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Leo knocked thrice on the large, imposing door, and then waited for an answer. Aidan shifted uncomfortably next to him, "You never told me it was this big."

"Hm, you never asked."

"Well, I mean..." but the cat was cut off as the tired looking vixen creaked the door open again.

"Oh, you're back. And you brought a friend. Well, I dunno if he's still up for visitors, he had his arm dislocated recently. But he's upstairs if you wanna check." She stepped back from the door to allow a narrow passage into the house.

Aidan followed Leo in, avoiding the way that Ryan's mother looked at him. It made him feel awkward. Instead he studied the furnishings as he and Leo walked briskly to the sweeping staircase. "They got some nice stuff." He whispered to Leo so that the vixen could not hear.

"Thanks." She responded anyway.

Leo looked back at the cat, "You do realize that words echo real easy in this house."

"Well I do now." Aidan whispered back, blushing.

"Yeah, it gets really annoying sometimes when Ryan's 'friends' come over."

Leo led the way down the dim corridor, to the room where the ribbon looped over and around, and ABBA was seeping out from under the door. The lion knocked twice, then waited, and knocked again louder.

Inside the room, the sounds of stumbling around and the stereo being turned down preceded the turn of the handle, and the orange head popping out, almost unrecognizable in a blue veil with heavy eye shadow, "Is dinner-oh, Hey guys, heh, just a sec..." Ryan's head popped back into the room, leaving Leo and Aidan snickering outside as the sounds of zippers, stumbling, and, finally, the complete shut off of the stereo emanated from the room.

Eventually, the vulpine head popped back out, sans makeup and jewelry, "Hey guys, I wasn't expecting you."

Leo laughed, "So we see."

"Havin' a little fun there?" Aidan asked teasingly.

"Umm, yeah. Just, you know, practicing. For the school musical."

"I didn't know that Guys and Dolls had Dancing Queen in it."

"They do now." Ryan turned and walked away from the door, letting it open slowly behind him, "Well c'mon in." he said, as the door opened the rest of the way, showcasing the fox's blue thong and loose tee shirt covering him, hiding from behind the white sling covered in multi colored Sharpie doodles that his arm lay in.

The couple walked in carefully, and picked a place to sit. Leo flopped into a wicker chair which whined loudly at the sudden weight, and Aidan tried to sit on what looked like a tangled blue satin blanket on the bed, but sprang back up instantly, holding his rear. "Ow! What the hell's under that thing?"

Ryan blushed and shuffled over to grab the pile of women's clothes in his unhurt arm, a tiara falling from the bundle to clink on the floor as he tried to shove it in the closet. "Heh, sorry."

Ryan sat in a hot pink butterfly chair nearby, crossing his legs and leaning forward, "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of another visit from Leo?" his head flopped over to look at Aidan, "And his kitty?"

Leo smiled at the fox, "Oh, you know Ryan, just checkin' in on ya, 'cause you haven't been in school for awhile."

Ryan rolled his eyes dramatically, "Sheesh, I skip three days of school and suddenly everyone's all worked up."

Aidan said in a low, confused voice to the fox, "Well, we were worried because you got hurt , Ryan. Pretty bad."

"Oh..." the teen's ears folded back, his eyes lowered down to his colorful sling watching as the fingers that protruded from the white apparatus flexed in a testing rhythm, "Yeah, I guess I was."

Leo offered softly, "Well, we didn't tell anyone. Like you asked."

"Oh, yeah, thanks" Ryan's eyes glanced up for a second at the lion, "You're a really good friend," then moved his gaze to the black and white cat, "You too. Thanks a bunch guys." He looked back down at the injured arm and sighed. "I shoulda said something earlier, though."

Leo looked at him oddly, "Earlier?"

Ryan sighed, gazing directly at the floor, ears flat on his head, "Yeah. I went to the principal halfway through the next day, after I'd calmed down."

After a second pf waiting, Aidan fidgeted, and asked softly, "And..?"

Ryan sniffled back a sob, "And he said that he couldn't do anything. I had lied to the cops. And it sounded like I was the one who got Sorto all worked up to begin with anyway." The fox began to cry softly.

Aidan was stunned, and barely managed to stammer, "But, but he, he was attacking me. It was a defense."

"He said I didn't go looking for a responsible adult. As if there was one still there that I could find." Ryan hid his eyes in his one good arm and began sobbing harder.

Aidan stood hesitantly, and picked his way over to the crying figure and leaned down to hug him reassuringly, patting his back as it shook with sobs. "Shh, it'll be okay, Ryan. He'll get his karma."

Ryan nuzzled into Aidan's shirt, soaking it and streaking the little bits of eyeliner he had missed into the bright fabric, "But he's still free, and he hates us both, and he could attack us at any moment Aidan." The fox rubbed his drippy nose into the cat's abdomen.

Leo had at some point stood and walked up behind the other two, "I won't let that happen."

Ryan looked up slowly at the lion, "Please, Leo, I don't want you to get kicked out of school. Aidan'd never forgive me."

"I don't care, the school's stupid anyway. They're not gonna help, we'll help ourselves, right?"

Ryan sniffled, "Okay, I guess. Thanks Leo."

Aidan looked up at his mate, "Yeah, thanks, hon." then motioned to the larger male to join in the hug.

Leo walked over and rested his palm on Aidan's shoulder, only to be grabbed by the two smaller males and pulled down into the hug. He hugged both back closely, purring softly.

Right about then, Ryan's younger sister opened the door a crack, sticking just her muzzle into the bedroom, "Hey, Queenie, hate to interrupt the love fest, but Mom told me to tell you dinner's ready. Your friends gotta go home."

Leo rose from the hug, followed slowly by Aidan. But it was Ryan who spoke first, "Dammit Christy, these are just friends!" he yelled at the door, then said softly to the other two, "Thanks guys, you were great."

"Oh yeah, now I really believe you weren't just having sex." The vixen chided from the door before running off down the hall.

Ryan yelled after her, "Goddammit girl one of these days I'm gonna get you!" Then, standing and walking over to a pair of jeans on a nearby chair he said warmly, "Y'all come back anytime, okay. I'll be back in school on Monday."

"Okay, bye Ryan." Aidan said, heading for the door. "Have nice days."

"Yeah, see you at school, Foxy." Leo said, following Aidan out the door.

The couple stood on the curb next to the cycle, Aidan licking his fingers and trying to clean the mascara off his shirt as they pondered what to do for the rest of the day, before the planned dinner at Leo's house.

Aidan opened his mouth, then lowered his head again, shaking. Then raised it slowly again, "Well, there's always Willowbrook Mall."

Leo tilted his head to the side curiously, "Where's that?"

Aidan reacted in surprise, "You don't know? It's just down 249. I can show ya if you head back towards the neighborhood."

Leo shrugged, "Okay, sure." And got on the bike, followed by Aidan, and they drove off back in the direction of home.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived outside the mall, and strolled in through the Sears entrance, Aidan stopping to hold the door for a woman with a new vacuum cleaner before entering.

The two teens wandered through the appliances, Aidan dragging Leo along 'the scenic route' to see the power tools, and then slid into the main hall of the mall.

"So, Aidan, uh, what's in this place?"

Aidan glanced around him, "Well, last time I was here, that weird shiny playground wasn't there," said the kitty, pointing toward an enclosed area full of fiberglass play equipment and cubs. "But there're a whole buncha places, other than these trashy clothes stores," he said with a dismissing wave of his paw toward the giant posters of males stripping off their shirts outside the Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle. Aidan watched a couple and their kid walk past in a hurry, then turned to Leo, "Yeah.. heh.. Well... Umm.. wanna just wander?"

"Heh, sure, c'mon, hon." Leo said with a pat on Aidan's rear, making the kitty laugh...

"Heh, thanks, Leo." He said as he led his mate down the hallways.

They wandered past furniture stores and Discovery Channel through an oddly placed seating area and decided to take the fork going away from the food court. "You sure you remember this mall, Aidan?" Leo asked wonderingly as yet another different store surprised the cat he followed.

"Well, really, these commercial places change so much. And I really don't have much money usually, so there's no real point."

Just then, a flash of something caught Leo's eye, "Hey look, an arcade!" he exclaimed with a point.

"Weow, that is new.." the kitty tour guide mused.

"C'mon Hon, let's see what they got, Okay?" the lion said as he grasped the slight black wrist and ran toward the dark nook.

Aidan ran trippingly after the lion, laughing gaily as they ran up to the quarter machine and exchanged a five.

The cat placed his paw under his chin and slowly turned, studying the machines and deciding what to play as the machine spat quarters, pausing on Ms. Pac-Man before continuing on.

Leo, on the other paw, spotted his desired game almost instantly after collecting the change, and, grabbing Aidan by the wrist, ran up to it.

A large console loomed over the two, lights flashing and music playing as the demo dude danced on screen, Leo leaned on the bars between them and the dance pad. "Let's do this, okay?"

Aidan glanced the machine up and down, pondering, then said, "I guess. I've never tried before, really."

"Oh but it's so much fun, you gotta try."

Aidan watched the arrows light in fast, unpredictable patterns, "Uhh... I'm not sure that I could keep up.."

The lion grabbed his mate, pulling him close and saying into his ear, "Well you keep up pretty quickly in bed."

Aidan laughed and punched his lover playfully, "That doesn't count."

Leo smirked, "Okay, fine, but regardless, do you wanna try anyway?"

Aidan sighed, watching the squares on the dance pad again, then straightened up, a smirk playing across his lips, "You know what? Sure, Let's do it!" He decided out loud, jumping over the railing onto the squares, which raised a scold from a mangy worker-

"Hey! Don't screw up the machines!"

The teen ducked his ears, responding, "Sorry. Didn't think..."

"Yeah you didn't." The worker interrupted before turning back to his job.

Leo stepped on the pad next to his cat, patting his back, "Don't worry, these guys can only feel powerful from bossing others around."

"Yeah, I know. But eh, c'est la vie." Aidan said with a smirk to his lion. "Now how do you get this thing started?"

Leo smirked and started the game, advising the newbie as to what level and song to play. Aidan obediently listened, following his parts and finally getting through the set up screens.

A robot background appeared on screen as the music started slowly, a techno flavor already evident as the arrows began to appear. Aidan stepped, keeping up pretty easily at first, but as the arrows increased, he found it more and more difficult to get it right each time. Glancing over at Leo, it seemed as if his arrows came at the same speed, just in higher numbers, but Leo just kept getting perfects, making it look effortless. Aidan looked back up at his screen, only to realize that the distraction had made him do much worse, and that he could barely keep up.

Finally, the music stopped, and Aidan collapsed backwards onto the bar, panting slightly in frustration. "Well. You won outright."

Leo grabbed the cat as he was turning to step off, "Whoa, wait on that, we got two more rounds to go here."

"What?! There're two more? Great. Is there an easier song we can do?"

"Hmm, lemme look." Leo began surfing through the songs again, finally lighting on...

"Let's groove tonight? Is that disco?"

"Uh, yeah, it's a disco song."

"Hm, cool. As long as it's a little easier."

"Eh, it goes slower."

"Well okay."

The music started, and as the arrows came, Aidan found it a little harder to stay perfectly on beat, but as the song progressed he could tell, "Yeah! I'm missing fewer!"

"Yeah, told you so." Leo said, his hind paws going at what seemed to Aidan to be amazing speeds, hitting right each time. And watching his lion move so gracefully with the music was almost Aidan's downfall, until he snapped out of it and dragged his gaze back to his screen and, finding that he'd fallen behind, began to almost panickedly try and make up for it.

By the time that he'd caught back up entirely, the song was ending. Leaving one more to go. "Hey Leo, I really don't think that it matters at this point how well I do anymore. Choose whatever song you like."

"Mmm, alright." Leo said, taking time to surf through, finally selecting a song called Max 7.

An incredibly fast techno beat came up, followed almost immediately by the arrows.

Aidan tried about three steps, then stopped, stuck his paws toward the ground, shaking his head, "You know what? I think I'll sit this one out. Listen, Leo, I'm gonna go get some coke, you want a drink?"

Leo said quickly, "Uhh.. anything's fine," never turning from his step screen.

"Okay, I'll be back. Have fun." Aidan resisted the urge to smack the flexing lion ass before him as he turned toward the hall.

Weaving through the crowd at lunch in the tables, Aidan tried finding the fast food joint with the cheapest drinks, when he heard his name called, "Hey Aidan!"

He looked around, confused, finally spotting a waving figure, that cheetah... the one from the shower... he'd seen him around, why did he want Aidan? And what the hell was his name. Aidan was so bad with names sometimes. "Hey! Imagine running into you here." The frustrated cat finally settled on as he and the cheetah approached each other.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Heh, I was just doing some shopping." The cheetah replied, (grr, he was an athlete, what was his name?), lifting a wrist from which dangled assorted bags.

"Yes, I see that. I was just hanging out with my boiuh.. f-friend, Leo."

"Oh really?" the cheetahs brow furrowed a little, "Where is that ol' lion? I don't see him anywhere."

"Back at the arcade, I was just getting drinks."

"Ah, okay. Well, I gotta run. Maybe I'll catch you later?" the cheetah boy asked, almost hopefully.

"Uhh., sure. See ya then."

The cheetah smiled broadly and turned, waving, "Bye Aidan! Have a nice day!"

"You too!" Aidan forced out, waving back as he turned to the restaurant he'd picked whilst making small talk.

Meanwhile, Rabu sighed in relief as he walked away, looking as if a weight were lifted from him as he thought to himself, 'Okay, everything went smooth. He can't suspect from that. Now, where is that arcade?'

Aidan had to dodge a couple of kids as they ran from the same employee who had yelled at him, and almost dropped the cardboard cups as he walked back into the arcade. From somewhere in the back, the kitty heard music. "Oi, he's at it again," he muttered as he strolled to the back, and was taken aback when he saw not only Leo jumping and gyrating to the game, but Rabu, too. "Umm, hey guys. I brought the drinks. Rabu, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Well, yeah, I was just walking by, thought this might be the arcade you mentioned, and decided to visit Leo, too. Hang out with you two a bit."

"Ah, okay. Well, I didn't get you a cola, but I have yours, Leo."

"Uh-huh, thanks." Leo said, trying to stay focused on his screen as the song neared its end.

The song ended, and Leo moved to choose the next, but Rabu's paw on his shoulder stayed him, "Hey wait a sec, lemme pick the next one, Leo." The cheetah turned and flashed a smile at Aidan, "Watch this." His paw moved deftly, rotating the counter to Afronova, and he assumed the position as the song began to play. Leo stood up and readied himself.

The song got going, and Rabu began to gyrate to the game's directions, hitting most of the arrows, shaking his bum at the black and white cat as he followed the flashing lights. Simultaneously, Leo kept up perfectly with the arrows, well, mostly perfectly, concentrating on the screen as his footpaws moved in conjunction with the character on screen.

Halfway through a turn around in which he paid special attention to moving his hips, Rabu turned to smile and wink at Aidan. But the teen had his gaze elsewhere. 'Dammit! Leo wasn't even doing it with special flair, yet Aidan seems much more intent on him for some reason. Time for this cheetah to step up his game.' Thought Rabu as he casually undid the top few buttons on his shirt and the sweat dripped off his body.

Leo had begun to tire, and Rabu noticed this with satisfaction as he really began to throw himself into the song, not even panting as his whole body lithely moved and spun, still stepping greatly as his tail whipped around, accentuating each step. He got so into trying to impress the cat that he forgot to check how it was working until the song was done, and his points racked up just a bit higher than the lion's. "Yes! I won, how about that Aidan?" he looked back, "Aidan?"

But he was already bringing the cold soda to Leo, speaking softly to him, getting soft messages back.

And then the awful truth struck Rabu, hard. He couldn't win the cat, he was already won. Just look at the way that they look at each other. He had some competition. He buttoned up his shirt, straightened up, and began to walk proudly toward the door.

Leo turned to look at the retreating figure and shouted, "Hey, Rabu! Good game!"

Rabu froze in place a second, then turned slowly, "Yes it is. See you at school." And walked out towards the mall exit.