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Chapter 25: Le Date Part 2

A short walk from across, a five-story rock climbing wall stood. It was wide enough to handle ten people at a time with their own respective ringing bells. The goal was simple, to climb to the top and rang the bell. Hunter and Keanu waited in line and watched at the other climbers; many were amateurs as they struggled to reach the top, a lot of slip-ups and awkward dangling.

When Hunter and Keanu entered their turn, one staff member gave them special climbing shoes of their size, a harness on their hips with a rope attached to them, and lastly a safety helmet.

"Alright, you both good to go," said the staff member.

Hunter and Keanu were next to each other, so that gave Keanu some relief if he were in trouble in climbing the tall, rocky, artificial wall. This type of sport required all four limbs of the body to work in order to climb up. Keanu's regular swimming sessions were as equal to a full-body workout, so he hoped this would be worth it.

Hunter was more athletic, so he was now ten feet above him...

"Come on, Keanu!" Hunter said excitingly. "Don't fall behind."

Keanu shook his head and stepped on the first colorful gripping rocks he could find comfortable to start with. Hunter kindly waited for him to meet up to his level, but he was very decisive and careful in choosing which rock to get a grip and rest his feet on.

Keanu almost met Hunter's level. "This isn't so bad," Keanu said.

"Think you can reach the bell?" Hunter pointed at the top, resuming his climbing at ease.

Keanu gulped, this was challenging than he had anticipated, even if it looked easy. How did Hunter could climb like that at ease? He was taller with long arms and legs. At least he had more physical body skills than strategical like golfing, he sucked at his swinging skills due to his strength. Keanu thought maybe he could climb a little faster as Hunter did without thinking which rock was better to grasp on.

Keanu looked for the next rock to grab, a blue one with a good hand grip, he extended his left hand to reach it - when his left foot gave up on him.

Keanu screamed at the sudden fall, but it was quickly held by the staff below holding him mid-air. Keanu held his hands on the safety rope in front of him attached to his pelvis harness. The man below him instructed him to grab back onto a rock. Keanu went back to his position and gave the man below a thumbs up. He breathed in relief.

Hunter climbed down, he heard him scream and saw him hanging from the wall.

"Are you, okay?" Hunter asked worriedly.

Keanu nodded as he breathed. "I just slipped."

"Wanna get down?"

"No, I'm okay, I'll keep up."

Hunter wished he could pat him on the shoulder in comfort, but if he did, he would slip off from his grip.

"Let's climb together, okay?"

Hunter decided not to climb like he did and kept a closer watch on Keanu as he climbed slowly like before. He had never done this before and even if this was a safe sport, he did not want to lose him out of sight and get hurt.

The wolves climbed further; they were near to the top. Hunter kept his pace as he watched Keanu doing well in his climbing. He said a few encouraging words to keep it up.

"You're doing great, Keanu, you're almost there."

Hunter made it up to his last steps. He grabbed the short rope and rang. Keanu found himself with his two feet on one rock together and there was one rock above him to reach the bell. His left hand was occupied and his right free of grasp. He stretched his whole arm to the limit but could not reach it, and he tried one of his feet to reach any rock near him to give him a lift, but there wasn't any.

"Try to leap for it," Hunter suggested.

The bell was above him in close proximity if he leaped up to it. Keanu gulped but knew he would not fall if he did a mistake. He bent his knees halfway and thrust upward, grabbing the rock above him with his right hand and quickly raised his left hand to the bell's rope and rattled the metal ball inside.

Hunter cheered, "Yeah, you did it!"

Keanu hung with one hand on the rock he grasped, feet hanging in the air.

They were gently descended to the ground after their adventurous climb of five-stories high. They removed their equipment and returned it to the staff for the next user.

"That was great, wasn't it?" Hunter said.

"Yeah, that was thrilling, I thought I was going to fall again," Keanu said. "I had never done rock climbing before, so I... uh, it was worth it."

Hunter patted him on his upper back, but somehow ended resting his whole arm around his shoulders.

"So, what's our next stop?"

Keanu pulled out his phone on his to-do list. "I wanna buy some candies, then we can go to the bumper cars."

At the candy stand, Keanu's sweet tooth took over, buying some chocolate bars, a small bag of green apple-flavored cotton candy, and a small pack of mints.

"I see you're getting yourself prepared," Hunter teased.

"I just like mint... and to keep my mouth fresh," Keanu excused but realized what he meant.

"Heh, sure you are~."

Hunter only bought a small box of sweet-and-salty popcorn to share with Keanu, and two soda cans. They sat on a bench to take a break from their rock-climbing experience.

Keanu and Hunter finished their sweet snacks and threw them on the trash can next to them. Keanu still had some chocolate bars and kept them in the pockets of his purple jacket and made for the bumper cars.

There were two types of bumpers car next to each other, one for kids with small cars, and one for the older ones which were bigger to sit in and ride easy and looked a bit extreme but was wilder than the kiddie bumper cars.

The cars had two seats so one was the driver and one for the passenger. Hunter and Keanu waited in line and watched the crazy spectacle of cars bumping one another, people screamed and laughed. Later, all cars stopped, ending the five-minute session. The occupants stepped off and walked off to the exits.

Keanu, Hunter, and others were let in and picked any of the twenty vehicles scattered on the large field. They picked the first one near them, a red one with the number 7 on the front.

The pair sat together and found the steering wheel in the middle, practically to let the other driver share a turn.

Hunter asked, "Do you want to drive?"

Keanu shook his head. "Nah, you drive."

One staff member lowered the safety bar on their laps for safety. He moved to other vehicles before heading for the main controls. He instructed the drivers and passengers to always keep their hands inside on their vehicles at all times and enjoy the wild ride. He pressed the button, and all vehicles drove around like cockroaches on the field.

Hunter got the wheel and the pedal and drove around, avoiding other attempting drivers bumping on their vehicle. It was crazy, Hunter spotted a vulnerable driver and moved straight into the purple car, and bumped. The two occupants screamed and laughed and drove in the reverse. Keanu laughed, Hunter droved in reverse but bumped into another car behind them and their heads shook to one side. Keanu screamed in joy and Hunter tried to figure out how to get out of the tight spot until another car bumped into them, the purple one came for a payback.

Hunter sneered and turned around. He narrowly avoided an incoming green car with a slight brush against the safety rubber. Seemed like video games were paying off for this moment.

Keanu pointed at a blue car that was in the clear and Hunter drove for it, but two cars bumped at the same time on both sides and stopped their car altogether.

"Woah, where did they come from?" Hunter cried.

"Watch out!" Keanu jovially cried and pointed at the incoming said blue car ahead.

Hunter drove in reverse and turned around right before the blue car could have hit them head-on and drove right between the two cars and bumped into another car. Hunter sped up and looked for another car to bump into.

The five-minute session ended as all cars stopped moving and responding. The staff member unfastened their safety bars and let them go and guided them to the exit.

Keanu had a few remnants of his laugh and recovered a relief sigh. "That was fun, you're a good driver," Keanu said.

"Heh, you kidding?" he chuckled, "I thought I could wreck everyone, but I underestimated them."

"Well, that's the point of bumping cars, but you did well."

Hunter smiled at his small compliment. "Thanks though."

"Now, let's go to the carnival games. Dad gave me money to play."

They walked to the carnival section where a dozen of games was displayed. From the ring toss to the high striker, there was something for everyone to test their skills. Keanu went for the Spilled Milk where one must knock off three bottles of milk three times in a row to win a bigger prize. He looked at the prizes that hung on both sides of the stand's walls, there was some merchandise of the park like t-shirts, towels, backpacks, umbrellas, baseball caps, and plushies.

Among the plushies that got Keanu's attention was a wolf with a particular outfit. It was the world-renowned singer Zorion Villalobos, or simply his stage name Zorion. He hated to admit that he wanted one, but he was too embarrassed to consider owning one and that his only motive to play Spilled Milk would be for a plushie. He was too old for a plushie.

Despite that, he still wanted to play. He stepped right up and handed five bucks to the woman behind the stand for three baseball balls to throw.

"Have you played this before?" asked Hunter.

Keanu shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

"Here we go, young man," said the staff lady with a smile, "let's see if you can knock off all three rounds in a row!"

Hunter watched in a short distance as Keanu picked one ball and focused on the three stacked bottles in front of him, he stretched his right hand back and launched the ball.

It sounded like bowling pins but more clanky as glass, he knocked all three bottles on the first go. Keanu dropped his jaw.

"Great shot, kid!" cheered the staff lady.

She collected the bottles and restacked them back as they were and cleared herself away. Keanu picked the second ball and threw it.

The ball hit the lower left, letting the top bottle fall but the lower right remained standing.

"Oh, so close!" said the staff lady and restacked the two bottles. "You have one more ball to go, kid."

Keanu picked the last ball and made sure to hit the ball right between the two bottles supporting the one on top. He ignored his surroundings and eyed the three bottles. One stretched arm, he launched the ball in the air right into the two lower bottles...

The pair got blown from both sides and the top bottle fell, hitting solidly onto the base and rattled in circles, struggling from toppling over. Keanu's and Hunter's hearts skipped a beat at those precious seconds until the bottle stood still in its place...

Keanu and Hunter could not believe it and even the staff lady was stunned at the rare occurrence.

"Did that counted as knocked over?" Keanu hopefully said.

"Sorry, kid, you supposed to knock it over," the lady stated. "But don't worry, you scored seven points, so you..." she unhooked a hanging prize, "...won a backpack or an umbrella. Which one you like to have?"

Keanu already had an umbrella at home and one small one in his backpack for college when walking through the campus in the open. He shrugged and picked the blue and black backpack with the Sunshine Park logo. It was small with two compartments but was kind of nice and useful for any purpose or give it away to anyone he knew. So much for the plushie, he needed to score nine points, all three knockouts.

"Would you like to play again?" offered the staff lady.

"No, thank you, and thanks for the prize." Keanu smiled and met with Hunter. "Are you going to play the high striker?"

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you," Hunter said. He smiled. "You played very well, Keanu."

"I think I was lucky."

"Yeah, but still. You even won a nice prize."

The wolves moved to the next carnival game, Hunter stepped in for the high striker, a 20-foot-tall tower to show off their strength. Hunter was looking forward to it.

"You think are strong enough to hit the bell?" Keanu asked.

"I think I can," Hunter winked at him.

"Have you played one before... aside from video games?"

"Ouch," Hunter rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "This is my opportunity to do it for real."

"Well, feel free to impress me, there is a lot of guys bigger than you that can break that bell."

A large bison-man slammed the mallet onto the lever, the metal puck ricocheted upwards, reaching the 20th feet height but did not ring the bell. The bison-man cursed out loud.

"Better next time, big fella," said the staff man.

It was Hunter's turn next in line or if there were any lines. Probably people were still thinking these games were always rigged and ruined the fun, but this was a brand-new park that wasn't struggling to keep it open financially.

"Hah, look at you, you surely are capable to hit the bell in one go!" said the staff man. "Care to give it a go?"

"Sure," Hunter paid him and received the mallet.

Keanu watched Hunter stretching his arms and torso, he was going to use his whole body to strike the lever with the heavy wooden mallet. Then something popped in his mind and picked his phone and started to record. If Hunter would take an embarrassing picture of himself eating a chili dog halfway, then he could record his failed attempts on the high striker. Keanu smiled a little devilishly.

Hunter was in his position, legs apart, and rosed the mallet over his right shoulder. Hunter took deep breaths, gripping tightly the mallet's handle, and swung it onto the lever. BANG!

The tower had lights to indicate the puck's position, it passed through five feet... ten feet... fifteen feet... and plummeted back.

"Oh, so close," said Keanu, holding the phone.

"Don't worry, you have two tries to go," said the staff man.

"Come on, Hunter, just a little more!" Keanu cheered as he filmed. Either he was rooting for him or hoping he would fail.

Hunter panted, he shook his shoulders a bit and took off his green jacket, and threw it on the floor, giving him a bit of better movement of his arms. Hunter looked very serious right now.

He picked up the mallet and placed it over his right shoulder again and focused. The staff man and Keanu waited until Hunter let out a loud war cry and slammed the lever with the mallet. That shout was scary but that all went forgotten as the lights rosed higher and higher to the bell and rang a satisfying BING!

Keanu was awestruck and he got it on film.

Hunter howled in victory and fist-bumped in the air.

"Wonderful!" cried the staff man. "This is the fourth time this evening someone had struck the bell!" He fetched the winning prize. "And here is your grand prize!"

It was the Zorion wolf plushie that Keanu saw earlier. Huh, what a surprise!

"Thanks," Hunter said and turned to Keanu. "Here, do you want it?"

Keanu was a little stunned and blushed lightly. "Ah, uh, really?"

Hunter smiled, hinting at a little blush. "I know this is pretty cliché, but would you like to have it?"

Keanu smiled sheepishly and accepted it. "S-sure," his cheeks reddened more as Hunter gave it to him, it was soft and huggable. "Do you know who it is?"

Hunter leaned his head a little, confused. "No, I don't think so." He thought it was just a typical stuffed toy, but noticed the way how it was dressed, a pair of sunglasses and a cool outfit of black and white hoodie.

"This is Zorion, you know, the pop singer."

"Ah, I heard a few of his songs. Are you a fan?"

"Cousin Crystal introduced me to his songs and I got into it."

As Hunter picked up his thrown jacket, they moved forward through the attractions. Hunter placed one arm around his shoulders and gave him a teasing look. "Are you sure you got into his music or is it because he is a good-looking Iberian wolf?"

Keanu laughed. "Well, I am guilty, he is cool-looking, but I still love his music."

Keanu put the stuffed toy in his new backpack, leaving the head peeking out in curiosity.

They played a few more carnival games, but they didn't win anything this time and moved to their next stop; the Ferris wheel.

It could not be a theme park without a Ferris wheel with multi-colored lights dazzling the park's skyline. Keanu and Hunter gathered in line with other people waiting for a turn on the 150-foot-tall wheel for some great views over the park and city at nighttime. The staff man asked them if they were going together, which they said yes, and he paired them with a group of four teenaged girls behind them. The gondolas only carried six people each, and there was a long line, so the staff began to fill the seats by uniting people.

They boarded the enclosed, green-colored gondola with grated windows and took their seat. The young high school girls greeted them as they sat, and one girl was left standing awkwardly as the other three already sat leaving one spot next to Hunter who was sitting in the middle.

She shrugged and quipped, "Well, at least I get to seat next to this hunky wolf."

The three girls laughed, Hunter laughed, and Keanu rolled his eyes but didn't mind the silly remark. The girl sat and the sliding doors closed automatically. The wheel moved, slowly ascending the gondola up in the air.

"Do you know this is a different kind of Ferris wheel, huh, Keanu?" Hunter said.

"What do you mean?" Keanu looked perplexed with one ear lowered.

"You'll see." Hunter winked at the other girls sitting across him, knowing that something was going to happen.

The wheel moved forward, loading, and unloading the passengers below, their gondola rosed a little higher and higher until it moved weirdly than usually expected.

"What's happening?" Keanu startled.

The gondola smoothly slid on its rails, it picked quite of a speed and softly stopped but continued to swing back and forth. The four girls screamed and so as Keanu, he grabbed onto the grated window with his left hand and held Hunter's thigh near the knee with his right tightly. Hunter was laughing in amusement at Keanu's priceless reaction.

The gondola kept swinging, Keanu cried, "W-what kind of F-Ferris wheel is this?!"

"It's called a swinging wheel," said one of the girls, "some gondolas can move freely when the wheel turns."

The gondola kept swinging and Keanu had not let go of his grip. Hunter did not mind that Keanu was holding him for support. He only used his legs to withstand the swings.

Keanu turned at Hunter with an unsettled look as if he tricked him. "You didn't tell me this?"

"I honestly thought you knew," Hunter smiled guiltily. "You didn't take a look at the exterior of the wheel?"

Keanu shook his head vigorously. The girls were laughing.

"Calm down, it's not that bad, and take a look at the view~." Hunter pointed.

"How can I enjoy it when this thing is moving than I wanted to?"

Hunter shrugged with a sheepish smile. "At least you didn't faint." He could tell Keanu was uncomfortable when it came to thrilling rides, but he wasn't as far as panicking. "Besides, it's just swinging back and forth, nothing to be scared about."

The gondola stopped swinging but the giant wheel continued moving, Keanu let go of his grip and tried to at least enjoy the view with Hunter. One of the girls took the opportunity to take pictures and asked Hunter to take with all four of them together which he kindly accepted.

"You don't mind if I ask in return to take us a photo with my date?" Hunter said.

Keanu blushed when he said that. He, somehow, kind of forgot this was a date. It felt like hanging out with a friend. Hunter said it with confidence.

"Sure," said one of the girls, and Hunter gave his phone to her. Hunter sat next to Keanu and wrapped one arm around his shoulders closer. The close contact was very comforting and warm, Keanu smiled right on time at the camera.

The girl held Hunter's phone and said, "Okay, say cheese!"

"Oh, my god! We're moving again!" said one of the girls.

The gondola rolled by the gravity; Keanu's smile broke into a brace for impact. This time Hunter held him with his arm alone, preparing for another swinging session. The girl with Hunter's phone took the picture and sat back on her seat and the gondola stopped and swung. The girls screamed in joy at the excitement. Keanu didn't freak out like before but kept holding his grip with one hand at the grated window and held firmly still on Hunter's grip.

The girl returned Hunter's phone as the gondola's swings calmed down, Hunter looked at the picture. It was taken right when they were about the descent, Keanu's made an unsettling face. Hunter laughed, Keanu wasn't pleased, but he dismissed it. Hunter asked them one more time and they got a better picture this time as Keanu had hoped for.

Keanu noticed they were being descended to the bottom of the wheel, but they only passed it.

"We're going for another round?" Keanu asked.

"The sign I saw said two laps," Hunter answered.

Keanu gulped.

After another round of crazy swinging back and forth, the gondola finally opened its doors, and Hunter, Keanu, and the four girls stepped off the ride. Keanu wanted to kiss the floor but that was disgusting to do.

"How was it?" Hunter couldn't help but chuckle.

"It was fine... crazy though," he said and picked his phone's time. "It's almost ten."

"Time to hit the hay?"

"Yeah, but let's go to the gift shop. Don't you want something for yourself?"

"Sure, let's check it out."

The wolves walked into the souvenir gift shop that was next to a long line of restrooms and browsed inside through the aisles of merchandise. They went their separate ways to look around and find something nice, aside from them winning a blue backpack and a stuffed toy from the carnival games.

They met up at the cashier, Keanu bought a snow globe of the amusement park inside the crystal ball with bright blue and silver glitter like snow and could glow in the dark, and a mug that said, "Most Thrilling Dad!" And Hunter seemed he had bought something nice not just for him but for his family too. He bought two baseball caps with the Sunshine Park sun logo for his brothers, a multi-colored t-shirt with the said logo in the left breast for his sister, a tiny snow globe of Rexville's iconic landmark, the White Lighthouse standing on a cliffside for his mother as she had a collection of tiny snow globes, and he also bought the same mug for his father, too. As for Hunter, he bought himself a small Bluetooth speaker in the shape of a soda can that could change light colors.

They both guiltily laughed when they bought the same kind of thing to their loving fathers. At least these mugs could change color when warm liquid was added.

The park's voice intercom announced its closure, and the guests began heading to the main entrance to exit. It was going to be very busy at the parking lot. Hunter knew that and they must take their time without rushing, they texted their parents about the traffic to let them know they would arrive maybe late.

Hunter turned on the engine of his father's car, strapped his seat belt, and turned to Keanu with a smile. "Did you have fun?"

Keanu nodded with a grin, his tail on his lap was wagging, and tried to calm it down by petting it. He glanced at him before looking at his laying tail. "Yeah, I had a good time with you."

He rested his hand on his shoulder, smiling, and encouraging him to look at him in the eye. "Glad to hear."

"To be honest, it felt like we were just hanging out as friends. I felt silly, thinking we're going to act like lovey-dovey lovebirds like in the movies."

Hunter laughed; he was still keeping an eye at the slow-moving traffic. "Not all dates are like sunshine and rainbows of fairy tales, but the most important thing is we had fun together tonight, right?" Keanu nodded.

Hunter looked ahead of his view; the cars were still slowly moving but he noticed the parking spaces were emptying. He looked back at Keanu, sitting there quietly, petting his tail with his gentle hands.

Hunter softly said gently, "Hey..."

Keanu looked at him as if he found hope in his curious eyes. "W-what?"

Hunter smiled, confident, but a blush came out from his cheeks. "Do you want a kiss to end this date?"

Keanu's ears jumped and turned red. "What?" he softly said, but slightly louder.

"Do you want to kiss me?" Hunter said it again, more clearly.

Keanu gulped at where this was going, but his heart was beating faster than a beatboxer could. A warm hand caressed his left white cheek, he looked directly at Hunter's green eyes, he was seriously not joking. Hunter leaned forward, closing his eyes for lip contact. Keanu could not believe this was happening, Hunter's handsome face was getting closer and closer, and gently touched his cold nose with his nose, Keanu closed his eyes...

There was something warm on Keanu's lips, Hunter's lips. It was real, hand cupping his left side warmly with care. His heart was on a whole new level. He could taste his fresh breath from the mint he gave him earlier and the same for his. It was cool and rich and gave himself in for more. He was in love.

But all came to an end, Hunter slowly parted from his lips and smiled at him with his warm hand caressing his cheek. Keanu's flushed face was priceless but did not want to make fun of it and appreciate his feelings more. He deserved it after all the effort he made to take him out on a date.

"How was it?" he said. He knew this was Keanu's first kiss.

"Beautiful..." he said. "And you?"

Hunter was familiar with this heartbeat behavior from his previous lover, this was all too familiar. He was falling for the arctic wolf. "Just perfect..."

Keanu sank on his seat, relishing the feeling after their first kiss. He would never forget it and held his chest dearly, feeling his warming heart beating.

Hunter chuckled and saw it had all cleared up and they could freely leave the parking lot.

The drive was silent but comforting. Hunter drove through their home boulevard, stopping in front of the Starlight Plaza building.

"Here we are, home safe home," Hunter said.

Keanu unbuckled his seat belt and picked his souvenirs and prizes. "Thanks, Hunter, I had a great time."

"Thanks for inviting me with you. Take care."

"You, too." Keanu closed the door and saw Hunter driving away to get around to the other side of the boulevard. His tail swayed in satisfaction and walked inside his apartment building.

That night, Keanu and Hunter, were safely in the comforts of their beds, reliving their moments together that evening. It was a simple kiss, but very special, and they could still feel it on their lips during their whole night's rest as their hearts kept beating whenever they thought about it.

There was love blossoming between them.