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Sorry this is late. If you read my journal you'll know why. Anyway, can anyone point out any big errors I may have made. Any criticisms, comments, votes etc. would be greatly appreciated. Happy reading and sorry again that it's late ^_^'' and YAY! I just passed the 10,000 views mark ^_^ oh and I'll get back to responding to all your comments tommoz, I've been kind of busy but thanks for all of them :)

College Life: Chapter 4

"Oh Diego..." Leo felt his muzzle becoming wet as he struggled to keep his own tears back. The two males held each other for five minutes until their tears were exhausted. Leo stroked the tiger's face. "I'm so sorry Diego; so so sorry."

Diego sniffed and wiped away the last of the tears. Leo pulled the tiger close to him and held him there. He didn't want to let Diego go, as if just holding him near could stop him being hurt and stop him from suffering.

"Uh Leo..."

"I'm not letting you go" The wolf whimpered.

"We need to discuss treatments with the doctor." Diego said. Leo didn't want to. He didn't want to accept that it was cancer. The second they discussed treatments it would be real and unavoidable. The wolf wasn't ready for that though. He felt the tiger getting up and pulling him with him into the doctor's room. A young leopard was sitting at the desk wearing the stereotypical white doctor's coat and giving the couple an apologetic smile

"Well you're both medical students. I guess you know what's going to happen next."

"Well, you wanted a colonoscopy so its presumably colorectal cancer. In which case presumably a colorectomy accompanied with adjunctive and perhaps neoadjuvant chemotherapy? Probably not radiotherapy since that poses the risk of radiation enteritis since it's difficult to accurately target the cancerous tissue. Um I dunno, is there immunotherapy for colorectal cancer?"

"Pretty much yeah, and for the moment there is no specific confirmed immunotherapy techniques for cancer. " The doctor, a young leopard, replied. "The sooner we start everything the better and the better for Diego's chance of survival." Leo didn't like that word 'chance'. It implied that a cure may not be likely and implied that there was a 'chance' that Diego wouldn't survive; that Diego could die. He couldn't bring himself to suggest that it is easily possible for metastasis of the cancer to occur based on the large intestine's function within the body. Leo had done a great deal of personal research into cancer prior to medical school as it has been his chosen topic of research for his extended project qualification (a research project which was more about planning than about the quality of the project produced). In other words Leo knew roughly as much about cancer as most medical graduates but his knowledge of chemotherapeutic agents wasn't up to scratch he would always admit. However, it was times like these that he wished that he didn't know so much about how fatal cancer could be. Diego looked at him, slightly impressed and slightly shocked that the wolf knew so much about his condition.

"Anyway the soonest we could book you in for surgery would be 2 days from now, are you ok for that?" The doctor asked turning to Diego. He nodded in response.

"You'll obviously have to have some chemotherapy as adjunctive therapy but I don't think you'll need neoadjuvant therapy, hopefully prompt surgery should solve most problems. We'll probably give you 5-fluorouracil for 3-6 months as well as chemotherapy. " The doctor told Diego Leo reached out to take Diego's paw so the tiger knew that he was there for him. Diego smiled and squeezed the wolf's paw, giving him a weak smile.

"I understand" Diego replied then growled as he felt the cramps coming back. "Is there a-"

"Toilet's just across the hall" Diego left the room in a hurry leaving Leo alone with the doctor.

"I'm sorry about all of this" The doctor stated, "Cancer is never easy to deal with."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," the wolf replied with a sigh, "You're just doing your job."

"Sorry is a sentiment. I don't need to be at fault to feel it." Leo chuckled at the doctor's words causing the leopard to give him a confused look.

"Sorry, that's my line. I always say that too." The wolf explained. The doctor gave an approving nod.

"You two are together aren't you?"

"Yeah. We only met last week as well, and now here we are" Leo sighed.

"He's very lucky to have you. You seem to know what you're talking about and I'm sure you'll be there for him over these next few months." Leo nodded in response.

"Just between you and me, what do you honestly think are the chances of metastasis having occurred and what do you think for his chance of survival?" Leo asked. The doctor was taken aback, not by the question, but by the whole change in the wolf's attitude. The cool demeanour of the wolf had all but vanished and he was like a vulnerable cub who was worried as to whether or not his partner was going to survive.

"I honestly don't know so I'm not going to lie." Leo nodded in response. It wasn't surprising really, but he wanted as much information as possible, anything he could use to help or support Diego.

"I can't believe I actually mistook cancer for food poisoning. I feel like such an idiot. I can't believe I let him down like that." Diego entered before the doctor had a chance to respond.

"Ok. I'll book you in for surgery in two days time and we'll start the chemotherapy course the week after alright?" The tiger nodded his approval. "Was there more blood?" The tiger nodded again. The doctor sighed. "Let me see if I can switch the surgeries about and get you in for tomorrow."

The doctor left the room to find one of the senior surgeons.

"Diego I'm so sorry I didn't see the signs." Diego took the wolf's paw in his and kissed it lightly.

"It's ok Leo. Don't blame yourself; you'll only make me more upset." Leo kissed the tiger's paw.

The doctor came back into the room and sat down at his desk once more.

"I can arrange for tomorrow if that's ok with you." Diego nodded. "Ok then. I'll need to take one more blood test to make sure you're good for anaesthetic. Just don't eat or drink anything after 6AM tomorrow morning. Oh and you don't have to stay around for the blood test results. If anything is wrong we'll call you otherwise we'll see you here tomorrow at 11.30 AM.

The tiger and wolf thanked the leopard and left. It was late in the afternoon. Neither of them was in any mood to do anything for the rest of the day so they just headed back to Diego's room and cuddled for the rest of the evening. As it approached 11 in the evening Leo got up to go to his room. Diego whimpered and pulled him back into bed.

"Please stay with me tonight." Diego wrapped his big arms around the wolf and held him close. Leo chuckled to himself.

"Of course hun. Just let me get changed." The wolf took off his clothes until he was only in his boxers. Diego did the same and they both got under the covers.

"I love you Diego." The wolf whispered as the tiger nuzzled him from behind.

"I love you too Leo" The two smiled and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Leo's alarm woke the couple at 7.30. Diego merely yawned, hugged the wolf and rolled over, bringing the wolf with him.

"Hey Mr. muscled sleepy head" Leo whispered.

"Hey yourself" The tiger whispered back as he nuzzled the wolf.

"How you feeling?" The wolf asked as he turned round in his lover's arm and planted a kiss on the tiger's stripy muzzle.

"Not bad, stomach still hurts"

"Awwwr" The wolf licked the tiger on the nose, "Oh, who should we get to copy the lecture notes while you're having your operation?"

"Can't you do it?" The tiger asked with a frown.

"No, I want to be with you when you wake up from the anaesthesia. Its gonna be a hard road ahead and you might as well wake up to it by seeing someone as handsome as me waiting at your bedside" Diego chuckled to himself.

"That would be kinda nice" He admitted. "Oh and I'd say TJ should be up to it."

"The Rottweiler?"

"Yeah, me and him are work out buddies. His notes are usually in good order as well. More than I can say for yours anyway" Diego quipped causing the wolf to cringe.

"My notes are in good order, they just aren't legible most of the time. That's how a good doctor's handwriting should be." Leo rubbed his silver grey tail up Diego's exposed leg causing the tiger to quiver.

"Go get your coffee" Diego said with a chuckle as he pushed Leo out of bed. He didn't need a horny wolf on his paws at this hour of the morning.

Leo stuck his tongue out as he turned and left the room. A second after he left there was a knock at the door. Diego got out of bed and opened it to see the wolf standing in the corridor wearing only his boxers.

"Forgot my clothes" The wolf muttered staring at the ground.

"Gimme a kiss and I might let you have them." Leo looked up and planted a quick kiss on Diego's muzzle before stepping round him, grabbing his clothes off the floor, and getting changed. Diego merely shook his head at the whole scene and went back to his bed.

Leo had a coffee and decided to have some of his special K as well. Who says special K only has to be for woman? He thought as he finished off the last of the bowl of cereal. He made his way back down to the tiger's room and knocked on it again. A sleepy Diego slowly trudged over to the door.

"Leo I love you and all but do you have to keep getting me out of bed?" The tiger said stifling a yawn.

"I forgot I left my books and stuff in here from last night. Besides, I'll be waking you up at 11 anyway. You ready for today?"

"Nothing I can do about it really. Being nervous about something which I can't change, and which will only benefit me in the long run, would be counterproductive." Leo and Diego shared a brief kiss and the wolf smiled at the tiger.

"Alright my big brave tiger. I'll see you at 11." Leo turned and left for their lecture. He felt bad about Diego missing so many lectures. Since the tiger had started feeling unwell he'd only attended one of their lectures. Leo knew that under some circumstances the college would allow a student to stop partway through the year if there was a drastic change to their circumstance which resulted in them possibly needing to repeat a year to avoid being disadvantaged for exams. Leo didn't want to be selfish, but he wanted the tiger to stay in the same class as him, even if it meant teaching all the material to the tiger himself.

Meanwhile Diego yawned once more and was tempted to go back to his bed but decided to write in his diary since he'd missed the previous day's entry. He was tempted to spill a few drops of blood on the page but decided to draw a sad face instead. Who knew what effect cutting himself today could have on the upcoming operation. As of yet he certainly didn't know.

Leo sat through another pathology lecture taking the notes for himself and Diego. This lecture was on apoptosis, what it was, why it happened, the mechanisms whereby it occurred and related tumour suppressor genes and other genes involved in the process. Leo knew about it all already and despite trying to focus his mind couldn't stop wondering about Diego. Leo's biggest fear was that the cancer had metastasised. He knew that if it made it to the liver then Diego's prognosis would be a poor one. Poor Diego, as well as the cancer, he was missing out on the second fresher's week that only the medics got. Admittedly Leo himself wasn't going to the events, but his lover was more important than going out and getting drunk or getting random other freebies. The wolf suddenly found that the lecture had finished and that the rest of his class were packing away their things. He realised that he'd been taking the notes without remembering a word of what the lecturer had said. Leo spotted TJ, the Rottweiler, and made his way over to the bigger canine.

"Hey TJ"

"Oh hey Leo. What's up?"

"Um I was wondering if I could photocopy your notes for next lecture for Diego if that's ok with you."

"Sure thing. How is the tiger? I haven't seen him in the gym in the past week."

"Well we found out that he's got cancer and he's having surgery today."

"Oh shit. Well wish him luck from me and tell him I hope everything goes well. I'll photocopy the notes for you; just pick them up from me in our lecture after lunch." The Rottweiler smiled and made his way off with two of his other friends.

Leo got back to Diego's apartment earlier than expected. It was only 10.45 but it was better to be early than late. Diego was already awake and dressed when Leo arrived and together they made their way to the hospital.

A bed was prepared for the tiger and a chair was set up next to it for Leo. The wolf held Diego's paw as the anaesthesia was administered.

"Ok just count to 10 for us" The surgeon told Diego.

"One, two, three, f-"Diego's paw suddenly went limp in Leo's. The wolf started to panic and looked about at the surgeons.

"Is that supposed to happen? Is he just supposed to drop off like that?" The Surgeons nodded in response and one of the nurses escorted him out of the operating theatre.

"We'll have him out as soon as we can" The nurse said with a comforting smile before returning quickly to the operating room.

Sometime later, the tiger was brought back out of the operating theatre. The surgeon in charge of the operation came over to Leo.

"We've sent the tumour off to the pathologists for a biopsy. I can't be sure at this stage, but my guess is it may be malignant. I'm sorry..." The surgeon put his paw on Leo's shoulderand gave it a gentle squeeze before leaving to prepare for the next operation. Leo sighed and put his head in his paws; the road ahead wasn't going to be easy. After a while Diego started to come to. Leo reached out and lightly held on to his lover's paw.

"I'm here Diego"

"Ooh, a handsome wolf always makes me feel better when recovering from anaesthesia. God that stuff felt weird but really nice at the same time. It was ice cold and it felt like it was running through my veins and then I suddenly woke up here, with my guardian angel looking after me." He smiled up at Leo who smiled back at him. Leo stroked the tiger's face lightly and leant over to kiss him. Diego made a move to get out of bed but Leo's paw held him in place.

"Easy tiger; don't even think of getting out of that bed for at least another 15 minutes, you may be awake but the anaesthesia will still be affecting you for a while. Now you sit there and we'll go over those lecture notes shall we"

"Oh yay" The tiger said with mock enthusiasm. He didn't mind it really, he enjoyed letting the wolf teach him and at least with the wolf he didn't feel like he was stupid if he didn't understand something. Plus Leo generally knew what he was talking about and would review most of the material when they'd finished going over the notes to makes sure the tiger understood everything. He was sort of like a really good tutor. Diego kissed him lightly as Leo was going through the final section of the lecture notes. "You're so wonderful you know that? You always make sure I understand everything. My teachers in my old school were never like that. If I didn't get it straight away I had to go learn it by myself. But you never make me feel stupid or anything, and you treat me like an equal, which was more than I could say for some teachers. I sometimes wish you were my only teacher."

Leo blushed and kissed Diego softly on the forehead.

"That's fine my sweet. Besides explaining the stuff to you is good, it's nice to see that I'm having a positive impact on someone. Plus it helps my understanding. Your questions always get me thinking and it just helps cement my understanding, so I have you to thank as well. Love you Diego."

"Love you too Leo"

Eventually a nurse came in and deemed that it was acceptable for the tiger to get up if he so desired. Diego waited until she had left the room, stood up and then frowned to himself.

"Wow, it feels weird. I know it was only a small section of large intestine that was removed but you can really feel the difference."

"Will you be ok?"

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine, just feels a bit weird is all" Diego replied with a weak smile Leo sighed. "What's up Leo?"

"I'm just worried for you. Chemo is a horrible experience. I can't claim to have undergone it myself but in every account I've read most people say it was the worst part of the whole experience." Leo ran his paw through Diego's fur. "And it'll make you're beautiful fur fall out. And don't say you'll be fine, cos it's horrible and I hate that you have to go through with it." Leo hugged the tiger close and nuzzled his neck.

"Well unless you have any better suggestions then I guess it's the only thing we can do." Diego replied with a sigh. Leo nodded.

"I'll see what I can do." Diego smiled, he couldn't help but wonder what the wolf could do but he was happy to see how willing his lover was willing to help. He walked about a bit and stopped.

"I don't know if it's the anaesthesia, but just moving feels really weird" Diego whimpered.

Leo took him by the paw and led him over to the bed.

"You shouldn't be too active after the surgery. You really need to get a lot of sleep and try getting some food into you. I'll go get you some chocolate, what would you like?" Diego thought to himself for a sec and then his ears pricked up.

"Galaxy cookie crumble!" He said with a cute grin on his face.

"Someone knows what they like," The wolf joked as he turned to go get the chocolate. As soon as he left, Diego found himself looking out of a window. Why is it always me that shit happens to? He felt tears starting to well up in the corner of his eyes but he didn't have the will power to keep them back. He lay in the hospital bed and inspected his scar. It seemed like a normal midline incision so the incision itself didn't hurt too much, it still felt weird though.

Diego noticed a TV remote on the table next to his bed and saw a TV mounted high up in the corner of his room. He flicked it on and switched to scrubs. His heart sank as one of the patients that everyone loved passed away on the show. Then he noticed another character who was bald. Her family had come together and decided to shave themselves too. Diego smiled at the thought and then sighed. He still hadn't told his family, but then again it had all happened so quickly. Not that his parents would care anyway; he was just the 'accident'; the faggot cub who would never go on to be successful in any way. More tears ran down the tiger's muzzle. He'd arranged everything for himself with regards to university. He'd worked to pay for the taster course. He'd bought his own train tickets and everything to see the universities. His parents didn't even ask where he wanted to go to study or anything. They hadn't helped him with any of his studies or gave him any advice for university. He still remembered as he left for university the last words from his father's maw were 'good riddance'. More tears rolled down the tigers muzzle but he brushed them away with a snarl.

Suddenly a bar of Galaxy cookie crumble was plopped down on his bed covers. He looked up with a tear stained muzzle at Leo who was giving him a worried look. Leo didn't even wait for an expression of gratitude; he got on to the tiger's bed and laid Diego's head in his lap as he stroked the tiger's head fur.

"Diego it's ok to cry around me. You don't have to keep things to yourself all the time. I already know you're strong, but I need to know how you're feeling. I know you don't want to become dependent on me, but I want to be able to support you. I love you Diego and I always want to know what's in your heart."

Diego sniffed.

"I guess I'm a bit scared. And I'm angry. See up there. I know it's only scrubs and I know it's not real but that girl has cancer, she's had chemotherapy, lost her hair and her family shaved themselves to show how much they cared for her."

"Well I'd be wi-"

"No, it's not you. My parents wouldn't dream of doing that. They'd probably say it was my fault for getting the cancer in the first place. I know I'm 18, but it still doesn't hurt to think that your family actually gives a shit about you. Especially since I might be dy-"

"Don't say that. You have the best doctors and you've got me." Leo took a firm hold of the tiger's big paw. "You WILL be alright." Diego smiled up at Leo, for some reason, he couldn't help but feel that the wolf may be right. Maybe there was still hope.

"Hello!" The two jumped and looked to see Diego's doctor standing in the doorway. "Just coming to see how Diego was doing." He said with a kind smile on his face.

"I'm ok; not amazing or anything. My appetite has come back enough for me to actually really want to eat this galaxy cookie crumble" The tiger remarked. The doctor laughed in response.

"Alright you eat your chocolate, meanwhile you'll have to stay overnight, and we'll inform your college of the situation. It was Theo college right?" Diego nodded as he took a bite from the chocolate and then sat back and purred in bliss. The doctor chuckled and the wolf stared at Diego in shock.

"I've been with you a whole week and you never purred for me once, but the second you get a chocolate bar, heh, typical tiger." Leo shook his head in mock disappointment at the tiger who simply stuck a chocolate covered tongue back at the wolf. "Can I come visit him later?"

"Yeah it should be alright, I think the latest you can see him is 8PM but I'd have to check that with a nurse or one of the receptionists"

"Oh no that's fine, so long as I can go over the lecture notes with him."

"Can you get my phone as well?" Diego asked through a mouthful of chocolate as he got out his keys and handed them to his lupine lover.

"Sure thing. I'll bring it back after the anatomy lecture and I'll get you some more Galaxy as well."

The tiger beamed a smile up at Leo and his tail thumped under the blanket. "Alright, I'll see both of you later, I have to run."

The two big cats waved to Leo as he departed for the lecture hall.

"He seems really sweet. So how is this working with the lectures? You must have missed quite a few now. Will you be able to catch up with all of that when you start going to the lectures again? Because I know the university allows you to take a year out for something like cancer and to restart the same year next October."

"No!" The tiger cried out before lowering his tone. "Sorry, no, Leo's been teaching me everything and making sure I understand it all. I don't want to seem selfish, but I really want to stay as his classmate. I understand everything, Leo's a really good teacher and he knows his stuff. I just hope I'm not being too much of a burden for him."

"It's obvious he cares for you, I'd go as far as to guess that he loves you. I find it hard to believe that he sees it as a burden. I'd guess that he'd put his life on the line to protect you and wouldn't even make any objection. I'm guessing you'll be fine. Just to clarify; is that Leo Mr. Leo Agito?"

"Yeah why?"

"I was talking with the admissions tutor from Theo College a while back about Leo. Turns out, he'd got some of the best state exam results that we'd seen in a while; he even took up an extra subject halfway through last year according to his school and still managed to ace it. Plus he got the highest recorded score on the medical admissions test. If anyone can teach you the material he'd be the one. Anyway I'll see you later, good to see you're doing ok." The leopard waved a paw to Diego as he made his way out to see the next patient. Diego couldn't help but be a little taken aback, he knew Leo was smart, he just hadn't realised how smart the wolf was. The tiger couldn't help but wonder if the wolf was too good for him, after all the wolf seemed to constantly give and he only seemed to take. Leo didn't seem to mind, but Diego couldn't help but feel like an unnecessary burden on the wolf.

Leo got to his anatomy lecture a few minutes early and saw TJ unpacking his stuff. He made his way over to the Rottweiler who greeted him with a big smile and a few pages of notes in his paw. Leo accepted the notes with a nod of thanks.

"How's that tiger holding up?" TJ asked, his face betraying the concern that his tone seeked to hide.

"He's ok, a bit shaky after the operation. I doubt you'll see him in the gym for a while yet though"

"Ah don't worry; I'd rather he recovered fully before coming back to the gym. All of us at the gym know how important it is to be on form before you try anything in the gym so I certainly understand and I know all the other guys will too."

"Thanks TJ; this means a lot to me."

"No problem Leo, just give me a shout if there's any other way I can help you."

"I will thanks."

The remainder of the lecture passed relatively smoothly and easily. Leo went and picked up Diego's phone and laptop from his apartment, grabbed a few books from the library and went back to the hospital. On the way there he stopped into a shop and bought 8 galaxy cookie crumble bars looking forward to seeing his tiger's reaction.

As he came into the room Diego smiled and his tail thumped under the covers.

"Look what I got!" Leo said as he dropped all the chocolate in front of Diego. The tiger stared in shock and then lunge hugged the wolf.

"Thanks hun!"

"Anything for you Diego." The wolf said as he kissed the tiger on the nose. Diego sighed.

"Did you get my phone?"

"Aye here it is." The wolf replied handing over the phone.

"Um, I'm gonna call my parents and tell them about everything, but, I was wondering, could I do it on loudspeaker with you supporting me, I don't know how they'll react."

"Um sure I guess."

"Thank you" Diego rubbed the wolf's paw with his and called his parents setting it on loudspeaker. A gruff female voice emanated from the phone when the call was finally answered:

"Hello Diego what's wrong with you? Apart from the obvious." Leo tensed up, he didn't like making judgements based on first impressions, but he couldn't help but think that this woman was a bitch. Diego sighed in response.

"Mother I have cancer; I just thought it was right to let you know."

"Why do you think I want to know anything about the diseases you catch? Next I'll be hearing you've caught HIV from some other faggot in that university."

"Excuse me bitch, uh, I mean Mrs Sabre, cancer isn't something you catch. In rare cases it is possible to catch a virus which may lead to the transformation of cells-"Leo started before the female cut him off.

"What did you call me?" The voice at the other end of the phone was ice cold.

"I addressed you by an appropriate title" Leo replied, his voice equally as sharp. "I feel that both the former and latter titles are a perfect fit."

"And who the fuck are you anyway, his doctor? You sound like you should still be in school." The female's voice was laughing at the other end of the line. Diego bit his lip; it was times like this he really hated his mother.

"Actually I'm in Diego's medicine class"

"What are you his boyfriend?"

"Yes as a matter of fact. Do you have a problem with that... bitch?" Leo growled into the receiver and heard Diego's mother growl back at the other end of the line.

"Yes I do as a matter of fact; you faggots have no respect for anyone. You should all go burn in hell for all I care."

"And why is that, can you give me a single non-religious reason to back up your argument?"

Diego was looking up at Leo with a look of fear in his eyes. Leo ruffled the tiger's head fur and winked at him giving him a quick peck on the muzzle.

"It's not bloody natural."

"Interesting you should say that, as you may or may not know we are the evolved species of our ancestors and hence the unevolved primitive species came before us. Homosexuality was reported in almost every species where a related study was performed ranging from lions and tigers to giraffes, bears and all kinds of other animals. So I'm sorry to say but that argument is- oh what's the word? - BULLSHIT. Oh and I think you'll find I do give respect to those who earn it, but unfortunately if we compared respect to money, you'd be earning far below the minimum wage from me. Tell me, do you not even care that your son has a life threatening disease?"

"No why should I? Tommy, get down here!" The female tiger shouted to someone on the other end of the phone. There was a beep and suddenly Diego could hear another voice, this time a male's voice; presumably Diego's father. Diego's mother must have put them on loudspeaker as well.

"What's all the ruckus?"

"Father I have cancer." Diego responded in the calmest voice he could muster in the situation.

"Oh cancer, does that mean there's a chance that the next time I see your face it'll be in a coffin?" The male tiger on the other end laughed to himself.

"Wow, the two of you should be ashamed of yourselves." Leo said. He got on the bed with Diego, unwrapped a chocolate bar and started feeding it to Diego one chunk at a time.

"Yes, I am ashamed that our cub turned out to be a faggot" His father replied on the other end.

"So? So what? I'm a faggot; does the idea of me having Diego's cock stuffed up my ass disturb the two of you?" There was a beep and the line went dead. Diego looked up at Leo and whimpered.

"Leo I'm so incredibly so-"

"Shhhh" Leo put one paw over the tiger's muzzle and then pulled him into a hug. "You truly are amazing Diego Sabre, to have survived up till now with parents like that. I don't think I made a very good first impression." The tiger chuckled at that.

"Thanks Leo. So, uh, you're a bottom?" The tiger asked with a wink as he licked the underside of Leo's muzzle.

"Oh yeah well about that," Leo felt himself blushing and could tell his ear tips were going red, "I guess it would help your cause more if I portrayed you as the top."

"Avoiding the question "Diego butted in as he poked Leo in the stomach.

"I'd rather think of myself as versatile. I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure. But I was a bottom in a recent dream."

"And who was on top?" Diego asked, wondering what type of furs featured in Leo's fantasies.

"You" Leo said nonchalantly as he tried to avoid eye contact with the tiger and felt himself blushing even more. Diego didn't say anything for a second and then burst into hysterics, finally managing to compose himself after a minute of laughter.

"What if I told you I wanted to be on bottom?" Diego asked in a seductive tone.

"I'd,uh... com'ere" Leo said as he pressed his muzzle against Diego's. His tongue pushed up against the tiger's teeth and the tiger granted it entry. The two furs' tongues danced about each other in their muzzles for over a minute before they were parted by someone clearing their throat in the doorway. A nurse was standing there.

"Is everything alright in here? We heard a lot of commotion." She said with a blush.

"Oh no" Diego started, "This wolfie here just told me that he had a-"

"Shhhh" Leo said, clamping the tiger's muzzle shut with one paw. "Personal secrets" He said with a cheeky smile to the nurse who giggled and turned and continued walking down the corridor.

"Just for that I'm going to go over those lecture notes with you."

"Fine" Diego said crossing his arms and pretending to be in a huff.

8PM finally arrived and Leo was forced to leave Diego alone for the night. In their time together they'd managed to go over the lecture notes and get their essays done. Leo gave Diego one last kiss goodnight before turning and leaving to head back to his apartment. For the first time in a long time Leo prayed. He prayed for his family, his friends, all the people who were persecuted around the world based on irrational prejudices and most importantly he prayed that Diego, his love, would recover from his cancer and that his parents might actually start to appreciate and love their cub. Satisfied that he had said all he needed to say he went to bed somewhat content, but still worried for his tiger's sake.

Diego was restless, he was still annoyed with his parent's reaction towards Leo and he was worried about the upcoming chemotherapy. He was finally drifting off to sleep when he got a text. It was from his parents, he was wondering whether or not he should open it, worried about what verbal abuse it may contain. In the end he decided he'd at least show them the respect to see what they'd said. He frowned at the message on the screen not quite sure what to make of the two words, wondering if perhaps they'd been sent to the wrong number. The tiger stared at the two words before he slowly drifted off to sleep. His phone still in his paw with the words 'We're sorry' displayed on its screen.