Chapter 1 This pretty comfy computer-lit room of mine is a a great place to spend my free monday I scroll the wheel on the mouse with my right hand and browse an Amazon page for some model-kits to buy, but my stomach decides that it's time for food, so I get up from my chair just after taking off my headset. I turn around, exit the room and go to the right, past the silent living room into the kitchen This week-long vacation I got after doing so much over-time in the restaurant/cafe where I work feels really nice. I open the fridge lower door and grab a pack of grapes I bought a few days ago. The thought of making them into something passes my mind, but I can’t really bother now I go back to my room, going past my mom’s old bedroom. A year ago my parents moved out and gave me this house once I turned 20, so a couple years ago. ”A high-grade or a master-grade? Which one…” I mumble to myself as I open my room door and enter, noting a small flashing icon on the screen and a new window popped up. The Smoke chat window is opened with a message from Laila, a friend I met four years ago while playing Shadow Raid on Payday 2, I was honestly surprised by how good she is. She is someone who I've grown to have a crush on even though I have not seen her once, guess it’s because I’m one of those “personality first, looks second” weirdos. The message reads: “Hey Armas, could you come on Order for a moment?” I still have not figured out why she and my other friends keep calling me by my Smoke username instead of my actual name, maybe because Armas sounds better or something? I Sit down and type back to her with a simple “k”. I click the Order icon on the taskbar near the bottom of the screen and the software open after a few seconds of loading. I put on my headset and enter our personal chat room where we voice chat, share memes, funny videos and anime download links. ”Yo, what did you wanna talk about?” I say into the mic and my icon, coverart of a Madnug music album, lights up with a green aura around it as I speak. No voices comes out in response, just some sounds of shuffling. ”Laila?” I tap my headphones to see if there’s a problem with them. ”Sorry, had to check my phone.” she responds kindly and clearly. ”Don’t mind, don’t mind. So, what you wanna talk about?” I ask as I put a grape in my mouth and chew on it with my mouth closed. ”I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to meet up.” she says straightly and I swallow the grape in my mouth. ”Uh, where’s this coming from?” I ask before eating a few more grapes. ”I was just thinking that since we’ve been friends for four years now, we could meet up and stuff.” she giggles out, I always kinda did find her voice cute. ”Yeah, okay. When do you wanna meet up?”. ”Maybe during next weekend? Or maybe today....” she whispers that last part out. ”You still live in the same city as before, right?” I take my phone off the table and open Maps on it, entering my address and her city in it. ”Yeah.” she shyly answers as I read all the info I can get off the image on the phone. ”Okay, it’d take...an hour and fifty-two minutes by car from here.” I say and close Smoke. ”Wait, are you considering coming here... now!?” she yells and I cringe at the sudden increase in volume. ”Ow, my ears. And yes, I’m coming there right now. Send me your address onto my phone and I’ll drive over there.” ”Wha...but...Okay then, see you soon.” she says defeatedly and exits the chatroom, I turn off the pc and go into my walk-in closet to change clothes. I pick my basic casual outfit, a grey jacket, light-blue slacks and a black-an-red cap then stash my phone and wallet in my left and right pockets respectively. ”Ready or not, here I come~” I sing to myself happily and go downstairs to put on some sneakers, exit the house, go left and into the garage where my trusty steed, a third-generation Ford Mondeo, sits. I open the garage door with the button on the wall and press another button to stop its ascent after reaching a height for the car to pass through and after glancing at the afternoon sky, I get into the car and start it up, it’s engine purring nicely as I drive it out and then lower the door with the remote I took out of the glove box. ”Alright, let’s see…” There’s a message on my phone, I open it to see it contains her address with that I punch the info into the Maps. I start driving, following the directions given with Iro Aku by The Yellow Tricycle playing in the background. ... ”Alrighty, so...is this it?” I turn off the music and stop in front of a light-blue house. I check the map a few times before parking awkwardly in the driveway. After that I get out of the car and onto the grassy lawn which looks like it’s been recently cut ”Is she a high-maintenance type?” I wonder out-loud as I step forward to the front door and ring the doorbell. A few moments of windy silence pass, until the door clicks open and a...small dog child with fawnish fur and brownish short hair, wearing a t-shirt with some band logo on it and jeans and socks, comes out with bright eyes staring at me. ”Who are you?” he asks innocently and I crouch down to eye-level with him and he blinks a few times. ”I’m one of Laila’s friends. Is she here?” I smile and just then, a figure appears behind the kid. ”Hey, Franz-dear. You can’t just run off like that-” the feminine figure stops talking as our eyes meet, her bodacious body-curves behind an apron, worn over some clothes with a fluffy-looking caramel brown and cream white fur of hers catching my eyes. And Jesus, that flowing puffy mint green, probably dyed, hair of hers puts my blond collarbone-length hair to shame. ”...Uh, excuse me.” I stand up and try to bring my eyes up, not down. ”Is Laila home?”. ”Armas? you really came?” she seems to flinch a little and she brings her paw up to her face, and her cute little white eyebrows catch my attention. ”Wait, you’re Laila?” She responds with a shy nod. ”Huh. And you didn’t tell me you had a kid.” I pat the said child and he looks confusedly at me. ”Oh, he’s not my child. He's the neighbour’s and I’m just taking care of him because his parents are on a business trip. His parents left him here about an hour after you started coming here.” she says with a shake of her head, fur and hair fluttering a bit. ”Hmm. Can I come in?” I point casually to the inside of the house. ”Yeah, of course! I’m making dinner and you can some as well!” she steps in and the little dog boy follows behind and so do I. The entryway has two towering white clothes on the right and a coat-rack, filled with various coats next to them. I turn my eyes away from the closets and towards the interiors of the house after I take off my shoes and jacket, which I hung on the coat rack. Light-blue walls, a dark-wooden floor and ceiling make for a nice contrast for me, wonder if that’s spruce or something else? ”I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me. Make yourself at home!” she says as she turns to the left, likely the said kitchen. I look around the room for a moment and notice the tv on a stand and a fawn-furred dog boy playing Derraria on a ptx that I remember Laila having because I have her added on my PSN. Jesus, that time we completely wrecked some fools on Madnug Versus was fookin’ baller, I still hear her yelling “Univeeerse!!” when she played the Turn-A. ”Heyo.” I say as I lean on the couch and the boy immediately snaps his attention to me with bright eyes. ”...Hello, mister. Can...you come play with me?” he asks between stutters, I can imagine it’d be a bit nerve-wracking to have a total stranger come and casually say hi to you, or is that just me? ”Yeah, where’s the controllers?” I ask and move myself from behind the couch to the front ”They’re in there, mister.” he points to the dark-brown wooden drawer that the tv stands on and I crouch down in front of it. I open it to reveal some games neatly ordered in alphabetical order and notice some ptx controllers placed in the corner. Was this kid taught to address everyone like that? Weird parenting choice, but hey what do I know about parenting? I take a blue-colored one, close the wooden drawer and go sit down on the couch. ”So, how old are you?” I ask as I press the controller on and start making my character ”I’m 7 years-old! How old are you, mister?” his youthful voice makes me smile, I glance at him his eyes shining with happiness just like a child’s eyes should be. ”Huh, I’m 22 and you’re not technically old enough to play this game.” I say and complete making my character, just a simple guy with spiky-looking hair. ”P-Please don’t tell my mom or dad!” he pleads and I chuckle at how panicked he sounds ”Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell your parents.” I move my character to the left and get to gander at what the child has built, a small wooden house. ”And just call me Emil. So, what do you wanna do?” I ask and loosen up, leaning on the beige-colored couch with me while noticing two chairs right of the couch, making the whole set-up look like an L. ”I wanna go get stuff so that I can build my house bigger!” he cheerfully says, his character is a black-furred dog anthro with brown hair. ”Alright, following your lead.” We go left until we reach a small opening to a cave, probably a huge system below. I’m glad I brought some torches. ”Hey, why did you come here?” Franz asks as we descend down the cave with me in the lead with torches. ”I came here to visit Laila. What do you think of her?” I ask, definitely not trying to get info on her. I honestly didn’t care if she’s an anthro, though that does add to her cuteness. ”Hmm...She’s cute!” he turns a thought into simple words, I laugh a little at that. ”Well, anything else?” ”...She likes someone, I think.” this revelation gets me interested and I see Franz’s character try to jump a gap in the cave system, only to fall down with a death message coming on-screen moments later in the corner. ”Aw poo! Ah!” he puts his controller down and puts his paw over his snout and looks at me fearfully. ”Franz, that’s not a bad word.” I say with a cheeky smile forming on my face, maybe it having been there the whole time. ”Oh, okay...Don’t tell Big Sis.” he whispers and I wonder if he means Laila when he said that ”I won’t.” I whisper back, I hear some footsteps coming from behind me so I swivel my head to the right and see the caramel canine standing there in a square patterned t-shirt and a small skirt with thigh-high socks that seems a bit tightly tied. Her socks were tall, accentuating the bare fur above them. I can't stop looking. ”Food’s ready, come and eat!” she smiles and walks toward the kitchen like a guiding beacon, which I stand up and follow with Franz after we pause the game. I turn to the left after reaching the corner and turn again at the open doorway with no door, so just a way. The kitchen has the same floor, walls and ceiling as the living room. I look around and see a fridge-freezer combo sitting in the left corner of the wall opposite against me. There’s also a row of cabinets hanging above ground next to the fridge and small row of drawers/tables sitting on the floor. ”What are we eating?” I ask as I pull the chair to sit down. ”Apple pie, but first...Go wash your hands in the bathroom. You too Franz-dear.” Laila orders us kindly and we leave the room. Franz goes into the room opposite of the kitchen and I observe how clean this place looks. A tiled floor, sink, a toilet on the left wall and a bath with a showerhead hanging from the wall beside it. Wonder how much soap Laila uses when she bathes, aren’t there some anthro-specific shampoos? I glance at the mirrored cabinet above the sink and remember that I totally forgot this hairband that I have on my right arm. I roll my sleeve up and see that there it is, just a bit below my wrist and roll it off my arm and put it so that my thumb is outside the band. ”Is that a hairband?” I seem to have zoned out a bit much and Franz is already drying his paws with a towel, seems like his fur is pretty easy to dry since it’s so short. ”Yep.” I roll back my hair with my hands, hold it at about 45 degree angle to quickly tie it and I roll my loose bangs down, it leaves my right bangs of hair hanging just a little above my right eye. I quickly swipe them behind my right ear and then go to wash my hands, turning on the faucet and putting my hands under the mildly warm water. I see, with a side-glance, Franz leaving the bathroom, I close the door behind him and I look at the soap dispenser sitting next faucet only to notice the container saying it’s for a certain type of fur. I’m not sure if I should use that, but it’s probably not harmful to use for humans. I get some soap on left hand and put my right hand’s fingers together on the spot of soap to rub them against my left palm, this was taught to me, by my sister, to ensure no bacteria make it out alive underneath my nails. I rub my palms together and rub my left hand’s fingers against my right palm, then I move onto rubbing my fingers by interlocking them and rubbing them to get soap between them There’s something incredibly relaxing about this, just washing my hand completely and thoroughly. I rub my hands together in various ways and then turn the faucet off after getting the soap off my hands after that I shake them a few times. I then move to the towel and contemplate whether to use it or not, due to it having a little of Franz’s fur. That doesn’t really matter right now, I’ll just dry my hands. And soon, my hands feel refreshingly clean and I place the towel to hang before exiting the bathroom and closing the door behind me as I leave. ”Hey Armas, I cut you a slice of the pie. Is tea fine with you?” Laila curiously asks, and I step past the doorway to see her holding two cups of tea in her paws before setting them down on the table in front of her and another in front of the chair I was going to sit on. ”Yeah, that’s fine. You got honey here?” I like my tea like I like my women, sweet. Damn I’m good at coming up with lines. ”I do have honey. Hold on…” she mumbles something after that as she spins around with a swish of her furry tail and she steps forward to the cabinets hanging above the kitchen counter. She opens one of them before trying to reach in at the top shelf in the cabinet by standing on her tiptoes. Key-word: try. I walk up next to her with the next words of hers being pretty predictable. ”Armas, can you reach that? I can’t reach…” she groans and tries to reach higher before stumbling and falling in my direction and pomfing onto me. She feels pretty warm even through my shirt and her paws hold onto the back of my shirt for support. ”Ah, you okay?” I raise my arms up a little, she quickly lets go and steps back with the fur on her face looking a bit puffy for some reason. ”Yeah, sorry.” she giggles out and side-steps with a small sway of her minty hair as I stand on my toes. I reach into the cabinet’s top-shelf and take the plastic jar of store-bought honey. ”Got it.” I say and hand Laila the jar with my feet planted firmly on the ground. ”Thank you.” she gives a small smile and goes to the table. She sits down on the chair opposite of where Franz sits and I go sit down next to Franz, he seems to have patiently waited for us to get the honey. ”So, without further ado...Let’s eat!” Laila claps her paws and I take the small spoon lying on the plate with a slice of delicious-looking and smelling apple pie on it. ”This is really good!” the happy boy next to me cheers and I decide to see the truth of that claim for myself so I take a spoonful of pie. The crunchy feel, the taste of the outside and the sweet, yet a bit bitter soft appley inside makes me put this pie at one of my highest ranked food I’ve eaten, winning above mom’s great spaghetti and meatballs recipe. I chew it a little and then swallow the deliciousness down. ”It really is good. It tastes a bit bitter, is that intentional?” I ask with a simple warmth in my mouth and continue eating. ”Thank you both, I’ve been practicing this recipe and decided to add a little bitterness to it. I think it turned out well.” Laila smiles after eating her spoonful and drinking some tea, reminding me that I should add honey to mine before it gets cold. ”Could you pass the honey?” I ask, and I receive the jar from Laila’s paw, my hand slightly feeling her soft and smooth fur on her fingers. I thank her and then open the small cap on the jar to pour a bit of honey in my tea and I now notice the aroma, which smells like fruit tea. She has a good taste in tea. I set the jar on the table and mix the honey in the tea with the handle-engraved spoon while taking in a bit of the fruity aroma. I take the cup to my lips and sip on it, the tea not too hot and just sweet enough. I drink a bit more and wonder, what is Franz drinking? My curiosity gets me, and I glance at a half-filled glass with juice, probably orange juice and seems like the boy has drank some of it already. I put the cup back on the table and move back to eating the pie. ”So, do you like staying over here Franz?” Laila kindly questions after taking another sip of her tea. He has a mouthful of pie, so he nods excitedly instead. ”That’s good. And Armas, are you staying here for long?” she moves her eyes to me and I swallow the piece of pie in my mouth to speak. ”Hmmm...How long is Franz staying over here for?” ”A week, why do you ask? Don’t tell me you’re going to stay here a week, you’ve got work to do surely!” I’m not sure if she’s worried or trying get me to leave. ”I have vacation, don’t worry. I can help you take care of this kid.” I pat the said child and he relaxedly wobbles at my touch. His hair feels clean, guess he showered today. ”And you want to me to stay as well, right Franz?” I glance at him and he looks back at me with widened eyes. ”Yeah!” he nods and drinks some more of his orange juice. ”Two against one, Laila. You lose.” I smirk and sip some tea. She takes a deep breath and sighs in defeat. ”Fine, you can sleep on my couch. It’s wide enough to sleep on. One of my friends named Faye once slept on it after we partied a bit hard one evening.” she giggles. I’m officially shocked, I didn’t take Laila for a party animal. ”Huh, you have friends?” I blurt out and she huffs at me. ”That’s not nice to say to someone.” she blankly says and eats the last of her pie. ”Sorry, but I’m kinda surprised that you party.” I chuckle while sipping the final drops of my tea and move onto my pie. This is probably gonna be an interesting week. And so the adventure of life goes on. Chapter 2 ”..as. Armas, wake up!” a muffled voice says and I feel myself waking into the world. I opened my eyes to the dark-wooden ceiling and then I rolled my head to the right to see blue eyes staring back past some green hair. ”Laila? What is...” I stop talking and yawn before trying to raise myself and noticing a blue blanket covering me. ”You looked like you were having a nightmare.” she stands up and slowly takes the blanket off me and folds it neatly before placing it down on the couch armrest. ”Huh. What about the blanket?” I stand up and stretch myself a little and do a few little hops. ”I thought you’d be cold sleeping without any covering and gave that to you.” she says with a small smile and I feel a slight warmth at the sight of it. ”Thanks.” I respond with a smile of my own. ”Would you like some coffee? Franz is still asleep.” She must be a sneaking master if she was sleeping next to him and managed to get out without waking him. ”Okay.” I say and follow the kind brown- and white furred canine and I roll my eyes down and see her wearing pink-pajamas and there seems to be a part in the pants for her tail fit through with the opening tied in a ribbon. ”Hey, I’ve gotta go to work today and so I’ll be giving you some money to buy something for the two of you.” Laila turns to me as we pass the kitchen doorway and I pay extra attention to her smooth lips for a moment before snapping back to her eyes. ”Oh, you don’t need to give me any money! I’ve got my wallet with me and a good amount of money to go with it.” I pat my right pant-pocket in assurance before yawning. ”I’m still gonna give you some money, not like this is the first time we’ve given each other.” she lightly laughs and goes to set the coffee machine. ”Yeah.” I don’t even remember how many games and dlcs I’ve bought for her and vice versa, maybe like a...at least over a hundred euros. ”How do you take your coffee?” her voice says to me and I sit myself down at the table and I see her tiptoeing again to reach for a cabinet shelf and managing to get a bag of coffee from the second-to-top shelf, why doesn’t she just get a stool or something? ”I’ll take the same as yours.” I say with my seemingly sticking to staring at her as she makes coffee, ears flicking a little at certain noises and her tail doing a small swish to the left or right She runs her paw through her mint hair and I take my phone, A Samsung Galaxy s5 Neo, out and click the power button before swiping the lock screen from the right corner towards up. This quickly opens the camera and I check if the flash is on and it is, so I turn it off I pull the camera up and then zoom in a little from x1.0 to x2.0, and then keep the phone vertical. ”Hey Laila.” I say out in hopes of her turning around with curious expression on her face and that she does. ”Hmm?” she manages to hymn out before a click and beep signify that picture is taken and I go tap the small icon in lower-right corner to see how good of a picture I got. ”Did... you just take a picture of me?” her voice sounds a bit shy and I kinda feel bad for not asking her about it, but this picture is too good to delete. ”Yeah, I just wanted to give you a profile picture for my contacts.” Totally not because I have a crush on you or anything, b-baka. ”Oh, well you could have asked. Did the picture turn out alright?” she walks away from the coffee maker as it starts dripping coffee. ”Yeah, I think it turned out well.” I show her my phone and she leans in closer, with a small bounce of her chest, to get a look at the photo, which she seems to look at intently. ”That’s a fine photo. You can use it as a profile picture for me and can you keep it to yourself? I don’t really like having photos like that posted on the net.” she stands straight and fidgets cutely. ”I won’t post it, it’ll be only for your profile picture.” I say and she seems to trust me on this and I go ahead and change her contacts profile picture to the photo I just took before deciding to check out my Order groups. A silence of words blankets the room and only sounds of freshly brewed coffee being poured in cups, and the small clattering of spoons placed in said cups, sound in the room. ”Here you go.” Laila says and places the cup in front of me and I can already feel just the smell prepping me up for the day. ”Thanks.” I say back and move attention back to my phone after sliding the cup, and the plate it’s on, closer. I glance at one of my Order groups and there seems to be some messages in there, mostly just some talking by some friend made yesterday and I put my phone back in my left pant pocket. I turn the cup around so that I can grip the handle lightly and then bring the cup to my lips as the warm smell reinvigorates my senses. I take a small sip and gulp down the warm earthy taste feels nice and the image of Laila’s lips touching mine flicks in my mind, but she’s sitting right in front of me as she blows gently on her coffee before sipping some. ”This is good coffee. Why don’t you go work at cafe?” I joke and she blinks a few times and set her cup down, but still keeps it in her paw. ”I like my current workplace and the pay is good as well. My co-workers are really nice as well.” she giggles and I remember her being an office worker, that must be a chill place. ”Don’t you work at a restaurant? I remember you once mentioning that when we were playing once.” ”Yeah, I do.” I drink a bit more coffee than before and feel myself awakening fully more as Laila seems to gulp hers down quickly. ”Hey, what’s the rush?” I ask and then realize I forgot she has to go to work, damn I’m scatterbrained. ”Could you help me wash these dishes? I’ve got to go to work in an hour and I’d like to get this out of the way and then I’ll go change.” she says and rolls her pajama sleeves up and I drink my coffee in one gulp and then go next to her. ”Alright, I’ll help.” I roll my own sleeves up and we get onto washing the dirty dishes from yesterday. As we start, I pay attention to the kitchen sink and how it’s about two meter left of the kitchen I clean most of the plates and cups while she cleans the eating utensils with quite the efficiency, this process takes about 10 minutes for us to finish since there weren’t that many things to clean. ”So, that’s that. Do you any help with anything el-” I say before being interrupted by a small yawn. ”Mm...Big Sis?” comes a sleepy child’s voice and Laila and I turn our attention to said child wearing purple pajamas and rubbing his right eye and his hair looks really messy, as does some of his fur. ”Morning Franz, did you sleep well?” Laila says while drying her paws with a towels while I just wave my hands around a bit to dry them before she passes the towel. I thank her and dry my hands, while doing that I notice a small string of fur, I decide to ignore it and continue the process of drying my hands after which I put it onto a vertical pole that is situated on the wall. I turn around and notice Franz going into the bathroom and Laila opening the fridge before taking out a white-and-red Fefzer toast package that’s half-full. ”Fefzer? I thought they only made chocolate and candy.” I say outloud and stand there and think about the last time I had Fefzer chocolate. ”They do. I bought some two days ago.” ”Huh.” She makes breakfast as I go in the bathroom and I pass by a yawning Franz, are those pajamas from when Laila was a kid or did he bring them with him? Maybe he has a backpack with him in Laila’s room. ”Okay you two, I’m gonna go get changed and then head out to work!” Laila happily yells out as I exit the bathroom after finish my two-numbered business. ”Alright, when will you be back?” I ask loud back to her and I see her in the entryway, wearing tight jeans that display some of her naturally stocky lower-body assets and her her dress-shirt seems a bit tight on her behind her open, black officey-looking jacket. ”I’ll be back at 16:00. There’s money on the table for you to buy something at the nearby convenience store.” she quickly says before putting on black-and-white sneakers, what are those, Nikes? The door clicks as she leaves and I just stand there in the hallways corner for a second before going into the kitchen and seeing Franz eating his triangle sandwich, filled with one piece of lettuce, a slice of ham and a slice of cheese and five ten euro bills on the table ”Goddamnit, I said not to and she did it anyway.” I whisper under my breath and I bring my hand to my face and rub my eyes a bit. ”Hey Franz, wanna go around town? Maybe you can show me around?” I suggest a plan to spend time on and I take my own triangle sandwich from the plate on the table and eat in big bites. ”Okay! I’ll show you the park! It’s a really nice place!” he cheers and eats his sandwich before storming out of the kitchen and to Laila’s room to change. I decide to keep my clothes, they probably don’t smell that bad. ”You ready Franz?” I take my jacket from the coat-rack and put it on and don’t zip it because I like to feel the wind going “through” me, as it were. ”Yeah!” He steps closer wearing blue-and-white sneaker, beige shorts and a green shirt with some type of logo splatter on it, not what I would go for but who am I to judge a kid’s fashion taste? I pat my jacket’s right pocket for the spare keys Laila said that I could use and I open the door’s lock and then the door itself and exit the confines of the house into the windy city. A red car streaks by like a comet and I glance that Franz has left the house and I close the door and a few clicks indicating that it’s closed, but I turn the knob to see if it is locked and it is. ”Good, now...Where’s the park?” I ask as I take a few steps and step onto the sidewalk and ruffle my loose hair a bit as it flaps only a little in the small breeze. ”It’s a small walk away! You can see it over there!” he points forward and a little to the right, meaning north-east and the forms of birch trees in the distance. ”Alright, let’s go. Don’t stray too far away from me.” I turn right and start walking with the happy dog boy walking right of me with his arms spread out like wings. The walk didn’t take more than five minute before we arrive at the park contained by a short brick wall that I could easily climb over since it reaches to about my chest. ”Alright, we’re-” Franz gets interrupted by falling on his rear after bumping into someone and I turn to see the scene. ”Oh, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t focusing and bumped into you!” the smokey-grey, curly-furred cat with a right-swiped windblown mohawk (Or is it just spiky hair?) apologizes and I notice her wearing a tracksuit, was she jogging or something and she looks about a head shorter than me. ”Ow…” Franz seems to have landed on his tail and I help him up by holding his paw for him to lean on. ”I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I hurt such a cute kid! And…” she seems to get distracted as she turns her emerald-green eyes up to me and I almost forgot that cat anthros have whiskers, I always did kinda find that cute. ”Don’t worry, I’m fine! I just landed my tail, no biggie!” Franz gives a peace-sign and the cat smiles in response. ”Oh thank God! I was worried if I hurt you badly or something.” she giggles and pats the dog boy, but her hair somehow manages to get my attention since I didn’t think anyone could use the mohawk hairstyle and have it actually look good on them. ”It’s fine, let’s get going Franz. Have a nice day.” I say to the grey cat and Franz steps to my left side as we start walking. ”A good day to you too!” she waves back and jogs off the way we came and I quickly glance at her poofy/messy grey tail and then go back to walking to the park. It’s nothing special, two tiled roads going to the left and right with a lake in the middle and a bridge connecting in the middle which probably meant the view from above looked like a figure-eight. ”Hey, over here!” Franz yells as he runs under a singular birch tree sitting by the lake and I take a few running step to him. ”This is my favourite spot! Don’t tell anyone.” he whispers the last part and I smile at his bubbliness. ”I won’t tell.” I say as I lay down on my back and flip my hands behind my head as the random thought of how the wind works gets my mind distracted before I hear a noise above and I look up to a figure sitting in the tree. ”What the…” I say and the figure turns it’s head to me and I notice it to be a dog- no, wolf male anthro, I am not really sure which. ”Oh, hello.” he waves to me and I wave back to him with a confused wave and he flips his legs over and jumps down from the tree and nails the landing and I glance at his short comb-over as he stands up and turns to me. The dog seems to wearing sneaker, some loose-fitting jeans and a tank-top and he seems to be somewhat fit, judging by his body language. ”You new here? I’m Jyrki, nice to meet ya.” he welcomes as he places his right paw on his hip very casually and he’s got a smile dawned on his face, if I swung that way, I’d probably ask him out right now. ”I’m just visiting a friend. I live a one hour and fifty-two minutes drive from here.” I cross my legs to sit more comfortably and Franz goes over to the male canine. ”I’m Franz!” the boy says and extends his right paw for a shake and Jyrki crouches and shakes with his left. ”Nice to meet you, Franz. And what’s your name?” Jyrki shakes paws with the boy and then turns his amber eyes to me. ”My name’s Emil, but most people just call me Armas. We have the same eye-color, by the way.” I laugh a little and he steps closer to me before crouching and staring me in the eyes. ”W-What is it? Is there something on my face?” I feel slightly uncomfortable with him gazing at me with his eyes not wavering. ”Huh, looks we do have the same eye-colour. Nice.” he says and stands up, towering over my lying body and I notice a necklace hanging from his neck. ”Where’d you get the necklace? It looks pretty.” I point to said crescent-shaped object hanging by a silver-colored chain. ”I got this from my girlfriend, as a birthday gift a few days ago.” he gleefully presents his present to me and smiles while doing so. ”Is that so? That sounds really nice.” I get a bit somber and glance at the skies. ”Oh drat! I’ve gotta go!” he yells out and then runs off with a quick wave of his paw. I smirk at the thought of him having to meet with his girlfriend and him forgetting about it as I check my phone for the time: 9:13 ”So, what do you wanna do Franz?” ”Hmm…” he looks around and then he steps closer to me with a giddy step. ”Let’s go eat!” His wide smile gets me to feel generally more up-beat and I stand myself up and pat my ass a few times to get any loose grass of it. ”Alright, where to?” ”There’s this really great store that sells the most amazing burritos! And the lady working there is really nice, she seemed kinda familiar to that cat we bumped into.” He hymns. ”I’ll follow your lead then.” We then start walking westward, to the store he mentioned. And so the adventure of life goes on! Chapter 3 The west part of town is mostly some apartment buildings with some stores here and there. ”So, how long till we reach the store?” I ask in a stride while taking in the sight off the mildly-tall buildings on the calm streets. ”It’s just around the corner!” Franz runs with his corked tail wagging behind him and I take a few bigger steps to keep up with him. He turns a corner to the left and I follow moments after seeing the boy stand proudly in front of a small store with the sign “Laitela”. That sounds suspiciously similar to my last name. ”Here it is!” he smiles and then steps into the store through the automatic doors with me right behind him as I notice Sing by The Carpenters playing in the background through the probably ages-old radio on the counter. The store itself looks nothing special, tiled floor, three big lights on the roof lighting the store and three rows of shelves to the right with some rows in the walls as well. One person, a human guy with a clean blonde bob cut, seems to be working at the counter and I wonder if there is a different person doing something in the back. He meets his eyes with me and welcomes us to the store with me giving a quick wave to him as a hello. Franz steps past the rows of foods before stopping in front of the three-layered food row in the back wall. ”Those!” He points to the two-pack of chicken-mango flavored burritos which would not be my first choice for a quick meal, but it seems he likes them. ”Alright.” I grab the pack as Franz seemingly jumps up and down excitedly next to me. ”You’ve got a nice big bro, don’t you?” a weirdly familiar voice says before I turn around to see the brunette feline from before, standing in a light-blue t-shirt and jeans. ”Oh, it’s you again.” I say out loud and focus my attention to the bouncing boy stepping toward the cat. ”Hello!” He waves to her and the feline pats him a few times. ”Why hello, little boy.” she replies back with a kind voice and I take into attention her light-brown mohawk, it sitting like a chocolate button on top of a cake. ”So, you’re gonna buy that burrito? I’ll microwave it for you since you two seem to be on the move now.” she offers as she moves behind the counter and I pay for the food. ”Alright, wait here and I’ll microwave it!” the cat trots along to the back through a door with the burrito pack in her paw. ”You’re lucky to have such a carefree girlfriend, first she’s late and now this.” Her co-worker looks at me and sighs as he drops his head lower. ”She’s not my girlfriend.” I retort back simply. ”Well, yeah should’ve guessed since you’ve got a kid with you.” the man points to Franz, who in turn tilts his head to the left cutely. ”He’s not my kid, just helping to take care of him.” I retort again. ”Geez, what do you have?” ”A house, a car and a purpose to live.” I say without thinking, the guy sighs and turns his eyes to a window on his right, I probably hit some kind of sore spot. ”Yeah, I’m kinda iffy on the last one myself.” a depressed sigh comes from him and I place a hand on his shoulder. ”Welp, good luck with that.” I pat his shoulder a few times before I notice the cat coming out of the back with a paper-plate that has two burritos on top. ”Here you go! A special service from me.” she grins, paws me the plate and I take it in my hands. ”Thanks, have a nice day. Alright Franz, let’s go.” I gently say to the boy and we exit the store while waving good-bye to the two workers. ”Let’s sit down and eat these somewhere.” I look around the cobble-stoned street and manage to spot a free bench next to a planted tree that’s in the middle of the street, I sit down on it with Franz in tow. I decide to check the time in boredom and it’s 10:15, we take a first bite of burritos and I gotta say, it tastes pretty good. ”What should we do next?” I ask, and notice Franz has already eaten almost half of his burrito. ”Whe should-” he swallows his food and then continues “...We should go around the city sights!” I like the idea and it might be a good way to spend the next five hours and fourty five minutes while we wait for Laila to come back. ”Alright, what should we go see first?” I stand up and throw the paper-plate in a trash bin nearby after folding it. ”Let’s go to the mall, it’s really big! Then we can go to a statue in the city square! And then there’s hobby store!” That last part piques my interest and I wonder for a moment if they sell gunpla or some side-cutters since my old pair is getting a bit creaky. ”Let’s get to it then!” I quickly eat the last of my burrito and we start walking to the mall he mentioned. It was pretty big, 2 big stores, 6 small ones and 4 cafes, I bought us some slushies from one of them and damn was that strawberry slushie good! Next was the city square and its statue, nothing special there...Maybe expect the fact that I took a picture with Franz with the raised statue of a famous president or something that was in the background and I think I heard a few women gossiping about us. Something about me being a good parent or something, I don’t know. And finally, but not lastly was the hobby store which didn’t sadly sell gunpla, but I did buy a pair of side-cutters, a pack of hobby knives and two cans of Testors Spray Lacquer Clear Coat which I use to give my gunpla their signature flat top-coat, something that I prefer doing more than just gloss coats that are a bit too bombastic for me. As the hours ticked by, we end up returning to Laila’s house, we’re about there as we walk in front of her door and notice that the lights seem to be on, meaning she is there. I knock on the door to the rhythm of the Metal Gear Solid game-over theme and I giggle a bit at my shitty joke before the door opens and… ”So, looks like we meet again, pretty boy.” the same feline I’ve run into two times today appears before me for a third time and in a place I did not expect. ”Heh. Seems like it.” I let out a small laugh and step in the house past the hoodie and jeans wearing cat and I sit myself carelessly on the couch before I set the plastic bag containing my shoppings on the floor. A pair of bare footed furry legs land on my lap as the grey-furred feline drops herself on the couch as well. ”Hope you don’t mind~” she sings with a small growl to her voice, is she purring? ”I...uh…” I honestly don’t know what to say and see Franz sitting himself down on the chair next to the couch and turning his attention to the tv. Come on, Franz. Don't leave me with this lady here, help me out man! ”Faye, please don’t harass Armas.” Laila’s saving voice come beyond the corner as she graciously steps to us with a huge plate of pizza ready and places it on the coffee table as the smell fills the room like a blanket while the cat sits upright, her bare feet on the floor ”Did you make this? It smells amazing!” Franz yells out, re-energized from the day spent having fun. Laila cuts the pizza into eight slices with a pizza cutter that she seems to have held in her paw. ”Yes, I decided to try something new since I haven’t really tried making pizza before.” Laila says back. I gain more appreciation for her and smile at the thought of her cooking food for me. ”Don’t mind if I do.” Faye interrupts and takes a slice before taking a toothy bite out of it and turning the tv on. ”Faye! You have no table manners, I swear.” Laila sighs and I’ve gotta agree with her on this one, the cat was being kinda rude. She looks at Laila and eats the bite in her mouth before speaking: “Oh fine. Thank you for this food, oh mighty Goddess of the kitchen.” Her sarcastic tone was clearly evident. ”Faye, you really are the opposite of a grown adult.” the canine throws back some shade before retreating back to the kitchen, leaving the punky cat stunned. ”Was that a jab at my breast size? And who says I have to act like adult? I do what I want.” Her mentality is fine, but the way she shows it is a bit.... off-putting but also kind-of refreshing at the same time. ”So, your name is Faye? Mine’s Emil, but people just call me Armas.” We look at each other and I offer a right hand to shake. ”Oh, nice to meet you Emil.” she says and shakes my hand with her left paw which feels nicely warm as I lose my focus and end up staring at her. ”Emil? What’s wrong?” she waves her left paw in my face and I snap back to attention before turning my head away in embarrassment, I hope to god I’m not blushing. ”N-Nothing, it’s just that no one has really called me by my real name before.” ”That’s kinda sad.” She takes another bite of her slice which she holds in her right paw. ”Hey Laila, why do you call this guy Armas instead of Emil? Isn’t it kind of insulting towards him?” the cat yells to the approaching kind dog. ”It’s fine, she doesn’t mean it in a mean way. Right, Laila?” I defend her because she doesn’t really deserve the flak. ”I...I just call you Armas because I like it more than Emil. I’ll stop if you want me to.” Laila timidly replies and I’m a bit hurt at the fact my theory was proven correct, but what can I do? ”Don’t worry, you can call me whatever you want.” I reassure her with a small smile as she sits down to my right, with me giving her some space and Faye scooting to the left at the same time. ”So, what did you two do in the city?” Laila asks while I reach for a slice and carefully detach the cheese strings from the rest of the pizza. ”Oh we went to the park and stayed there for a while after that we went to grab lunch, to the mall, to the city statue and then to a hobby store.” ”Was it Harraste Oy?” Laila speaks up and I turn to her with a mouthful of pizza in my mouth and I nod as an answer. ”Oh, a friend of mine works there! He’s a man a bit taller than you and wears a bandana everywhere. Did you see anyone like that there?” Is that guy the someone Franz mentioned? And I think there was a guy like that stocking the shelves. I nod again before swallowing down the piece of pizza and exhaling a loose breath. ”He was restocking some shelves when I saw him. Since when was he a friend?” I ask curiously. I hear the couch softly crunch only to see Faye walking into the hallway thats leading to the kitchen, what the hell was at the end of the hallway anyway? Heh that rhymes. There’s probably some storage rooms or some unused rooms in the back of the hallway, but I’m not about to find out now. ”Oh, he’s a friend since we were...about 10, he’s pretty upfront about everything.” Damn, I have some tough possible competition ahead of me. ”Huh, sounds like a nice guy. And what-” I get interrupted by the doorbell ringing at the same moment the grey feline comes past the hallway with a 1.5L Dr.Pupper bottle in paws. ”I’ll go get it. Who could be here at this hour?” Laila stands up and I scoot over to her spot and lean on the armrest with the spot feeling pretty warm as I see Faye flopping back down on another chair next to the one Franz is sitting on, her seat being closer to the couch. I hear a small click of the door lock and it opening as I bite into the slice again and quickly eat the part I bit off. ”Jyrki? What are you doing here?” Laila says a name I wasn’t expecting to hear and I turn to the door, where the wolfish dog stands equal to Laila, both of them being taller than me. ”Laila, I uh…” he stutters out and seems to take something out of his pocket before bending a knee and opening the small box in his paws with a small glint flashing against the light. ”Laila, will you...marry me?” he...what? WHAT? WHAT DID HE JUST. ”Jyrki, I...Yes I will!” she jumps up and hugs Jyrki as he stands up and wrap his arms around Laila’s waist, it’s a happy moment....But why does it feel so cold? ”Wooooo! Congratulations you two!” Faye cheers and claps, did she know that the two canines were dating? Why didn’t she...Yeah, she didn’t know about my feelings. ”Thank you and Oh! Armas and Franz, meet Jyrki, my boyfriend or actually my fiancé!” she happily introduces us, and I feel like I’ve lost my appetite big time. ”We’ve already met, in the park. Remember me?” Jyrki radiantly smiles, I give a fake one and close my eyes to hold back the tears. ”Y-Yeah. Nice meeting you again.” I try to contain my spite and sorrow, something I seem to be a natural at ever since a faithful full-moon evening. ”Jyrki, come on in! You can come eat with us!” Laila pulls the guy by his arm and they sit down next to me, Jyrki being nearest to me as I try to not seem uncomfortable. I hear small giggles and laughs next to me, but I dare not look in fear of losing control of my tears. ”Don’t cry, you’ll only make others sad” I think to myself, I don’t want her to be sad when she’s this...happy. ”Hey, Emil. Something wrong?” I raise my eyes to Faye’s shining green ones and notice clear and pure concern is written all over her face. ”It’s nothing….The lights are just a little bright.” I say as another fake smile forms on my lips The following evening feels like an eternity while sitting next to the two cute canines hugging, cuddling and holding hands. I'm just saddened because I was too late, or maybe I didn't even have a chance in the first place. My mind goes back to the first time Laila and I talked, it was during Shadow Raid in Payday 2 when we were only using each other to gain experience and money. She asked if I wanted to use a microphone to talk and I of course said yes. The rest is in the pages of history. None of that matters though, as I am now in a room filled with people, yet I just feel so alone. I dare not to speak about it to anyone due to me not wanting to ruin the mood. Would they even care? How long did Jyrki stay here? I don’t know, but Faye left soon after, leaving me, Franz and Laila in the silent house. I lay on the couch with my back and stare at the ceiling while having a sick feeling in my stomach that keeps me held down. I turn and cross my arms under the pillow before pushing my face against it and feeling it getting a bit warmer as I try to fall asleep. And so...the adventure of life goes on. Chapter 4 The shower warm water falls down on my head as I wash myself slowly with the sounds and images of yesterday not fading from my mind. I could cry, and no one would know, but no tears come out no matter how much I want them to. I take a quick shaky breath and continue with the washing as I open my mouth. ”From the heart we all cry for joy and pain...” ”From the heart we all smile and love-ove ove...” I can’t bring myself to sing the rest of the lyrics so I stop the shower and notice a few droplets dripping off my bangs which I pull back with my hand only for them to fall back down. Nothing can go right today, first I woke up on the floor and then I had to endure Laila’s giddiness as she excitedly talked about her and her boyfriend’s future even asking me what guys like to get as presents. I just answered with a boring: “Guys like receiving someone’s love. I think everyone does.” with my eyes darting around to avoid eye-contact with her. What was her answer? I don’t remember, something like her wanting to give an actual present and love as well? I step away from the shower-head with my mind still down before I quickly dry myself with a towel that’s hanging from a hook. I take my clothes from the top of the sink table and put the piece-by-piece before exiting the bathroom in a small slump. What the hell am I gonna do today? Repeat yesterday’s round around the city? Nah, I can’t bother. ”Hey, can we go around town again? It was so fun!” Franz says what I really don’t want to hear and I just sigh. ”Sorry, but I don’t really want to. Maybe some other time.” I force my lips to smile and I sit down on the couch while Franz plays more Derraria on the couch as well. ”Aww...But I really wanted to.” he pouts, but his puppy-eyes don’t work on me right now. ”Sorry. I’m just not in the mood.” I run my hand through my hair and ruffle it in a small fit of frustration. Goddamnit, why can’t I just let it go? She’s just someone I had a crush on! She’s just… Fuck me. I get my phone out and check the time, 13:34, and I put it back in my pocket with a small sigh. ”Hey Franz, want something to eat?” I turn to the kid and our eyes meet, his bright ones contrasting against me. ”Yeah, I’m kinda getting hungry. Didn’t Big Sis say that there was some leftover pizza from yesterday in the fridge?” he wonders and then gets back to playing as I go to the kitchen and open the fridge, finding a pizza box there. I take it, close the fridge and check what the box has inside...four small slices left, I put them on a plate from a drawer and pop them in the microwave sitting on the right-side of the kitchen’s table. Turn it to 600 W and the time to 3 minutes, should be enough to warm them up nicely. After the three minutes pass the microwave beeps prompting me to open the hatch and take out the plate being careful not to burn my hand. I then go back to the living room with the plate in my hands and I place said plate on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch. ”Thanks!” Franz pauses the game, takes a slice and starts eating it with me. ”I don’t really like Jyrki, I think you and Big Sis would be better together.” Franz once again says his thoughts out-loud and I sigh again. ”Nah, they’re perfect for each other. And you know how it is with anthro-human couples sometimes.” I weakly smile as I think back to a small thing that happened between me and a few of my friends about five years ago. Treto, a good friend of mine with a lot of sass, once got close with anthro girl and they both got a bit of flak at school because of that they soon drifted apart. They still chatted with me online and I tried my damndest to get the two together, I eve succeeded with an invitation to come hang out. We all were in my room while the two made up and I prepared some snacks for us to eat with some drink as well. The three of us played games and watched anime till we were round as the moon. I take another slice of the pizza as I delve deep into my memories and remember how the two thanked me for bringing them together and I just responded with: “I didn’t do much, it was your love that brought you together.” We all laughed at how cheesy that sounded and enjoyed the rest of the day. I wonder where those two are now? Probably enjoying each other’s company unlike me, who sits here with a growing child that doesn’t know the sharp edges of the world that can cut deep. We’ve eaten our slices, I take the plate back to the kitchen and place it in the sink before staring at the cupboard that Laila tried to get the honey out of the other day. I think I still remember how she felt, though only just a little and oh how much I want to feel her again... maybe that sounds a bit too creepy. I turn around, walk back to the living room and lay down on the couch, leaving enough space for Franz to sit on. As I stare at the ceiling, my eyes start to droop tiredly for some reason. Without warning, I fall asleep soon after. ... ”...Hey!” A feminine and slightly girly voice says as I snap my eyes open to see Faye standing above me, her large light-brown bang of hair catching my eye, then I shift my attention to her green eyes. ”Oh, it’s you.” I say with accidental snobby tone, seeing as I just woke up and still am dazed ”Don’t give me that tone, I’m here to ask you something.” she claims as she straightens her posture. I go sit on the couch and face her, noting that she’s wearing a dark-green hoodie, beige shorts and some blue colored running shoes. ”Shoot.” ”You have a crush on Laila, don’t you?” How the hell did she know? Stalkerish much? ”...What do you care?” I look away and I feel suddenly something pull me up a little by the collar of my shirt, and it’s Faye and she looks a bit angry. ”You think I don’t care when I see someone getting their heart broken?” her voice almost shouts and my eyes widen open in surprise. ”And it’s too damn obvious that you’re upset about it, so I’m gonna cheer you up. Come on, let’s go on a jog.” she says neutrally and carefully lets go of her grip. ”A jog? Why do you…” ”Figure it out, dumbass.” she says with a back turned to me. What the hell does she mean? ”...Alright, let’s go.” I stand up with a sigh, go to the entryway with the cat and put on my shoes and jacket before we exit the house. ”So, where are we going?” I ask her, and she takes out her phone, she seems to look at a map. ”Hmm...Screw it, let’s improvise. We go left.” she then turns in said direction and waves me to come with her, so we start walking side-by-side. ”...So, what should we do?” I ask while rubbing the back of my neck and staring toward the right. ”As I said, we’ll improvise!” she yells cheerfully with a peace-sign to boot, calming me down a little. ”Well....Alright.” We turn right and pass a street-crossing before going straight and we walk for a while more. I tap Faye’s shoulder and she turns her head to me with a curious flick of her front bang, her hairstyle is pretty unique I gotta say. ”What’s up?” she slows her pace, even though she’s shorter and she still manages to keep a faster walking pace than me. ”How do you know Laila? And is there any place nearby that sells rope?” I say the last part with a slightly depressed breath. ”We’ve been friends since we were 15 and they sell rope at-” she stops talking and yelps She covers her mouth with her paws and we stop walking. ”Hey! What’s wrong?” I touch her shoulder and she quickly turns her head to me while still covering her mouth. ”I bith muh tongue.” she says muffled and takes her paws down and…. Her...tongue is...sticking out and she just tilts her head when she sees me almost losing my shit. ”What?” she speaks, but she still ends up sticking her damn tongue out! Oh my god, that is cute. ”Your…” I gasp between laughs “...tongue is sticking out.” Her eyes widen, and she covers her mouth yet again as she turns away, likely in embarrassment. ”D-Don’t laugh!” she muffledly yells, I stop laughing and feel a bit guilty laughing at her ”Oh, uh, sorry. I shouldn’t have- ” I say meekly before a sharp feeling hits my side, that feeling being her bundled-up paw hitting my side. ”Don’t be so weak-minded, I’m not that thin-skinned to let something like that hurt me. And hey, it cheered you, didn’t it?” she smiles up to me and sticks her tongue out again, intentionally this time. I giggle and smile with her and jokingly stick my own tongue out, prompting a confused look and then a few giggles from the feline. ”You look pretty silly. Let’s continue walking.” She giggles a few more times as she turns around and my eyes seem to roll down and lock to her poofy tail, and damn is it poofy. ”Hey, isn’t it frustrating sometimes?” I ask as I take a few strideful steps next to her so that we walk side-by-side . She seems to take faster steps while I take pretty lax steps. ”What is?” She looks up, this time her tongue staying in her mouth. ”Your tail, does it get frustrating to deal with sometimes?” I ask with legitimate curiosity because I’ve never really thought about anthro tails and their complexities, don’t some anthros have something called...eroge-zones or something at the base of their tails? ”Well, yeah. It’s really annoying to clean sometimes, and it sometimes acts like it has a mind of its own!” Faye starts ranting a little as her tail sticks up a little with a small side hook to it What did that mean again? ”Can I touch it?” I look at the sky and then to the wide-eyed cat staring at me. ”You what?” she stutters as her tail droops a little. ”I-I mean, if you’re okay with it.” I really would like to touch it and I’m not sure why I asked it in the first place and she probably- ”Okay. Just don’t touch the base.” Seems my guess about those eroge-zones was correct and she brings her tail to her paw and I touch it in the middle, it feels nice as it looks. I glance at her while she’s facing away from me and I let my hand off her tail. ”So…Let’s see…” her words fade as we step to an open-street and I notice a small ice cream vendor open that Faye seems to be staring at before patting her jeans. What is she doing? Checking for her phone, wallet or something else? ”Could I ask what are you doing?” ”I’m, ah, just patting my pants down.” Her eyes tell a different story, one of ice cream. ”You want to get ice cream, right?” I sigh and she nods with her hair bobbing along with her movements. I continue: ”And you don’t have enough money?” Her mouth almost forms a straight line and she looks away from my gaze as I chuckle lightly ”Well, let’s go buy some then. I’ve got money.” ”Oh thanks!” she bubbles back and we step in front of the ice cream vendor. The guy behind the counter gives us a hard-working and honest smile, which I find kinda hard to believe. ”Oh hi Faye! What can I get cha?” He called her by her name? She must be a regular. ”Two ice creams, one vanilla and the other…” Faye glances to me and I quickly scan the list for flavours. ”Strawberry, thanks.” I say with a flat-tone and pay for the ice creams before I notice some human children running past, giggling and chatting without a care in the world. The open-street isn’t that filled with people, just some passers-by here and there with the sound of a harmonica filling the air from the left. A raggedy man is sitting down and playing the instrument while a hat sits in front of him ”Alright, here is your ice creams!” he huzzahs and hands us two cones. We take our respective ice creams, mine being pinkish with some red lines here and there I also take a few napkins and stuff them neatly in my pocket. ”Hey look, it looks like a smiley face.” I snicker a little at the lines and dots looking like a smile on the ice cream’s surface. ”It does looks like one.” she giggles back and I start eating mine as we continue our “jog” back the way we came. The ice cream tastes pretty good, haven’t had any in months and I gotta admit that there is something special about getting ice cream from a vendor instead of buying some from a store. The way I’ve eaten ice cream has been to use my lips to cover my teeth and kinda bite into it, some people find it a bit weird. I’m blaming my big sis for getting me into this habit. I glance at the short feline walking next to me and she’s licking her vanilla ice cream softly. ”Huh, you lick your ice cream?” ”Yeah, what of it?” she asks a bit scoffing. ”Nothing, it’s just interesting to see someone eat ice cream like that.” I say as I eat some more of mine. ”I’ve always eaten it this way, it’s too cold to put it straight in my mouth.” I cackle at her wording and she looks almost disappointed. ”Perv.” I chuckle and continue eating as we pass a small group of guys walking by wearing some bandy outfits. ”Hey Emil, look over there for a sec.” Faye points forward and bit to the right, at some bushes. ”What do you-” A sudden coarse feel vertically across my cheek stops my words and I stare at her as she licks her lips a bit before looking at me curiously. ”Did you just lick me?” I can’t believe she just did that, I mean who licks someone’s cheek!? Who!? ”What? There was some ice cream on your cheek and I just decided to lick it off.” ”You could have used a napkin though.” I pull out a napkin from my pocket to prove my point ”Maybe, but just be glad you were my first lick. So, you better take responsibility~” her smarmy tone kind of irritates me. I get a small piece of ice cream on my left index finger-tip and touch Faye’s nose with said finger. ”Whaa..” She looks confused and then tries to lick her nose, but the ice cream is a bit too high for her tongue to reach as I use a napkin to clean the ice cream off. ”That’s how you clean something off someone.” ”You must be fun at parties.” she smirks and goes back to licking her ice cream ”I don’t go to parties.” ”Of course you don’t. You stay at home and play videogames and such, right?” Her tone really grates me for some reason. ”Yeah, so what?” I say back angrily. ”Chill bro, no need to get mad. Didn’t mean to insult yah.” she pulls a fake accent before I start to crunch down on my waffle ice cream cone. She continues: ”And on the subject of videogames. What kind of videogames do you play?” I contemplate if I should reveal my powerlevel and I decide to throw caution to the winds as I eat the last of the waffle cone. ”Action and RPGs mostly. What about you?” ”I’m a filthy casul. I’ve only played...Tails of Orchestra and such.” Did she just say ToO? DUDE YOU ARE NOT CASUL. ”What? You’ve played Orchestra? Who's your favourite character?” I think I might have let myself get a bit too excited and straighten myself a little. She finishes eating her ice cream and I glance forward to see Laila’s house in the distance. ”Hmm...Maybe Foyd? I kinda took inspiration from his hair.” She flicks her bang with her fingers, I can see the inspiration. ”Yeah, Foyd is pretty fun but I like Melos more. “Damn I must be a genius!”” I say while pulling my front bangs up with my hands and then letting them drop fabulously. ”Guessing you like him because you could literally pass of as him if you dyed your hair?” she suggests with a giggle. ”Yeah, maybe I’ll do that.” I rub my chin a little before a laugh takes my attention. ”I dare you to actually do it!” she grins and I just grin back. ”Wanna bet? 10€ bet.” I joke, but she seems to take it seriously going by how her smirk has widened. ”Deal, I bet you won’t do it.” ”I bet against you.” This is actually the silliest thing ever; does she really think I won’t do it? We turn right to Laila’s house and my laughter stops as a cold realization hits me, I left Franz alone and Laila is probably inside right now. I carefully open the door and a small cough comes from the green-haired canine leaning on the couch backrest. I feel Faye bumping me on my back as I stop and stare at the canine. ”Armas, where did you go?” She is not happy, at all. ”I was just on a jog with Faye.” I step inside with Faye doing the same and we stay there. ”So, why did you leave Franz alone in the house? And neither of you said anything to him.” Laila continues, and my guilt starts racking on. ”I just...forgot. I’m sorr-” I get stopped by a paw on my mouth and I look left to Faye as she drops her paw. ”You don’t have to apologize, it’s my fault since I took him on the jog.” she gives a small laugh and then turns to Laila. ”Laila, did you know that Emil here has a crush on you?” As those words escape Faye’s mouth I almost start booking it out the door and into my car and just drive off, but I don’t ”What? Armas you…” Laila’s eyes widen and turns them to me. ”Yeah. I have- HAD a crush on you, but you already seem to have someone so…” I glance away for a moment because I can’t stand how sad she looks. ”Oh Armas, I...didn’t know. I shouldn’t have invited you here, you must’ve felt so heartbroken yesterday.” Laila’s voice almost seems to quiver, and I try looking at her, sinking my heart a bit deeper as her pained expression deepens. ”Hey Laila, wanna know something?” Faye breaks the moment and steps one step forward before continuing. ”I’m glad you invited Emil over, because I think I found my future-boyfriend in him.” she bluntly says and I don’t know for sure if I feel the same way about her as wholeheartedly as she does about me. ”Oh. Well, uh…” Laila seems to be at a loss for words and stutters the for a moment. ”And by the way, is it cool if I take Emil over to my place?” Faye is just full of surprises today, like box of chocolates. ”That’s fine with me, but is it fine with you Ar- Emil?” Laila finally said it, my real name...But it’s too late for that to matter now though it does still feel a bit nice. ”Y-Yeah, I’m cool with that.” I say on instinct and a curled paw latches onto my wrist before starting to drag me along for the ride. ”Well then, me and Emil will be going now! See ya Laila!” the short feline happily yells as we walk out the door and she shuts it behind us. I don’t manage to get a word in and just let her pull me along by the wrist as I glance at her bouncing forward energetically. Not a word is said between us as we reach the park where we bumped into before, but we go straight instead turning towards the main gate. Her grip on me is starting to get a bit rough. ”Hey, could you let go? You’re holding too hard.” I shyly ask, and she turns around before carefully letting go. ”Sorry, I got a bit excited.” she giggles and we continue walking by the red brick wall side-by-side with my eyes diverting in direction opposite of her. ”S-So, what are we gonna do once we get to your place?” ”Play video games maybe? Or should we just go to sleep since it’s turning up a bit late. Or maybe…” she rambles on and it’s obvious that her smooth-talking before was more or less a fly-or-die moment for her. ”We can play some games before going to sleep or maybe watch some tv?” I think spaghetti is slowing spilling from both of our pants right now. As we walk a bit more awkwardly, we end up in front of her house which is a two-story house with a light-green paint. ”So, here we are. Lemme see if my bro is home.” She rings the doorbell. Shortly afterwards a muffled thud and a yell sounds out. ”Yep, he’s home.” Faye blankly says, and I chuckle at the scene. The door opens and another grey feline steps out, wearing a tank-top and slacks that don’t leave much for the imagination. ”Faye, what the hell are you…?” he sounds surprisingly deep given his light-looking stature and ridiculously overflowing hair, like dude go to a hairdresser or buy a brush. ”Sorry for being so late, did I miss dinner? And I’m bringing this guy to crash.” Faye casually says and steps past him with me in the tow. I manage to say a quick hello to her brother. We take off our shoes and place them next to the other sets of shoes in the mostly empty entryway and her brother seems to go to his room. ”On a second thought, let’s go to sleep.” Faye announces and turns left, going past a couch and a beanbag chair. She walk to the door in front of her and opens it before signaling me to come in and I follow her into what I assume is the bathroom. ”You can use my bro’s toothbrush, I’ll use mine.” she says as she take a simple pink toothbrush, pours some paste on the brush and starts brushing. I take the black-colored one and do the same as her. Our brushing doesn’t take that long and we exit the bathroom with Faye first. ”Emil, you can hang your jacket on the coat rack if you want to.” She points to the coat rack with only about 5 or so coats on it. ”Alright.” I walk over, take off my jacket, and place it to hang. ”I’ll be sleeping on the couch, right?” I turn around and see Faye coming my way. ”Uh, you sure? You could come sleep in my bed." she tries to convince me, but I wanna respect her privacy. "Yeah, you don't need to bring me a sheet or anything. I can manage." I say as I go to lay down on the couch and prepare to sleep. "Oh, alright then. Offer still open though. Night." She says and closes the door to her room and I swap to laying on my side and close my eyes. ... I dream something...Something really scary, but I'm not sure what it is even though it feels so familiar. I see two figures, slowly coming towards me, myself smiling as they come close, before...bam, they fly off to the right and hit the ground in splatters... ...This warm feeling on my cheek, I take my hand to it and feel it before looking at my fingers, tips covered in crimson. Then, the warm feeling turns cold and I feel like weak, really weak like I'm about to collapse from just standing. "No, don't..go. Mo-" I then suddenly snap out of my dream and see Faye's green eyes. "Hey, you alright?" Her voice sounds almost motherly and this wave of nostalgia hits. "...Yeah, I just had a nightmare. Sorry if I woke you." I turn away from her, not wanting to concern her with what happened in the past. "Hey, come sleep in with me. You'll be able to sleep more easily." I feel a slight thump somewhere deep in me and I turn to her again. "You mean, both of us in your bed? Are you sure you wanna sleep with a guy you met just a couple days ago?" "Details, details. Now, come on." She avoids my question and pulls me up and along to her bedroom door. “Sorry, but i just..can't. I’ll be fine on the couch.” I pull my hand back as she still grips it and she stares at me for a moment defeatedly. “Oh, okay...Night then, I guess.” She meekly replies and enters her room, opening and closing the door with a saddened grip. “Night…” I awkwardly say back and walk back to the couch and lay down, looking at the ceiling with an unfocused gaze. I wonder what’s up with Faye...Could she be just lonely or something and wants someone to sleep next to her? Or maybe that's just me, but that is no matter as my body decides to rest fully And so the adventure of life goes on. Chapter 5 ...I feel really well rested. I raise myself and strec, before standing up and looking around the dim morning-lit living room. Where’s the kitchen? I wanna try making some breakfast for us. I move past the living room heading towards the bathroom and that's when I spot the kitchen... it's right behind the couch. It’s small, but neatly kept with a seemingly marble floor. ”Now, what should I make? A simple sandwich breakfast or something a bit more extravagant?” I talk to myself as I look in the small fridge to see what I have to work with Bread, cheese, ham, bacon, Dr.Pupper, some other foods and….mothertrucking premade pancake mix! I pick up the plastic box and wonder if it had been bought at one of those stores that sold natural produce or something. The “Queen Juice”, is pretty much just pure blueberry juice with some sugar added, its pretty good. I should drink some when I get back home. ”Ooh goodbye, Tuesday train. I’m looking for a milestone. But there doesn’t seem to be one on this path, it’s far from my own...” I whisperingly sing to myself as I start to cook some fookin’ pancakes. ”Ooh goodbye, Wednesday train. I’m looking for a merry mind. But there doesn’t seem to be one on this path, it’s far from my own~” As I sing, my mind wanders on Faye, many questions of how’s, why’s, when’s, where’s and so on without any clear answer. Maybe later in life I’ll find those answers, why the hell am I getting philosophical? ”Oh, it’s you.” the deep male voice breaks my thought and I turn left to Faye’s brother standing just beyond the kitchen. ”Yep, it’s me.” I say back to him and go back to cooking. ”Alright, first off. Who are you and why did Faye bring you here?” he says, and I hear him stepping closer, he must be a protective brother. ”My name’s Emil, but you can call me Armas if you want.” ”Armas? What?” his voice is clearly confused, no surprise there. ”Don’t ask, it’s not me who came up with that.” ”Alright. So, Armas, why did Faye bring you here.” he puts his paw on the kitchen counter as I start filling the plates with pancakes. His presence is giving me a bit of worry, but he doesn’t honestly seem to be threatening me. ”Faye invited me to stay here because...she…wanted to?” I’m kinda lost as him right now and I’m wondering the same question. ”Uh huh.” he does NOT sound convinced. ”Heeeey, where’d you go...” Faye’s voice whines from her bedroom and she sleepily waddles her way out of there. ”Morning.” I say while she snaps out of her daze and stares as I take three plates and place them on the glass table behind the couch. ”And by the way, I made breakfast.” I smile with Faye blankly staring at me blankly before turning around and muttering to herself excitedly with a fist pump. ”What’s…” ”Nothing! Just talking to myself!” She skips over to the table and sit down to eat as Aki comes around and brings us forks. ”Eat up Faye, you don’t wanna be late again.” I say digging into the delicious pancakes ”How did you know I was late the other day?” ”Your co-worker muttered it under his breath.” I gotta say, these pancakes are pretty good, just needs a little jam, a little whipped cream and it’d be perfect. ”Well that was only because I forgot to set my alarm…” ”And you didn’t have it on this morning either.” Aki retorts, I’m surprised that he’s already finished eating. ”S-Shut up! Emil is at least cooking breakfast for us so things will go faster!” She slams her paw down on my shoulder without warning, causing me to almost jump up and choke a bit on the pancake. ”Hey, you okay?” Faye asks while I cough a few times until I feel the piece of pancake free up. ”I just almost choked on the pancake. Please don’t scare me like that.” ”Oh, sorry.” she laughs and we finish our pancakes soon after, with the two cats changing clothes and then leaving for work. And they pretty much left me to hold the fort. ”So, what to do…” I look around in the living room as I sit down on the comfy blue couch. ”Maybe I’ll watch some tv.” The remote on the couch wasn’t hard to find, I’m surprised I didn’t crush it or something. Nothing really interesting on right now, a few kids shows, cooking shows, some of those “Hey look at this awesome product!” things and a couple news broadcasts as well. ”I’ll watch those cooking shows, satisfying stuff.” ”...Why am I talking to myself? It’s like I’m in tv show or something! Fuck, I’m funny.” I cackle to myself and then concentrate on watching the cooking shows as the hours pass by fairly quickly. When the show ends, I stand up and walk toward the bathroom with me ready to take a leak. ”Ima kimi no me ni ippai i no mirai kotoba wa eien wo signaru~” I hum to myself and as I unzip my jeans and prepare to do my business, I notice something in the basket laying on the floor. ”...Is that…” I peer a bit closer and yep, those are panties with a heart symbol on them They must be Faye’s, wonder how she would look like in them….wow, I'm a creep, but who can blame me? Do I really need to justify myself to myself? That’s a healthy way to think. I go back to finishing my business and I wonder what time it is. ”There’s a clock in the living room, I think.” I say to myself as I clean up and flush. I exit the bathroom, look up and see the clock high on the wall. ”15:45...Maybe I’ll make dinner, payback for Faye letting me stay here. Maybe payback sounds a bit harsh.” I’ve noticed that I end up talking to myself sometimes. I stand up and stretch before getting back in the kitchen. ”What to make…Possible options: eggs and bacon, more pancakes now with whipped cream and lastly….” I finish checking the fridge and cupboards to find a pamphlet for a pizza place nearby. ”...Order pizza... Nah, bacon and eggs it is.” I get out my phone and play some Birthday Train. ”Should probably put on an apron.” I look around and there’s a hook on the wall behind me with a pretty pink apron, no other choice so I put it on. I also quickly tie my hair in a low-hanging ponytail, swiping my right-hanging bangs, before washing my hands and finally getting to cooking. I start to whistle along to the lyrics as I heat up the pan and wait for it to get to a nice heat. I grab a carton of eggs and a bacon package from the fridge and place them on the table. Still….What is with Faye? She invites me to her own bed for a night and is all flirty. What a weird degenerate she is. ”The pan seems nice and warm, let the eggs and bacon roll.” I crack one’s shell carefully against the edge of the pan and crack it open over the pan, letting the egg’s inside fall with a sizzle. Another egg dropped on the pan and then comes the bacon. The cooking goes fine; I add a bit of spice with a stride to the song and I hear the front door opening and closing. ”Welcome back!” I happily say to Faye and she looks a bit shocked. ”What’s wrong?” I wonder as I prepare two plates of eggs and bacon. I also now realize this isn’t really a dinner, but more a breakfast item, but I don’t care. ”...Just like one of my Japanese animes.” she whispers as she sheds her shoes and cap before sitting down at the table. ”What?” I take the plates, two forks and knives, and place them on the table with a casualised textbook example of how to set a table. ”Nothing, just talking to myself!” Faye giggles and seems to be in a very good mood. ”Did something good happen? You’ve got a grin on your face.” ”Nothing, just came home to a beautiful sight.” She bobs her head a little with that wide grin on her face and… Wait, does she mean me? ”Oh, uh...thanks.” My face heats up a little as I take the apron off and go hang it back where it was. ”You look so much better in that apron than my brother.” she segues into a flirt. ”Uh...Thanks...Do you know how to cook?” I ask, taking a guess that she’s kinda bad at it. ”I’m not really that good at cooking or anything. I only really know how to microwave stuff.” Seems like I guessed correct. ”You can probably cook some foods, I can teach you.” I sit down in front of her and start eating my own food. ”Oh, are you a chef or something?” she asks between mouthfuls of food. ”Nah, I’m just a restaurant employee.” I wave away her impressions of me and just tell her the truth. ”Huh. Wanna go to the arcade?” ”An arcade? There’s something like that here?” I wonder what kind of arcade it is. ”Yeah, they have pretty good prizes. I really want something from there and with you, we can double our firepower!” she cheers. ”So, you’re just using me to get what you want?” I haven’t eaten half of my food and this girl is already standing up and....getting a Dr.Pupper. ”Nah, I’m taking you to an arcade to have some fun after work. The prizes are an afterthought.” she simplifies while cracking open the can of the cherry-ish soda with noticeable strength. ”Alright then.” I seem to be saying those two words a lot lately, just rolls off the tongue easily I guess. ”I’ll watch some tv while you eat, no rush.” She drops herself on the couch and the only thing I see of her is her legs and dangling off the edge of the armrest. Her tail flicks a few times over the course of me eating and I can’t really take my eyes off of it. Before I know it, I’m just holding the fork in my mouth and staring at her hypnotic tail even after finishing my food. ”Emil, you done eating yet?” Faye whines yet again and I snap out of my trance. I get up and put the plate, fork and knife in the sink. ”Yep, let’s go now then?” I say, and she immediately jumps up. ”Check this.” she says and looks as if she’s ready to score the sickest three-pointer. She chucks the empty can into a bin I didn’t notice before, next to the entryway and a small clang signifies that the target hit it’s mark. ”Yish!” she grits between her teeth. ”Nice throw.” I compliment her, and we start going towards the entryway. I take my jacket from the coat rack...I feel like I’m forgetting something. My eyes widen as I realize I forgot the damn plastic bag with all the stuff I bought in it at Laila’s place. ”Something wrong?” Faye asks as she puts on her shoes and I notice that she has something in her pant pockets, likely her phone and wallet. ”I just remembered I left something at Laila’s. Can we go get it as we go to the arcade?” I ask with a small fear in my heart. The idea of meeting Laila again really doesn’t appeal to me for some reason and you could say Faye is to blame for that, but no one really is to blame here. ”Oh? Alright, we can get your stuff on the way to the arcade place.” Faye taps her foot and then the other on the floor to get her shoes right. ”I’m fine with that.” I say and step past Faye, opening the door and going outside. She follows and shuts the door behind us as we start walking. ”So, how’s it going?” Faye asks with her arms up and paws resting behind her head. ”Pretty good. What about you?” ”Same. It’s such a nice day today.” She looks up at the sky and I do as well, feeling the breeze pass by as we walk. ”...So, what do you do for hobbies?” I ask as a pair of tits fly off a solemn tree branch ”Well, Judo. Not what you were expecting, right?” she tries so hard, but… ”I sorta expected that from you.” As I say that, she looks almost disappointed. ”Well, what about you then?” She folds her arms angrily and huffs. ”I build model-kits.” A basic answer to a basic question. ”Model-kits? Like airplanes and tanks?” ”Nah, more like…” I get my phone out and flip to the picture gallery and tap the picture thumbnail with my finger, expanding it on the screen. ”...this.” I show the screen to the short grey cat and she looks at the picture with intrigue ”It’s cute.” “It’s the GY-222 Self-J, equipped with the Space Pack.” I say to her giddily and her eyes look at me weirdly. ”...What?” ”The blue backpack. That’s the Space Pack. And the main unit is called the Self-J and its designation number is GY-222.” ”Uh huh. Is that from an anime?” ”Yeah. Madnug: G no Reconguista. The ED is perhaps the best thing ever in the show.” ”I haven’t watched that much anime. I’ve watched...Dragon Maid.” ”That slice of life? Never watched it-” ”You should! It’s really good!” she yells demandingly, almost like a giddy fan. ”Well...Maybe later.” I’m kinda surprised that she watches anime, though that could also be the reason why she’s like this. Wonder if I could hold his hand, it looks so warm and I kinda wanna just- "Hey, Faye. You there?" he asks with a curious face. "Huh? Oh sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment." I laugh, hoping my degenerate thoughts didn't shine through that much. ”So, how long have you and Laila known each other?” I ask, hoping to know if his sadness earlier was worse than he lets on, and he did ask the same question from me before. He lets out a lowly sigh and some of his side-bangs fall off his shoulder, giving a small glimmer in the evening dyeing sun. ”Well, about 4 years or so. We’ve mostly known each other online until this week…” he depressedly says, I really should get the two to make up. ”I’ve known her since we were fifteen. BFFs for life.” I throw my arms back and paws behind my head, glancing momentarily away and then back to him. ”Huh…” he sighs and I’m trying to think of something to say. What would mother do? ”Hey, it’ll be better. Maybe Laila just wasn’t the one for you.” I say, cheeks feeling a bit warm and my damn tail is slightly up again, stop it tail. Stop showing my feels! We soon reached the door of Laila and Faye stands ready to knock at the door. She knocks three times, each knock tightening my chest for some reason. The door opens slowly with a small creak of the hinges. ”Yes? Oh, it’s... What are you two doing here?” Laila’s voice speaks out as she appears behind the door, wearing a loose-fitting sweater and jeans. ”Emil forgot something here and we came to pick it up.” Faye answers and turns to me, signaling me to do something. ”Oh, was it that plastic bag? I put in my room, let me get it.” Laila says and steps back before walking away, Faye steps forward and takes off her shoes. I’m not sure what she’s up to, but I go in as well, taking off my shoes in the entryway. ”Hi big bro!” Franz yells from the couch with a wide smile. ”Hi Franz. Jyrki too.” I wave to the canine next to the boy on the couch and I notice that the three must have been watching a movie, it seems like it’s “Meuraku Nana” ”Here you go, Ar- Emil-” Laila tries to say my name correctly as she hands me the bag, but I stare at her, my emotions reaching a point of passing. ”Stop it. Stop trying to force yourself to say my name. You can call me Armas if you want to. I’m okay with it.” I say staring in her cerulean eyes and they seem to glimmer for a moment. ”I…I’m really sorry for breaking your heart.” she says after and looks down and I feel myself about to cry. ”No, it’s...I’m the one who should be sorry...I probably ruined your day and I-" I say to her before- "You didn't. You could have just told me. I still want to be your friend and I don't want your feelings for me destroying that friendship." Her words are clear, and they calm me down somehow. "R-Really?" "Yes-" "B-Big bro? Big sis? Are you two fighting?" Franz's afraid voice interrupts our conversations. "We aren't fighting, we're just-" I try to say to him, but he also looks to on the verge of tears. "Don't fight! Big Bro and Big Sis shouldn't fight!" "The kid's got you there." Faye interjects with a smirk and laugh. Just then, I hear Laila giggle and I can’t help but do the same. ”Yeah. Hey, let’s still be friends.” I turn to her and she just gives a simple smile. ”Yes, let’s. Would you two like to stay here for a little while?” she switches to her happy tone and I glance at Faye. ”We’re going to the arcade. Sorry, maybe tomorrow.” Faye waves her paw around. ”Am I being forgotten here or something?” Jyrki comes out of his silence and we all turn towards him. ”You’re being too quiet.” Faye scolds him before turning on her heel and jiving toward the door. ”We going now?” I ask, taking steps following her as she opens the door and looks back at me with a nod and smile. ”Oh, are you two leaving then?” Laila asks while I check the plastic bag and find its contents still in. ”Yeah, we’re going to the arcade.” I answer to her and we glance at each other before we wave goodbye to each other. ”See y’all!” Faye leans from the entryway and waves to the boys then Laila before we exit the house and shut the door behind us. ”I’m gonna leave the bag in my car, hold on.” I go over to my car... riiight its locked, I will just go grab the key out of...wait… its... its, in my jacket’s breast pocket. What a sneaky little thing. I open the back door, place the plastic bag on the seat and close the door again. I walk back to Faye as she stretches her arms, standing on the sidewalk. ”Everything ready?” she asks with her back still turned to me, does she have good hearing or a good nose? ”Yep.” ”Alright, then let’s go.” She takes a casual walk and I follow behind her before getting in pace next to her. And so the adventure of life goes on! Chapter 6 Alright, this turned out a bit awkward, real fast. I’m walking next to this guy who is really cute, almost femininely so and he’s taller than me, but that doesn’t mean I’m short. And I wanna hold his hand, but I’m not sure this is the moment for that. ”Hey, Faye.” his voice snaps me out from my thoughts and look at him and his kind amber-colored eyes. ”Yeah?” I continue holding my paws behind me head and elbows high, like one of those anime characters you see in a high-school anime. ”I’m wondering, how do you hold your hair up like that?” he motions his hand above his hair to signify mine and I flick my front bang to the side, annoying thing. ”I use hair gel. Cool, right?” I smirk and show off my hair with a open pose. ”Is it really? I thought hair gel couldn't get that good of a form.” ”You’ve never used gel, have you?” ”Nope.” I thought he wouldn’t, but his hair length does allow for customization, braids, ties and clips… ”Hey Big Bro!” a genki voice yells and we turn around and see the cute dog boy and Laila standing behind us. ”Franz and Laila? What’s up?” I curiously ask and the kid has this really happy smile on his face. And Laila is just...there. ”Franz said he wanted to come along with you two.” she holds her paws on the boy’s shoulder before he skips to us- I mean to him. ”Can I?” Franz gleamy looks up to him and something clicks in my head and makes a thought surface which gets me to smirk. ”Hey Laila, you wanted to spend some time alone with Jyrki, didn’t you? And Franz conveniently wanted to come with us. Coincidence?” I cannot hide my snarkiness and Laila just puffs and fiddles with the hem of her sweater. ”No, Franz just wanted to come with you and I didn’t-” she intejects while continuing to fiddle. ”But this does give you the chance for some alone time~ Maybe you two can even put a bun in the oven, if you know what I mean.” I’m enjoying this way too much and I can see that she isn’t, her tail and body clearly telling she’s getting embarrassed. When’s the last time I got a good teasing done on her? ”What’s a bun in the oven?” Franz makes his perfect reply and I crouch down in front of him after turning right to him. ”Listen little boy, it’s when a man and a woman-” ”Faye! Stop telling him that stuff!” Laila tries to say past her flustered face, but no effect on me. ”I’m just telling him how babies are made.” I tell her the truth and her eyes widen for some reason. ”How babies are made?” This kid’s innocence could prove a goldmine for keks, let’s see how big this goldmine is! ”Yes, babies are made when a man and a woman snuggle naked with each other and make...weird noises.” I say, being a total uneducated virgin myself, but I’ve watched enough porn and read enough doujins to understand quite a lot! ...I think. The kid seems to have an epiphany and open his mouth: ”Like what Big Sis and Jyrki did last night!” ...Those words froze us all. ”Wha-What?” I stutter past my shock and rising flustering, I can only imagine what the only mature guy here is feeling right now. ”I saw Big Sis and Jyrki doing something like that last night!” the boy continues and I look toward Laila, who looks like she’s about to just freeze in place and her legs look ready to book it. ”I-I...Uh…” her words are cut short as she seems to be in shock about Franz knowing what she and Jyrki did last night...WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE. ”You did whAT WITH HIM LAST NIGHT!?” I almost scream out and point to the female canine on front of me as I stand up. ”...” She stays silent and I feel like my cheeks are burning up a little. ”I...we didn’t do it...we just cuddled..Franz must have just seen wrongly...” Okay, now I just feel bad for going this far. ”Hey, it’s okay. She just went a bit too far with the teasing.” the guy comforts her as he steps closer and smiles. Nice recovery, leaving it to you, Emilio. ”...Sorry, I got all flustered about it.” Laila timidly giggles and relaxes, phew. ”And I’ll be going now. Jyrki must be getting lonely.” she exclaims while turning back, leaving the boy in our care. ”Yeah, that guy does get lonely easily. Good luck to you two!” I cheer to her and she raises a paw and waves with her back turned. I know we settled my feelings, but that still kinda stung. ”So, let’s get going then!” Faye happily yells with a grin to follow and Franz gets into the spirit of it as well. ”Yeah!” I can’t stay down with these two around, can I? Not in the weird way, I mean. ”Lead the way then, Faye.” I say as we all continue walking. ”Will do!” She takes a smile and takes the front with Franz following her, his little tail wagging along. ”So, mind if I continue-” I try saying before a human man looking to be in his 30s comes up to us. ”Excuse me, but where is the nearest cafe around here?” Oh, an english-speaker. Must be a tourist. English was never my strong suit, but I guess I’ll have to- ”Yes, it’s to the right. Go down the street on the right, turn right and you should see Cafe Antula.” Faye speaks with fluent english and I’m really taken aback by how natural she sounded, and that accent is cute. ”Ah, thank you! Have a pleasant day!” the man sounds a bit surprised, but waves goodbye as he starts going over to that cafe Faye mentioned. ”A good day to you as well!” ”...Well, that was interesting.” Faye sighs and returns to leading us. ”That was some fluent english. Where’d you get such a good tongue?” I ask, curiosity peaked and Franz also seems amazed. ”Oh, you can thank my mother for that. She doesn’t speak a lick of Finnish, so I had to learn English as well.” She responds with a casual paw-wave. ”Oh, is your mother not from here?” I wonder if her mother is from America or something like that. ”She’s American. Rough voice, tall and muscled. She has a DD. She’s my role-model, one and only.” She lists and I find my mind sticking to certain parts of her list. ”I guess you only took after her in some parts and not others.” I say without thinking and Faye just looks at me and smiles. ”You have a death wish?” ”Oh, I didn’t mean it like that! I mean, you’re pretty...cute yourself.” I’m likely red as a tomato right now and I turn my face away in embarrassment. ”Did you just…” ”Hey, it’s not like I like-like you or something…” I say with a whisper and at the same time, realize what I said. ”Dude, you are so tsundere.” her smug words fit her wry smirk perfectly. ”Zundere?” Franz interjects, butchering the pronunciation, and Faye almost immediately crouches to his level. ”It means not admitting your feelings and saying or doing mean things in order to get attention from a special someone.” She has way too much knowledge about certain things, it seems. ”Oh, so Big Bro likes you, but won’t admit to it?” Franz, please. ”Exactly.” Faye replies like she’s reaffirming something at a important meeting. ”No, I don’t.” I respond with deadest tone and she just looks at me with that stupid grin. ”Whatever you say~ Now, let’s get going again!” She stands up and goes back to leading with a almost seductive swish of her tail, leading my eyes to her...rear. But I manage to swiftly switch my eyes to….Franz’s eyes. ”Something wrong, Big Bro?” I just now notice that his eyes are purple in color, how did I miss that before? ”Nothing. Let’s go before Faye leaves us behind.” I smile and we continue on our way. The scenery of this city, it’s nice...just a good balance of nature and technology. The houses look alright, there seem to be multiple parks sprinkled aroud and a beach at the southern side of the city. I haven’t gone swimming lately, have I? I probably should, haven’t done so since two years ago, since that day… ”Hey, you alright?” This guy...he looks sad, why? ”Oh, I’m fine. Just remembering some stuff.” I’m not buying that for some reason. ”Huh...Hey, you ever been in a relationship?” I’m not sure if I’m allowed to ask that right now, seeing as I’m pretty much dragging him along and we’ve only known each other for like two days. ”Yeah...Used to.” His smile, it’s so sad...like he’s suffering because I brought it up. ”What...happened? Did you two break-up?” I’m stepping over so many boundaries right now He doesn’t answer, just looks away almost pathetically. ”Oh...You don’t want to tell me? That’s fine. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Did I just single-pawedly ruin this? ”Maybe someday I can tell you, but for now...Let’s go to the arcade.” ”Yeah, no need to dig up painful memories on such a nice day.” ”...The arcade isn’t that far away anymore, so we can-” I switch subject before I get interrupted... By a human woman suddenly appearing and hugging his arm, who the hell is she? ”Oh, I haven’t seen you in ages! My sweet little brother!” the woman is pretty much coddling him right now and he looks...weirded out and Franz looks confused. ”Sis...please let go.” He “kindly” asks and there’s this feeling in me right now that I can’t really describe, but it’s not a comfy feeling. ”What’s wrong with me hugging my little brother?” the woman’s voice sounds so sweet, like a ”Hey. Who’s her?” I raise my voice and they both look at me, and I almost would think i’m seeing double here. ”Oh, this is my big sister, Emma. Emma, this is Faye and the kid is Franz.” Why is Sis here? Is she here to tease me again? She looks at Faye and Franz before turning her eyes to me. ”Is this what they call…”My wife’s son”?” Yep, she’s here to tease me. I think Faye is giggling as well. ”No, I’m just helping another friend take care of him and that girl isn’t my girlfriend or wife.” I say bluntly, Emma’s smile turning to a pouty one. ”A party-pooper as always. You used to be so much cuter when you were a kid. I used to dress you up and then we’d go around town shopping. That was so fun!” ”Please, don’t remind me.” I can’t believe she would bring that up now and she finally lets go of my arm. ”So, where are you three headed?” she continues and she hasn’t changed that much over the years, people have said she looks like R63 me (and vice versa) and I always found that half-funny half-embarrassing. Her hair is tied in a over-the-shoulder style and she’s wearing a simple outfit consisting of a a skirt, jacket and sneakers as well. ”We’re going to the arcade.” I answer simply. ”You don’t sound that enthusiastic about it, am I too boring of a company?” Faye scoffs and I look into her grassy-colored eyes. ”No, I didn’t mean it like that!” I say that as I feel like my sister is gaining more stuff to blackmail me with. ”Jeez, when did you lose you’re smooth talking abilities?” Emma, I swear to God. ”Like you’re one to talk.” Those words proved painful as I feel a pinch on my cheek. ”Oww.” She’s still using the same torture tactic since I was a little kid, pinching my cheek hard. ”Now, I guess I’ll be going now. Got a friend to meet up with!” Emma strides along like the wind, leaving the three of us baffled. ”So, that was your sister, huh? Faye simply responds as if she just witnessed the strangest creature known to man. ”Yeah, she’s a massive bully. Just because she’s older than me does se think she can bully me.” ”Sounds like fun. Aki is really nice and he’s pretty protective when he wants to be.” Faye’s description of him gives a different impression to what he was like in the morning, but I guess that’s his way of being protective. The best defense is a good offense, as they say. ”Alrighty, we’re here.” I say as we gaze upon the arcade. It’s nothing really impressive from the outside, pretty “humble” if you ask me, with the dark-red and purple exterior. The three of us enter and I look over the collection of various games, this place seems to be one of those arcades where you win prizes. Thank God I have coins in my wallet. ”Wanna scout out the prizes first?” Faye looks over to me and I take a moment to appreciate her emerald eyes. ”Yeah!” Franz yips and his tail goes on wagging , does that wear him out or anything at all or he is just that energetic? ”Alright.” I simply reply to her and we walk to the store at the side of the arcade. There’s loads of different prizes on different shelves and I look all over the place and don’t really find anything wor- ...Wait, is that… I think I’ll get that Kirdy plushie, it’s so big and soft-looking! ”What are you gonna try to win?” I ask the little dog boy looking all over the shelves, he’s probably never been to an arcade before. ”And what are you…Hmm?” I look back and the blondie dude is gone, where did he… I look around and see him squatting in front of a glass shelf that contains some of the more rare prizes like actual electronics and stuff, what could he want from there? Maybe a cool headset or a console? ”Hey.” I say while walking closer to him and he doesn't notice me. I continue walking and look at his direction before looking at what he’s staring at ...It’s a chunky-looking robot. He wants that? ”What’s that robot?” I say out and I read the name. ”It’s the MSX-010 Madnug XX from Mobile Dress Madnug XX.” he says as I glance over the name and his voice stands proud as he says it. ”And it’s the Ver.Ka…” and now he just sounds like a giddy child. ”Wow, that looks cool!” Franz wows as I look to the blond-haired guy, who seems to be in agreement with the boy. ”You want that? The point price is…” My eyes look at the numbers below and I think one of my lives just got spent due to my heart stopping. ”...1000 points.” I whisper and he doesn’t even flinch, in fact he looks more prepared than just a moment ago. ”Well, uh, good luck on that. I’m gonna go-” I start going away but then I feel something warm clasp my left paw and Emil is looking at me and he’s holding my paw. ...Yo wat. ”Faye...I need you.” I think those words just made my heart really flutter, like, a guy a never said to me and I’m not sure what to say and I- Okay, calm down Faye, you can do this... ”Need me for what?” NO, GODDAMNIT I DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY IT LIKE THAT. ”I need your help with getting that Madnug. I really want it and I can’t do it alone.” Oh...he just wanted to ask that. Slightly disappointed, but I wasn't really expecting him to...say something I was imagining. ”Me too!” I keep forgetting Franz is with us. ”Yeah! Franz, you can help too!” Okay, Emil is fired up. ”Okay, big bro! Let’s get all the points!” Franz yips and the two of them charge toward the game area with high spirits. ”Boys, amirite? Well, let’s get that Madnug!” What seemed like at least an hour passes as we play all different types of games trying to rack up points for Emil’s Gunthingy. The battle was a struggle, an enormous task to take. After a long while, the fight was over…we had gotten 1548 points instead of the required 1000 for the gunpla, because Franz and Faye wanted something too and I wasn’t about to leave them in the dust. ”Best day ever.” I say to myself while we exit the arcade with me holding a plastic bag with the gunpla inside, Faye to the left with a Kirdy plushie held tightly to her chest and Franz with some pocky he got 3 packs of from the prizes. ”Agreed.” the two say at the same time and we walk our way back to Laila’s to drop off Franz. We reach the driveway and I look at my car and think that now would be a good moment to go home. ”Franz-dear, welcome back!” Laila motherly exclaims as she opens the door and Franz almost hops to her with his tail wagging. ”I’m back, we had lots of fun at the arcade!” He yips happily. ”Yeah, we did. And I think I’ll actually be going now.” I say and everyone turns to me as I open the left car door and put the gunpla down on the seat and close the door. ”Really? Aren’t you gonna stay here and help take care of Franz?” Laila asks and then she looks like she realizes why I’m gonna leave. ”Well, if you’re leaving…” Jyrki comes out the house and in front of me and extend his paw ”I just wanna say that I hope you can find someone else in the future.” I shake his hand and smile. ”Thanks, I hope you and Laila have a good future together too.” I think I feel as if a weight has disappeared from my heart, fully. ”Wait Emil, here.” Faye says and pulls out a small paper that seems to be an A4 folded a few times. ”It’s got some ways to contact me, so hit me up and we can hang out sometime!” she gives a thumbs up and I’m kinda surprised she’s not trying to do some flirty stuff like she has been doing almost the entire time. ”Thanks, will do.” ”Big Bro, you’re leaving?” Franz says sadly and steps in front of me, looking up to me. ”Hey, don’t be so sad. I’ll come visit sometime and we can play more and hang out too.” I crouch and pat the child. ”Yeah, thanks Big Bro.” he smiles and I do too. ”Welp, I’ll be going now. I’ll see you all later.” I say as I enter my car and put the key in the ignition and turn it, turning the lifeless car lively. I give one last smile to them after I put on my seatbelt, then turn on my headlights. I get my phone out and play a song I kinda was wanting to play. The lyrics play for a while and I decide to join in after a while. ”Tears of sadness and the tears of joy…” ”After crying it is all the same…” ”It’ll come down the thought, those tears are from the heart.” I smile to myself for some reason and feel really relaxed. And so the adventure of life goes on. Chapter 7 Another beautiful day, perfect for visiting someone and hanging out with them. It’s been about two weeks since Emil and I got know each other, and I’m still thinking...damn, I was pushy as hell. I said all those things to him...and I even invited him to my bed and held his hand...and we only knew each other for like two days before that. Wow...I'm a damn weirdo. I sigh and look up at the screen displaying the time-table of the bus, soon I’ll reach the stop near Emil’s place. The bus goes down the road and I see it go forward, then turn off to the right. A diner passes by near the road, I wonder if that’s where he works? As the bus drives on we pass under a bridge I look up, and beyond the exit I think I see the stop I’m hopping off at. I press the “STOP” button on the roof, and a small *bing* rings out as the bus driver slows the bus near the stop. The bus comes to a sudden halt, and I make my way to front of it. ”Thanks!” I say to the driver as I hop off the bus. The cement is hot from basking under the sun. ”Have a good day.” The driver responds calmly and the bus door closes, before it drives off into the distance. "Now then, what were those directions again..." I take out my phone and check the instructions he sent to me. ”Let’s see…”After you step off the bus, look for a sign saying “Riisikorventie”.” I look up from my phone and see a sign with that name on it, guess I’m going over there. To the right of the sidewalk is a barrier reaching to my elbows. I look beyond the barrier and see a small stream of water coming from a concrete pipe above the ground. And the stream leads to a lake, with a large patch of trees between it and me. Damn, Emil wasn’t kidding when he said “middle of the forest” The cement sidewalk ends and connects to a dirt road that slopes down. I walk to the left side of the road and continue walking, past a bunch of red wooden houses. surrounded by a fence on the left, and a bit further on the right is another red wooden house with a massive yard and a dock connecting to the lake. ”Not his house…” I look at the picture on my phone he sent me again and his house is a brick house with a white bottom-half and a red top-half and a big garage to the right. The house also has a small shack to the left, looking from the front of the house as it is in the pic. I remember him saying that the shack was used for storing chopped wood. My walk continues and various trees surround the road and I hear birds chirping in the distance. It’s so calm here, nothing like the bustling of the city… I’ve always kinda wanted to live in a place like this. One step after another and I soon reach a house on top of a small hill. I climb up the slope and behind the house seems to be a small cliff and more forest. ”White bottom and red top, Riiskorventie 79. Yep, this is it.” I say to myself and hop excitedly to the front door, stepping onto the stone porch. The porch has planks of wood lined up together a bit next to the front door, and on the planks are a round wooden table and a four fold-out chairs around the table Giddy, I ring the bell. After 15 seconds no one is coming. ”Huh, must be busy..." I step back a bit and look at the balcony above the porch and see that the balcony door is closed, and I smirk. It’s summer and you have your balcony closed? I look to the left and see the wood storage shack and it’s door seems pretty sturdy for wood Just then, a small path leading up behind the shack catches my attention and I follow it. Taking a few steps up, climbing up a big rock in the ground, and I’m in his backyard. And there he is, watering his little garden with a smile on his face. Blond hair tied in a low-angle bun which shows just enough of his neck to bite into- no Faye stop you’re being weird again, those thoughts are for later! I should probably call out to him, but I touch the spruce tree next to me with my paw and just watch the guy in front of me. I swear I could stare at him like this for hours. ”I think that’s enough water for you guys.” Is he talking to his plants ? As I keep on staring, he turns right to probably go turn off the water and he instead ends up tripping on the hose. He falls onto the grass with a thud, and I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone trip over a water hose. He staggers up, his clothes sprayed with water. I can't help but giggle at the scene. Emil turns on his heels, now facing me, his shocked face with his hair having a bit of grass stuck to it. He looks so stupid now it’s almost adorable. ”...H-How long were you there?” he stutters out and just stares at me like a deer in the headlights. ”I saw you trip and fall, at least.” I giggled a bit more before moving closing to him and helping him off the ground. ”Oh, sorry you had to see that.” He scratches the top of his head a bit, causing grass and dirt to fall down off his hair. ”You should probably take a shower.” I say and momentarily have another dirty thought before dismissing it to the deepest depths of the Abyss. ”Yeah, I probably should. By the way, why didn’t you ring the doorbell?” He asks back and I tilt my head to side a bit. ”But I did. Didn’t you hear it?” ”No, I didn’t. I do remember it being a bit fritzy lately. It might be broken, need to fix that later. Let’s get inside for now, shall we?” ”Okay, but I think you should turn off that hose first.” I point to said hose, flopping around on the ground spraying water everywhere. He then goes to turn it off and gather it near where the faucet is coming out of the wall We both then enter inside the house, taking off our shoes and placing them on a wooden stand to the right. Then passing through a room that has a big L-shaped desk with a lamp and some other stuff on it and a bunch of shelves that have cardboard boxes on top of them, I think those are the gunpla things he talked about. ”That’s my little workshop, I furnished my dad’s old bedroom because it wasn’t in use anymore and I didn’t feel like using my dad’s old workshop.” ”Little, you say. This room is enough to fit a queen-sized bed in it.” I smirk and he sighs in response. ”Well, yeah.” ”Huh.” ”So, here’s my house. Not the way I intended you to come in, but as long as it works.” He’s got a dark-purple, almost black, couch in a living room of sorts with a TV in front of it on a small stand, with a couple gaming consoles under the TV. And next to the stand are two glass-framed shelves with a bunch of robot- I mean "mecha" inside them on the different levels. Between the living room and kitchen to the right is a large waist-tall drawer with many drawers with a white sports bag that has running shoes peeking out. Everything is pretty neat in this house, fits him pretty well. Emil then suddenly dashes to the right, to the kitchen and seems to grab something from the table before dashing to the left and then enter the farthest room on the left. Is he trying to hide something? Maybe something embarrassing or something? ”Oh, whatcha hiding there buddy?” I smarmly say as he comes out of his room and looks like nothing happened. ”Just...uh...a thing. It’s nothing major, don’t worry.” He smiles and waves. ”Well, if you say so.” I wonder if it’s really nothing major. ”So, uh, I’m gonna go take that shower now, you can play some uh, video games or watch some anime if you want, the two shelves there on the wall have pretty everything.” he says and points to the two block-like shelves on the wall with a bunch of games on one and a bunch of Blu-Ray disks on the other. I fear to think of how much money he’s spent on all that stuff. Oh God, what about all that “Gunpla” stuff? No Faye, calm down it can’t be that bad. I see Emil going into the second room on the left and soon coming out with some clothes, that room must be his closet room or something. ”Alrighty, see ya in a bit.” he says and disappears soon downstairs. ”See ya.” I respond as I turn my gaze to the shelves as I walk toward them and switch between looking at the shelf with games and shelf with anime on it. I end up staring at the anime one. I pick a box-set that says “Mobile Dress Madnug” on the side. Eh, might as well try it. I then and crouch down in front of the stand and look at the black ptx under the TV and turn it on and then checking if there’s a disc already in the tray. No disc, pop one from the case and put it in the ptx. I then pick up the remot on top of the stand and turn on the tv and get a controller too and then go sit down on the couch. ”Might as well take off my hoodie.” I say and take the green hoodie off, revealing a red-colored t-shirt with the logo of a candy company on it. I log-in to the ptx with Emil’s account, looks he’s pretty lax with login stuff. After that, I just play the disc from the beginning. The opening song is actually catchy, and the episode breaks me into the world that feels really lively. Main characters are fun to watch, and the background details are just a little nice touch Oh, that’s the thing Emil called the "Self-J", a blue and white robot with big eyes and horns on its head. It looks so cute. The animation in this show is good too. The art style catches my eye too, like a painting in motion rather than a cartoon . And then came the ending song. I like it, it’s really good. And after it fades and the episode preview comes, I hear a door shut down stairs, meaning Emil must be done with his shower. ”Hey Emil, this series is really-” I stop talking as my voice escapes me after laying my eyes on this scene. ”...Faye? What’s wrong?” Emil asks, thinking nothing of how he looks. ”You...You’re wearing…” I look down at his- ”A kilt.” he says with a straight face. ”That is. a. skirt.” ”No, it’s a kilt.” This guy is wearing a skirt or kilt ,plus a simple light-blue t-shirt, and is just...normal. ”You know, I like wearing kilts on the occasion. They’re comfortable.” He demonstrates this by showing how loose it is by flapping it at his knees, and I can only stare. ”Like...the weirdest thing about this is that it looks good on you. Have you worn it in public?” I ask while trying to recover my mental composure. ”Well, I once won some kind of contest when I was 17, I think it was….a crossdressing contest?” When those words leave his mouth, my jaw drops for a few seconds...before I burst out laughing. ”Hahahahaha, oh my God! Are you serious?” ”Hey don’t laugh! I won it fair and square!” he tries to defend his dignity and I just smirk as my laughter dies down. ”So, what do you wanna do now?” I say and he has his arms crossed and his back turned to me, what is he- ”First, an apology for laughing that I entered and won a contest that I thought was fun.” Goddamnit Faye, you know he’s sensitive to stuff like that. ”Oh, uh, I’m sorry.” I try to put on my most sincere voice and scratch the back of my head a little. ”You are forgiven. Now, what should we do?” He says and my eyes dart for a moment to his ski- kilt. Come on me, Ignore the damn kilt and just focus on something else. ”Ah, I forgot to chop the wood and pile it up.” He says and I am lost on what he’s talking about. ”Sorry Faye, but could you come help cut some wood with me?” I’m baffled, but okay ”Yeah, sure I guess.” I’m not what I’ve gotten myself into, but as long as I get to hang out with him it’s all cool. We go get our shoes from Emil’s workshop and then walk downstairs, where we put on our shoes and then walk past a fireplace and huge white closet on the right, and a door leading to the bathroom probably and another workshop area. We then enter the small entryway and then out of the house onto the terrace. ”Hold on, lemme get the axes.” He says and goes to the left, into some yet another workshop area it seems. How many places does he have that are workshops? ”Uh, why don’t we just get a chainsaw?” I ask as he comes back from there with two axes with orange and black handles. ”I already cut the big logs into stump the other day, now we just need to cut them down and then pile them up and then cover. Then we let it sit and dry.” He explains as we walk down a slope going left from his house, looking from at the house. ”And have you used an axe before? There’s some stuff you should know.” We stop in front of them pile and he gets a teacherly stance with his damn kilt flaying a bit in the slight breeze, I wonder if I can pay attention to him talking or his legs. ”Hey, you listening?” He sees me spacing-out and I snap my attention to him. ”Y-Yeah.” ”So, when you use the axe, you need to keep a firm hold on it so it won’t wobble or slip out of your hand by accident.” He says and demonstrates with him holding the axe in front of him with both his hands. ”And you should strike from your shoulder instead of straight above you, otherwise you could hit yourself with the butt of the axe or not get as much power into your swing.” He does a demo swing and stops it in the middle of his swing. ”And you should also not let your axe hit the ground either, because there’s some rocks and pebbles here and there and they can dull the blade of the axe and I just sharpened these the other week.” He then pulls up a stump of wood and then goes to get another one. ”Hold on, lemme just…” He struggles to lift the stump of wood and I see my chance to show my strength. ”I’ll help you.” Faye says and puts the axe next to the first stump and then helps me lift the other stump and she just takes it out of my hands and carries it and puts it onto the first one like she’s putting down the groceries. ”How?” I say outloud and she turns to me with a self-satisfied smile and then she pulls up her t-shirt a bit. ”Strength 100, baby.” She says as she smacks her toned six-pack abs and I am shocked, I never knew that she was that fit. ”Wow, you’ve got a six pack? I’m guessing that means that you work-out often?” I say and stare at her abs and then look at her curves as her shirt is now pulled up and she’s kinda...hot. ”Yeah! I like working out and keeping a good shape! Just in case~” she smirks and winks and I just chuckle at her display as my eyes quickly go from her eyes back to her midriff. I think I now know that my friend wasn’t joking when he said that fit girls are good and- And then I remember why it sometimes sucks to be a man in front of something exciting. ”SO, why don’t we get to chopping wood?” I try to avert my mind from the grey cat’s great abs and turn to grab the axe and it slips out of my hand and falls onto the ground. I kneel to pick it up and then I almost lose my balance while picking the axe up. ”Is something bothering you?” Faye asks and we stare at each other for a moment. ”N-No, nothing’s wrong! Let’s get to chopping!” I swing my axe and it just sticks into the stump of wood. I try pulling and it’s stuck a bit too deep, I try pulling harder. ”Uh, do you want some help?” Faye asks confusedly. ”No...I can do this. Done this many times before!” I say and try to get the axe out a few more times. ”Are you sure? I mean, it looks pretty deep in.” she interjects and I just try to pull harder ”It’s okay, I can do it…!” And then some more pulls, I lose my grip and fall flat on my ass. ”You’re….really awkward, aren’t you?” I hear her sigh and looking at me with a slighty confused look. I want to disappear so bad right now. ”Here, I’ll help you up.” she offers her paw and helps me up, her paw is so soft. She then goes to the axe and then she takes a deep breath… ”Let’s see…” She mumbles and pulls the axe easily out of the wood, and I’m starting to lose confidence in my ability as a man. ”...Like this...and then…” She preps the axe above her shoulder and then swings and cuts the stump into two chunks. ”There we go!” She happily says and then continue to cut the two chunk into smaller pieces one more time. ...Am I allowed to call myself a man after that display? ”Emil? Aren’t you gonna help?” Faye turns her head to me and I stare at her for a moment. ”Uh, yeah.” I pick up a axe and we get to work on cutting the wood. It takes us half the time it would take me normally for us cut and pile up the wood and then we move onto covering the pile. ”Okay, so here’s this tarp which we’ll cover it with. You take the other end.” I hand Faye on end of the tarp and we then put it over the neat pile of wood placed on top of multiple palettes bunched together. ”Okay, now see those wire things at the ends? Tie those to the palettes.” I say and start tying one wire on my end and she seems to be tying one too. After we tie them, I check how secure it is by pulling the tarp a bit. ”Alright, seems good enough.” ”Well, that was fun!” Faye stretches herself a bit. ”Yeah, thanks a bunch for helping me.” I thank her and she smiles in response. ”Happy to help! Are we gonna go put the axes back in the small garage?” she asks and lifts the axe. ”Yeah, let’s go return them.” We then go back up to the yard and I take both axes and return them to their spots in the small garage. I exit out the door and then Faye is doing some stretching and stuff. ”Hey Emil, can we go on a jog?” she asks and looks ready to go. ”Hmmm...Eh, why not?” Aw yeeeeeeah! I get to go on a jog with him! ”Lemme just change into my jogging pants.” He says and goes inside the house for a moment and I am tempted to follow him just to get a quick peek. No, bad Faye. I wait for him patiently as he changes and I look around and realize how calm it is here, I then imagine myself and Emil just walking through the woods and holding han- No, bad Faye again. ”Okay, I’m ready. You ready to go?” He comes back and he’s changed into some black jogging pants. ”Yep! Leggo!” I say and drive off my thoughts for another time. We go down the slope I came from and then jog toward the direction I came from as well. ”How far do you wanna jog?” I ask and look behind me, since he’s keeping a bit of a slower pace than me. ”I think to the end of this road, that should be good enough.” he says and then takes a couple deep breaths. ”Okay!” I say and then keep my current pace up. As we reach the end of the road, I notice that he’s a bit farther away from me than before. ”Hey, you good?” I ask and he stops next to me and takes a few heavy heaves. ”Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Just haven’t jogged in a while.” He says and then take another deep breath. ”Okay, so let’s go back.” He says and then we starts jogging back. Alrighty, time to show off a bit! ”Hey, check this out!” I say and then go from a jog to a good sprint. He’ll be impressed when he sees this! Jesus, she is fast. I can’t even keep up even as I try to sprint myself and she’s already gone and I soon reach my house and see Faye standing confidently next to the terrace. ”Pretty impressive, huh?” ”Ye….Yeah...How are you so fast?” I say and keep my eyes on the ground as I take breaths. ”Hard work and practice!” She smiles and I feel a cold and wet sensation hit me. ”AH, what the-” I say and see Faye with a water hose in her paws. ”I thought you could use a bit of water.” She innocently says and I was kinda getting sleepy, but now I am wide awake after that cold splash. ”Another cold splash of water...If I have a cold in the next few days, I’m blaming you.” I glare at her and she smirks. ”Well, I can just come take care of you.” ”Going by how your fridge looked when I was at your house, I’m not really trusting of your cooking skills.” ”Bro, I’m the one with the hose and it’s pouring cold water.” She threatens me and demonstrates by holding her thumb on the end of the hose to get a wide spray, which gets dangerously close to me. ”Yeah, but I think there’s something interesting for you over there.” I say and point to my right and she looks and I quickly reach for the hose. I nab it out of her paws and then as I try to get away from her, a nice helping of water falls on her head with an arc. She screams out for a second before just freezing in place and then turning her head to me ”That is so cold! You motherfu-” ”You reap what you sow.” ”Oh Christ, now I’m all wet...” She whines and her shirt looks like it’s stuck to her body now Same with mine. ”Okay Emil, now that we’re both wet.” Faye looks me in the eyes and looks prepared for something. ”Let’s play around with the water some more, it’s pretty fun! Just...turn the water heat up a bit.” She shivers a bit and I go in the small garage and turn up the water heat a little and then I see Faye outside, testing the water. ”Yep, good now.” She says and instantly sprays me with a dousing of water as I exit the garage. ”Revenge!” She giggles and then starts spraying the water around like mad. We end up just messing around, playing with the water for a bit before we both realize that we’re just bound to catch a cold like this and then enter back into the house. ”Hey Faye, you can go take a shower first. I’ll be fine even without fur.” I say as we stand next to the door into the bathroom. ”Oh, you’re not coming with me?” She asks and I wonder if she has any modesty at all. ”No, I can wait a bit. Do you want some of my clothes to wear?” I ask midway going up the stairs. ”Yeah, and if I can choose, I’ll take the loosest clothing you have and if you wanna give me boxers too that’d be swell.” She leans herself back as she opens the door to look at me ”Boxers? Your underwear got soaked too?” ”With water, yes. Not in any other way.” Her deadpan expression and delivery get a giggle out of me and I just smile back to her. ”Alrighty, I’ll bring you some clothes to change into.” I go upstairs and think how much fun we had today, I haven’t had someone over in a very long time now that I think about it. I go upstairs and see my phone ding on the kitchen table, I forgot I placed it there The message on it is from...Roux. Her message reads: “Hey Emil, I’m sorry for typing a message like this and not calling, but I can’t bring myself to call you after the things I did. Could we meet at the park where we first met? Maybe during saturday?” That’s tomorrow...I wonder if I should meet her. I respond with: “Sure, at 13:00” And send. ”Hey Emil, whatcha looking at your phone for?” I hear Faye’s voice and quickly shut my phone and pocket it. ”Nothing, just a text message from a friend.” I lie to her and pull a fake smile. ”Oh, okay. Hey, mind if I stay over? I don’t have anything tomorrow, so might as well!” What timing, what should I do… ”...Sure, but I have to meet someone at 13:00 tomorrow, so I’ll be gone for a bit.” ”That’s fine, I can entertain myself with all the stuff here.” Faye smile and her tail swishes a bit and I noticed that she’s wearing one of my black long-sleeves and some comfy knee-long beige shorts and green socks. I wonder how tomorrow will turn out… And so the adventure of life goes on. Chapter 8 It’s morning, and I feel as I usually do in the morning, and that is groggy as hell. My fur is a bit messy and my hair is back to its normal state and no longer in the swiped mohawk because I washed the gel off yesterday and didn’t have any gel to style it with. and I still have a bang of hair hanging down at the middle of my face, it never seems to go away. I turn on the bed and meet a grayish wall that has a grainy texture to it. So must be what he wakes up to every morning. I get myself up from the bed a ruffle my hair a bit before stretching a bit and then reveling in the fact that one of Emil’s sweaters is enough to reach almost to my knees. ”Heheh, this feels so nice. And the sweater still has a good smell to it…” I bring it a bit up to my nose and do a small sniff, the smell of a man… ”Uh, Faye? Breakfast is ready.” I hear said man say at the door and I stop sniffing and try to act normal ”Oh, yeah, right. Be right over there!” I smile to him. ”Are you okay? I saw you holding the edge of the sweater to your face, were you coughing?” he caringly asks as I exit the room and follow him to the kitchen table right next to the kitchen ”I was…” Okay, time to act norm- “...sniffing your shirt.” Why am I like this. ”Huh? Oh, I did wash it recently so it would be nice-smelling.” This guy...How can he be so dense? ”Y-Yeah.” I stammer out a response and sit down at the table and look as he picks up two plates and puts them down on the table, both having toasted toast with meat slices, lettuce and tomato in between. ”You okay with milk?” He says as he reaches for the fridge and pulls a milk carton off the shelf attached to the door. ”Yeah, I love milk.” I say and glance around and notice a picture at the other end of the table I didn't notice yesterday. It’s a picture of a man with reddish brown hair, a blonde woman and two children that kinda look like the woman, must be a picture of his family. “Is that your parents?” I ask and point to the picture as I take a hefty bite out of my sandwich and then look as Emil places the milk carton on the table and his face then starts looking a bit somber “...Yeah.” He stammers out a response and turns around to get two glasses from the cupboard on the wall. I take another bite and then stare at the suspiciously-acting man, his hands look kinda weak and his body language seems pretty...down. What am I, a detective? “Hey, is something wrong?” I ask while he turns around again and puts the two glasses down on the table before pouring milk into them. “No, I’m just fine!” He says and accidentally spills a bit of milk on the table, geez he is awkward. “Ah, sorry! Let me clean that up…” He then reaches for a hand towel hanging from a hook on the wall and quickly cleans the spill, I just smile at him. “Jösses, you really are adorable.” I say outloud and proceed to regret it instantly while maintaining the same smiling face. “...Oh, uh, thank you.” His face turns red and he gets all flustered and then puts the towel quickly back on the hook. “So, l-let’s eat then.” He says and sits down stiffly and begins eating his sandwich as well We eat in a awkward-but-not-really silence and then a random thought pops into my head. “Why do you spend so much money on those...toys?” I ask him about those gunpla things and he then looks me dead in the eyes as if I just offended his very existence. “Okay, first off. They aren’t toys, they’re Madnug plastic model-kits!” He defends his toys with pride as he puts his sandwich down on the plate “Well, that white robot with the horn on the living room shelf certainly looks kinda like a toy.” I point to said shelf with a white robot on it that is way taller than the rest and it has a ton of stickers and stuff on it and details and things, I’m not sure what they’re called. He said yesterday that it’s very sight is like understanding possibility, don’t know what that’s about. "They are model-kits! Like that one over there, that one's the Perfect Grade Madnug Two-Horn, and check this out!" He walks over to it, flipping a switch. "LED lights! This is no toy, this is a figure for MEN." “But how much did that cost?” “...200 euros.” He quickly says, glancing the other way and I feel my heart skip a beat, and not in the lovey kind of way. “E-Excuse me? 200? Are you serious?” I shockingly reconfirm and he nods before turning of the LEDs and coming back to sit down at the table. He then takes a bite out of his sandwich like nothing happened. “Yes, it did cost 200 euros. Give or take a 30 on shipping.” He stops my poor heart again. “Jesus, you really need a manager.” I sigh and eat as well. “Trust me, if you were to get into mecha like me you’d be buying stuff like that too.” “No, I wouldn’t.” After we finish discussing and eating, we both put our plates and glasses in the sink and then I go take a quick shower and get changeg I see that it’s 11:45 and I decide now would be a good time to bike over to meet with Roux. “Hey Faye, I’mma go meet with someone now. So, when does your next bus arrive?” I ask her and it’s still kinda weird seeing her with “normal” hair when I’ve been so used to her spiked hair. “Next bus is….13:45.” Fourty-five minutes after I’m supposed to meet with her… I try to think of plan, and I go with C. “Well, you can stay in my home until you have to go wait at the bus-stop, just don’t go in my room, okay?” I say as I start preparing to go out, grabbing a jacket and a bike helmet. “You gonna ride with a bike to meet with them?” Faye curiously asks as she turns to face me while she sits on the couch. “Yeah, I’ll be back after you’ve left though. So that’s why.” I snap the helmet strap on. “Well, why can’t I come with you?” “Sorry, but this is a bit of personal thing.” I wave to her and then quickly make my exit, putting on my shoes and then exiting the house. I then go to my “small garage” and pull out my old bike, I always try to keep it in good condition and wheels filled with air. I then close the door and hop on the bike before going on my way the dirt road. After I reach the end of the dirt road, I go left and the past the bus-stop and then left again after crossing a road and riding the sidewalk. Then after going up said sidewalk to next to a highway, I then ride forward some more and I then turn right and go under the highway, going forward some more before turning left and the right at intersections and then arriving at the park I’m supposed to meet Roux at. 12:15...Not a bad time. I get off my bike and walk with it to a bench near the fountain and set the bike next to it and I myself sit down on the bench. Snapping off the strap of the helmet, I take it off and flutter my hair a bit before setting the helmet down on the bike seat. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve biked…” I say to myself and once again the feeling of my chest tightening comes. I’m honestly a bit scared to meet her again, we haven’t seen each other in two years and I’m not sure what I should even say. Why did I even accept her invite if I’m like this? I guess I’m just too nice for my own good. Watching people passing by in the park and going on with their day relaxes me a bit and then I check the time again. 12:51 “Is...that you, Emil?” There it is, that sweet voice, I could never forget that voice. I look to my left and see a white-furred fox standing in a beige jacket, dark-green scarf, jeans and simple sneakers. We stare at each other for a moment before I snap out of it. “...Hi, Roux.” I say, no other words able to come out. “Mind if I sit down next to you?” She gently asks, stepping close and that makes my chest tighten some more, but I’m not sure what feeling is making it tighten. “No, go ahead.” I half-heartedly smile and she the sits down like a old-fashioned lady. “So, why did you wanna meet up after two years?” I ask, looking at her and she looks back at me with her blue eyes. “I...wanted to apologize to you, for everything I’ve done.” She places a warm paw on top of my hand and her eyes quiver. “And I...I’m so sorry...I’m so sorry for cheating on you.” She apologizes and drops her head as she begins to cry. “...Well, I should apologize too. For hitting you back then.” I then say, holding back my own tears. “No, it was fully deserved...I deserved that slap, nothing m-more to it.” She brings her head up and then I see her eyes clearly as tears wet her furred cheeks. “No, you didn’t deserve it. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t believe you should hit someone you love no matter what.” I continue and she gasps a bit. “Does that mean you still-” “I’m...I’m not sure, I’m just not sure.” I look away and feel her clasp my hand with both of her paws. “I’m still here for you, if you’re still-” She leans in and then falls toward me as she tries moving to face me and she falls leaning on my shoulder. I can’t...What am I seeing? I followed Emil here out of curiosity, managing to keep up with his slow biking, and now I’m hiding in a bush to see who he was meeting, but who is that woman? Is she someone he just hooked up with? Or maybe an old flame? Whatever the answer is, I feel my heart honestly twisting itself from the sight of them. I see the white fox clasping his hand and leaning on him, and that is the last straw and then I stand up...and run back. I run, run and run back to the bus-stop and wait for the bus, it soon comes and I hop and quickly pay the fee and sit down at the window seat. A few sniffles almost manage to escape my lips, but I keep my heart to myself. I close my eyes and try to think other thoughts, but only images of the two being happy and- I stop my thoughts and just open my phone and try to browse some internet to soothe me, but doesn’t work. The only thing I can do is lazily watch as the scenery goes by and I finally reach the stop near my house after an hour or so. I step off the bus, and oh boy. Rain, nature has some great fucking timing, doesn’t it? I walk to my house and then text Aki to open the door, and he soon does it after a few seconds of waiting. “Did everything go okay?” He asks and I just walk past him without a word, I don’t wanna talk to anyone now. “Hey!” He yells as he grabs my arm and I just shake it off and rush to my room, slamming the door behind me. I then just drop dead on my bed and take a pillow to my face as I lay on my back. Then, I just cry. Cry, cry and cry. Just tears and slight hiccups as I take breaths, I can feel my breath warm up the pillow I’m holding to my face as me tears wet it. I hear my brother banging on the door and asking for me, but I don’t answer. Why did I have to fall for Emil...He’s already probably got someone and they’re probably happy and gonna live happy too and- And to think I was gonna try confessing or something next time I visited. Being in love….sucks. “And well, what else do you wanna talk about?” Roux asks as we both sit at the bench still. “Well, I don’t think really have anything else to talk about.” I say, we already exchanged my stuff about what we did the past two years and such. I even told her about Laila and Faye, and Roux seemed kind of...jealous? “This was fun for a change, I think I’ll come visit you sometime.” She smiles and stands up, her white and smooth-furred tail following behind her. “Well, maybe...” I stand up too and she suddenly steps forward and her lips touch upon mine, hers tasting like peach. “Consider that my thanks for accepting my invite, I’ll contact you tomorrow.” She giggles and then walks off. I’m left stunned and honestly, I didn’t want to be kissed. Faye is interested in me, but Roux is also again I think and I- What should I do… I turn around then put the helmet back on my, snappin the strap before going on my bike and riding back home. I try to think of what to do regarding my current situation, I’m just not really sure how to handle it. The only thing I do know is that I have a bad feeling of what’s going to happen. I wonder if Faye got home safe. The ride home feels much quicker than the ride to the park and I put my bike back in the small garage and then I do the usual steps of me coming home until I’m back in the living room. No one in here, Faye’s already left. I pull out my phone and decide to text her with asking how she liked being here and even after 20 minutes, I get no response. I wonder why, is she busy? “What should I do now?” I try to relax myself after this stressing day, and I remember all the chores and things I still need to do like washing the dishes, cleaning a bit and then maybe watching some more anime. Yep, that sounds like a good plan for today, I’ll deal with the Roux situation tomorrow. And so the adventure of life goes on. Chapter 9 I wonder if things could have ended differently if I had just said something before he went to meet that lady… None of that matters now though, I’ll just drown myself in some stories again. My bedsheets are wrapped around me and I have my laptop placed on my bed in front of me, the screen illuminating the otherwise dark room a bit. I scroll the page as I read the story and it’s about this anthro girl and human guy meeting up in an apartment after years of not meeting each other. A cute story, and it even has some lewd stuff on the side. It’s posted on a site for stories, but the link to it was posted to a thread on a place called 5chan and I ended up drifting into the /Garbage/ board which mostly contains some degenerate stuff and a thread general I liked. But...I still feel pretty empty, let’s see if a big bottle of soda can help with this. I reach out of the comforts of my bedsheets to my nightstand and grab the big bottle of Dr.Pupper I stashed here with me and then just gulp that like a thirsty traveler in the desert. I pause after drinking the whole bottle and then think about how empty I am, like the bottle I’m hol- “Hey Faye! Open up! Tell me what’s wrong, you’ve been in there since yesterday!” I hear my brother bang on the door and yell worriedly, but I just wrap the sheets around me like a barrier. “It’s fine! Just go away!” I yell back to him, my voice clearly sounding shaken. “Is this about Emil or something?” He brings up the thing I was trying to just….forget or something. I don’t answer him and then he stops his banging. “Well, I’m gonna bring the bastard here and have him apologize for whatever he did to you!” after he says that, I hear him stomp away and then silence envelops the house. No no no no, please don’t bring him here. I don’t wanna see him… Emil… I’ve got a really bad feeling today. Roux contacted me and asked if we could meet up again today and I said that not today, I wasn’t feeling well. That might count as a lie, but I really am not feeling comfortable with this situation and I just… “What the hell should I do?” I ask about both my situation with Roux and this bike’s blown-out tire. I probably accidentally hit a sharp stone on the sidewalk yesterday or something, should I try to patch it up? “The hole is a bit too big and I’m not sure the tape I have would work...I think there’s that one store that has bike tires on the cheap, I can even get a spare at the same time.” I plan my approach carefully and then just bring my back into my small garage, or would “3rd workshop” be a better description? I set the bike next to a wall and then exit the small garage and then close the door behind me. I then can’t help but stare at the forest for a moment and then at the house, I then just feel this sinking feeling in my heart. “I should probably take some of my-” I say to myself before being interrupted by a car driving up to my yard. I see the driver is Aki, what’s he doing here? He stops the car and then steps out, very...angrily too. “Hey.” His furious tone confuses me, why is he- He quickly walks up to me and grabs me by the collar with both of his paws and his tight grip actually hurts and makes me wince. “Ow! What the-” I try asking before meeting his eyes. “What did you do to my sister?” He asks and I wonder what the hell he means. “F-Faye? What do you mean?” I cough back as his strength overwhelms my attempts to get his paws off me. “Don’t play dumb! She’s crying in her room because of you!” He yells and I reel back and loosen my grip on his arms. “What? Because of me? Wait, did she-” I do remember seeing someone rise from a bush and run off, but was that her? “Yeah, and you’re coming with me to apologize to her.” He lets go of his death grip and goes over to his car. “Come on, get in.” He demands and I silently follow him to the car and go in the front side passenger seat. He starts the car and maneuvers it towards the road and he then gets to driving. I lean uncomfortably on the door and look outside, occasionally giving the male feline a glance and he focuses on driving. I...what should I even say? The best thing to do is to just explain it to her and then...I’ll invite both to my house and then we can talk it out. Yeah, that should be good. “Okay, we’re here. Come on.” Aki continues demanding and I comply in silence, walking with him into the house. I see him stop next to a door and it’s Faye’s room. I look at Aki and he motions his head as tell me to go. Here goes then.... “Faye? Are you in there?” I try to open the door and it’s...open? I slowly creak the door open and step into the dark room, spotting Faye sitting curled up on her bed, bedsheets hiding her and her tail sticks out at the bottom. “Just...go away.” She...whimpers from beneath the bedsheet and I see her curl up more, just how much was she hurt? “I’m here to talk- I mean apologize to you.” I correct my wording and walk next to the edge of the bed and slowly sit down, turning myself towards Faye. “About you and that lady getting mushy in the park?” She spits out and I can feel her glare and then I shift a bit closer to her and she seems to tense up. “That wasn’t what happened, she...she’s my ex.” “So you are getting back with her, is that it?” She retorts depressedly “Faye, calm down and let me finish. She’s my ex, her name is Roux and she wanted to meet up at the park, since we haven’t met since we broke up 2 years ago.” “So, why didn’t you wanna talk about her when we hung out? You didn’t wanna make things awkward?” Faye questions me with her depressed voice. “Well, yeah. And I also didn’t want you to really know about what went down during our break-up, it’s a bit too…Do you wanna hear about it?” I ask her and the bedsheets around her begin to relax, seems like she’s less tense. “Give me the short version.” I shift my position and then face the wall as I begin. “Alright, so me and her dated a couple years ago, we’d known each other for a few years and we kinda fit for each other. I thought we were a pretty good couple back then, but...then she ended up cheating on me.” I hear Faye gasp, she probably never would have imagined that I would have gotten cheated on. “She didn’t do anything that major, she just went on a date with another dude. It was enough to destroy my heart though. I confronted her about it and she scrambled for an excuse and I went ahead and did the worst thing a man can do: get physical.” “A simple slap, that’s all it pretty much was. But even today I still feel really guilty about it, and I’ve even tried to work on my anger when I feel like I’m gonna boil.” I bring up my right hand and grasp the air a few times. “And yesterday, we didn’t get back together or anything. Though, I think she wants to get back together with me. And I’m not really that sure, I feel like I just don’t….really have the right to be with her.” I then let out a sigh, letting my shoulders relax. “...That’s my story with Roux.” I turn and face Faye again and I finally see her face. Eyes tired, hair ruffled and fur a bit unkept, just how long has she been here? “I...I didn’t know, I’m...s-sorry.” She sniffles and pulls a part of the sheets to her face as she sniffled. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m the one at fault for not telling and I’m sorry about not telling you. And you...do you have a crush on me?” I ask and she freezes in place for a moment. “Y-Yeah…” She muffledly confirms and I smile. “Well, I think you’re...a fine woman yourself, strong, headstrong, confident, easily approachable, and uh….and….cute too!” I try to compliment her the best I can as I feel my face heat up a bit. She then starts shaking, d-did I say something wrong? “U-Uh, Faye? Are you-” “H-Hahahahahahahaha! Oh my God!” She bursts back laughing and then falls flat on her back on the bed while laughing. “Did I say something wrong?” I ask and I’m mostly just confused now. “Me, cute? I wish!” She laughs a bit before calming down to just low-tier giggles. “Well, I think you are!” I say, feeling my face get more warm. “Thanks, and uh, since you said sorry for the misunderstanding with Roux...Sorry for being so...brashy with you.” She rubs the back of her head shyly and looks down. “You mean like you being unsubtly flirty and stuff?” “Yeah...I was just kinda...I kinda wanted a boyfriend and you were there and just went along with my stupidity.” “Aww, that’s cute.” I can’t help but say that and I can see her expression wake up immensely “Sh-Shut up! It’s not!” She yells and I see her tail perking up a bit, tails being extra body language is such an easy read. “And look which of us is being tsundere now.” I smile to her and she flusters further and covers her face with her paws. “Perkele, shut up.” “Heh, but oh. We still should talk with Roux, to set things straight.” I say and pull out my phone and pull my messages with her. “Oh, yeah.” I message her and ask if she could meet me in my house and she replies incredibly quickly with a “Yes, I can come right now!”. I reply to her that I’m away from home and that she’ll have to wait some time, and that I’ll tell her when I get home. “Okay, she’s ready. Wanna go now?” I stand up and turn to her. “Yeah. The next bus will come in about thirty minutes, but first...” She points and I stand in front and she comes around the other side and then sizes me up? “Okay, this is me accepting your apology.” She says and then punches my stomach, knocking the wind out of me for moment and almost making me lose my balance. I try to take a few deep breaths and manage to most get myself back. “That was also for breaking my heart.” Faye says and shakes her paw a bit. “Yeah...I kinda deserved that.” I sigh and finally register that it actually hurt a bit. “I didn’t hit you too hard, did I?” She leans in and I just smile. “Well, kinda.” I tell the truth and hold the spot she punched. “Oh shit, sorry! Do you need help?” She offers and I exit the room, ignoring the slight pain. “I’m good, let’s go then.” I forgot to take off my shoes and just walk out the front door, holding it open for Faye as she gets her shoes on and hops outside. “Aki, you gonna come along?” I ask as he ties his hair. “Gonna clean Faye’s room, because I damn well know it’s dirty.” He then throws a glance at Faye, who looks away smiling nervously. “Well, we’ll leave you to that!” Faye laughs while waiting for me a bit. “See ya, Aki.” I wave to him while Faye walks to the bus-stop not far from the house. “Nähe, remember to treat her well or else something terrible will happen!” He points and he sounds kinda like a character from a tv-show I saw memes of once. “Sure will!” I flip a thumbs-up and quickly hop myself to the bus-stop too. “So, how were you planning to do this?” Faye asks as she taps her feet on the ground. “I was thinking I could explain my situation and then you two could talk for a bit and then we could figure out it from there.” I sigh and scratch the back of my head a bit. “Welp, guess we’ll find out how it goes!” She lifts her fist up. “Yeah!” I lift my fist too and we glance at each other before having a bit of a laugh. We continue giggling and the air seems to lift a bit and then bus arrives moments later. Faye pays for us both and then she takes the front seat behind the bus driver’s seat and I sit down next to her as she casually glances outside. “It’s pretty nice weather outside.” She warmly says and I glance outside too, looking as the bright sun lights the lively town. “Yeah, it’s really nice.” I smile and we end up just relaxedly staring outside for the ride. We drop off at the stop she stopped last time and we walk to my home and I see someone sitting in the porch chair, a white-furred fox with her dark honey-colored hair loose and it seems like she drove here, considering the red-colored car parked in the yard neatly. “Hm? Oh hi Emil…” She smiles and then her smile fades as she sees Faye, standing a bit in front of me and starting back at Roux. “Roux, we need...to talk.” I gulp between words and walk with Faye to the porch table. A heavy stroke of silence sets itself around the table and we all glance at each other in silence for a couple moments. “Emil, what’s going on here?” Roux asks and I take a deep breath. “Roux, this is Faye.” I introduce the grey feline to her. “...Is this going where I think it is?” The white fox asks me and I see the clear worry and sadness in her eyes, “Well, about when we met in the park. And you said we should get together again…” I speak, feeling a lump in my throat and this heavy feeling in me. “You...You’d rather be with her?” Roux interrupts me, voice meek. “I...I want go back to being with you! I’m sorry for cheating on you a-and I want to make up for that by going back to you!” She stands up and looks at me with her pent-up feelings likely about to burst. I just wonder how much she must have regretted what she did, and how much she cried… Even then, I can’t go back to her...but I also don’t want to hurt her. “But E-” Faye tries interject, but I speak up because I want Roux to hear what I have to say. “I can’t return your feelings, Roux.” I simply reply to her and stand up myself, walking slowly next to her. “But…” I raise my arm a bit for a handshake. “I think...we can still...be friends.” I try smiling to calm her down and she looks at me baffled. Her eyes soon water and she turns away for a moment as she cries a bit. “Roux…” “You just know how to break my heart, don’t you?” Roux turns her head and smiles, I shift my glance to the side a bit as I can’t face her eyes. “You just invite me here and proceed to break my heart, doesn’t that kinda makes us even now?” She laughs and I realize it too and laugh as well. I even hear Faye throwing up a couple giggles. Roux then grabs my hand and warmly grips and gives a shake and we look at each other, she’s smiling while her eyes are still teary. “Okay then, I’ll just be friends with you then. And...could I be friends with you as well, Faye?” Roux looks at Faye and her ears perk up and she blinks a few times. “Me?” “Yes, I’d like to try and be friends with you. I can even give you tips on dating him.” “That sounds fun, alrighty.” Faye remarks and shakes paws with the white fox. “Can I get your number, by the way?” She adds. “Wha-” Roux and I step back a little after that weird comment. “Not trying to flirt, just trying to get some form of contact going.” Faye deadpans and the girls soon exchange numbers. “So, now what do we do?” Faye opens up after stuffing her phone in her pocket “I, uh, think I should probably leave you two alone now.” Roux runs her paw her hair and then goes to walk to her car. I still want to say something to her before she goes and I step forward too. “Hey, Roux!” I yell to her before she can open her car door and she looks at me for a moment. “I just wanna say that...I’m thankful you were my first love!” I continue and I can see her eyes widen a little. “...Thanks, same to you and I hope the best for you two!” She cheering yells back and waves to us before going into her car and soon driving off and I sigh. “Thank God that turned out better than I expected, she’s still the same Roux.” “To be honest, I kinda wanted to punch her first like I did with you.” Faye slaps that comment out of nowhere. “Woah, what.” “I mean, she kinda just ticked me off at first with her attitude and clinging to you.” “I guess it’s true that people are more critical of those who resemble them.” I say outloud and get a light knee-kick to the thigh in response from the short feline next to me. “Still, I think she could be a nice friend to have. Who knows, maybe she’s a decent person despite her cheating on you.” Faye swings her arms up and hands behind her head. “You’re pretty casual about this, are you fine with all this?” I turn to her and she looks at me as well and yawns. “Yeaaah...I’m fine, now at least I have a boyfriend.” She smiles and carefully sifts next to me and kinda just...leans on me. “Heh, yeah I guess we are dating now.” I laugh and I wonder if I’m nervous, did I forget how this felt like? “This has been a wild month so far, hasn’t it?” She asks as she continues gently leaning on me. “Yep.” I smile and continue standing there as we stare at the forest. “Anything you wanna do now?” I ask her as a small breeze starts coming in and I feel my hair slightly sway in the wind. “Could...you pat my head?” She looks away while asking and I feel a bit awkward, but what the hell. “Sure.” I slowly raise my hand and place it softly on her head, feeling her soft hair in its natural state. Then I start slowly stroking her hair and I feel her lean more and more. “Heheh.” She lightly giggles and hugs me while turning her body to my side, pressing softly against me. She’s really warm, and she’s purring...Cute. I place my hand on the railing of the terrace for support and humm a bit. No real choice as to what song I humm, just what I feel like. “How much time should pass until our hearts are connected…” Faye sings as I humm and I momentarily stop stroking her hair in surprise. “You know the song?” I ask her, with her turning her head up to me and smiling. “Peace of Mind, right?” “Yeah...It’s one of my favourites. You watched the show it’s from?” “Yep! Thanks to you sharing the link to that massive archive of download links!” Her voice rumbles happily and I then get an idea. “Hey, uh, since you are at my house and such...Do you wanna watch some anime? I think this’d count as a first date.” I stutter out as the situation starts to hit in finally. “Sure! Wanna watch RagnaReiDar? I heard that show is awesome!” Faye instantly giddies up and her eyes shine bright at the prospect of watching that show with me. “Yeah, sure but I was thinking we could watch some Madnug…” “Madnug is good and all, but have you seen RagnaReiDar? That opening is a really good workout song.” Faye sounds like she could have started the show already, but did she wait to watch it with me? “Yeah, sure. I have the show downloaded even though I don’t really watch Super Robot shows.” I say and open the front door and go in the house with Faye behind me. “Super Robot? What’s that mean?” Faye curiosly asks behind me as I walk to the shoe-shelf and take off my shoes and put them on the small shelf as does she. “It means more the stuff like yelling out attack names and combination scenes and focus on an extraterrestrial threat instead of a war between humans or factions as seen in Real Robot shows.” I explain during the walk up the stairs and us entering the living room. “Oh, that’s neat. I like the more “People banding together to face an alien threat.” type of show I guess, it’s more hopeful.” She giggles as she sets herself on the couch like a true couch potato, guess she must have experience marathoning shows. “Okay, hold on...I’m gonna get my external hard-drive and connect it to the TV.” I say and quickly trot to my room and get the external hard-drive from my PC and go back to the living room to find the couch empty. “Hey, Emil~ Got any good snacks or drinks?” “I got some Sylphie in the fridge. a one point five liter bottle. And there should be a candy bag and a couple sweet onion-cream flavored chip container in the lower cupboard next to the fridge.” I casually yell to her across the living room and she quickly finds the bottle and other stuff while I set-up the hard-drive to the console. “Alright...this here and that there…” I snap my fingers as I finish linking the hard-drive to the console. “Heh, what?” Faye audibly smirks and I cringe in response to my behaviours “Nothing, nothing. Just a little something I do when I succeed.” I laugh it off and get a controller and boot the consolle and quickly maneuver to the files and boot episode 1 and pause it so we can get ready. I note that Faye got a small coffee table and set all the snacks on there. “So, how do you wanna sit?” I ask and she just has a smug smile on her face, this can’t be good. “I wanna sit on your lap.” And there it is, some kind of weird- but I guess it’d be kinda comfy. “S-Sure.” I stagger out and sit myself down on the couch and Faye then almost immediately plops herself down on my lap sideways, with her left side facing me and tail loosely over her own lap like a pillow. “I’ll, uh, start the episode then-” I try to reach for the controller on the armrest, but Faye has a quicker sleight of paw and she grabs it starts the episode before passing the controller to me. She then leans on me as the episode begins with a sunny introduction scene and a peppy start into the opening, which… Faye sings along to. “Moeagare, koteutsu no cyboogu~” Her calm singing juxtaposes the hot-blooded male singer of the song and I kinda want to hear what her hyped singing sounds like. The episode rolls through as a really good introductory episode and a ending leaving wanting more and the ending song calms the viewer down before the next episode. During the episode, I’m not sure if Faye was more focused on the episode or pretty much cuddling me as she soon after the opening song just held onto me casually with occasional hugs. The ending song fades and she rubs her face against mine, a surprising development if I do say so myself. “So, what did ya think? Wasn’t that a really good episode?” She purrs out and I can almost feel how energized she is by that. “Yeah, it was. I can see why people like these type of shows. Consider me interested.” I smile back to her and pat her a bit. “And we totally forgot about the snacks and drinks.” Faye realizes and I just notice too and she then gets off my lap, it feeling really warm after. Her tail is within reaching distance as she goes for the soda and gets us two glasses worth. Ah, why not. I touch her tail and it’s still as fluffy as it was when I last touched it, I could touch it forever… “H-Hey! You should say something first before touching it!” Faye stammers out and looks at me with a small pout. “Heh, sorry. It was just too alluring for me. I had to.” I continue touching and petting her tail and I think I hear her purring more. “Do you like this?” “Ah, I-I just...Yes.” She admits and I feel her tail move a bit and it slightly brushes my hand and it feel really nice. “A-And here’s your soda, dummy.” She calls me and I take the glass from her paw, carefully touching her paw with my hand as well and getting a small gasp from her. “You said that I’m awkward, but you’re pretty awkward too.” I smirk and take a sip of my glass of smug. “S-Shut it, you’re still more awkward than me!” She defends herself cutely and sits herself back on my lap with a glass of soda in her paws and she throws a childish glare and pout at me. “And...can we...kiss?” She then asks shyly, shows she’s never really been in a relationship before and she’s just winging it, I’ll oblige her request then. “Sure, but are you sure you w-” I ask before getting interrupted by her face coming closer to mine and her lips touching mine warmly before pulling away with a paused stare of her emerald eyes. “Gosh, you’re really cute.” I say and I see her grow a bit more shy. “Thanks...Just play the episode already.” “Yeah, okay. Thanks for choosing to date me.” “It’s nothing, thanks for accepting someone like me…” She mumbles and I pat her head a bit more. “No problem, let’s continue now.” I play the episode and she soon leans back to me and starts purring as she sips her soda. And so the adventure of life goes on.