"Ugh," Max looked up at the ceiling of Atlanta Airport with arms in the back of his head. "So glad to be off that tiny little jet."

"One more flight to New York so we can see our grandmother," Zack said. "We'll be in and out a breeze."

"Yeah. I know," Max sighed heavily. He turned his head and glanced at a nearby 747 that seemed to have just landed. A group of foxes in tight office suits marched out of the gate and began to spread out.

As the brothers moved to their new gate, Max looked up and around concourse F in amazement. While it certainly wasn't the fanciest he'd seen compared to on TV, it was still quite big with plenty of natural lighting and amenities.

After reaching G23, they sat down next to a group people after polite bow and settled into their somewhat comfy seats. As Zack began to chat with the group in front of them, Max gave a nod and pulled out his Deck to launch Detective Squeaks.

"Where are both of you from?" One of them asked.

"Bridgeport, Winnemac."

"Heard that's a nice city. Nice pedestrian streets. Turned out better Zenith."

"Tell me about it."

Later, Max tapped Zack shoulder. "Gonna grab some coffee," he whispered and tilted his head to a nearby vending machine.

Zack glanced down at his brother's pleated skirt. "You're gonna regret it," he looked back up with a knowing smirk.

Max stood up and stuck his tongue out, then turned himself around. He approached the machine, slipped a dollar in, punched in the right codes. As the machine hummed to life, Max looked up beside him to see a fox in a well-dressed suit who was ordering some breakfast. While he looked the group foxes he'd seen earlier, this fox wore a yellow vest under his tuxedo.

*THUD* went the bottle as it dropped down near the opening flap. The sound startled Max as it echoed into his big ears, raising the fennec's fur right up in fright and snapped him out of his trance.

The fox slouched on the counter with a sigh until his promptly glanced over the blue fennec standing directly near him. "A fennec!?" They shouted. Everyone in the airport seemed to freeze in place for a split second before resuming going about their business. Max gave a sheepish grin while reaching for his drink. "What are you doing here?" They asked in a hushed voice. "Heading to collage or something?"

Max eyed down at his letterman jacket and back up at fox. "Layover," he spoke in a blunt matter-of-fact way with a shrug and began to sip his coffee. For a brief a moment he closed his eyes in bliss while taking in the flavour and coolness. Max lowered his arm and twisted the cap back on after the bliss began to fade. "It's a long story."

The fox paused for a moment and noticed the sorrow in Max's eyes. "Fair enough."

"Here you go."

"Thanks," the fox said with a bow than turned towards with a gesture to follow him. "So, how was the flight? Never seen a blue fennec around these parts," he added before taking a bite out of his breakfast sandwich and swallowed. "Mmm... Almost as good as the bakery's."

"To be frank," Max answered with another glance up at the fox who was chowing down on his food. "This silly layover is better," he shrugged then resumed sipping his coffee.

"I'm surprised," the fox paused in his tracks and titled his head with a raised brow. "Your aviator goggles give the opposite impression."

"I get that a lot," Max chuckled into his drink before lowering his arm again down and holding onto the cup with both paws. "Grandfather gave it to me. He assumed I was into flying because I had fun messing around with his flight sim he installed on his computer."

"And you didn't correct him?"

"I liked it so much that it didn't matter."

The fox, who had that hesitance look in his eyes since the two met, had soften. His posture began to gradually relax a little and quickly began to shift through his bag. "Here," he stepped aside, away from the busy traffic in the terminal and handed him a card for a travel agency. "Just mention Foxxo and they'll know."

Max stood there with his jaw dropped for a brief moment before yanking the card from Foxxo's paw. "Thanks," he grinned.