FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 8

"You're lost," Jayden stated pointedly, standing under one of the numerous street lights that lined the long main road. The amber light filtered down, leaving them in a golden ring as Francis looked between Becca and Jayden with a feigned certainty.

Becca was a small little thing in height, stature and voice. The fox barely made it to Jayden's shoulder, who was actually the tallest of the three, and when she spoke, they had to hush themselves just to hear her. The words that came out of her mouth though, were concise and with the perfect meaning; she was one of those rare people who could use big words and really knew what they meant.

The temperature around them had plummeted and the last vestiges of the Indian summer had been stripped away, sending them in the cold onset of autumn. Jayden didn't have the slightest inkling of how the weather could drop so quickly, seeing as meteorology was one of the few things he'd never studied. Leaves were still on the trees and they couldn't quite see their breath in the air, so they decided it was a perfect night to take a walk. It turned out to be a horrible decision, because now they were lost. On a main road, no less.

Jayden had never really been the adventurous type. He knew his way to some major places from his apartment, but aside from that, it wasn't really important. Francis, however, deemed himself the next Christopher Columbus and dragged them around the city, hoping to find the next America by complete accident. Had Jayden known that they were only going to find a dilapidated mill, then he probably would have stayed curled up in his bed.

"I am not lost," Francis grumbled indignantly, walking back into the shadows and down the sidewalk with purpose. The wolf and the fox followed after him, a grin on Jayden's faces despite the cold that clawed at the skin under his fur.

"Oh, yes, you are," Jayden pressed, crossing his arms to keep his fingers warm as he felt the air constrict his blood vessels, driving barbs of ice between his joints and muscles, "Just admit it. You always get lost in games, too, and I'm the one that has to stop and ask the in-game cartography system for directions."

"Shut up," Francis mumbled, stuffing his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. Jayden walked up to him, closing his eyes as he mockingly kissed the air.

"Make me," Jayden moaned exuberantly and Francis nudged him, sending warmth down his front. Becca rolled her eyes as she kept to the back of two, obviously not interested in their banter.

"I'm not completely dense," Francis sighed as Jayden walked behind him, his arms wrapped around the bear's waist, their hands alongside each other's in his pocket. Francis was incredibly warm, his body seemingly unaffected by the deep chill that penetrated everyone else's pelt.

"Not completely, no," Jayden agreed, pulling himself away from Francis as he saw the poorly hidden look of disgust on Becca's face, "but you still are pretty thick. I mean, what about that one night we were playing video games?"

"Yea, that really narrows it down, that's like... every night," Francis chuckled, turning down a side road that finally looked like it led back to their apartment complex.

"I ended up looting something you wanted, so you ended up punching the back of my seat and crying. Like a little girl, might I add."

"I did not cry," Francis insisted, his eye following the only car on the road as they were about to cross the street. Jogging across, Jayden saw a supermarket down a ways, one he always passed when his mother was driving him somewhere.

"You cried, in a manly fashion. Is that better?"

"I can cry all I want, as long as my masculinity and dignity are intact."

"Good," Jayden said as the three of their steps fell in sync and they walked through the cold, laughing so much that it didn't even bother them. The wolf could always see something forced behind Becca's actions though, like she didn't want to be there. Or she didn't want Jayden to be there, "anyway, about five seconds after he punched it, he ended up dying, so he whacked the chair again, before he'd even managed to stop laughing or crying from the last time. It's a miracle his hands are as hard as his head, or he might've broken something."

Francis pushed Jayden abruptly, taking him completely off guard as he stumbled along the pavement, almost falling into the street. Jayden regained his stance and was about to push him back, but the bear was too fast and pulled him in a headlock.

"That's what you two do all day?" Becca asked as Jayden tried to pull himself away from Francis as his headfur was being ruffled mercilessly. They stepped into the parking lot of the supermarket as Francis commandeered the wolf, dragging him around. He stopped fighting it and the bear relented with a smile as Jayden pressed down his fur to neaten it.

"Pretty much, yea. Listen to music, too. Lots of music," Jayden said as they weaved through the few cars that still remained parked, despite the fact that it was nearing ten at night.

"I'm actually surprised your not making fun of my singing voice," Francis added as they door slid open with a hiss, bathing them in a hot gust of air. It was one of the best feelings in the world, he just hated the feeling of thawing that came soon after.

"I'm just going to stay out here," Becca muttered and the two of them looked at her, her blank stare telling them nothing. She was probably frustrated by their shows of affection, because Jayden always used to think they were annoying, too.

"You sure?" Francis asked, standing just inside the sliding doors, the sterile light washing down over him in sharp contrast to where Jayden stood.

"Yea, it's fine. I don't want to thaw just to get frozen again."

"You're just going in for cigarettes, right?" Jayden said to Francis, rubbing his upper arm slowly to try and fend off the crawling feeling as he melted.

"Probably, yea."

"I'll just stay outside with her until you get back, that way she's not alone. You shouldn't be long, right?"

Jayden wanted to see if it was him that she didn't like, even though the answer was already pretty evident by the distressed look she had made when he put forth the offer. Why didn't she like him? They'd just met. It had to be him, because she'd stayed at Francis' house last night.

"It'll take like five minutes, assuming I don't get lost again," Francis said with a sarcastic frown. He disappeared into the store, his brown fur reflecting off the brightly polished linoleum, leaving Jayden alone with Becca as the doors closed.

The warmth disappeared abruptly and Jayden fidgeted around on the spot, partly because of the nerves, partly because of the chills. The fox sat down on a bench to the side of the building with her legs crossed, her fingers strumming pugnaciously as she forced the cold from her brain.

Jayden could feel the tendrils of ice snaking into his spine as his body told him to find shelter, but he chose to ignore it. He stood beside Becca as she shot a pithy gaze away from him and Jayden didn't know what to say as the cold numbed his thoughts. How was he supposed to open this conversation? It wasn't like a video game where he could just do boring and repetitive faction quests until he she didn't want to wipe the floor with him.

"So, you're Francis' new... significant other?" She asked tersely, saving Jayden the torture of planning and the following small talk. Not once did she look at him, letting him know that his deductions were correct.

"What makes you think that?" Jayden asked coyly, he didn't want Francis angry with him because he was spreading around their personal problems.

"I know him," Becca said, turning an icy glare toward him. Jayden saw for the first time the forcefulness with which her blue eyes stood out against her white fur, "I dated him, on and off, about six times."

"I'm sorry that it didn't work out," Jayden said dryly, not completely sure why this was coming up, but it made his mouth parch and his heart drop regardless, "What happened?"

"He cheated on me and broke my heart, so I finally decided to end it for good."

Jayden had no idea what to say. The words smacked him roughly across the face at first, but he still didn't quite understand why it was coming up. If she was looking out for him, wouldn't she try to be more sympathetic? Right now she was only showing him her shoulder as her foot twirled around at the ankle. It looked more like she was trying to mark her territory.

"I'm sorry, but why are you telling me this?" Jayden asked, becoming reacquainted with the voice in his head that liked to blurt out the first thing that crossed his mind. He'd just managed to get it under control, too.

"Just don't want you to go down the same path I did and make the same mistakes. If you let him, he'll just break your heart, because that's all his is. A cheater, a liar, and a manipulator. Always has been, always will be."

Shivering in the night air, and hidden from the glare of the store front, he exhaled slowly, watching his breath plume up into the atmosphere alongside his serenity from the night before. Jayden knew it was too much to ask for Francis' infidelity to be a one time thing. As his mother had said about his father: once a cheater, always a cheater.

He should have been a lot more upset than he was, but the weight didn't really crush him like he'd expected it to. It was probably because he'd been expecting this from day one. Pulling his thin black sweatshirt tightly around his quivering body, he tried form a sentence in his head.

"Did he try to - to make a move on you last night, or anything?" Jayden asked, his teeth chattering painfully from the stomach-churning chill of her stare.

"No," she said curtly, sounding insulted by the insinuation that she'd even think about touching someone like Francis, even though she was the one that had dated him six time. It was only Jayden's second offense, "I knew better than to stay alone in the room with him, so I just went to sleep on the couch."

"If he made you feel uncomfortable, then why did you even bother going over? I'm sure you have other friends whose house you could've stayed over."

"What's up?" Francis said from beside Jayden and he snapped his head to the right, studying the bear as he stood just beyond the shadows, his fur bleached in the light coming from the open doors. The twinkle in Francis' eyes no longer enlightening him, but instead angering him, "what were you guys talking about?"

"Magic the Gathering," Jayden lied, forcing a smile even though he wanted nothing more than to reach out and tear off Francis' face, "Apparently she plays and I didn't know. I told her we should play sometime, the three of us."

"I didn't know you played," Francis said, packing his cigarettes frenetically as he stood beside Jayden, trying to share his body heat. Something about it felt oddly empty now.

"Sometimes," Becca said, the purity and innocence of her voice gone in an instant. Jayden didn't know if it had all been an act or if she did genuinely care about him getting hurt. Was she just frustrated that she had been stuck with Francis, so she was taking it out on Jayden?

It just seemed the more that he tried to understand what was going on, the more his understanding slipped through his fingers. She pushed herself from the chair with a rough grace, brushing the low hanging hairs from her eyes.

"Oh, okay. Sounds cool," Francis said, tearing off the cellophane as Becca looked between the two of them, her face devoid of any emotion, "Do you guys want to head back to my house? I get to watch the baby tomorrow while Tammy spends the day with her aunt."

"I'm actually going to wait here for my boyfriend. He should be here soon and I don't want to make him drive all over the city looking for me."

"Looks like it's just you and me tonight, Jayden," Francis said, his voice muffled by the cigarette perched in his lips.

Bewildered, Jayden looked over to him, nodding and smiling, unsure of what had been said. The fox disappeared behind the glass door and Jayden could only stare at her shadow as she disappeared. She had shown up and destroyed everything he'd been building with one simple sentence.

All the lies he'd told, all the days he'd given and all the times he'd put Francis before himself, just to find out this wasn't the first time he'd cheated. But, why should he even listen to her for a second? Who was she to judge Francis and what he had with Jayden?

It was different this time, because Jayden knew for a fact that Francis cared about him and they had a deep emotional connection. Francis barely saw Tammy, or anyone else for that matter, how could he be cheating?

"You coming, Jayden?" Francis asked softly and the wolf blinked wearily, the sound of the interspersed cars on the highway behind him rushing back to his ears. Looking around confused, he felt Francis rest his head on his shoulder, the warm breath fogging the space in front of Jayden's face. The faint scent of the lit cigarette to Francis' side wafted up to Jayden's nostrils, pulling him back to the present time.

"Yea, sorry. The cold is just starting to get to me."

Francis kissed him on the side of the muzzle and Jayden could feel the cold whisk it away as the bear grabbed his arm to pull him forward silently. The lack of words as they walked maddened him and saddened him at the same time; he felt like Francis should have known that there was something wrong.

Glancing down at the hand in his, he felt the warmth that had always been so alluring, so calming. He flexed his fingers slowly, first tightening his grip, then loosening it, unsure whether he should pull away. They turned down a residential road and the lights were less domineering here, casting them both in a cradling light. The pavement glistened, the ice crystals acting like a thousand tiny mirrors, their cold glow drawing his attention back towards Francis where he looked for the same glow in his eyes.

The bear looked at him with a smile, and Jayden smiled back lightly, something holding back the cheer. Francis' smile wasn't a facade like the other guys' had been, so he couldn't be hiding anything. They knew each other's problems and they were all out on the table to be read like an open book. They both knew that Tammy was out there somewhere, wearing the ring that signified her straining bond with Francis.

Neither of them cared, or showed it, at the very least. They held each other, despite the things that tugged them apart. Jayden loved him, despite the people that told him the every fault of their relationship. Wasn't that enough for them both, that they were happy? He just thought that he'd feel so much more at peace and so much safer if he had a name to call him, something to use to keep him close and set him apart from the rest.

They were something more and they shared something important, Francis couldn't be cheating, because he even admitted that Tammy wasn't important to him. She was just associated by an unforeseen event that entwined their lives beyond separation. He needed to hear Francis say it.

Jayden stopped abruptly beside the fence that ran along the dark and silent park. Not a single bush ruffled nor a single swing creaked in the dead air as Francis turned to look at him, having been pulled backwards by their linked fingers. The wolf looked at him emptily, unable to truly express the turmoil that was bubbling in his brain.

"Something wrong?"

"Hey, uh, do you want to go with me to the park for a minute?" Jayden asked with a stutter, pulling his hand away to run it through the thick fur on his neck.

"It's almost eleven and it has to be about thirty degrees out," Francis pointed out, his eyes studying Jayden's as he was cast against the black backdrop.

"I know, I just -"

"Didn't you just say that you were freezing?" Francis added when Jayden lost his voice with a soft gasp.

"Please?" Jayden asked, biting his lip feebly, feeling the flesh quiver ever so slightly under his determined teeth, "It won't be long, I promise. Just come with me."

He took his hand without word and led him through the tired gate, hearing it groan as they passed through it into the inky blackness. The wolf led him down the path, his heart hammering in his head, feeling faint as he grew unable to fight their reality. Turning around to look Francis in his eyes, he held both hands in his, and studied the face that had plagued his heart.

Backing through the chain-link fence into the singular flood of light in the tennis court, he let go of Francis' hands and the bear looked around curiously. Jayden sat down on the concrete, a shiver running up his spine as he looked at the twinkling stars. The bear laid down to his side, looking up at the sky as well, the thinnest sliver of fur peeking out below his sweatshirt.

Resting his head on Francis' stomach, Jayden found himself lost in the constellations, now trying to run away from the fate he'd brought by taking the bear here.

"Did we come here for any specific reason?" Francis asked, his arm coming to rest on Jayden's chest. The question hung heavily for a few moments as Jayden took a deep breath.

"I wanted to ask you something. About Becca."

"Okay," Francis agreed, his voice rough, like he'd been expecting this question.

"She said you dated, is that true?" Jayden asked quietly, feeling like he was about to put Francis through an inquisition. The bear's hand twitched on his chest and Jayden frowned to himself; he must have been hoping it wouldn't come up.

"We did, yea. A long time ago, before you or Tammy."

"How come you didn't tell me?"

"It didn't really seem important, because she isn't a big part of my life anymore."

Jayden wasn't sure how to take that remark, since it really didn't shed any light on the issue at hand. He hadn't told Francis about any of the other guys he'd been with, because none of them were important anymore. It would be a little different if Jayden had one of them sleep over, however.

"So, what happened to you two?" Jayden asked after Francis rubbed his chest reassuringly.

"We dated on and off for a while, but it never worked out, so in the end she broke up with me and stopped talking to me. It wasn't until recently that she cared I existed."

"She said that you cheated on her," Jayden mumbled, and Francis didn't respond at all. No twitch, or sigh, or pat on the chest. The night and the cold didn't seem as important anymore, now that he had Francis lying here awkwardly, trying to calm his fears.

Francis patted him lightly on the chest and Jayden looked up at him as he tried to sit up. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he turned to face Francis as he stared at the poles that were supposed to support a net. Did he move because he felt guilty or ashamed?

"Figures she wouldn't tell you the whole story."

"Well, can you tell me it?"

"Her best friend didn't like me. She never had. She hated me because she thought I was stealing Becca away from her, so she went ahead and started feeding her all these lies about how she saw me hitting on other girls, or staying at other girls' houses.

"The things she said slowly got worse until she just ended up telling Becca that she caught me kissing some other girl in the movie theater. I tried to defend myself, but things were already rocky between me and her, so she deleted my number from her phone and said it was over. It's amazing the things people will believe without having any evidence."

Jayden really wanted to trust him and he could feel the pain in his chest when he doubted him, but given the circumstances, how could he be completely sure?

"She said - implied that you've tried to make a move on her before."

"And you believe her?"

"I don't know what I believe, Francis. Given the circumstances, I don't really have a good vantage point."

"You really are paranoid, aren't you?" Francis asked stiffly and Jayden looked down at his hands as they fiddled around in his lap.

He shouldn't have brought this up, he should have just trusted Francis, since the bear trusted him. Sighing to himself, he cleared his face and looked up at Francis.

"Yea, I am. I really care about you and you seem to really care about me, so this is usually where guys would get up and leave."

"You keep saying how you don't think I'm like everyone else, but that's what you always assume. Do you really think I'm going to be just like everyone else and leave?"

"Sometimes I do. Just because you won't take that chance."

"What chance?"

The way Francis asked almost made it feel like their relationship wasn't important. Wasn't he supposed to know what he was talking about, seeing as they were talking about it at the exact moment? Francis was sweet and loving, but he really was as dense as Jayden had said when he had been joking. Occasionally, Francis would reference himself as being with Tammy and not understand how it could upset Jayden.

He really didn't even know how to explain it; Francis was emotionally attached to things, in his heart. He loved things, he missed things, and he longed for things, but it was like his head was detached from his own heart. He never understood the effect of his words, or of the effect of his actions. It was something that Jayden loved and hated.

"Do you still love me?" Jayden asked foolishly, searching the soul behind Francis' eyes for even so much as a flicker.

"I do."

"Do you still love Tammy?"

"I... do."

"Well, does she make you happy?"

Francis looked down at the ring on his hand, watching the light dart across the slick metal as he spun it slowly around his ring finger. Jayden's eyes flicked down to the silver band, finally taking in the earth-shattering detail that he'd been ignoring since he started talking to the bear. Francis had told Jayden that Tammy got him the ring after they got engaged, as a sort of promise. The bear's hesitation answered every question he had; he still loved Tammy, so that made what they were doing even more wrong.

"Well, I mean, she does sometimes, aside from the yelling. But, everyone argues, don't they?"

"We don't argue and I make you happy, don't I?" Jayden asked quietly, feeling like he'd come on a little to strong. This was the closest he'd ever come to trying to get Francis to end it with Tammy, and it made his heart ache as the bear looked at him with sad eyes and smile. Jayden had just set in motion an emotional tug of war that he wasn't really sure he'd be able to make it through.

"Of course, I'm always happy when I'm with you."

"Then why can't I be the one you're with?" Jayden mumbled and Francis stopped spinning the ring on his finger, his shoulders falling almost unnoticeably. Had that thought really not crossed his mind?

"For all intents and purposes, we are together," Francis said. The words may not have sounded like much, but to Jayden they meant that Francis was comfortable right where they were. He was comfortable with the status quo and wouldn't change anything if he didn't have to. It meant that he was comfortable juggling Tammy and Jayden.

"Then why can't we be together? Officially?"

"I can't leave her, Jayden. I need to stay with her for the baby."

Jayden felt a hot surge of blood rush to his face and he covered his eyes, feeling an intense mixture of anger, and sadness, and betrayal, and God knows what else. He fought the urge to cry, or strangle the bear that was sitting feet from him, acting like he was innocent.

"No, Francis, you need to stay with the baby, not with her. I hate to say it like this, but what you and Tammy have... is an accident. What you have is like beating a dead horse. You both already know it's dead, yet you won't give up, and let it go, and just move on, but here I am, putting my everything into you, trying to make you happy, and... and trying to make you love me. I shouldn't have to try to make you see what I'm giving you after all we've been through together."

"I'm sorry, I can't," Francis answered after a slight pause and Jayden ran his hands along the top of his head, flattening his ears against his skull, growing frustrated by his thick-headedness.

"Are you afraid that you won't be a good father if you're not with her? Because I can make sure you're everything you can be. Are you scared that you're going to hurt your daughter if you're not a family? Because I grew up as a broken family, I went through a lot of my life without a father and I'm perfectly fine. Please, Francis, just tell me what I need to do for you to trust me. I'm trying to trust you, but I'm having a hard time," Jayden rambled, the cold completely gone from his mind. His hands and feet were numb, but his brain was on fire, heating his blood as he tried not to cry out in anger.

"Jayden, you're telling me that you want me to take the chance and date you, to trust you, but you're so afraid you'll lose me that you never actually trust me. I know you think I'm cheating on you, too, but I'm not. I love Tammy, but in the way you love any of your exes."

"I - you're right. I guess I'm sorry. I'm just not good at this whole relationship thing, because they never... work. I just don't get it; how leaving the one you used to love to be with the one you do love could possibly be a bad thing."

"What about my family? What'll they think? I have a baby with someone, then break up with them? How am I going to explain that to people, that I cheated on my fiancée and the mother of my child to be with someone else?"

Pushing himself from the pavement, Jayden walked feverishly around Francis, his legs being pricked by a thousand tiny needles with each step. Not even the superficial warmth of the frustration running through his veins could defrost him as he continually shot bereft glances at the bear. He just couldn't understand his devotion to Tammy, after all the times he'd ignored her and put Jayden first. Rubbing the tuft of fur on his chin, he finally wheeled around to look at Francis.

"You know what I have to say to that? Fuck 'um! Do you know how many people I've had to put up with, telling me that this all isn't worth it? First Paige, then my mother and now Becca. But, no, I'm sticking to it, because I love you and I thought you loved me, too."

"Jayden, I do love you, more than you know and more than you care to admit, but I can't right now. Not yet."

"Not yet?" Jayden spat, "Not yet? Then when, Francis? When? How will you know when the right time will be? You know what? Fuck it, I'm going home."

Shooting one final angered glance at Francis, Jayden stalked down the path, hearing the bear shuffle to his feet behind him. Emerging out of the darkness into the light of the empty street, Jayden looked both ways, his head in a daze. Finally, he started towards his house, grumbling angrily to himself. He was lost, like one of the innumerable stars in the vast sea of blackness. Why hadn't he just listened to his first feelings, way back when, and spared himself the pain now.

"Jayden, please, wait!" Francis called from behind him, but Jayden just clenched his teeth and tried to stay lost. A hand grabbed his arm and Jayden spun around, flinging it off him as he stared at the brown fur of the bear's face, "Jayden, I'm sorry about what I'm doing, but you just don't understand. I'm trying to work things out, I really am. Sometimes I just feel like the world is spinning too fast and you're the only thing that slows it down."

"I thought the same thing about you, too, Francis, but now I know it was all a lie," Jayden growled, pulling himself away from the hand that had made it's way back to his arm. He turned and started back down the road again, trying to clear his head of the cold air that was rushing back in.

"Please," he heard Francis say delicately, barely above a whisper and Jayden stopped, struck by the pained emotion in his voice, "I don't want to lose you, too. I've lost everyone else, even Tammy and you're the only one who really cares anymore."

Jayden knew that words only meant so much and that it was the sentiment that meant the most, but as Francis stood there, broken, he couldn't help but believe him. Believe that he was true, and sincere, and lost, just like Jayden. Something about his words covered all the damage, and the scars, and made him hug Francis back as he came up behind him.

He rest his head on Francis' shoulder, his arms folded behind his back, feeling his slow heartbeat. They pried themselves apart and Jayden kissed him, trying to banish the sadness, the anger and everything else he felt. He wanted to get lost in this moment and forget everything that had been bothering him, everything that made this all so wrong.

"I just need this to be about me as much as it is about you," Jayden said, his arms resting on Francis' shoulders as the bear held him around the waist. Pressing his mind into Francis', they rocked on the spot slowly, covered in the ethereal glow of the night. Paige had been right; even though they were fighting, Jayden still loved him, and he knew there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

"I'm trying, even if it doesn't seem like it. I just don't know how to explain what's going on, because I've never been good with expressing my feelings. Maybe you'll understand what I mean when you meet Rose tomorrow."

"You never did tell me her name," Jayden said with a smile, feeling the anger melt away as Francis smiled back, "We should probably get back to your house before things start to fall off from the cold."

"Probably a good idea," Francis agreed with a smirk as they started to walk the remaining mile to his house, not really concerned about anything in particular.

They opened the door to his house and snuck up the stairs, enveloped by a total darkness that made their ascent difficult. Holding onto the railing, they managed to make it to the top, only the faint squeaking of the stairs giving them away.

Francis flipped on the light in his bedroom with a click that filled the silent house. Jayden closed the bedroom door and sat on the twin bed beside him, looking at the posters that were torn from the walls, and the stereo that sat crammed in the corner, all of Francis' clothes and things resting on top of it. His eyes fell to the bassinet, and the stacks of babies clothing, and large black bags, and the diapers while Francis watched him silently.

He couldn't possibly imagine what it was like to be thrust into fatherhood at such a young age and try to come to terms with what you want when nothing is about yourself anymore. Life always seemed so open when everything was about your own wellbeing, but when something life changing happened, it suddenly felt like all the doors had been slammed shut. Looking to Francis, Jayden knew that his own pain would eventually fade into the background, but the bear would have his daughter in his life until the very end.

"Should I sleep on the couch or something?" Jayden asked quietly, having to clear his throat as his voice cracked.

"We can just clear a space on the floor," he said softly, both of them suddenly feeling like the world was spinning around it's axis a bit too fast, "I have enough blankets to make us a bed, if you want. I can set an alarm so we can get up before Tammy gets here."

"Yea, right, Tammy," Jayden mumbled, looking down at the faded floorboards as the bed creaked and Francis left the room to grab some blankets from the closet.

Even if he did get Francis, she'd always be looming over their heads; a reminder of their past and the lies that had made them what they were. Two people who loved each other, and hated that they couldn't ever be happily together.

Francis laid on the blankets and Jayden turned off the lights, once again sending them into darkness as he rest beside him. The bear put his head on Jayden's chest, who began to stroke his headfur quietly, and contemplatively.

Even if he got him, eventually the warmth would fade away until he was left with the cold and the fears. Eventually, all of this would mean nothing, because he'd always remember the groundwork on which they were built. When he had to take all that into account, what would a stupid title mean, anyway?

Jayden closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep, because he knew that his lover's lover would be coming in the early morning.