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Kevin was pleasantly surprised that Joseph turned out to be one of the project supervisors.

This was the third project he got, and he must say, he was satisfied. The work was manual and demanding, and on some days, he slept on a pile of tarps behind an unfinished stage, but the pay was great and he had a lot of downtime when he wasn't on a project. His job description was pretty much still the same, but he was glad about it. This time, he was working at the same hotel again but for a different event.

With his tray full of food, the red wolf walked away from the serving tables and looked around the dining hall. Most tables were already occupied. However, he spotted Joseph eating alone at a table. Being one of the supervisors, it seemed like people would reconsider to sit down with him. Feeling social, he walked to the white wolf's table. Hopefully, Joseph wouldn't mind company.

"Hey, Joseph." He greeted the white wolf when he was by the table. "Do you mind?"

Joseph looked rather surprised. "Oh, Kevin, no, no. Go ahead."

Kevin sat down and grinned. "So, with you being a supervisor, should I call you Hár Joseph now?" He joked to ease the mood.

The white wolf chuckled. "I'm neither grey nor wise."

He just laughed before eating.

They ate their food in companionable silence. Kevin could feel Joseph staring at him, but he didn't pay any attention. He was comfortable having another wolf around, anyway, since it wasn't often that he met another wolf in the city. He hoped that Joseph also felt the same.

Oh yeah, he also hoped he wasn't making a bad impression since he had a feeling that Joseph was someone whose bad side he shouldn't try to be on.

He reached for his drink and leant back on the seat, gulping his food and drinking as he looked at the smaller wolf in front of him. He wondered how old he was since he mentioned a few times that he couldn't supervise because he had classes. "Hey, Joseph, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?"

Joseph looked up at him. "I'm 20 years old." He drank some water. "How about you?"

"I'm 25 here."

"Wow." He gave a chuckle. "Seems like I should be the one calling you Hár Kevin."

Kevin chuckled at that. "Go ahead, it's about time."

They laughed.

"That's great for you to already become a supervisor when you're still 20 years old, though." He continued while eating.

Joseph smiled. "I'm thankful for it, even though sometimes I feel like I'm the intern supervisor."

"Hey, an intern supervisor is still a supervisor."

"I mean, yeah, but still. Sometimes I feel like I get the job only to literally watch you guys and be a question board." The white wolf chuckled.

Kevin shrugged. "That sounds like easy money for me, not gonna lie."

Unexpectedly, Joseph laughed. "Damn, yeah, you're right." He continued eating, shaking his head gently. After swallowing, he asked the bigger wolf. "Oh yeah, are all the cables ready for installation tomorrow?"

Kevin mrf'ed in agreement, still munching on his food.

"Nice. How about the lights?"

Kevin swallowed before answering. "The lights are also ready, but we only have 20 now. There are 10 more but they haven't arrived yet. Probably would be delivered tomorrow morning. I checked with Chris earlier."

Nodding in approval, Joseph pushed his now empty plate away and drank. "They said they'd deliver them all today." He grunted.

"Maybe they just had some technical issues, don't worry. Besides, it's not that far out of schedule."

"I guess yeah, you're right."

Joseph took his phone and replied to messages. Meanwhile, Kevin continued eating his food, occasionally glancing at the smaller wolf in front of him. Honestly, Joseph was handsome, and his white fur looked so clean and beautiful.

Kevin grinned and shook his head gently, finishing his food.

Now finished, he looked around. People were leaving the dining hall already. The clock above the serving tables showed that it was five minutes past twenty. He finished his drink; no wonder it was getting empty. It was dinner time for the guests and most people who were working for the same event as him already went home.

He took his phone and checked the notifications. There were some new messages from Shaun asking when he would come home. He replied to them that he was going home soon.

There were also messages from Octo. The panther said that tomorrow he would be officially recovered. He was already planning to go back to Barrowisle.

Kevin smiled at the messages. It seemed that now they really have moved on. It had been a month since their first meeting in the city park. They didn't talk about their breakup, but they were contacting each other again. They still chatted with each other, even sharing photos sometimes.

It really did feel like burdens were lifted from his shoulders.

He sent the panther a reply. "Nice. Don't forget to get a cake to celebrate it ???? Oh wait don't, you can't eat cake yet"

"Anyway, Kevin, you're going home soon?"

He looked up from his phone. Joseph was looking at him. "Yeah, I'm gonna go home soon."

"Ah, alright. I thought you were gonna stay here for the night."

Giving a chuckle, Kevin finished his drink. "I mean I'm fine with it if it's counted as overtime." He paused, then he realised something. "Wait, you mean stay here as in here in a hotel room?"

"Yeah. You can stay here for free if you want during the duration of your freelancing as long as it's for work." Joseph explained.

"Huh, I can do that?"

"Yeah, just say to the receptionist that you're working for the February event and staying for the night."

He leant back on the chair, scratching his cheek. "Oh, wow, why do I know about this just now? I could've used it when I needed it last week." He gave a small laugh.

Joseph chuckled. "If they ask you about it, just say Joseph is taking care of it. Though they shouldn't ask much since it's not the first time it happened anyway."

"Huh, sounds like your name carries quite a weight there."

The smaller wolf only gave a nonchalant shrug.

Kevin stared at Joseph incredulously. Joseph stared back at Kevin innocently. Then, the red wolf said, "Fine, keep your secrets." He chuckled. "I'm gonna take that up tomorrow if you don't mind."

The white wolf gave a mrf in approval.

"Anyway, I think I'm gonna go home now." Kevin said, putting his phone back into his pocket. "Evening, Hár Joseph."

Joseph huffed in amusement. "Evening, evening."

He picked his empty plate and glass up and walked away from the table. He put them down on the dirty dishes table and walked back to the lift, going back into the event room where he put his bag. He caught a peek of the dining room for the guests, and he let out a fond chuckle at that.

Upstairs was already empty, and he only saw Chris, Hystán, and a new, seemingly older wolf with light grey fur wearing a suit. His instincts told him to go there and greet the new wolf, but he held back and only politely smiled at them when he walked by. Surprisingly, the new wolf's smile was wide, as if he was pleasantly surprised. Kevin replied with a smile of course, "Excuse me, I'm going home."

They replied "Thanks for today." and "Careful on the way home.", and the older wolf also gave him another smile and a... friendly growl?

Huh, seems like wolves really do stick together here, he thought to himself when he walked into the backroom.

He quickly took his bag and checked if anything was in order, then put his jacket on and walked out. He wanted to test that theory again, so when he walked past them, he gave another friendly growl and a polite nod.

The light grey wolf growled friendly again at him, and Kevin couldn't help but smile widely.

_That was interesting,_he thought to himself as he took the lift and out of the building.

Walking towards the nearest bus stop, Kevin put his hands in his pockets. He looked up at the twinkling lights of the city, kicking a pile of snow as he did so. He looked around and smiled; Ausalt-on-Haye was the financial centre of the country for a reason. Here near the city centre, everyone seemed to sleep much later. It was a stark contrast to the suburbs where he lived. Buildings were high and bright as if bringing the stars from the night sky down to the ground. The busy honking of cars, buses, and trams was a common sound, a far cry from the peaceful quietness he was familiar with.

He arrived at the bus stop, and thankfully, a bus came about five minutes later.

Getting onto the bus, Kevin tapped his phone on the register and sat down. He unlocked his phone and opened the group chat. Octo panther: "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you guys I'm gonna be fully discharged tomorrow finallyyyyy"

Max Barrowisle: "Thank god congratsss"

Nate croc: "Yoooo panther!!!"

Octo panther: "Finally I can go back to Barrowisle. Ausalt-on-Haye is good but it's only 3/10 not recommended."

Kevin chuckled. He could personally attest to that. He smiled and typed his reply even though he already replied to the news in the personal chat. "Congrats dude!!!"

For now, he locked his phone and pocketed it. He looked out the window and sighed, crossing his arms. Everything was going well. Slowly, sure, but everything was going well. His finances and his mother's condition were getting better. His relationship with Octo was also being repaired, even though they were no longer boyfriends.

Maybe this really was the best course of action. He smiled to himself. The road ahead was still far, but this time, he was determined to catch the bricks that life threw at him and pave his path with them.

He leant back on the seat, closing his eyes as the bus brought him home.

---

"I'm not gonna lie, Barrowisle is tempting me to move here."

Hearing that, Max gave a chuckle and leant back on the seat. On the seat in front of him was Hans, freshly showered after visiting Tom this morning. When his family heard that Tom was injured, they really wanted to visit, but mainly thanks to Hans having difficulties clearing his schedule, they had to wait almost two months for that.

Now, under the excuse of the new year holiday which he should've gotten in January, the older shepherd could finally come and visit. His parents and sister were still at Tom's flat, whereas Hans took Max out for lunch. Now, here they were, cups of coffee on their table and waiting for their food.

"Come join. There's a reason I chose to move here." replied Max with a smile.

The small talk was enough to make him calm down because even though he looked fine on the outside, he was very concerned and anxious on the inside. Tom was recovering well, he knew, but every time he saw the wolf lying on the bed, he was reminded of what happened a year ago. Even worse, the first time he saw Tom unconscious on the hospital berth, he felt as if he was having a panic attack.

The wolf comforted and assured him that he was fine, or at least would be fine. He kept saying that this wasn't really something weird for him and that he was used to this. However, it only worried Max even more--no one should really have the experience to say that.

"Lucky guy." Hans then said, making Max look up at him. "Lucky, reckless, or simply a survivor, I cannot tell."

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

Hans took a sip from his coffee. "Tom." He simply replied.

Max looked at him, expression concerned. Normally, he would be rather put off if someone described Tom as such, but coming from Hans, it was concerning. "What about him?"

Leaning back on his seat, Hans took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "He's been through a lot. It shows."

While he really wanted to believe that his brother meant that in the context of this incident, he knew that his brother meant that generally. Of course, being a nurse, Hans would be able to look at someone's scars and imagine what gave those scars and how old they were. Taking another deep sigh, Max finished his coffee and leant forward on the table. He gave a small whine of discomfort.

Hans looked down at him, sympathy on his face.

They went back to the uncomfortable atmosphere they wanted to leave back in his flat.

"Here's your food."

The waiter seemed to also pick up their discomfort. She only offered a gentle smile as she put the plates and glasses down. Hans said a small "thank you" as she did, whereas Max only groggily sat back up and took a deep breath.

They ate in silence, well, more like Hans ate in silence whereas Max only took a few bites from his pie. His mind was instead not there; thinking of scenarios he'd been trying to avoid. He knew he really needed to calm down and get a hold of himself if he were to take care of Tom, but that was easier said than done.

He prayed that this would be it, that there would be no more incidents like this.

Ah, that reminded him of something. "Hans?"

The older shepherd grunted and looked at him, still chewing his food.

"I..." He leant back on the seat and crossed his arms.

Hans swallowed his food. "Yeah, Rob?"

_How should I say this..._Scratching his ear, Max looked away. "You know, sometimes... sometimes I think Tom doesn't really trust me."

That piqued Hans' interest as well as concern. "What do you mean?"

Max closed his eyes, scratched his cheek, waved his tail, and finally took a deep breath. "He's... a few days ago--well, actually it's been since he woke up, Tom and Octo, they've been talking quite a lot." He started. "I know they're close, and no, I'm not jealous, but they seem to hide something."

Hans gave a mrf in acknowledgement.

"It's like, they're talking about stuff, and I'm sure it's about what happened to them, with this incident."

"How do you know that?" asked the older shepherd.

"Well, call it a hunch, and Octo... uh... he has a small quirk that he does when he... well, not lie, but when he's not telling the whole truth. And lately it usually happens when we're talking about this incident."

Giving a nod, Hans took a gulp from his orange juice. "Well, do you _really_want to know what they've been talking about?"

Max opened his mouth to say yes, then closed it, then looked down at his food. He sighed, then gripped his head as he leant forward. "...I don't know." He opened his eyes and found his food staring back at him. "But I can feel that it's something important."

The older shepherd gently put the glass down and smiled softly. "There must be a reason why they're not telling you. Maybe it's only about them both, maybe they think it doesn't concern you." He shrugged. "There must be a reason."

Instead of making him feel better, that only made him feel worse. "So, they're sidelining me..." He said dejectedly. "and they don't trust me."

"No, no, I didn't mean that." Hans quickly remedied. He chewed his food before swallowing. "No, it's not that. It's not that they don't trust you, but more like they don't trust themselves."

Max leant back on the chair, looking at his brother with a face full of distress.

"Maybe they don't know how to tell you, maybe it really doesn't concern you. Either way, they'll tell you when they're ready."

That line instantly reminded him of what Tom told him back during university. I'll tell you when we're ready, he remembered Tom saying. He took a deep sigh. Looking back at it now, he now realised just how heavy those words were. Whatever Tom was sure they weren't ready for, he found out that he was indeed not ready.

The same thing was likely also happening right now. Whatever they were hiding--if they really were hiding something in the first place--they must think that Max wasn't ready for that. Knowing that, now he felt rather guilty and not ready. They were protecting him.

There must be a reason indeed. In time, they would tell him.

Hans snapped his fingers, the noise surprising Max. "Hey, dude. You've been staring off for five mins now."

Taking another sigh, Max sat up. "Yeah." He took his utensils. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just... concerned." He cut a piece of the pie and ate it, looking back at his brother with a small, forced smile. Only then he noticed that Hans' plate was already empty.

Wow, he was really distracted, wasn't he?

Hans gave a gentle chuckle. "Still an airhead, huh?"

Max grunted. "You're the airheaded one in the room."

Hans smiled and shook his head.

That seemed to lift the mood up a bit. He ate the pie, still in silence, but at least it was more comfortable now. Hans was checking his phone, occasionally giving a chuckle.

After finishing the pie, Max shifted on the seat and closed his eyes to calm himself more. Tom was fine and he was on his way to recovery. Octo was also fine and on his way to recovery, and from what he knew, going forward with his long-time dream of building a restaurant. Kevin was... it had been a while since he last heard from the red wolf, but from the tone he used when talking in the group chat, he seemed to be alright. His job was disrupted, along with many others, but with the situation getting better, it should be back to normal soon.

A police car went by, reminding him that everything was safe.

He opened his eyes and took a gulp from his orange juice. "So, how's work?" He asked his brother, wanting the conversation to continue.

Hearing that question, Hans grunted, putting his phone down. "I need more holidays." He clicked his tongue. "A month, maybe two."

Max chuckled. "Too many patients?"

"I have so many patients left yet so little patience left!" This time, it was his turn to lean backwards on the table and give a growl. "At this rate, I'll be able to take an unpaid month off and still get my salary. I've been sleeping in the hospital these past few days, for god's sake!"

Max reached out and petted his brother's head. "There, there. Also pay for my lunch, okay?"

"Fuck you. Sure, but fuck you."

Max chuckled at that.

---

Notes:

Hár Joseph = Mr/Sir Joseph

Hár as a title literally means "the grey one, the experienced one, the wise one", hence Joseph's joke of him being neither grey nor wise.