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To everyone's surprise the final month of school zipped right on by. Prom weekend felt like it was actually just eight or nine hours trying to get by on getting called 'a full weekend', especially when I spent most of those hours either in Tony's arms, or leaning against him, or just in his general vicinity. He felt the same, too: when it was time for me to head home, we ended up saying goodbye about four times total before our hug finally broke for the last time.

As that week and the next would show to me, though, I tended to have trouble getting to sleep on my own if I'd just spent the night in Tony's bed the day before, or he in mine. Things were going very, very well between the two of us since prom, my little thing with Tyler, and what came between the cheetah and I in that night following. Sure, we'd banged before, twice by then, but that night was...

I don't know. Didn't take long into the night for me to forget about the slight tinge of alcohol on his breath, and with that I stopped worrying about it entirely. Maybe that was what gave him the ability to finally let go of the rest of his self-consciousness and nervousness and just... go at it the way his body wanted, and how _he_wanted. God knows that that night hung around in my memory and my thoughts as bright and fresh as when it had happen for the next week and a half.

And speaking of, luckily the beginning of the next week wasn't too rough. Classwork had slowed basically to a stop with the imminence of finals, with teachers instead handing out the semester reviews and urging us to get together and study. Sandra and I tried to lobby Ms. Amador into using the creative writing room as our headquarters for the time being, but she just crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked down at us with the sharpest eyes I'd ever seen on her, and that proved pretty darn well at scaring us off. Of course once we'd turned the corner, Sandra leaned in - Tony had come with us too, and chuckled softly at his mom's expression - and said, "Christ, I've never been so afraid and turned on at the same time in my life," which just made Tony laugh even harder.

One by one the finals came, and one by one we sliced through them. You know the way high school is, where there's quizzes pretty much daily and then progress exams all throughout, and then we have entirely separate final exams for each grading period and semester, but... these were our last. For our entire high school career.

I think the world history was the toughest, which Tony agreed with - we had the same teacher, but not the same period - and astronomy actually turned out to be the easiest, for a few different reasons. That weekend me, Tony, and Lexi went to see the new Pectoralizer movie, a stupid high-octane action movie that also turned out to be stupid fun, and then the following week for me came Creative Writing, which was more of an exercise and a quiz than an exam, and then calculus. That was tough, but I got through it. I spent some of my time after school looking around for a new job to apply at, and had sent out a fair number by the time that weekend rolled by. That one ended up being spent with me walking Tony through the steps to do the same, and helping him figure out what he wanted to do.

By that point he'd gotten tired of both me and Dad asking him if his Sixam audition results came back, so we finally stopped. Once he left Sunday afternoon, we started planning out what we'd do for a graduation party. Lexi and Sandra and of course Tony and his mom would be there, and probably nobody else: we wanted to keep it nice and close, simple. Besides, we only had so many places to seat people.

That next week all that remained for my was chemistry, which was also_kinda-sorta difficult, but not too bad. On Wednesday Dad poked his head into my room and inquired if I'd be walking at the graduation commencement; he said he'd like to see me, but wouldn't push me if I didn't want to. I considered it, and thought about it, and looked around some... until I saw the price of the robes, and found out that we'd have to pay both a fee for me to actually walk the stage, and another for each ticket we wanted. Not a small fee. So I told him no, and mentioned it to Tony... who actually _couldn't walk at graduation, since he hadn't even been attending the school for a full semester. So it all worked out. I sent out the texts about our graduation party that night; half a week should hopefully be enough time for preparation.

All worked out really well, actually. Last day of school was a half-day, and since we'd finished literally everything we'd have to do, we spent that half-day just messing around. Watching movies, sitting back in our seats talking, texting... this coyote Brandon in one of my classes brought an old handheld gaming system and was on that for the period, with a half-circle crowd behind him watching and reminiscing over whatever game he played.

And then came the party. For once in my entire high school career the buses got to the school early, meaning we didn't have to wait at all after the last bell - which on any other day would have just been the lunch bell. Tony snuck on behind me after a quick conversation in smooth Spanish with his mom, and throughout just about the entire ride home, was squeezing my paw and gently bouncing beside me. I mean, I was excited about finally finishing school too, but... I was still managing to hold still.

Like usual, we had the house to ourselves for a little bit after getting there, though Lexi and Sandra would be showing up before too long, so we... limited ourselves. Still ended up with me having to change my shirt after missing the splash zone, though, which I still hadn't gotten used to from this cheetah; he gave me this tired grin afterwards, halfway between panting and giggling, and to get back at him I just rolled my eyes and wiped my paw off on his cheek.

Good thing we'd decided to go easy today, too, since right after I'd tugged the new shirt down over my head, the doorbell rang. As expected that was our two lovely ladies, and with them here, we could start getting everything ready for the night: Dad still had work, and as a teacher, Ms. Amador had to hang around for the full school day, and she'd have to go back in for the next week or so for administrative responsibilities or whatever.

The plan for tonight was burgers! Done over the stove, with Dad making fries from scratch - that's what the potatoes sitting on the counter were for - and everyone else bringing something of their own. Sandra had one of those packs of the really soft cookies from the local grocery store, and Lexi brought two big bags of chips. We brought those up to my room and munched on them a bit while waiting and talking.

"So," Sandra said, rummaging around for the most intact chip, "what're your plans now? Get a job? Become a CEO? Take over the world? Or just, like... go to college?"

"College," me and Lexi said at the same time, and looked at each other. I continued first. "I decided I'd hit the local community college until I decide what I wanna do."

"I feel you there. I could never get behind all that bullshit of trying to get us to know what we wanna do with our lives from... what, sophomore year? Sophomore year I thought I like guys still. So." The possum shrugged. "You too, Lex?"

"Yeah. Out of state. Planning on coming back for summers."

"What for?"

"Teaching, actually."

That brought a murmur of approval from all of us. Tony shifted against me. "Ooh. Yes, I can see that."

"What about you?" Lexi leaned in and lightly jabbed at his arm with a finger. "You catastrophically handsome savannah beast?"

Tony waved her away with a quiet, indulgent rumble, and shifted against me again. We sat at the edge of my bed with one of his arms lightly around my body, and for the past few minutes he'd been slowly drawing his claws through my fur in the way that he knew made me shiver. "Well, we have heard back from Sixam..."

"And?" That was pretty much all of us at the same time. "What happened? What's the news?"

He looked up, visibly struggling to keep a smile down, and shrugged. "We must wait until Mamá comes."

"Fuckin' shit." Sandra took a handful of chips this time. "He made it."

Lexi leaned over and took one from her. "I mean, we all knew it would happen. If you're good enough to have a solo in first orchestra at the spring concert, you're good enough to get into Sixam." With that chip, she motioned to Tony. "And he did it in - what, two months here? Two and a half?"

"Around that." Another shrug. Tony rested his muzzle against my shoulder, nuzzling in a little bit. "When I get a job I will... ah. Mamá will talk about that too. What time is it?"

"Almost two."

"Oh. About another hour. Perrito, your dad comes home... two hours after that?"

Lexi's ears flicked at that word, and as I spoke, I intentionally avoided making eye contact with her. "Yeah. I think he's gonna try to get off early today, though."

From there we went on to how our exams went, and how we thought we did in each of our classes. Lexi of course said she had no real issue with any of them; Tony was a little concerned about his chemistry class as well as history, which I'd said before was mine. Sandra, however, looked between all of us with this look of mock shock on her face... someone might end up having to take some summer courses. Not that that really surprised any of us.

As time ticked on, we then figured that we should start on the burgers so that we could all eat as soon as we could following Dad's arrival at home. Ms. Amador got there right as I plopped the patties into the pan to cook, and she had another rapid conversation with her son in the entryway that ended in her cackling and him storming off to attach himself to my arm, ears and whiskers plastered back and face glowing red beneath his fur. She peeked around the corner into the kitchen and waved at me, wearing the most pristine smile I'd ever seen.

"Good afternoon, Matt," she purred, "is James home yet?"

"No, he's still got an hour or so on work, I think." Had to speak up over the sizzling once the cooking really started. Sandra had been in charge of chopping in the onions, and you bet she gave us quite a bit of lip about it. "We moved the couches and everything in the living room, so you could go sit there if you'd like. Dad picked up a big bottle of wine that I think he was planning to break into later. There's glasses up by the fridge, if that's your thing."

"Ohh. How lovely. I think I will wait." She turned her head to look back over her shoulder, which made the rings in her ear jingle. "Your friend Sandra is here, yes?"

"Yeah. I think she's upstairs with Lexi."

"May I go spoke with her?"

"Go for it." Then, to Tony beside me: "I think she'd really like that," which turned his blush into a quiet giggle. When Ms. Amador left, footpaws soundless even on the tiled floor, Tony leaned in and left a gentle kiss right along my jaw. I wonder what she'd said to him.

Slowly the sun continued to drop, slowly time continued to tick by. Dad got home, and gave both me and the cheetah a big hug and congratulations, and then another to Lexi - "I haven't seen you in a long time!" - and Sandra - "I don't think I've ever seen you!" and something under his breath to Ms. Amador, who returned with a low, meaty laugh and something else I didn't quite catch, followed by a paw-shake and another hug. They continued talking like that for a while, with Dad leaning in towards Ms. Amador's ear at one point and murmuring something with his gaze very obviously on me and Tony sitting there on the couch... and the older cheetess lightly pushed his shoulder, another laugh on her lips, and slid her own eyes our way.

Then came the actual party, though. Burgers were finished a while back, so we might have to microwave them to get them hot again, but Dad started right in on the fries with all of us sitting around in the living room and waiting in the kitchen.

"I remember when I graduated high school..." he started, paws coated to his wrists in flour. We'd bought an extra bottle of oil just for this occasion. "I had no idea where I wanted to go in life, or what I was even interested in. I mean, other than girls." He glanced back towards us. "And you've already figured your way out of that one, huh?"

Tony laughed, and I groaned. "Dad..."

"I'm playing, I'm playing. It's great that you've found someone that makes you happy, Matt. And you know what else is great?" He looked around the room. "Where is she-? Aurora?"

"I am here." She floated back into the room, and once again laid a sly smile on him. Then, she turned and addressed the rest of us, spread out among the kitchen and the adjoining living room. "Okay! Everyone! I have something I would like to say to you all.

"First: congratulations on making it this far! I know we have not been around all that long, but in that short time I have come to know who you are-" Here she levelled a playful glare at Sandra, over on the couch with Lexi. "-and where you go when you skip classes. But you are moving on... and I am staying here."

Tony grabbed and squeezed my paw, bouncing on his feet a little bit.

Ms. Amador's smile widened, and her whiskers remained relaxed. Were we in any other situation, a look of self-satisfaction on the muzzle of a sleek predator's muzzle like that would be... intimidating. "I have been offered and accepted the position to teach English as a second language, and sophomore English for at least the next four years."

First I looked at Tony, and then at Dad, and then at the others, and then back to Tony, who mirrored his mom's grin. "Holy shit," Sandra murmured, beneath Lexi's "That's great news!" and Dad's more level compliments and congratulations. That meant that, for the foreseeable future, Tony would be staying right here. He wouldn't be moving away again like he always had in the past. He'd be right here next to me.

"And," Ms. Amador went on, holding one finger up in that way she did in class sometimes, "that is not all! Second: my son Antonio has been accepted to Sixam-" That met with more cheering, of course. "-which I imagine all of you have predicted, but! But!"

Still that paw tightened on mine, with his tail now flicking and curling at my ankle. Excitement bubbling like water boiling in a lidded pot.

"Not only have they accepted him, but they have also offered a great scholarship! They are covering the entirety of his tuition costs for his time there!"

Holy God. Holy God. This time when I turned to look at the cheetah beside me, I couldn't look away. He released my paw and instead settled his arms around my waist, and I just - I don't know. Next thing I knew I'd yanked him forward for a full kiss, which turned into another, which turned into a firm neck-nuzzle and a breathed holy shit of my own.

"It is funny that you mentioned the community college..." he murmured in my ear, while his mom went on with something else. Something about their house. "Since we still have to pay for books and housing, we have decided for me to take my basic classes at the community college."

"No shit?"

He chuckled, and touched his nose to mine. "Is that how you say it in English? No shit, perrito. We are close enough that I can stay at home until I finish my basics, and hopefully by then I will have a job and can rent an apartment closer to Sixam..."

"Would you..." I licked my lips and swallowed. Smelled like the fries were almost done, and I was getting pretty hungry. I think we all were. "Would you like to rent a place together? That way we can cut down on rent, and-"

He'd found my paw again before I finished speaking. "Yes. But job first. And, actually, I have news on that too - would you like to talk after dinner?"

"I would love to."

~ ~ ~

It took a while to adjust to living away from home, and living with only each other for company, but it was a pleasant adjustment. Little tweaks to each of our rhythms and habits, small changes to accommodate the other. Throughout our first year Tony had made it a mission to find some more Mexican dishes that I actually enjoyed, and to teach me how to cook them.

Summer turned to fall, turned to winter to spring. Every now and then something would come up and he'd come to bed late with his tail lashing behind him, or I felt like I just had to call Lexi up and go out for a quick drink, or we'd each isolate ourselves in our own worlds with our headphones on and sitting on opposite sides of the room. But still the sun rose every morning, amber yellow-orange glitter peeking sleepily through soft clouds.

Would you believe that he grew taller? He refined his English, and eventually managed to stopped lapsing back into Spanish whenever he forgot a word or a phrase. Not to say that he abandoned the language completely, of course: he made sure to call his mom every week, and they still did that thing where I'm pretty sure they talked saucy stories about me in rapid Spanish, with Tony's tailtip flicking and his sharp eyes glancing away from me every time I looked over.

He also rather enjoyed growling some things into my ear while testing the spring-strength of our apartment bed, and I always forgot to ask him what those things meant, in the heat of the moment. Didn't stop them from sending sharp shivers down my spine, though, among other things.

Our second year we encountered some financial difficulties, and I had to call Dad and get some things sorted out, and Tony had to pick up a second job. He'd brought his keyboard over from Ms. Amador's place, and sometimes late into the night I could hear the quiet, padded clunk-clunk of the keys as he played, both to practice and to relieve his frustration. I'd just started talking to Tyler again - guess who else went to the community college? - and though I intentionally kept him at arm's length, that distance bridged a wide fissure between the jackal and Tony.

My cheetah had to switch to evening classes to accommodate everything that was going on, and as a result we were hardly awake at the same time, and only saw each other in the very early mornings - and even then he was often not in the presence of mind to do or say much. Sometimes he'd just give me a rumble and a nuzzle when I headed out for class, sometimes not even that. It was during this period of time where we had our first day when we didn't say a single word to each other.

Then we learned that he might end up losing his Sixam scholarship, since he hadn't actually attended the school yet. That was one more tug on an already taut cord, and the force made it snap. Then came the first time we yelled at each other, the first time we didn't speak to each other for a week, and the first time in two years where we slept in different beds. The first time he made me cry, quiet racking sobs into an already-soaked pillow, body desperate for his touch and his warmth.

The next morning I woke up, though, and he was already awake. Cooking something in the kitchen. I thought he wouldn't want to speak to me, so I tried to sidle my way out the door with my bag over my shoulder - and felt a paw gripping around my tail, pulling me back.

"Mi vida, mi cielo," he said, in that quiet rumble that he knew melted my heart, "tonight we are eating dinner together. I have something I need to tell you, and I think you'd like to hear it. I know you need to." Tony sent me off to class with a firm tug from his arm around my waist, a warm nuzzle beneath my chin, and a kiss to my cheek that I could still feel tingling an hour and a half later.

I returned that night to find dinner already prepared, and a vaguely familiar smell. Enchiladas suizas, just the way I'd made for him the first time I'd had him over for dinner. He looked as though he'd been crying recently, and even before I managed to drop my bag to the floor, he'd wrapped those surprisingly strong arms around my shoulders. I think he'd started working out to relieve stress, too.

"I'm sorry," he breathed into my neck. More tingles, sharp sweet sparkles. "I'm so sorry. I wish I had never done that, last night. It felt awful for me, and I can't even imagine when it felt like for you, and-" He stopped when I wrapped my arms back around him, too, and pushed my nose as deep as it would go in the soft fur of his neck. The scent there, soft and warm and spicy, was one that I'd grown used to always picking up on the air in our apartment, but it felt so, so good to get it from the source. "There's one more thing I want to tell you."

I nodded.

"Are you listening?"

I nodded again.

"Hermoso perrito, te amaré hasta que el sol deje de brillar."

There was one part of that I caught. I squeezed tighter around him, and nodded. Second time he'd made me cry. "You had me worried," I managed, "but I know. I know. How do I say 'I love you too'?"

Still the sun continues to rise, day after day, at the end of each storm. Always bright, always warm; always there when you look for it and when you need it. Still the sun rises. He murmured the words into my ear, and I nodded before saying them back.

"Yo tambien te quiero."

~