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Chapter Two: Things that go bump in the night.

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Shutting the door to my house behind me I went into the kitchen and poured myself a large glass of red wine. "Well, I don't even have any work to do to take my mind off things, so I guess you're my only option." I said to the wine glass, as if expecting a response from the inanimate object. Making my way up the staircase I decided I would just get an early night, I did actually have a slight headache now and I found myself drifting off into a disturbed sleep. Images of Todd on the bus, dropping all of his work, all his hard work completely ruined. Then it soon changed into me being on that bus, and how terrible it must have been to lose so much.

Waking up in a startle, I felt a damp layer of sweat lying underneath my fur as I glanced over at the clock; it read 3:49 am. Letting out a long sigh I wiped the sweat from my brow and kicked the covers off my sweat matted fur. "Gee it's hot in here." I frowned, standing up on my bed I clicked open the skylight window directly above me and felt a cool rush of damp night air swirl around me as I laid back down in my sweat dampened bed.

I stared through the darkness up at the Moon, letting myself drift back off to sleep to the soothing, gentle sounds of the leaves rustling in the light breeze. But then, almost out of nowhere a different sound impaired the previous gentle sounds of the rustling leaves - a loud sniff, followed by almost a muffled sobbing sound.

"Gee, I didn't know so many people were so upset about their grades." I whispered to myself, trying to ignore the distant, but still audible sobbing. A few minutes later I could smell the heavy smell of Cigarettes coming through my window followed by more sobbing, which awakened me further. Looking back over at my clock I decided a little night time smoke might be the answer to my sleep problem. Plus maybe I could offer some company to the mystery crying sound, emanating from somewhere on the estate. I pulled on the clothes that I was wearing previously and crept out into the night.

Peering through the darkness I quietly moved through the Moonlit labyrinth of alleyways and paths at the back of the estate, using my finely tuned senses to pinpoint where the sound and smell of smoking was emitting from. I came across a small clearing, with a row of 4 benches - not quarter of a mile away from my house.

The figure, sensing my presence immediately hushed their crying as I sat down on the third bench away from the silhouetted figure, slouched there; still smoking the cigarette I had smelt in my bedroom just minutes ago. I decided I would try and make some conversation, but how to break the ice? Taking out a packet of smokes from my shorts pocket I put a cigarette into my muzzle, and then continued to rummage through my pockets as if to search for a light. Knowing full well there was a lighter in my pocket, I gingerly called out to the mystery figure "Hey, do you have a light please?".

There was a short pause before the shadowy figure responded, "A-Arthur?" followed by a sniff. I recognized the voice. It was the same voice that had been haunting my dreams that night, Todd's voice. I silently moved over and sat next to him as he replied, "Here..." he said, voice trailing off as he lit up another cigarette, his paw shaking as he handed over a small silver Zippo. "Thanks." I said, as a moment of silence passed until we had both finished our cigarettes.

"Look, I know I can't offer much in the ways of consolation, but you've always brightened my day up with your little witty comments and funny remarks, so if you need a shoulder to cry on, mine's right here." I said gently, pointing at my shoulder and trying to muster up a sympathetic smile.

Todd looked up, the moonlight hitting his face. I could see him more clearly now, his fur matted with tears around his black burglars mask stripe that covered his eyes, which now started welling up with tears once again. Looking up at me he started to burst out crying once again, burying himself into my shirt as I felt his muffled sobbing against my chest. He started to wail something into my chest but it was too muffled to understand what he was trying to say.

Putting a comforting arm around him I gently rubbed his back and tried to calm him down a little. "Hey, hey. Don't cry, please! Everything can be fixed, trust me. I've had some disasters with my work before, and I know you've only got 5 weeks left-" "-Four." He cut me off, looking up at me again, tears streaming down his face."Okay, four weeks left" I continued "but I've seen how hard you work before and I know you can fix it all with no problems."

I rocked us back and forth soothingly, my mother used to do this to me when I was a pup and it always helped to calm me down if I was a bit upset about something. "But I don't have a camera!" he wailed into my chest. I had an idea. "Well, I've finished for the semester now, so I don't really need my camera for the next 5 weeks, so if you like you can use mine. I really don't mind."

Todd stopped crying and looked up at me, attempting to wipe the tears away from his eyes he sheepishly said "Honestly, you really would do that for me?" "Of course, I'd be happy to help! Really I would, trust me; you've done some nice things for me in the past." I said. "Oh yeah, like what?" he asked me, a half smile starting to form on his muzzle. "Sure you have! You um, gave me confidence in this shirt!" We both laughed.

"It really does compliment your eyes, Arthur." Todd said, looking at my blue shirt, now somewhat dampened with his tears where he had been sobbing into me. He patted some of the damp area with his paw to try and dry it a little, giving an embarrassed smile. "It's ok, a little Racoon tears never hurt nobody." I chuckled, watching him ease up slightly.

"Hey, you know what. I've pretty much got no work to do for next 5 weeks of the semester, just a few reports and that's about it, I can get those done over a weekend easily. If you wanted I could help you redo all of your work." It was a thought, I really didn't have much to do at all, and I really wanted to get to know him a little better. I wasn't trying to get into his pants or anything, I did genuinely want to help, and I'm not that kind of Wolf! Besides, Todd had always intrigued me with his mannerisms, I was sure he wasn't gay, but he sure reminded me of - well, me - before I came out.

"Seriously, you would do that for me?" He blinked, looking rather astonished as I nodded a yes. "But most of my photographs were taken at places I can only get to on the bus, and busses don't tend to run at my convenience." Todd said. "I'll drive us, it's no problem, honestly." "Oh! But, the darkroom, p-processing!" he stuttered, "it will take me ages to process all the films; I was setting aside the next 5 weeks just to process them all!" He exclaimed, I could feel his heart starting to race again.

"Calm down, calm down." I shushed him, pulling him a little closer to try and sooth him. "I bet I can process a roll of film double the speed you can." I wasn't lying, or showing off, I honestly could. All those evenings spent in the darkroom, fumbling in the pitch black, feeding the negatives into the reel in the dark, measuring out chemicals had made it all literally second nature to me. "Really?" He asked, "Yes, don't worry about a thing, we will get your work back, trust me, just trust me, I know what I'm doing!" I gave the distraught Racoon another reassuring smile.

Todd was moderately lost for words; his reply came in the form of a hug as he buried himself into my chest once again. "It really is true what they say about Gay guys then." Todd remarked. Confused as to what he meant by this, I asked "What do you mean?". "Well" he said, "They say that all the nice furs are always Gay. I don't mean to offend or anything, you are such a nice guy... I'm not homophobic or anything..." His voice trailed off once again.

"No offence taken, I just like to be helpful and I guess a friend in need is a friend indeed." Smiling, he said. "Ok, well if you want you can help me sort through the rest of the film cartridges tomorrow, to see which ones are salvageable."

"I'd love to, nothing that I like doing better on a sunny Saturday than spending the day in a pitch black room, with a Racoon!" I joked, gently poking him in the side. "Now let's get you home and to bed, we've got a long day tomorrow." I said to the Racoon as I helped him up.

I walked him to his door, which was at the other end of the street from my house, I waited at the gate as I watched him creep up the gravel path, trying to tread gently so to not make a sound in the now dawning twilight. Todd got half way and then suddenly turned back, tiptoeing back up the gravel path he solemnly whispered to me, "Arthur, please don't tell anyone that I was crying. The other furs will think I'm a sissy..."

Placing a paw on his shoulder I said, "Would I ever tell the other furs something like that?" I raised an eyebrow, "Besides" I carried on, "you shouldn't care what people think, and just because you have feelings it doesn't mean you're a sissy. I stopped caring what people thought about me a long time ago." I whispered back to him. "Thanks..." He said, before leaning in and giving me a small kiss on the cheek, as I watched him hurry back down his gravel path, he smiled and softly called out "Nine o' Clock "and quietly closed the door.

'Wow...' I thought to myself as I started to walk down the road back to my house, 'He only kissed me to be nice, right...? Sure he did, just niceness, nothing else, just being nice.' I told myself in my head. 'Besides it was only on the cheek, it's just a friendly thing to do!' I continued to think to myself as I let myself back in my house. As I climbed into bed I set my alarm to give me enough time to get ready and meet Todd in the morning. Gently rubbing my cheek where he had kissed me, I let myself slip off into a deep sleep.