Nighttime Troubles and A Refreshing Shower

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#23 of Rio's Saga

In which Kody and Ivor grow closer, and Rio and Mike... Grow closer


Kody turned and locked the door to his room as soon as it closed behind him and then climbed fully clothed onto his bed, pulling the blanket up over him before tucking his legs back inside his hoodie. Thus hidden from the darkness around him, he squeezed his eyes shut and did his best to go to sleep. Try though he might, no amount of blankets, hoodies, or locked doors could shield him from his own thoughts, and the fact that he was alone in his bedroom had his nerves on the rise. He tried to push the panic away, to convince himself that he was safe and to believe in the promises made to him by Mike and Rio... But it was a lost cause. His attempts were swept away by the memories of strong paws yanking him from under his covers before bending him over the side of his bed.

Shaking his head, he opened his eyes and peered cautiously around the room to make sure there was nofur lurking in the darkness before sliding to his footpaws. Crossing the room, he unlocked the door and slipped into the hallway before pausing in front of Rio's door with paw outstretched. He didn't want to bother his new friend, but neither did he want to try and fall asleep by himself again, not yet. He was about to grab the handle when he caught the muffled sounds of a soft conversation on the other side of the door and remembered that Mike was with Rio this time. Though the bear had been ready to defend him alongside everycub else, he still wasn't quite sure about him. Shaking his head, he let his paw fall and turned towards the stairs, thinking that maybe a glass of water would settle his nerves a bit and help him figure out what to do.

He did his best to walk softly, but he hadn't spent nearly enough time in the house to know all of its creaking boards. He was also up against a vigilant feline that had grown accustomed to sleeping with one ear open during the school week, especially if Rio had friends over. Accordingly, as the little bunny crossed the kitchen and was retrieving a glass, Ivor was gently untangling himself from his wife's arms. The big cat got to his footpaws and tugged on a pair of basketball shorts before grabbing a tank top. Sliding that over his head, he navigated the hallway and went to make a round of the house, just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

Kody had retrieved his glass and had it half full in the sink when he heard one of the stairs creak. Knowing somefur was behind him, the bunny dropped his cup and bolted, hiding in the corner of the room and tugging his arms and legs into his hoodie in the hopes that he could hide in the shadows.

Ivor crested the stairs and caught the flash of white fur in the darkness as Kody ran. Sighing, he ran a paw through is hair and over his ears before moving to the sink. He filled up the lapine's glass and shut the water off before sitting down on the floor and leaning against the cabinets to bring himself down to the cub's level, wanting to look as non-threatening as possible.

"Kody, it's okay," he said softly, not looking in the corner the bunny had run to, "It's just me, Rio's dad. You don't have to be scared, Sotnos, I'm not going to hurt you."

After a moment of silence Ivor was about to call out to the cub again, but a soft, shaky voice floated from the darkness. "M... Mr. Kendrick?"

"Yeah, it's only me," the tiger replied with a nod, "I'm sorry if I scared you, but I heard you moving around and came to make sure that you were okay, Is everything alright?"

Another moment of silence passed while Kody convinced himself that it wasn't a trick or something, but the little rabbit finally uncurled and got to his footpaws, cautiously moving to stand just out of the big cat's reach. "I'm okay, I guess. Just... Couldn't get to sleep and..."

Nodding as the cub trailed off, Ivor set his glass down and slid it across the hardwood with his footpaw. "So you came down to get a glass of water to try and help you out?"

Kody eyed the tiger for a moment before slowly lowering down onto his haunches and taking his water in both paws. "Yeah..."

"Great thinking little one," the big cat replied, leaning his head against the cupboards and giving the bunny sideways glance. He had a feeling that there was something behind Kody's insomnia, but didn't press him, instead opting for a stall tactic to help the little cub relax. "I end up in the kitchen if I can't sleep too. Sometimes a midnight snack is just the thing to set you straight. Of course, my usual go to is a cup of milk and a few cookies, but if you've got your heart set on that water..."

Kody paused with his glass halfway raised. "Well... If you want some milk, we could maybe share it?"

Chuckling, Ivor slowly got to his footpaws and turned to grab a glass. "Sounds like a plan. We have chocolate chip or... I think we might have some macaroons."

"What's a macaroon?" Kody asked softly, setting his glass of water on the counter before grabbing the milk and waiting for Ivor to set his glass down to carefully fill it up.

"It's a soft cookie that's got coconut in it and is awesome dipped in milk, wanna try?"

"Okay... I don't think I've ever had a coconut cookie, so if you say it's good..."

"I do say it's good," Ivor nodded, pulling the cookies out and heading to the bar, the little bunny following slowly behind him. "Just gotta be careful when you dunk it because they fall apart kind of easily."

Setting his milk down, the cub nodded and took a cookie, carefully dunking it for just a few seconds before taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully.

"Well?"

Taking the time to chew and swallow before replying, Kody nodded and dunked the rest of his cookie. "I think I like coconut..."

Chuckling, Ivor snagged a cookie of his own and dunked it before tossing the whole thing into his muzzle. "Glad to hear it. We're running low, so I'll have Rio put them on the shopping list. For now, though, we should probably only have a couple, just enough for our bellies to settle so we can get back to sleep."

Kody shrunk in on himself as he finished his first cookie and tugged his hood further down to hide his face as he held his remaining treat in his paws. If he didn't eat it, then he could stay up with the big strong tiger and nothing could get him...

Ivor spotted the cub's hesitation and reached into the pack, sliding another cookie across the bar to the little rabbit. "So, I noticed that hoodie of yours," he said, aiming for a safe topic, "I don't think you had it when you left this morning, did you forget it at school last week?"

"Yeah..." The little bunny nodded as he relaxed somewhat and palmed the extra cookie, "Well, kind of. I dropped it before I ran into Toby and couldn't find it before we came home. Same thing with my backpack."

"I see... You've got them now though, so I'm guessing you got them out of the lost and found this morning. That's a good thing, specially since you had that reading you needed to do today," Ivor nodded. He had a feeling that Kody wasn't telling him everything, given the still withdrawn posture and how he seemed to be taking shelter in the new-found article of clothing. He let it go though, as now was not the time. For now, his focus was getting the cub to sleep. Accordingly, as soon as Kody started munching on his second cookie, he slipped him a fourth one before just sitting with him and waiting for him to finish.

Kody just nodded and dunked his cookie, taking smaller and smaller bites each time as he slowly but surely ran out of treats. It took long enough for the little rabbit to finish his cookies and drink half the milk in small sips that by the time he nudged Ivor to see if he wanted the rest, the big cat had dozed off.

"Hma..." He snorted softly, eyes opening to slowly focus on the lapine holding the cup out to him. "Hmm.... Yes. Milk...."

Grabbing the half empty cup, he tossed it back before turning and setting it in the sink, pausing with a heavy sigh as he heard Kody's small voice float from behind him.

"Does this mean that I have to go to sleep now?"

"Well," the big cat said softly, coming back to sit next to the cub, "you have school tomorrow. If you don't get to sleep soon, you're going to have a really hard time getting up in the morning."

"Not if I don't go to sleep at all..."

"Well, there is that option," Ivor nodded, "but you need sleep. Either you get it here, or your body will get it later in the day and make you fall asleep at school."

"Not for a few days, it won't..."

The absolute certainty in the cub's voice as that proclamation was made left no doubt in Ivor's mind that the bunny had forgone sleep more than once and he resolutely refused to think about the probable reason behind it. Instead, he focused on the problem at paw.

"Kody..." he said, slipping from his stool and kneeling before the cub, "you've had a hard life up to this point... And I know that it must feel like nofur can really help, and for the bigger stuff, maybe I can't. But at least let me try. Why don't you want to go back upstairs?"

The little bunny stayed silent for a long moment, hidden in his hoodie. Eventually though, he shifted his gaze to where Ivor could see his eyes. "I'm not scared of being upstairs, Mr. Kendrick..."

"Okay, so is it that you don't want to go to sleep then, or...?"

"No, I want to go sleep, I'm tired but..."

The bunny lapsed into silence again as he warred with himself over whether or not to trust the big muscled cat kneeling before him. He'd been really nice, and defended him against the mean furs at school, and... he had given him cookies instead of forcing back upstairs, so...

"I... I don't want to be alone, cause... cause I'm scared that... that they'll get me again..."

Confidence in the cub's voice had been replaced by hollow fear, and Ivor was unable to prevent the muscles on his arms from bunching up as he clenched his fists hard enough to make his knuckles pop. "You have nothing to fear in this house, Kody," he said, speaking low to mask the anger at all those who had inspired this level of fear in such a little cub. "I promised you that before, and I stand by that promise."

Taking a deep breath, he stood and offered the cub his paws. The bunny hesitated for a moment, but slid off his stool and stepped forward, allowing himself to be wrapped up in a hug. They stood in a soft embrace for a few long moments, bigger providing reassurance and shelter while smaller tried to convince himself that the shelter was real and trustworthy.

"Is that why you woke up in Rio's bed this morning?" Ivor eventually asked, sighing as the bunny nodded silently. "If I take you upstairs are you going to stay in your own bed?"

A longer pause followed that question, but eventually the rabbit slowly shook his head. "Not tonight... I wanna keep trying but... Not tonight..."

"That's okay, little one... I won't force you to do anything you don't want to, but you do need to sleep. Did you want to stay with Rio again?"

"I don't wanna bother him, and... and Mike's in there and..."

"If he's awake, he won't mind and if he's asleep he won't even notice," Ivor chuckled, "as for Mike..."

Breaking the hug, the big cat looked down and met the cub's eyes. "Remember lunch the other day? When they all swore that they were your Knights and would always keep you safe? They weren't just playing. You have the entire Swiftwatch at your back and you can trust each and every single one of them without question."

Thinking back, the little bunny remembered how special and safe he had felt when all the cubs had gathered around and hugged him tight, then nodded and turned to face the stairs.

"Okay..." He said softly, taking the big cat's paw.

Giving the smaller paw a comforting squeeze, Ivor led him across the room and up the steps, pausing before Rio's door. "Go ahead, Kody. Give it a knock, this is your choice."

The bunny paused for a moment but raised a shaky paw and knocked softly. "R-Rio... Can I c-come in?"

A moment passed before Mike's sleep clogged voice floated back in reply. "Rio's 'sleep, bu c'min..."

Taking a deep breath, the bunny reached out and turned the knob before slowly pushing the door open.

Mike was sitting up in his sleeping bag, one paw rubbing at his eyes and the other rubbing his ears, blinking sleepily at the door. "Oh... Hey, Mr. Kendrick... Wazzup Kody?"

The big cat shook his head as Kody's nerves faltered and he squeezed his paw again. "Kody here was feeling a bit left out in his room, is it okay if he camps with you two tonight?"

It took a second for the request to penetrate the drowsy ursine's mind, but then he remembered the earlier conversation about the bunny probably ending up with them anyway and nodded. "Sure... more the merrier... Didja want a sleep'n bag?"

Kody had expected to be rebuffed so he just stood there blinking at the offer until another paw squeeze got him moving again. "Oh... Yeah, right. Th-thanks Mike..."

The ursine nodded and was sleepily trying to untangle himself from his own sleeping bag so Ivor chuckled quietly and kneeled to offer the bunny a hug. "I'm going back to bed, little one. Will you be okay with Mike and Rio here with you?"

This time there was no hesitation from the cub as he turned and hugged the big cat. "I think I'll be okay... Thank you..."

Ivor smiled and gently returned the hug before standing. "You're welcome. Sleep well, you too Mike."

Chuckling at the ursine's sleepy grunt of a reply, the tiger turned and closed the door behind him. Once it clicked shut, Mike flopped back down onto the floor and let his eyes close again.

"If ya wanna sleep'n bag I can findja one..." he muttered, already almost back to sleep, "but ya can ju'sleep on Rio's bed again..."

Secretly hoping that was going to be an option, Kody nodded. "I'll do that... He didn't mind last time, and you're stuck, so..."

Stepping lightly as Mike rolled over and cuddled deep into his sleeping bag, Kody approached the sleeping tiger and lightly shook his shoulder. "Rio... Hey, Rio? Is... Is it okay if I s-sleep in your bed again?"

The little tiger snuffled softly as he was shaken, but didn't otherwise object, so Kody climbed up onto the bed and scooted under the covers. Coming up to where Rio's plushy was clutched tight to his chest, Kody briefly hesitated, but Rio's free arm reached out and tugged him closer. Now firmly snuggled, the bunny allowed his eyes to close and though it took him a little bit to make his mind relax, the gentle breathing of his two friends nearby soon lulled him to sleep.

Rio started to wakefulness as a firm paw shook his shoulder, opening his eyes to blink sleepily up at his clearly amused dad grinning down at him.

"Why're you grinning at me..." he mumbled, cuddling closer to his plushy as every fiber of his being told him to go back to sleep.

"Because you aren't snuggling with Enhjorning." The big cat replied, still grinning.

"Yes I am..." Rio shook his head and tossed the covers back, "what do you call that?"

"Personally? I call him Kody."

The little tiger blinked in brief confusion before looking down and jumping slightly at the sight of the little bunny snuggled up against him. "When did... How... Dad, I-"

"Calm down Rio, it's okay, don't worry about it," Ivor chuckled softly, "just see if you can wake him up without scaring him this time."

"Yeah..." Rio nodded slowly, still unsure of how Kody had snuck into his bed again. "Maybe you should go across the room? That way you aren't so close when he opens his eyes."

Waiting until his dad had stepped over Mike again and crossed the room, he gently shook Kody's shoulder. "Hey... Kody, It's Rio... Can you wake up for me?"

The little bunny grumbled softly as he was shaken, but immediately froze when he realized that somefur had touched him, not even breathing as he tried to determine how much danger he was in.

"Calm down, it's okay," the little tiger continued, keeping his tone soft, "you're perfectly safe and snuggly in my bedroom with me, Mike, and my dad, so can you please open your eyes?"

After a moment's hesitation, Kody slowly cracked his eyes open. When the only thing he saw staring back at him was Rio's concerned hazels, the tension melted from his muscles and he pulled up the blanket to hide his face. "I shouldn't still be scared of you..." He muttered softly.

"Didn't we talk about this yesterday morning?" Rio shook his head with a slight giggle as he slid under the blanket himself so he could see his bed buddy. "You aren't scared of us. Not really. You're scared of other stuff, we're just kinda getting the backlash, so don't worry about it. All ya gotta worry about right now is getting ready for school."

"Right... School..." Kody sighed, the slight smile that Rio had coaxed out of him sliding from his muzzle as he shrugged the blanket off of him and got to his footpaws. "Another day..."

"Don't worry Kody, you'll be fine," Ivor promised, holding his paw out, "a quick shower will clear your head, and you'll be ready to go. Rio? I'll take care of Kody, your job is to get the fuzzy speed bump in the middle of the room moving."

Rio nodded with a chuckle as his dad led the bunny down the stairs, gazing thoughtfully at the lumpy sleeping bag piled next to his bed. Kicking the blanket off, he slid to the floor and crawled over to his boyfriend and shook his shoulder. "Come on, get up."

Incomprehensible muttering rose from within the sleeping bag and it rolled away, drawing an amused snort from the tiger as he crawled after it.

"Oh no you don't," Rio laughed, shaking the bundle again, "if I have to be awake, you have to be awake. Get up."

Mike grumbled again, a paw snaking out of the bundle to swat blindly in defiance of being woken up.

Leaning back to avoid the random swatting, the tiger smirked and considered the bundled sleeping bag for a moment before his smirk spread into a wide grin as an idea occurred to him.

"But Daddy..." He said softly, snagging the ursine's paw and pressing it against his padding as he let his bladder go, "I'm all wet and widdle baby tigers can't clean themselves..."

Mike initially tried to pull his paw away until he realized just what he was holding on to. A soft murr rose from the depths of the sleeping bag and his paw tightened around the swelling padding. His free paw pushed the sleeping bag down to reveal a broadly grinning ursine who nodded.

"You are all wet, my little diapercub," he said huskily as Rio started humping against his paw, the little tiger letting out a soft whimper from the sensation of his wet padding rubbing the tip of his cubhood, "I guess this means you're going to need to take a shower with Daddy... Grab a fresh diaper and your big boy clothes, and head to the bathroom."

"Yes, Daddy..." Rio said softly, reluctantly pulling back from Mike's paw and crawling over to his closet, his pajamas slowly tenting as his cubhood slid completely free of his sheath. Grabbing a diaper and clean clothes, he held them in front of his crotch and stepped into the hallway.

"Mom?" He called down the stairs. "Is it okay if me and Mike take a shower?"

"I encourage it," came the reply, "just be quick so whoever goes second has time for breakfast."

"No, I meant-nnnggh..." Rio started to reply, but his words trailed off as Mike came up behind him, sliding a paw down the front of his diaper and grasping his piss slicked cubhood.

"Can't understand you when you yawn mid-sentence, Rio," Myranda called, clearly amused, "wanna try that one again?"

"Yeah, baby tiger," Mike chuckled softly, starting to stroke his boyfriend, "you need to speak clearly."

"S-Sorry Mom..." Rio called shakily as he leaned against his boyfriend, his hips starting to hump against the paw around his twitching pricklette, "g-guess I'm still t-tired. I was wondering if me and Mmmmike could take a sh-shower together..."

"Together? You two haven't shared a bath in years."

"Yeah, but this is a shower, and it would save water, and time," Mike retorted, taking over for Rio as the tiger's knees were starting to shake as the pleasure built, "besides, like you said, we don't want to miss breakfast, right?"

"I guess so," the tigress called back, "just don't splash water all over the place."

"Don't worry, we won't!" Mike grinned as the greenlight was given, steering his boyfriend towards the bathroom. As the door closed behind them, the ursine laid his muzzle on Rio's shoulder and whispered huskily.

"Daddy knows how to make bath time really fun for little tinkle tigers," he said, slowly pulling his paw free, "but clothes aren't allowed in the bathtub..."

Rio whimpered softly as the stimulation was just suddenly gone, but as soon as Mike's words registered his shaky paws flew to his pajama bottoms and pushed them halfway down his legs before trying to work the buttons on his top.

Mike chuckled and calmly shed his shirt and jeans, even folding them neatly and setting them on the closed toilet seat. He had his and Rio's underwear halfway down when a soft, frustrated whimper sounded behind him.

Rio had gotten impatient halfway through getting the buttons on his pajama top undone and resorted to trying to pull the whole thing over his head. Unfortunately, in his haste and eagerness to get into the tub, he had gotten himself tangled up and couldn't find the way out anymore.

Shaking his head with a laugh, Mike finished getting undressed and moved to help the little tiger. "Hold on, my widdle baby tiger, Daddy's got you."

Working the buttons quickly, the ursine soon freed the feline and let the offending garments fall to the bathroom floor, being rewarded with the sight of a bashfully smiling tiger cub standing in just a clearly tented wet diaper. "Thanks, Daddy... Can we take our bath now?"

Momentarily transfixed by what he was seeing, his own cubhood twitching between his legs, Mike shook his head to focus and returned the smile, kissing Rio's nose as he worked the tapes to let the sodden pampers fall from the tiger's body. "Yeah, time to get clean, baby tiger."

Rio shuddered softly as the comparatively cool air hit his damp crotch fur but happily let his daddy lead him into the tub, standing well back from the spray as the ursine adjusted the water temperature.

"Don't make it too cold, okay?" Rio said softly, his distaste for cold water peeking through even his lust addled baby mentality.

"I don't like my showers as hot as you do," the ursine replied, turning and grabbing the shampoo bottle after he finished his adjustments, "but don't worry, Daddy will keep his widdle tinkle tiger nice and warm..."

Dolloping some shampoo into his paw, he set the bottle down and tugged his boyfriend into the spray momentarily to wet him down before stepping forward and claiming his muzzle.

While not cold, the water was definitely not nearly as hot as the little tiger would have liked. Before he could complain though, his muzzle was otherwise occupied. Any thoughts of complaining dissolved into mist as the little tiger let his boyfriend dominate the kiss, the feeling of gentle paws lathering his fur making his eyes slide shut.

It didn't take long for Mike's attention to wander downwards, and soon enough, his soaped-up paw wrapped around Rio's twitching cubhood and started to slowly stroke, drawing muffled whines and groans from the little tiger.

Rio lost track of time as he stood under his boyfriend's paws, humping into the soapy grasp of the ursine and spattering pre across his belly fur, but after an endless kiss that actually lasted only a few moments, he let out a little whine as the ursine leaned back and let him go.

"Sorry little tinkle tiger," Mike said huskily, grinning at the needy look in his boyfriend's hazel eyes, "but I need to make sure that you're completely clean, can you think of anywhere Daddy might have missed?"

It took a second for the lust hazed little tiger to process the question but seeing the ursine's paw drop down to start soaping up his throbbing pricklette, he suddenly came to the realization that there was indeed a spot that his Daddy had missed.

"Yes, Daddy..." He breathed, turning and pressing his face and shoulders against the tiles of the shower as he reached backwards to spread his cheeks apart for the ursine, "you... you need to clean inside, too..."

"Good boy, Rio..." Mike cooed and stepped forward, his cubhood twitching in his paw as the feline offered himself, "you're right. Daddy did forget that part, huh? Let's fix that..."

The little tiger smiled as he was praised, but his reply was lost to a submissive whimpering moan when the tip of Mike's cubhood touched him, spreading his tailstar wide apart as the ursine slowly pushed his length deep into his bottom.

The soapy spike slid slowly but surely into the softly moaning tiger until Mike's hips were pressed firmly against Rio's striped tush. He held himself pushed deep into his boyfriend, giving the feline a chance to get used to him as he leaned forward to place his muzzle between the tiger's ears.

"Gonna clean my little tinkle kitten really good," he whispered huskily, paw trailing down Rio's back to grasp the base of his tail, "are you Daddy's good little tinkle kitten?"

Rio whimpered softly as the base of his tail was firmly grasped and nodded, shifting his paws from his bottom to place them flat against the wall over his head. He was Daddy's good little tinkle kitten, and that meant he didn't need to touch his peepee. Daddy would take care of him.

A soft, lustful, growl behind him was the only warning he got before the twitching length inside him was pulled almost all the way out before slamming back home, hilting hard and drawing a loud moaning gasp from his slack muzzle. Before he could catch his breath, Mike tugged his tail and thrust into him again, setting up a quick pace and pounding the squirming tiger into the wall.

The little feline's eyes were starting to glaze over as his tailhole was buggered over and over again. Between the heat of the water pouring over them, the weight and scent of his boyfriend pressed enveloping him, and the feeling of small spurts of ursine pre leaking into him as the thrusting spike hilted him time after time... It didn't take long for Rio's claws to slowly slide from his paws and scrabble against the tiles.

With every hard thrust, Mike tugged on Rio's tail and ground his hips against the tiger's tush, getting every last bit of his length as deep into his boyfriend as he could and reveling in the whimpering gasps and moans he was fucking out of the little feline. With his own peak rising quickly within him and being mindful of the limited play time they had, he decided to finish his lover off before one of the adults came to investigate.

Reaching down, he wrapped his free paw around the tiger's twitching spike and started to stroke in time with his thrusts and tugs on the striped tail in his grip. He was rewarded immediately with a quavering moan from the little tiger.

As soon as the ursine's paw wrapped around his length, Rio was gone. He tried his best to buck his hips into Mike's grip, but with the firm grip on his tail he was held immobile. The fact that the was helpless to the pleasure being inflicted on him was enough to send him over the edge and he let out a submissive mewling whine as he came hard, clenching around the spike under his tail while he painted the shower wall. A moment later, Mike's pleasured grunting sounded in his ears as a torrent of hot spunk jetted into his depths.

Sinking into their combined afterglow, both cubs leaned against the shower wall and panted softly as they caught their breath, Mike nuzzling against Rio's neck as he brought his paw up to grab the bottle of shampoo again.

Dolloping a small amount into his paw, he lathered himself up as best he could while still hilted to his boyfriend before running his soapy paws over Rio's body as well to take care of the sweat they'd built up. That done, he poured bit more between his tiger's ears and lathered his hair up, knowing that the feline's mother would raise a brow if they weren't totally clean when they came out.

For his part, Rio melted into the shower wall and started purring as he closed his eyes. Now that he wasn't pent up and on the edge of spunking himself, the feeling of being gently cleaned by his boyfriend mad him feel safe and happy, and he was willing to stay right where he was.

All too soon for the little tiger, the shower spray changed as Mike reached up and took the sprayer off it's hook to rinse all the suds off of them. Once his eyes were clear, he opened them and looked over his shoulder to pout at the ursine.

"Come on Rio, don't give me that look," Mike chuckled, reaching down to turn the water off, "we can't stay in here forever. We have to get to school eventually, and if we miss breakfast your parents are gonna ask questions I don't want to answer. I'll compromise with you though."

Gently nudging his boyfriend into motion, he guided him out of the tub and grabbed a towel off the rack, quickly drying the front of the tiger before lowering down and laying him on the floor. "Okay," he said, grabbing the fresh diaper and threading Rio's tail through it, "I'm gonna pull out, so clench up really tight after I do."

Instruction given, he let out a soft moan and pulled back before quickly rolling the tiger over and getting the diaper folded up and taped in place. Once secure, he smiled at his boyfriend and nodded.

The feline had whimpered at the sudden feeling of being empty, but did as he was told, clenching up and keeping the load of cub cream under his tail from leaking out. He assumed that the ursine just didn't want to make a mess, but as he was rolled over and saw his boyfriend smiling, he beamed happily and relaxed. A moment later, his purr returned in force as he felt the warm spunk leaking from his buggered tailstar to slowly soak into his fresh padding.

"See? I knew that'd make you happy," Mike chuckled as he grabbed Rio's paci, plunking it into his muzzle and reaching for the little tiger's clothes. A few moments later, having gotten his little baby cub all dressed and brushed for school, he quickly gave himself a quick toweling and got dressed as well, skipping the brush.

"Alright," he said, pulling Rio to his footpaws, "gotta be a big boy now, at least for a little while."

Rio sighed and let his paci fall to hang by its cord before tucking it under his shirt, giving Mike a quick kiss to the nose before gathering up his pj's and the wet diaper, stowing them in his room then turning and leading the way downstairs.

The scent of bacon and sausage greeted them before they made it halfway down the stairs and as the reached the kitchen, Rio took his spot with Mike sitting on Kody's other side.

"Glad to see you two didn't blow anything up," his mom quipped as they took their seats, moving to quick fry her cub a pair of eggs, "is my enthusiasm safe to extend to a lack of flooding?"

"I can promise you that no natural disasters happened in your bathroom, Mrs. Kendrick," Mike chuckled as he reached for a fork and started loading his plate up.

"Glad to hear it," Ivor chuckled, sitting back down from filling his coffee cup, "what made the two of you decide to take a shower together anyway?"

"Well, think about it dad," Rio offered, "if we did it separately, then one of us would just be starting and all the food would be cold when we got done."

"Fair enough I suppose," the big cat nodded, "but he's stayed over on weeknights before and you two didn't double up then."

"Well..." Mike replied, "we didn't have to. You've got two bathrooms. We only doubled up this time because Kody was using the other one."

"Right, but even then, you skipped showers anyway because my wife doesn't trust you cubs with our bathroom." Ivor countered, lowering the newspaper a bit as he eyed the pair of cubs, "why so keen on being clean this morning?"

Mike and Rio both drew blanks, but as the gears in their heads spun to come up with a response, Kody came to their rescue.

"I wanted a shower this morning because yesterday was scary, Mr. Kendrick..." The bunny said softly from within his hoodie, "maybe Mike did too?"

The big cat's expression softened and he nodded, turning back to his newspaper as the two other cubs flashed thankful grins at the bunny. "That makes sense. A good thing you shared then, otherwise you might have had to eat on the way to school."

"Right, and despite what your father thinks, bacon is not a travel food," the tigress called from the stove, getting a laugh from the big cat and starting a good-natured argument about just what was and was not allowed to be eaten in the car.

The playful argument continued with Mike and Rio agreeing with Ivor in favor of being able to eat anything anywhere while Kody sided with Myranda that it really didn't matter how careful you thought you could be, hot soup while doing fifty down the free way probably wasn't the best idea. As breakfast wound up, the tigress looked at the clock and held her paws up.

"Alright you lot, seeing as Kody is the only other sensible fur at this table, we're going to have to agree to disagree," she said, starting to gather plates, "it will take us far too long to convince you of your thinking errors and right now, it's time for you to go to school."

"Your mother's right Rio," Ivor nodded, draining his coffee, "well, about school anyway. Her thoughts on the portability of Jello still need some work."

"That's enough out of you, bucko," the tigress laughed, shooing the cubs out of the kitchen.

As they headed up the stairs to grab backpacks, Kody nudged Rio. "Hey, umm... Was the reason you and Mike wanted to take a bath together just to save water? I mean, I kinda noticed you were walking a bit funny when you came downstairs and... Well..."

"And you want to know if we played when we were in the bathroom," the tiger finished, just as softly, getting a nod from his lapine pal. "I'm not going to lie to you, Kody. Yes, we did play in the shower, and we played last night before bed too."

Mike looked up from gathering the wet diapers and wipes from Rio's closet into an empty grocery bag and saw the conflicted look on the bunny's face and sighed. "Hey, playing doesn't just mean that I stuck my cubhood under his tail and rutted until I felt good. I know that's what you're used to, unfortunately, but that's not all it is. I mean, yeah, we did that, but I also made sure that Rio felt good. Plus, I changed his diapers and cuddled him and made sure that he was purring really loudly before we got out of the shower from just rubbing his tummy and getting his fur all clean. Playtime isn't just sex Kody, it's also all the other stuff around it."

The bunny looked to Rio for confirmation of everything and blinked when he got a nod. Rubbing his ears, he nodded in return and turned to head to his own room to get his things.

"Think he believes us?" Rio asked softly, slinging his backpack over one shoulder.

"No," Mike replied, tying the bag off and stowing it before getting to his footpaws. "But I don't think he thinks we're lying either. Not sure exactly where I stand just yet, but he trusts you, so as long as you keep showing that you trust me and vice versa, I think we'll win him over."

"I hope so," Rio muttered, leading the way down the steps and finishing his sentence innocuously as they came back past the kitchen, "I mean, if we have to take that stupid math test today with no pre-test, I don't think I'm going to do very well."

"You'll do just fine, Rio," Ivor called, "you're smarter then you look."

"I'd hope so, if he was dumber then he looked, he'd be a potted plant," Rio's head snapped up at that as Mike started laughing, and he spotted Kaylie sitting at the bar, munching on leftover bacon.

"Think you're so funny," the tiger laughed, ignoring the salute that the female terrier gave him as he turned to his dad, "what's the point of a door with locks if it doesn't keep the troublemakers out?"

"Don't blame me, your mother let her in," Ivor replied.

"And I'll keep doing it too, because Kaylie's more responsible then the three of you put together," the tigress noted, slapping Kaylie's paw as the terrier hopped down to head towards the door, "and yes, the third fur is your father."

Giggling around her muzzleful, Kaylie bent down to pick up her board and smiled wide as she stood up and spotted Kody coming down the steps. She was happy to see her boyfriend, despite the fact that he was still hiding in his hoody.

The bunny caught sight of the terrier and blushed brilliantly even as he smiled back, his own smile much more bashfull.

"Now that we've got that all straightened out," Ivor rolled his eyes at his wife, "hugs for the cubs and then off to school."

Getting his shoes tied, Rio trotted over and hugged his parents, Kody following a bit reluctantly to do the same.

"You three have a good day at school, and if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call us, okay?" The tigress said softly, as she hugged one cub, then the other, lingering a bit longer than normal before they moved on to Ivor and got a double bear hug.

"And by us she means me," the big cat chuckled, squeezing the two cubs briefly before letting them go and giving them a bit of a push to the door, "but I'm sure that you'll all be fine. See you guys later."

The cubs all waved as they trooped out onto the porch, the door barely having time to swing shut before Kaylie held her paws out to her boyfriend.

"I know that you're not used to the touchy-feely stuff, but can I have a hug?" She asked. "I've been so worried about you since after school yesterday..."

With a bashful smile, Kody stepped into the terrier's arms, his little cottontail starting to wag slowly as he was hugged tight. "I'm okay, Kaylie, we all are," he said, awkwardly brining his paws up to hug her back, "Rio's dad and the policefurs saved us."

"Good," she replied, giving the bunny one last firm squeeze before taking his paw and heading down the sidewalk, "now I want to hear details, because nofur is telling me anything."

"Don't worry Kaylie, we'll tell you what we know, but I don't want to have to repeat myself a billion times." Mike replied. "You'll have to wait until the entire group is together."

"Speaking of missing cubs, where's your brother at?" Rio put in. "You two normally walk together with us."

"Oh, yeah, Sky spent the night at Toby's," the skatergirl said with a nod, "mom normally doesn't allow sleepovers during the week but apparently Toby really wanted some company last night, and after his mom talked to our dad, the whole thing went through. He'll link up with partway to school, they called me earlier this morning and Toby's giving Sky a ride."

"I'll just bet that Toby was feeling lonely," Mike said softly, leaning over to whisper in Rio's ear, "and ten to one says that this morning isn't the first time since the weekend that Sky's 'ridden' that hatchling..."

Rio snorted at that comment, having to cover up his mirth with a forced coughing fit as Kaylie turned and gave him a suspicious look.

"Are you okay, Rio?" Kody asked, looking back over his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm fine," the tiger responded, trying to hold back his giggles. He knew from many years of being friends with the terrier that the younger Rhys sibling absolutely detested taking baths, so if him and Toby had actually messed around the night before, odds are that there would be at least two students at their school happily running around with spunk under their tails today.

"Okay, there's something I'm not being told here," Kaylie said, eyeing Rio and Mike suspiciously, "I mean, I know that you guys had that thing with the policefurs, but I don't know any details and you two are being shifty."

"Shifty? What's shifty about coughing?" Mike asked innocently.

"Random coughing coming from behind me for no reason is the definition of shifty," the terrier replied, pointing emphatically at Rio, "and that was a giggle!"

"It was not," Rio countered, somewhat regaining his composure, "it was a chuckle."

"Isn't that just as bad?" Kody asked, slightly confused as his girlfriend threw her paws up in aggravation.

"No, it's worse actually, but don't worry about it," Mike laughed, "we're just keeping her distracted for now until we get to school. Like I said a few moments ago, there's eight cubs in the Swiftwatch, and I don't plan on telling each of them individually."

Slightly mollified, the bunny nodded but before he could reply, the sound of wing beats made everycub look up and wave as Toby approached over the houses across the street. The avian and the terrier on his back returned the waves and within a moment or two they had landed and trotted the remaining distance.

"Hey guys, everyting go okay yesterday?" Toby asked, turning to the other furs as Skyler gave his sister a quick hug in greeting.

"We don't know, they aren't telling us yet..." Kaylie sighed, "how about you two? Toby calm down after you showed up, Sky?"

"Yeah, it took him a bit after his parents went to bed, eventually he uh... ya know... let it all out, and we slept really good." The younger terrier replied, his eyes sparkling mischievously as Toby snorted under his breath and turned away to start heading down the sidewalk.

Rio and Mike caught the wordplay immediately and were trying to conceal ear to ear grins and Kaylie just nodded and followed the parrot, patting his shoulder.

Unlike Mike and Rio, Kody wasn't entirely sure of what had just gone down, but also unlike his girlfriend, he hadn't missed it entirely. So, as she followed the parrot, talking to him about sometimes being lonely and being an only cub, the bunny side stepped and lowered his voice.

"So... does that mean that..." He started, trailing off uncertainly.

"Yep, it most certainly does," Mike replied with a low chuckle, "Toby and Skyler definitely played last night."

"A bunch of times!" Skyler beamed, his tail wagging. "Apparently if you spunk too often It makes you have to pee. But he let that out too!"

The little puppy's joyous tone as he admitted to guzzling their pal's urine got a laugh from Mike and Rio and even managed a small giggle from Kody, causing Kaylie to turn back around.

"Alright, now I know you're plotting something, and you're gonna spill it eventually," she started, but was cut off by a giggling Rio.

"Not as long as your brother's around, we won't spill a single drop!" The tiger managed before dissolving into giggles and needing to be held up by Mike.

Left utterly confused, the skatergirl blinked a few times as her friends seemingly lost their minds before tossing her paws up again and heading towards the school. Kody scampered after her, taking her paw again and everycub else followed suit, still giggling softly to themselves.

"Well, they're giggling all over themselves, so yesterday can't have been too bad..." she muttered, looking up and giving her bunny a smile as her paw was squeezed, happy that he'd come up to walk with her.

"No, it was really scary..." Kody replied, the hesitant smile that had been starting to appear on his own muzzle fading.

"Yeah, but that was then, and this is now," the terrier replied, mentally kicking herself, "so don't think about it too much. They aren't gonna tell me anything anyway, and I'm sure that we can find something more interesting to talk about."

"Hey, tell him about the qualifier we're in after school today!" Skyler called up, getting a sideways glance from the other cubs.

"Wait, we? She got an invite?" Rio asked. "When?"

"Yesterday before I left for Toby's. I was just getting my stuff together when they called."

"Qualifier?" Kody asked, glancing curiously from under his hood.

"It's nothing too big yet," Kaylie replied. "You know how me and my brother like to skateboard, right? Well, after school today there's a competition between a bunch of the cubs in town and if we do go enough, then we'll get to skate again this weekend."

"If, she says," Mike chuckled, "you and Sky have never been knocked out of competitions earlier then the semifinals."

"True," Skyler grinned, "and this is gonna be no different. We're gonna smoke this thing Kaylie!"

"I hope you do good..." Kody said softly, looking up to give his girlfriend a bashful smile from behind his bangs.

For some reason, the look on Kody's face made the skatergirl's stomach do somersaults and she blushed slightly as she turned away, giving his paw a squeeze. Plenty of boys had smiled at her, why was this one so special?

Before she could think too much on it, a shout came from up the road, answered by a call from the cubs behind them. She looked up to see Zac and Shayne on their bikes, pedaling down the street towards them.

"Yeah, hey, hello and all that," Shayne panted as they hopped off their bikes, giving Kody a friendly wave before looking at Mike, "let's hear it. Kaylie just said something about policefurs, but we didn't get any details."

"Alright fine, we're all here now, so we might as well," the ursine nodded, lowering his voice so it didn't travel much past their group, "like you already know, we talked to the policefurs before school yesterday, and then they talked to the cubs that trashed the bathrooms."

"Well," Rio picked up the story as everycub nodded, "turns out that us being nice to those huskies payed off, because they turned on old Ryker."

"Good," Zac nodded, "I was hoping that they'd turn into good guys."

"Anyway," Mike continued, "it turns out the warning at lunch wasn't just smoke and mirrors. Ryker, his older brother, and one of the jerks from Sunday were waiting for us outside."

"Yeah, but the policefurs were waiting for them," Rio added quickly to keep his friends from panicking, "we didn't see most of what went down because after the two cops came out of the school we ducked around to guard Kody, but at the end of things, Ryker, his brother, and the other dude got arrested."

"Yeah, and da twins were in an ambulance getting' checked out," Toby finished, "turns out dat Ryker wasn' happy about dem flippin' on him, so he belted dem a few times before da cop could stop him."

"Well, that kinda sucks that they got hurt, but if that's the worst of it, then I'd say we came out of top," Shayne nodded, "so that's it then? We've got all the bad guys?"

"Not even close..." Kody said softly, flashes of the many, many furs that had hurt him running through his head.

"Maybe not," Rio said, coming up to the bunny's free side and standing close by to give him a sense of protection, "but the lady cop, um... Declan, she said that it's a really good start and that with all the evidence that they have now, they'll start rounding up all the bad guys. They should have them in no time."

"Well, here's hoping," Skyler nodded, "but even if it does take them a while, we'll be fine, cause we're awesomaztastic. We've got ya covered Kody."

"He's right, so long as you don't go vanishing on us, there isn't a single fur on the planet that can get to you," Mike grinned, "I mean, you saw what Rio's dad did to that bully."

"Wait, you skipped that part, what happened?" Kaylie asked.

"It was so cool!" Mike laughed, only to be interrupted by his boyfriend.

"That's easy for you to say, you didn't almost get electrozapped!"

"What?!" Zac, Shayne, and Skyler cried in unison, drawing a laugh from the ursine.

"It's not as dramatic as he's makin' it sound," Toby replied soothingly, "I didn' see how it started, but da hedgehog apparently almost got away. By da time we looked up, Mr. Kendrick had him hangin' by his shirt and was lookin' like he was gonna start tearin' him in half."

"He would have deserved it," Kody muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, that's what Declan said too," Rio nodded, "but she's a cop, so she couldn't let my dad hurt him unfortunately. So, she had her zapper thingy pointed at him and was gonna shoot him, but I managed to get my dad to let him go."

"Wow... See, why don't you start with stuff like that?" Skyler asked. "I mean, stories are a billion times better when you know that somefur might get electrozapped!"

"That's my dad you know..."

"Yeah, but he didn't get zapped. He only might have gotten zapped, so it's okay."

Shaking his head at the terrier as they crossed onto the school grounds, Shayne reached over and patted Kody on the shoulder. "Anyway, we're happy to hear that you're okay. Me and Zac need to go lock our bikes up, but we'll see you at recess."

"Yeah, you'd better go too Sky," Kaylie said, giving her brother another hug.

"Come on, I'll give y'a lift down to da lower grade doors," Toby said, kneeling for Skyler to climb up onto his back.

Waving at the pair as they took off, Rio chuckled. "Well, easy come easy go, huh? We're back to the group we started the walk with."

"Maybe," Mike nodded, looking over at Kody, "but it doesn't matter where we are. There are eight knights in the Swiftwatch. And we've always got each other's backs. Now come on, much as I'd love to skip the math test that I know is coming, we don't have a get out of school card this morning."

The group turned and continued their trudge to the school doors, but even though he was still nervous to be outside the house, Kody couldn't help the growing sense of security he was starting to feel when he was with his friends, Mike's words going a long way to strengthen that feeling.