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Chapter 42: Restoring Ties

Hunter enjoyed his newfound freedom after his brother Rylan came to terms to accept his sexuality on the first week of the new semester. Nothing was bothering him or dragging him behind with dread nor anything negative in his mind. He felt refreshed, his shoulders lightened up from the heavy feeling as he ran on the treadmill, and he felt brighter and brisker than ever before, and more motivated than ever. The best feeling in the world and the happiest wolf ever lived. He loved every moment and looked forward to hanging out with his reconciled brother. His tail could not stop wagging at the thought of it.

Keanu was next to him on the treadmill, still wearing the usual white undershirt and blue shorts that he used for sleeping at night were now collecting sweat. The wolf was drinking plenty of water as he jogged for a mile and was feeling tired, unlike Hunter who could still run another two miles.

Keanu stopped the machine and panted with his tongue out. "Why swimming is easier than jogging?"

Hunter checked the machine and it turned out Keanu set it for three miles... and covered a mile and a half. "You set it up for three miles."

"What? No, I didn't..." he checked the board and the screen status. "Oh my, no wonder why the goal was much longer."

Hunter chuckled. "Hey, at least you covered a mile and half. That's an effort."

"Whatever, I'm taking a break." Keanu stepped down from the treadmill and sat on the bench.

Hunter continued with his pace; he was taking it in stride like a professional runner. Keanu sat from behind him while drinking his bottle of water and watched Hunter's swinging tail and buttocks moving. Those toned glutes were a sight to see. Today was Friday, so he could use a nice treat for his eyes.

"Enjoying the view?"

Keanu jumped as he heard Sol's voice. He blushed for being caught. "Uh, hi, Sol."

"Hi, Keanu, it's been a while since the beach house."

Xavier also came with a towel around his shoulders and sat next to Keanu. "Hi, Keanu, how's your New Year's resolution been treating you?" A lot of people claimed they will start their new year working out but then give up after a free one-week tryout in January.

"Just great," he drank some water. He sighed refreshingly. "And tired."

Hunter finished his runs and turned off the machine. He grabbed the towel and rubbed his face to get the sweat off. "Hey, guys, how's it going?"

"Hey, I got your text, your little bro loves you now?" Sol said.

"Yup, united at last," Hunter said proudly.

"Hah," sighed Xavier, "what a wonderful way to start the new year. So, this means your brother won't bother you for being gay?"

"Yes, siree."

"Good," he slammed his palm on his knee, "we can all run to the sunset drama-free for once and call it an ending!"

"Heh, I can bring some melodrama if you're up for it," smirked Sol.

"Like what?"

"Do you have a clue why Sergio convinced you to join soccer?"

"There's a reason?" He raised a green eyebrow.

"Yeah, and I'll leave it to you, but don't tell Sergio I gave you a hint or he won't forgive me."

"Dude, what the fuck? Didn't you say you're... wait, is this has something to do with his personal secret he was blackmailed for?"

"You can say that." The leopard shrugged.

Xavier gave a perplexed look on his stoic face to the leopard. What did all of this have to do with Sergio and him joining soccer? How did it connect?

"Look," Sol spoke, "before you get all excited if you figured it out, you might as well talk with Milagros first; I think she knows."

Xavier grew a huge doubt. How was this involved him again? "You're not playing with me, are you?"

"No, I know the whole ordeal, but Sergio won't let it go at all costs. But, Xavier, don't get mad if you found out what he really did behind... uh... well, whatever happened in your dorm."

"He better not have had sex with a bimbo on my bed."

"What?"

"Isn't it obvious? He just wanted to have the dorm to himself to get some hookups when I'm in the club. Isn't that it?"

Honestly, to Sol, Xavier was an inch close to figuring out, but that was his assumption of the situation he had gathered in his personal view from the beginning.

"But now, you're feeling like you want me to know what was actually going on in the dorm, aren't you?" Xavier continued.

"What's this all about again?" Keanu was not getting the cryptic message and turned to Hunter who did not have a clue and shrugged.

"Ugh, whatever, isn't ignorance a bliss better than making a melodrama?"

Sol shrugged. "To be honest with you, I'm tired of his deal. It's all over now but he doesn't want anyone to know."

"It's not like the end of the world if the whole world knows his secrets."

"Wow, Xavier, you have no idea how your words nearly match Sergio's secret."

"You mean the whole world know?"

"Yeah, you're getting there." Sol smiled. "He showed himself to the world without actually showing it."

"Isn't that what being anonymous is, Sol? That's pretty much what most people do on the internet before doing a face reveal."

Sol turned at Keanu and Hunter a wink and was having a good time messing with Xavier's yet unlocked mind.

He looked back but Xavier gave him a sterned look as usual. "Why did you wink them?"

"Okay, I'm having fun with you, and I'll let you figure it out to yourself, or Sergio will kick my ass."

"I would love to see that." He rolled his eyes and made for the lockers. "I'm going out, guys, I need some new workout clothes."

"Huh?" Hunter jumped. "Hey, Keanu and I are also going out to buy clothes, too, today."

The green parrot turned around surprised. "Uh, really? Cool. There's this Beaststar clothing store where you guys live, right?"

"Cool," Sol said, "I'm also planning to go there because I got a gift card from my aunt. Fifty dollars off."

"Great, we can go together this afternoon," Hunter said.

"I'll get Broderick, Sergio, and Xerxes; they cannot stop talking about that new place."

The store was a dedicated clothing brand for beast folks, mostly for the larger ones, but had offered a variety of sizes from big to small so they could satisfy their customers' expectations and needs.

The group took the street train to Oasis Boulevard Station where the clothing store was opened down south of the street. It was opened last month, so at this point, it was less crowded than before.

Upon entering they smelled the new-store smell. There were athletic beast folk posters on one end of every aisle, wearing their brand on every subtle part of their bodies. Even Xerxes' favorite football athletes were wearing them in the football section aisle. Keanu and Hunter saw so many offers to choose from, and they didn't know where to start.

"Where's the workout outfits aisle?" Keanu said.

"Over there." Hunter pointed. He found the sign for exercise clothes in the penultimate aisle.

Xavier followed the wolves as he needed a new pair of shorts and a shirt for his regular exercises ever since he joined the soccer club. The aisle displayed a lot of offers and choices to pick from. There were a lot of colors with stylish designs with the Beaststar claw mark logo placed on at least one part of the shirt.

Keanu went on his own to pick his choice. Same for Hunter and Xavier. The others went to explore around and see. Hunter recalled Sol was going to find new soccer shoes while Xerxes and Broderick were just freely browsing. Sergio was just around looking for a nice hoodie jacket. And Sol said he was willing to use his gift card to pay for them.

Keanu browsed, looking for a nice workout shirt that would fit his size either small or medium, he was often conflicted about his size. Sometimes small was too small and then the medium was too large for his size. Good thing there were changing stalls to try out the clothes. Keanu easily picked three pairs of clothes he liked to try. An orange shirt, a purple shirt with cyan lines, and a mustard shirt. Now he needed to find some shorts.

Hunter had already found his new replacement after tearing the other one. A blue and green shirt that would fit his current body build. He needed to try it out first to see if it fits well to avoid a similar tear or he would get called out by Keanu for flexing too much.

He turned to Xavier who seemed conflicted about choosing two shirts. "You got what you need?"

Xavier said, "Not sure if I go with the red one or the blue one..."

"The red one, it goes well with your red crest on your, uh, the top of your beak?"

"Yeah, seemed like it, but the color red is too powerful and can agitate me to anger and discomfort."

"Well, try this one." Hunter pointed at one shirt with dominant electric blue and subtle red lines.

"Looks nice," Xavier picked from the hanger and looked, "but it's size large." He sighed. "I need a medium, or I'll just come out of this store empty-handed."

Keanu walked up to the two, holding his picked clothes. "Hunter, I'm going to the stalls to try these clothes."

"Oh, I'm coming with you." He turned to Xavier. "Have you already picked?"

"You both go ahead, I'm gonna be here a little longer." Xavier picked up his phone and called someone.

Hunter turned to Keanu. "Come, let's go to the dressers. You got what you need?"

"Yeah," he was holding a lot in his hands and arms, "I want to be sure these clothes fit me."

"Good call."

They met with a bovine attendant by the entrance of the changing room and said, "We're kind of full at this moment. Can you both wait?"

Hunter smiled optimistically. "Sure, we can wait."

There wasn't a place to sit and Keanu's hands and arms were getting tired of holding all the clothes he picked.

Hunter leaned to his ear and whispered lowly, "Wanna share a dressing room?"

"I don't see why not," he softly spoke. "You just want me to see me--"

Hunter hushed him with a devious smile.

Right on time, a customer came out from the dressing room with the tried clothes in hand.

The bull-man said, "Well, we have now one stall available, are you going first?"

"Oh, we can both go together, it won't be a problem, right? It won't take long."

"Not at all, go ahead. These people take a lot of time to decide what to buy."

"Oh, good, I don't want to wait any longer," Keanu said as his arms were tiring him out.

The bull attendant guided the wolves to the last available stall with an opened curtain. "Let me know if you both need anything, I'm standing by the entrance."

"Thank you, we'll take it from here," Hunter said.

The bull attendant left them be and Hunter closed the curtain. The wolves were by themselves in a confined space. There was a full-body mirror across the curtain to check out their attires. The stall was fairly big to fit larger beast folks who were bigger than Hunter and Kendall combined like the big burly bull-man attendant.

"Wanna check the clothes first?" Hunter said.

"Sure, let's start with the orange one, hold these for me." Keanu handed the shirts and shorts to him, but Hunter found a sitting bench and placed them there.

Keanu took off his favorite purple and cyan jacket and handed it to Hunter where he placed it with the pile of clothes on the bench. Hunter watched his boyfriend unclothing himself confidently without care as he lifted the Rexville blue t-shirt he got from the mop incident. Hunter chuckled to himself and glanced at his boyfriend's healthily leaned, white-furred body. He was also surprised how the white wall behind him wasn't as white as Keanu's fur. Just how did Keanu take care of his fur? Drinking plenty of water? Eating healthy? Eating more vegetables? He should ask for his secret later.

Hunter whistled nonetheless at his lover. "Looking good~."

Keanu ignored his compliments and put on the orange shirt. "This is medium... it's too big for me." The shirt was too big, covering Keanu's whole torso, and very loose fit.

"Woah, you're small then."

"Give me the other orange shirt."

Hunter did as he asked and removed the oversized shirt and put on the smaller one. "Much better." Keanu looked at the mirror, he liked how the shirt fitted his body frame without tightening him hard against his fur. "Nice, now, give me the purple one."

Hunter watched Keanu stripping on and off at each shirt he tried. Keanu knew what size he would wear so the medium-sized shirts were out. Now he was going to try the shorts, buckling his belt and blue jeans after taking off his tennis shoes and pulling them down on the floor. The young wolf was in his gray boxer briefs and Hunter stared pleasurably guilty. Even if they were now dating.

He still wore the mustard shirt and put on the black shorts he picked. "Too big..." he said while looking in the mirror. Hunter gave him the smaller one and Keanu took off the other. "Huh, much better... this one has straps to adjust my size."

"Nice, so which one are you going to pick?"

"I have money, all take them all. Didn't you tell me I need three workout clothes so I can wear one after another so I can wash them later in the weekend?"

"Ah, yeah, of course, but just remember, Sol is willing to pay them with the gift card."

"Even better then..." Keanu smiled at Hunter. "Aren't you going to try that shirt?"

"Oh, right." Hunter chuckled. It was his turn to give Keanu a little show like in the video. He put his chosen shirt on the bench and unbuttoned his green shirt. He wasn't wearing a tank top for that shirt, so his toned body was quickly revealed in front of Keanu's ogling eyes as he watched every movement as Hunter pulled off the shirt behind him to reveal his arm muscles and shoulders. Now shirtless in his black shorts, Hunter smirked as his tail wagged teasingly.

He picked up the blue and green shirt and put it on over his head to cover every part of his whole torso. It was like a reverse stripper putting clothes on to start the day.

"Hey, it fits well," Hunter said teasingly and was satisfied with his choice. The shirt fitted him well, Keanu didn't understand Hunter's choice of workout attire, but he sure liked to show off a little, especially in front of him, and Keanu had no objections. The slightly-too-tight shirt did a good job accentuating the form of his chest, shoulders, and waistline. He looked good in it and the short sleeves left little to the imagination as Keanu could enjoy his rippling arms.

Keanu recalled in Hunter's personal social media accounts he had very few pictures of him showing off his whole physique and rather wearing his almost tight-fitting gym clothes as he worked out throughout the years. Keanu assumed he would only keep it for his significant other, in this case, him, like the video Hunter made. Of course, he did find a few pictures in his swimming trunks at the beach from his trip to Brazil before their beach house retreat.

Hunter looked at the mirror. "Looks great, huh?"

"Yeah, I like it, it's medium, right?"

"Uh-huh, medium, let me give it a test." Hunter stared at the mirror and flexed.

"Hunter, be careful or you might break it," Keanu warned.

"Don't worry, spandex is meant to resist the biggest stretches while lifting weights." Hunter posed both arms on his hips and flexed his back. The shirt was doing its job and Keanu stared at his toned back. Hunter then turned around to Keanu and stretched his arms casually with a smile, testing every basic limit of the shirt's strain.

Keanu rolled his eyes, but he enjoyed it, nonetheless. It was a nice treat and knew that Hunter was... "You're in a very good mood, Hunter," Keanu said. "Is it because of your brother?"

"Yeah, I'm happy that we makeup, Rylan has opened up to me more in the week." Hunter smiled. "It's nice to be a complete family."

"I'm glad," Keanu then poked Hunter's stomach, hearing him giggling.

"Hey, what gives?"

"Just having a good time with you. So, are you going to...?"

"Oh, right, you've been waiting for this, huh?" Hunter sneered as he crossed his arms on the bottom hem of the shirt and lifted it up over his head. Keanu watched with a blushing grin as Hunter purposely and slowly pulled the shirt off. He let out an exaggerated sigh as if drinking fresh cool water after a heavy workout.

Keanu laughed. "You're too much, you know that?"

He shrugged, "I know, and..." he stepped closer and placed one left hand on the wall and leaned closer to his ear, and said in a husky voice, "...I can do more~." He gently placed his right hand on Keanu's crotch, he was hard.

Keanu realized he was aroused during the whole dressing and undressing session with Hunter. He thought he could handle it but having fun to distract himself turned rather the opposite. He had fun and got too excited.

Hunter leaned for a kiss and gently fondled his bulge with one hand. Keanu's moans came out into a muffled as he felt the teasing pleasures on his sensitive nether region. His white hands went up to feel his warmed body, fingers brushing his abdominals and palming his hands on his toned chest in gentle gropes. The kiss was so deep and passionately hot.

Keanu immediately broke his spell and pushed Hunter back a little, separating from the kiss. "Hunter, not here, please."

"Sorry," he huffed, "I was just messing with you, not my intention to do it here either."

"Though I did enjoy your teasing, you're really good at that."

"Sol has taught me some little tricks of his."

"Oh, cool." Keanu sighed. "Well, let's get dressed and buy these."

They dressed back to their original clothes and walked out of the stall. The other guys were still browsing around. Xavier had picked his new gym clothes, Sergio found a new sleeveless hoodie, Broderick picked up a neck fan for cooling his face, and Sol and Xerxes found some new pairs of shoes for soccer and exercise, respectively.

After leaving the store, Keanu and Hunter separated from their friends as they took the train back to the campus and the wolves went to their respective homes after a kiss with purchased bags in their hands.

Hunter crossed the pedestrian bridge toward his home apartment building. Coming back home felt new and fresh when he walked into the living room as there was no longer a dense conflict in the air. He knew he was officially free and no longer partially closed in the closet. Hunter smiled; this was his year to make up most of it he couldn't do.

He went into his bedroom where the inflatable mattress where River slept was no longer there on the floor. He had his room back to his own self, but he did enjoy the company of his little brother staying with him every night. He put down the bag of his new spandex shirt on the bed and then heard a knock. He turned around and saw another rare sight, Rylan was standing on the threshold.

"Hey, can I come in?" Rylan said. Hunter knew he had a direct demeanor in his voice that he had come accustomed to before he came out. Rylan was just Rylan. He was just being to his own himself but now opened up.

Hunter smiled. "Sure, come in."

Rylan walked at his own calm pace. It was the first time he ever visited Hunter's bedroom and there was little to see if anything changed in the past year. He mindlessly took the desk seat and sat there across. "Nothing's changed last time I visited here."

Hunter looked around his room. "Can't say much either."

Rylan was quiet and thinking. He slowly said, "So... what have you been doing while I was isolating from you?" He let out a small awkward chuckle.

Hunter snorted a little and replied, "Well, I met someone, his name is Keanu, you have heard of him, right?"

"Yeah, you could not stop talking about him with Mom and Dad, and siblings. I remember in the other semester you brought over a parrot and assumed you were dating him."

"Xavier? Nah, he's straight, he came over to do a project together."

"Huh, I see, anything else?"

Hunter shrugged. "Well, not much, I slowly started to fall in love and Keanu asked me out on a date, and since then, we're now boyfriends."

"Uh, did you... did you avoid bringing him here because of me?"

Hunter lamented that. "Yeah, I have... I didn't want you to... you know."

"Give him the homophobic stink eye?" he sighed.

"Look, he has or had some personal troubles in the past and I didn't want him to get too involved with me and... you and all."

"I know, I get it, I don't even want to know. Aside from that, so, are you going to bring him here now?"

"Yeah, sometime in the future, you're gonna like him; he's sweet, caring, charming, friendly, and..." Hunter blushed, "...and so much to list."

Rylan broke a smile and snorted. "Wow, that's gay. No offense."

"None taken."

"So, how did you find out you like dudes?"

Hunter shrugged. "It's complicated, but it started like a slow burn."

"A slow burn?"

"I don't know what else to put it, but that's the most accurate way to describe it and there were some awakenings here and there before I hit puberty and things slowly started to come around and started to make sense to me and... you know the stuff we go through during puberty."

"You had a wet dream?"

"Yeah, and... looked up on porn, magazines, and..."

"Okay, I get it." Rylan stopped him before Hunter overdone it. "You couldn't find women sexually attractive and men please you more like a fire spreading on a trail of power."

"Yup, that's pretty much it." Hunter and Rylan laughed. After a short pause, Hunter said, "You haven't met someone in high school?"

Rylan shook his head. "I've been busy. And word got out about my homophobia and some people avoided me. I'm... I'm surprised my friends keep me in touch so far for a year despite how I mistreated you."

"You have loyal friends, Rylan, they know you well. They know you're better than that."

"Yeah, I talked to them on the phone about last week. They were glad that I stopped this pathetic phase of mine. They are right, you know. I didn't know when to stop..."

"About Perry, did you talk to him?"

"I'm planning to, he has more right to be mad at me after I kicked him out of the house. I'll figure it out or..."

"I have his phone number and I already talked to him a few days ago. He'll go easy on you."

Rylan was genuinely surprised. "Oh, thanks..."

"No, problem, bro." Hunter smiled. "Hey, guess what, I believe you were the first one in the family to have a girlfriend first."

"Really? I thought Sally was the first one to be in a relationship."

"That was just River teasing her for every boy she talked about, and it was very confusing most of the time that I lost track."

"She might have a secret boyfriend we didn't know about."

"But she is probably now dating that Richard guy from her childhood, so there's that."

"Well... anyways, I... I'm doing a science fair project in school this spring break and I hope you can come if you want."

Hunter's tail wagged. "Really? Cool, what's your project about?"

"Uh, it's too early and we're discussing it, the science teacher just announced this early so we could work on it sooner before the deadline. Uh, what project did you make in your senior year?"

Hunter shrugged embarrassingly. "I made a cheesy volcano and got a D plus."

"Ah, I remembered... you added too much baking soda and it blew up in front of the judges."

"I had to make an essay to compensate for the failed project."

Rylan laughed. "I wish was there to see it, too bad no one recorded it. I just arrived there and found half of your volcano blown off and you covered in lava or whatever you used for lava."

The wolf brothers merrily chatted in the room like old times. It was very refreshing for Hunter and embraced it with all his heart. There wasn't a negative aura from Rylan as they catch up on whatever they had missed in their time apart. Their bond was quickly restored.