*9 years ago- Winter 

Laughter of children could be heard as the main hall rang with jokes and quips, prepared to entertain all. The walls were a rustic wood, years of age showing clearly in the cracks, and the tables and chairs having holes and chipped off bits, but still somehow managing to hold. 

None of this distracted the volunteers who came to entertain the children and teenagers of West Sea Orphanage. Among those was a red wolf with a bright red fur coat and eyes of wonder and joy with the color of the sun.

Gloved hands of the kids clapped in glee from the final performance of the night. When all festivities ended, everyone was ushered to bed for the night. Most shared giant rooms with pillows and blankets. 

The small red wolf was a bit of a different story. On his face was a faded scar around one of his eyes. His parents passed away from a car accident, and while Gadget had been the lone survivor, he walked away with a visible mark around one eye along with impaired vision. Thank goodness glasses helped him to see, but not to hide the scar, the scar that frightened everyone else. So, he slept in a small room originally meant to be a closet, or a spare room of sorts, in hopes of not terrorizing anyone at night, or even during the day as he was usually left to his own devices.

Today was no different as he laid by the window underneath the moonlight. It was a half moon out now; with no clouds out making it seem brighter than usual. The wall clock ticked and tocked as the minutes went by. 

For some time, the small wolf waited, before a grin formed on his lips and he crept up to the window. Opened slightly, he bounced out onto the ground. Gadget stayed in a room on the first floor, so exiting was no problem. An excited huff of breath left the young teenage Mobian as he stealthily walked away from the orphanage and out onto the empty streets of the town of West Sea.

West Sea was a medium sized town with its main exports being fish. The air smelled salty, but also felt frigid from the cold breeze of winter. West Sea never usually gets snow or ice, but it still grew considerably chilly, especially in the late night hours of winter. This never stopped the adventurous being from exploring the streets of his mostly safe home. 

Something about being out under the starry night and seeing puffs from his hot breath just gave a simple joy to the young one. The streets were quiet, another delight to Gadget as the Orphanage was full of noise all the time. Despite not really being allowed around the others, he could still always hear them clearly from his tiny room.

He wasn’t treated terribly or anything by any of the staff, but after the first day he arrived and caused a little girl to scream in fear from his scar, he’s kind of felt neglected as he doesn’t have many chances to interact with others. Tonight had been one of the few instances as he’d been allowed to sit in during the entertainment.

The stillness and silence of the night was peaceful. All that could be heard were the light clicks of his feet from the worn tennis shoes he’d received from his parents right before they passed away. Gadget had no relatives he could stay with, as his only aunt had no close ties to his parents, and all grandparents passed away before the accident. So, it was just him.

“It’s so lonely,” Gadget spoke quietly to himself, “I wish there was just someone. Someone who wasn’t scared of me and wanted to be my friend.”

A sudden crash sounded, causing him to flinch away from the source, which had been from a dark alleyway. Huh? That alley was one of the few places in town the wolf hadn’t explored. Dark, small, creepy places like that freaked him out so he never went. Still, his curiosity was peaked.

A few small steps were taken as he crept slowly down the alley. Again, something was heard, but it sounded like movement, or someone moving around. Nervous, but still overly curious, Gadget spoke out.

“H-hello?”

“Shit.”

Gadget flinched once more and tripped over a cardboard box in the process, landing on something soft. Grunting, a rough hand pushed the unsuspecting wolf off. 

“Get off you clutz!”

“Ow…”

Gadget rubbed his belly a bit where he got pushed before pausing at the site in front of him. A, probably around his age, black furred jackal, with long white haired streaks, sat only a couple feet away from him. Arms crossed and legs were bent as he tried to form almost a ball, as if cold. But now as Gadget observed him, he didn’t have much for clothes on. What clothes he did wear had holes. It almost made what the wolf had at the orphanage a palace and him a prince…

Sneering, the jackal remarked, “How about you take a picture? It’ll last longer.”

Not catching the sarcasm, Gadget replied, “A picture? I don’t have a camera.”

A ‘wtf’ expression was given, causing the wolf to tilt his head in confusion. A minute of that and the jackal sighed loudly. “I don’t have time for idiots.”

Trying to stand, Gadget instantly saw him start to fall. As quickly as he could, the wolf jumped up and caught the other in his arms successfully. White cheeks dyed red as the jackal snarled. He shoved the wolf away.

“What the hell do you…?!”

He sneezed. 

In response, Gadget chuckled. The darker furred one glared at the wolf. They were both the same height so it was easy to see. Regardless, the wolf gave a toothed grin.

“I’m Gadget.”

“Why should I care?” 

Pausing, the jackal stared intently at the other for a moment while leaning into his face, long enough for Gadget to see he had different colored eyes; one yellow and the other blue. It was pretty cool. The intense gaze and close proximity though caused his cheeks to heat a little in embarrassment.   

Grinning, the jackal spoke again, “Gnarly scar.”

“Gnarly?” The wolf tilted his head once more, but wait… “You aren’t afraid of it?”

“What? No!” He only laughed, sounding nice to Gadget’s ears. “I think it’s awesome!”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Beaming, he said with pride, “My pack told me that the worse the scar is, the tougher the battle you survived. It shows strength and power.”

Golden orbs widened in wonder at the other. That seemed to confuse the jackal as he spoke again.

“Doesn’t everybody think that?”

Shaking his head, he answered, “No, everyone’s afraid of me because of it.”

“Then they’re bigger idiots than you are.”

Despite the insults, Gadget couldn’t help but smile again. Someone wasn’t scared of him and even thought his scar was neat. 

Suddenly realizing how close the two were, the jackal backed away a bit, though not as much as before when he had shoved Gadget off of him. Looking away, his cheeks dust a light shade of pink.

“Name’s Zero.”

“Zero?” Beaming, Gadget’s gloved hands held Zero’s gloveless ones. “Nice to meet you!”

Feeling the chill through his gloves, the wolf asked, “Are you cold?”

“N-no.” Was answered before another sneeze let loose.

Concerned, Gadget continued, “We need to get you inside. Where do you live?”

“...Not around here.”

“Huh?”

“I’m on my own right now, so I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“That’s…” Gadget was sad, but also confused. 

Zero had mentioned having a ‘pack’ which he assumed was a pack of other jackals. He had been surprised to see a jackal considering what he’d learned of them. They usually stay to their packs and live either out in the wilderness or in isolated villages. Gadget wasn’t sure why Zero was all alone, but he wasn’t going to leave him out here in the cold.

“Come with me.”

“What!? Why?”

“You can stay with me for now. The room I have isn’t big or anything, but it’s warm, and I have blankets.” 

Which all was true. Another point too was that he was hardly ever bothered during the day. Everyone actually preferred him to stay in his room away from the others, so chances of anyone finding out about Zero were slim. That thought was a bit depressing, but it was perfect for this circumstance.

Zero seemed to consider it as he shivered from a chilly breeze. A glare was on his face, but he came to a sensible conclusion.

“Fine.”

Nodding, a pleasant smile formed towards Zero as Gadget took one of his hands and lead him towards his ‘home’.

-----------

“This is your room?”

Zero inquired after both crawled through a window on the first floor. The wolf nodded before handing over several blankets he had kept stashed in the corner. The jackal noticed there wasn’t a bed, just blankets and pillows. Also, there was a tiny hanging rack that had a few pairs of shirts and pants, and a basket by it with pairs of socks and underwear. 

He silently watched as he wrapped himself up in a blanket; watching Gadget dig through the basket and pulling out a pair of pajamas. It seemed undergarments wasn’t all that was in there. Regardless, he thought it was strange how there was no closet, or dresser; not even any furniture. Zero hadn’t missed the orphanage sign when they’d entered the building grounds, so maybe the kids don’t get those kinds of things here. However, he thought the residents would at least have beds. And why did Gadget have a room of his own? Wouldn’t all the kids normally share due to limited space? Despite these burning questions, he didn’t ask them.

Walking back to the jackal, Gadget offered up the pajama set. “Here.”

“What?” Zero scrunched up his nose at the thought of accepting more help. Gadget was unaware of this and only gave a light laugh.

“You won’t ever get warmed up in those clothes,” he stated while pointing out a couple of the holes.

“...”

Zero was having a hard time thinking of an argument. While it’s true he was still cold despite the blankets wrapped around him, he wanted to disagree, to not accept the help…

“Is something wrong?”

That snapped the jackal out of his thoughts as he saw the wolf stare at him in worry; causing his cheeks to color once more.

“...Asking for help is a sign of weakness.”

“Really? Why?”

“Why?! Why?... I… I don’t know.” Zero paused, suddenly feeling unsure, “That’s what I’ve always been told.”

“I was told by my parents that asking for help is okay, especially during times when you really need it,” Gadget smiled softly, “While they may not be here anymore, I always try to remember the stuff they told me, like that.”

Silence stretched between the two as Zero gazed at Gadget, not sure how to respond to any of this. He’d never heard such words from anyone, or met anyone as nice as him. When coming into town, no Mobian so much as blinked at him, as if he didn’t exist.

Except Gadget.

Taking the clothes, he mumbled, “Thanks.”

A toothed grin formed as Gadget nodded in a silly, happy manner. “I’m going to make the bed so you can change while I do that. Don’t worry, I won’t look.”

“Wait, what?!”

But the wolf had already set to his task, ignoring the outburst from his comment as he started to put the blankets and pillows in an orderly fashion. Sighing, Zero changed quickly and found the pjs to be the most comfortable he’d ever worn.

A look of bliss formed on the jackal’s face, which resulted in a following chuckle. Heterochromia eyes glared.

“What?!”

“You looked so happy. It was cute.”

“Y-you…!”

“Oh, and sorry about the bed.”

That stopped Zero’s train of thought. “Huh?”

“I sleep on a couple blankets on the floor. I hope that’s okay.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? I’ve slept in caves, in the wilderness, and even on sidewalks before.”

“What? But why?”

Before anymore could be said, Gadget gave a huge yawn. Zero smiled a bit at the site as he found it kind of adorable… huh? Shaking his head, the jackal scooted under the blankets and laid on top of the makeshift bed.

“Come on bonehead. You’re tired and so am I. Let's get some sleep.”

A nod was given as the wolf hesitantly crawled into the blankets, fighting the sudden heat in his cheeks. The two boys laid side by side, slowly warming up from natural body heat cocooned in the bundle of blankets. Gadget was the first to fall asleep, subconsciously shifting closer to Zero in the process. The jackal felt a bit of embarrassment, but also a spark of warmth in his chest that he couldn’t explain, and fell asleep with that question in mind of what he was feeling.