already swelling and bleeding.  “Who the fuck do you think you are!?” the human snarled and charged Cresta.

The raccoon’s eyes had gone from the pale pink to a vivid, almost red colour. He dodged out of the way of the tackle, the human male slamming his head against the wall with a sick crack. That didn’t stop Cresta from lashing out with a heavy knee jab, smashing the jock’s side, another crack sounding out as he hit ribs, making the male fall to the ground and gasp for air. 

“Mister Rashi!” The old goat shouted as he reached the door. Cresta’s eyes faded back to the pale pink once again as the jock’s friends rushed over. The raccoon was shaking and staggering back. He mouthed wordlessly before turning around and bolted from the hall, his spiral tail thickening and fanning behind him.

“Cresta!” Blake quickly chased him, the students and a few teachers gathering around the scene. Running down the stairs in front of the building, “Cresta, wait!” Following him to the back of the campus, the autumn breeze made him shiver slightly. He heard a sobbing coming from behind the sports equipment shed. “Cresta?” He called once again before he rounded the corner and saw the raccoon.

In the shadow of the small building, Cresta was crouched low, his thick tail flailing behind him. He spoke between sobs, words that Blake couldn’t hear. He was clawing at his forearms, drawing blood that dripped onto the grass below. Hearing Blake coming up behind him, “go away,” he shouted without turning around, “leave me be!” 

“I’m not going anywhere. Not until I know you’re okay.”

“I’m FINE! GO AWAY!” Cresta screamed between sobs.

Blake leaned against the side of the shed, sliding down it till he sat on the grass behind Cresta, keeping the two or three meter distance between them. He sat in silence, watching as Cresa continued to tear into his own arms. “Please stop that…” Blake said calmly, but it didn’t seem to get through to the racoon.

Turning his head after a few minutes, he glanced at Blake. “I thought I said go away.” He whimpered.

“I told you I wasn't leaving,” Blake smiled softly, “are you okay?”

“I didn’t mean to do that. I-I-”

“Cresta! Where are–” Lina came rushing around the corner, she was in a pair of denim shorts that stopped just below the knee, her converse shoes and tall socks gave only a piece of skin between them and the shorts. “There you are. Are you okay? What happened?”

His ears fell flat against his head. “I didn’t mean to, he just…” 

“Hold still Fuzz…” She said weakly, her face drawn in a compassionate, but sad smile as she pulled off her fleece button up shirt, leaving her in a tank top, and started tending his self-inflicted wounds.

“He just was…and I reacted. I didn’t mean it!”

“You’re okay, Cresta. Paramedics came and picked him up, they said he’s going to be okay.”

“I could have killed him!”

“But you didn’t, just focus, hun, on your mantra.” She whispered to him, then turned her head to Blake. “Where you at the start of this–”

“No!” Cresta barked.

“Sorta…” Blake cut Cresta off this time, “some jocks chased me down from recreation, and I ran into Cresta. I thought I gave them the slip, but I didn’t…” Blake answered weakly from his spot, eyes cast to the ground.

“If I had to take a guess, it was Rick the Prick.” She rolled her eyes and finished taking care of Cresa’s cuts. “Listen…ah…”

“Blake,” he smiled and looked up finally.

“Blake, I’m having a get together, a party at my summer house, if you want to come?”

“I thought you said…?” Cresta gave a choked squeak.

“Well, Sandie overheard, and she invited herself and her group. Don’t worry, it won’t get crazy, I promise.”

XXX

Cresta, Blake and Lina drove through town, and out into the country, The fields of corn and wheat were turning golden and brown, ready to harvest. The rumble of Lina’s late 70’s Pickup Truck broke the silence of the growing evening. 

By the time they got to the lake, it was on the bridge between night and twilight. There was already a bonfire going on the beach. Groups of humans and furs kicked around a football, others watching or chatting among their own little cliques. One group was doling out the drink from a large keg. “I’m sorry, we’ll try going out for a bit?” Lina said as Cresta looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s alright. With things this busy, it might be a better distraction.”

“If you’re sure.” Lina gave him a gentle side hug as they got out of the truck. Blake walked a pace or two behind them, and was a bit startled when she turned her head to speak to him “What about you, Blake?

“I’ll stay too. Never been to a party…like this anyway.” he said sheepishly.

It wasn’t long before the party was in full swing. Everybody had had at least one drink, someone found the stereo and was now playing on the house’s speakers. Just on this side of too loud. Cresta and Blake were enjoying themselves as well. While not partaking in the alcohol, the music was too good to not dance to. They and Lina danced together until there was a break in the music, and they heard two identical voices that laughed and greeted everyone.

“I-I’ve got to uh, go.” Cresta said with a bushy tail and made towards the sliding glass doors onto the large back patio. But he was only able to take a few steps before the twins grabbed his tail and pulled him back into a forced double hug, the twins holding him on either side.

“There’s our little brother.” Rio and Leo said in tandem once again.

“Let go of me!”

We thought we’d find ya here, Fuzzbutt.” Leon said with a grin, the raccoon visibly cringing at his use of the nickname only Lina was allowed to use. “Father was quite cross when you weren’t picked up.”

“Said he might have to put a tracker in your neck,” Rennard pantomimed giving Cresta a shot, “since you insist on leaving your phone at home. Honestly surprised he hasn’t already. You’re the top DOG, after all.” He growled playfully before howling.

“Let go of him, you two.” Lina said sharply. “Who the hell invited you?”

“We go to where the parties are. Think we’d miss this one? After all the rumours got us interested.” Rio grinned. 

The human female sighed and grabbed Cresta’s paw and pulled him free of the duo. “Fine, you can stay, but you leave him alone, capiche?” She held the raccoon in a protective hug.

“Sounds like a deal, brother?” Leon turned to his twin, who nodded.

“Deal, indeed.” 

“Let’s go mingle!” The twins turned and waved.

“Thanks, Lina, but I could have handled them.”

“I know, those two though–they just know how to get on your nerves. Let’s go down the lakeside, at least until things quiet down.”

“Yeah.” Cresta agreed and walked out to the deck uninhibited, there were a few out on the deck, drinking and hanging out in the hottub. They waved as the trio walked down a flight of stairs to the sands below the house. The house itself sat on the rocks almost twenty feet above the lake so thankfully it was never flooded.

The soft yellow sand felt great on Cresta’s feet, he verbally sighed as they walked down to the water.

“This is more like it, huh, guys?” Lina said with a smile and removed her shoes and socks, getting further towards the water, only going in until she was about half calf deep. “You guys should come out! The water feels great!” Lina shouted back to them as she took another step in, the denim shorts getting wet now. 

“But neither of us brought swimwear.” Cresta chuckled as he stood at the water’s edge, looking over at Blake.

“I’ve got extra clothes for ya, if you need. Oh, Hell, swim naked for all I care.” She grinned and stuck her tongue out playfully.

“That's all WE needed to hear!” Rio shouted as the twins rushed past Blake and Cresta, stripping to nothing, their skin was tanned, with no lines. And the only way to tell them apart now was a mark on one of their shoulder blades, it looked like a cut that went over the entire width of their back.

“GODS! YOU TWO ARE INSUFFERABLE!” Lina screamed and picked up a piece of driftwood like a bat. “Go find your own damned beach, twincest fucks!” She chased them down the beach, Leon and Rennard cackling all the way. 

Cresta sighed and began to pick up their clothes. “I’m sorry about them. Anything to humiliate me or cause any type of disorder.” he grumbled and used a stuck to pluck the orange and blue jock straps off the sand. “But sadly, I couldn’t pick my own brothers.” Cresta tossed the pile of clothes into the lake, managing to secure all of them with the stick, burying it in the sand under the water so they wouldn’t drift off. “You are very quiet, Blake. Is everything alright?

“Oh, uhm, Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’m just not used to big crowds yet. I never was…good at outgoing things like this. But it’s definitely been helpful with you around.” He admitted with a bit of a blush.

“Well I’m glad that I could be of help.” Cresta smiled and blushed slightly under his fur as he looked the male up and down real quick. “Don’t worry, it’ll calm down soon enough, especially when the drink’s run out.”

“That’ll be good.” Blake paused and looked about, kicking some of the sand back into the water with his shoe. He could hear Lina in the distance, still shouting at the twins. “Is what Lina said true about your brothers?”

Cresta lowered his ears and smiled weakly, a plainly embarrassed look on his face. “About them being like boyfriends? Yeah. They say because they can’t get pregnant, what’s the harm? They also add that because they’re identical, they say it’s ‘easy loving’.” He made quotations with his fingers as they walked down the beach the opposite way that the others went.

“I-I see…” Blake was a bit at a loss for words. “Hm, have you had any relationships?”

“One, didn’t end so well, he saw me at one of my worst fits. Or at least that’s what he told me. My father, I learned later on, had bribed him into leaving by my brothers, you could have guessed.” Cresta rolled his eyes before looking at the yellowish sand in front of him. “Heh. What about you?”

“Nope, I mean not properly. Like me and one guy were thinking about it, but it never panned out, I guess I waited too long or something. He never told me what I did wrong.”

“Oh?” Cresta asked, accidentally clicking his tongue as it opened to speak the syllable.

“Yup, since then I kept to myself. I didn’t even think about having a relationship before…”

“Before?”

“Ah. It’s nothing.” Blakes cheeks grew more and more red. There was a pause in the conversation. “I just meant before I got to this school.”

“What changed?” Cresta asked with a kind smile.

“I met someone.”

“Well that’s good.” 

“Kinda, he doesn’t know that I like him.”

“Aw, you’ll have to change that.” Cresta and Blake walked under a small bridge from one of the other houses that lead to a high standing platform in the lake. “What’s he like?”

“Weeell…” Blake started, “He’s tall, kind, from the one time we had coffee. I’m just too nervous to TELL him that I like him.”

Cresta got to a cosy place a few paces away from the water and sat down. It was fully quiet here, just the waves and their voices. Reaching up he offered his paws to Blake to offer a seat beside him. “You really don’t strike me as the nervous type.” Blake had taken the offered paw and sat down, almost hip to hip with the raccoon.

Just then Rennard and Leon ran by, still as naked as before. But they had one garment with them; they’d managed to get Lina’s top. They cackled and ran past, Lina wasn’t too far behind, “Sorry guys!” She shouted as she ran past at full speed.

“Like I said, he’s the first person I’ve really liked in like….15 years?” Blake chuckled and smiled at Cresta. “So a bit different.” He chuckled.

“Hm, Fair. is he a looker?”

“Yes.” Blake remarked simply.

“And?”

“He’s a Furred Kind. Tall…” He kept giving a sideways glance at Cresta every so often.

Cresta did not miss this and felt a sudden flutter of butterflies in his belly. “Definitely sounds like a cutie.”

“Yeah, I just don’t know how I’m going to tell him.”

“Sometimes you just have to go for it.” Cresta said quietly and nonchalantly.

They sat in silence for a few long moments, listening to the lake lapping at the beach, occasionally they heard the twins and Lina still shouting and chasing each other around the sands. “Cresta–I…”

“Hey guys, sorry about that, I finally got the butts to go home.” Lina interrupted, her top back in her rightful place. “Cresta, you’re going to be staying here with me, you’re welcome to stay, too Blake.

“I’d like to, but I still live with my parents, so I have a curfew.” Blake said with a blush, looking into the sands, digging his heels in.

“Sure, I’ll drive you home. You go make yourself comfortable, Cresta. I think most of them are out of here.”

“I’ll come with you guys, would rather like to see where you come from, too.” Cresta smiled at Blake.

“Sounds good to me, “Lina said with a broad grin, leading the way down the beach back to the house.

Cresta stood up and held his hands out to help Blake back up. “So what were you saying before Lina jumped in?”

“N-Nothing,” his cheeks still blushing, “I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out with that bully, and for putting up with me tonight.”

“It was my pleasure.” Cresta smiled, waving his tail and gently put his arms around Blake, holding him in a close hug, but didn’t hold it long enough to make it awkward for the human boy. “It honestly made my night having you here. It helped me much better than the party would have.” 

XXX

Blake sat in the middle of the bench seat once more of Lina’s pickup. The engine gave its roar as they drove down the highway, following Blake’s instruction. When they got to a little dirt path, Lina let it putter itself over the small road. It was a little trailer park, lines of pastel painted houses lined either side, roads splitting off to other parts of the community.

“It’s not much, nothing like your place, Lina.”

“I think it’s nice and quaint.” Cresta smiled, Lina nodding her agreement. The modular homes were separated by lush green lawns, flowers decorated the short wire fences that marked their home boundaries. “I wouldn’t mind something like this to get away from…” He cut his comment short, though no one probably heard his under the breath remark.

“It’s just this one.” Blake pointed out a pastel green trimmed modular, the main panelling painted a pale pink colour. There was a simple vegetable garden along the side of the house, the grassy yard showed a variety of weeds as well. But it was neatly trimmed and well taken care of. “They uhm..can seem a bit hippy-ish at times.” Blake muttered to no one in particular, coming up with an excuse for the lawn.

“Don’t worry, I like it.” Cresta said once again as they parked.

“Thanks for the ride, Lina.” Blake offered as the Raccoon slipped out, brushing his tail across Blake’s chest. Whether intentional or not, it made the human shudder slightly as he climbed out behind Cresta.

“Anytime, Blake. We’ll definitely do it again,” Lina smiled. “No party next time.”

Blake returned the smile. “It’s a date.” The male turned to Cresta and smiled, but it was a sheepish  one. “I had a great time. D-Did you want to get coffee again sometime?”

“How’s sunday?”

“D-Day after tomorrow? Uhm yeah, I could do that.” Blakes face was red, but his smile grew across his features. “I’ll see you then.” He hesitated a moment, tilting his head back to look Cresta in the eye. The silence dropped between them once more, only the puttering of the old engine backtracking the scene.

“It’s a date.” Cresta smiled back, barely able to hold a small giggle as Blake seemed to get more flustered at the words. 

“I’ll see you then.” He said before he went towards the front door, looking back at both of them and gave a wave before disappearing into his house.