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Tai's Story

-- By Krazy Kitsune/Kichigai Kitsune

Copyright 2005 onwards.

Tedious disclaimer:

This story contains content of a sexual nature involving two male anthropomorphic foxes, ages 8 and 10; if such a story is likely to offend you, or you are not legally allowed to read this material according to the laws you are subject to, do not continue. I do not condone the reading of, or the emulation of, the material contained herein, nor any acts otherwise hinted or alluded to in this document, especially by minors.

If you are under the legal age to read this, or it is likely to offend you, do not read beyond this disclaimer. This warning is explicit, so don't complain to the author or the host of this document if you get in trouble for reading it, or you dislike this type of story, or if you are an irresponsible parent and can't control what your children read online. It is not unrealistic to assume that either you monitor your children's use of the internet or that you raise a child honest and decent enough not to read sexual stories on the net, or if they do, to view it harmlessly as fiction. All of that is on your shoulders, not mine.

If you read beyond this disclaimer, it is your choice to do so. You also indicate that you have fair knowledge of the content and made the choice to view it without any encouragement; so you take full responsibility and agree to hold nobody but yourself responsible for any consequences that arise from your continuing to read. If you don't agree to that, cease reading this document now.

Any political opinions voiced herein are best considered the opinions of the characters that voiced them. This is a work of fiction. The political/cultural opinions voiced by the characters, therefore, only apply to this fictional world; in short, I'm not trying to convert people. Though if it gets a few people thinking, then that's their decision.

--DISCLAIMER ENDS. FURTHER READING IS MADE UNDER FREE CHOICE WITH FULL UNDERSTANDING OF ALL IMPLICATIONS, LEGAL, EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL, LINGUISTIC, GRAMMATICAL AND METAPHYSICAL. AS MERELY THE AUTHOR OF THIS STORY, YOU UNDERSTAND I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU DO OR SAY OR EVEN FEEL AFTER READING.--

A quick foreword:

Quite some time ago, I started to write a short story purely to convince the owner of Cub Central to let me have a membership--it was my first ever attempt at writing erotic material of any kind, and I used to have such trouble just writing certain words. It has since then become something very different. Though I've had to take time off writing for various reasons, I've still spent a very long time working on this piece, and as of now it is one of the things dearest to my heart.

Once again, I thank everyone who supported me through the years as I wrote this and my other stories for keeping me sane despite this issue and that trouble. The end is near, I promise. I know I'm as slow as a drunken snail, but eventually even the snail arrives at the cherry tree. And I can see the leaves now.

Love for all my fans and supporters,

Kichigai Kitsune.

Dedicated to my friends, fans and supporters of all ages and nations. Many of you taught me so much more about this world, about mankind and about myself that this story would not have been the same without you. I wouldn't have been the same without you.

Remember, everyone has a story to tell.

Thanks all!

---

_ Chapter 1_

It was a frigid winter's day in the city of New York. Intricate snowflakes glided lightly down from the overcast, yet still bright, afternoon sky, dancing with haunting elegance between the towering buildings before settling gently down on the layer of cottony snow that already smothered the outlying streets.

A small car, old, dilapidated and slightly rusted from the touch of the sea breeze, turned off the highway bridge into the city, and the two passengers noticed with mixed feelings how the surroundings suddenly changed from the lush greenery of the hinterlands to the harsh concrete structures of a city.

Leafy green eyes wide with anxiety and not a little awe, was a young fox boy. Mild dread had been unsettling his stomach for the last few days, and beholding the massive city and the twisting, busy road they were now upon had caused that dread to increase two-fold. He slowly tore his gaze those away from the intimidating skyscrapers looming on the horizon and the claustrophobia-inducing alleyways and looked straight ahead. There was a gaping maw in the road- a tunnel, lit by dirty orange lights that they were heading straight for. He looked instead at his mother. "Um, mom?" he said softly, leaning forward slightly. Speaking for the first time in hours.

"What is it, Tai?" she replied absently, focusing on the road. All about them, hundreds of obnoxious drivers were blasting their horns with impunity, often seemingly for no reason, and the horrendous cacophony commingled in the city sky along with the delicate designs of airborne ice.

They had driven all the way from Alaska, the longest time either of them had been confined in their cramped vehicle. Until now, the pair had lived together in relative isolation, miles from any real town, in their small rural home. Today, that was set to change. Drastically.

Tai sighed heavily and pulled his soft, tawny tail to his chest, feeling slightly frightened and overwhelmed by the unnatural activity all around him - countless vehicles of all kinds and throngs upon throngs of furs. He hugged the furry mass against himself and briefly found himself thinking about his father, whose face he barely recalled. Today especially, he missed him.

The small family had lived in San Francisco for several years after Tai was born, but a 'disagreement' with an unscrupulous realtor forced them to move to the cold, remoteness of Alaska to work for a relative, and hopefully save up enough money to buy their home back. However, that simply never happened.

Their house was auctioned, and it finally sold for nearly three times what they had expected. As if that wasn't enough, half the family's savings vanished from their accounts in a puff of smoke. They were stranded, living miles from the nearest city in their adopted state, struggling from day to do just to eat and keep a roof between their heads and the oftentimes fierce weather.

Tai was only four at this time, and he had almost no memory of the abject squalor they had lived in for a whole year before the catastrophe was finally resolved. Trying to remember it even now was difficult. Even after they discovered what had happened to their money, they were so deeply entrenched in debt that it made no difference. However, despite their poverty, Tai had grown to love the chilly hinterlands of Alaska, growing up under the majestic shadow of the permanently snow-capped mountains.

Until disaster struck again. While working on a fishing boat off the Aleutian Islands, Tai's father was taken from him.

The boat had collided with an ice breaker; a gigantic seaborne monolith that smashed the smaller vessel to pieces. Everyone on board the trawler was dead within a minute, except Tai's persistent father, who died on board the breaker; they'd barely managed to rescue him, only for him to succumb to shock and hypothermia. The trawler itself sunk to the bottom of the churning sea, lost forever. It was all blamed on poor visibility and unreliable navigation equipment and stuff Tai simply did not understand, especially at the time... all he knew was his dad had gone. He didn't care for the details. It was all irrelevant. At nearly five years old, the fox-boy only understood that none of it would bring him back. Knowing wasn't changing, and it wouldn't bring his dad back.

His father had been his confidant, the one closest to him in the whole world, and losing that anchor was just the start of another world of trouble for him. As the massive buildings surrounded him, Tai wondered if this would be yet another world. It certainly looked like one, but not an improvement.

As per usual, his mother was totally oblivious to her kit's maudlin mental wanderings. Tai was a quiet boy most of the time, unless someone managed to somehow get him worked up, which wasn't easy at all. It was like he was hiding in a little shell, waiting to be coaxed out, but recently he'd been less and less likely to respond to attempts to draw him out. He had erected a shell for himself and it was nigh impregnable. A frustrating shell made of deception, taciturnity and surprisingly skillful deflection that drove his mother utterly wild.

Despite it all, she quickly learned how to manage him alone quite easily. He was polite, considerate, and shy; on the rare occasion he managed to upset her, a punishment was nearly never needful: his mother's good opinion was so important to Tai that merely glancing sternly at the little fox could almost reduce him to tears. When he said he wouldn't do something again, he meant it. For all the irritation he gave her, Eraline knew her son was desperate to please her.

A beautiful vixen - still quite young - Eraline remained single out of choice only. Slender and attractive, her comely muzzle and sharp ears gave her a kind of alluring angularity, while her deep, icy blue eyes could chill anyone's heart. But there was more than just beauty in her face; a cold sadness haunted those blue eyes, making them appear all the frostier. With those very eyes, she gazed up at the rear-view mirror, briefly catching her son's eyes at last.

Tai assessed his mother's mood in a glance and sighed quietly. Anything he said would be lost on her right now; she was sunk into one of her moods again. Busy. Wouldn't appreciate his question.

"Nothing," he murmured finally, settling back into his chair. As he expected, his mother didn't perceive the emptiness in his voice. She didn't even seem to notice anything was amiss.

It was pointless. His mother just wasn't listening. There was no point in trying to tell her anything, verbally or otherwise. As always. Despite the fact Tai came home almost every school day with tearstains on his face, she never asked him about it once.

Tai hated school. The last year or so had just been dreadful. Always alone for some reason, wanting others to like him. He just could never fit in, and, all of a sudden, nobody would ever let him forget it. Things changed.

Tai was a small little fox even for his age. His slight frame was by no means muscular, and he knew it. In fact, he had even mostly stopped taking offense whenever people thought he was a girl or younger than he really was.

He personally didn't see anything wrong with it. The fur on his head was far longer than your average boy's, just a bit over collar-length, covering his head and part of his face with straight, tawny-yellow bangs--loads of fun in the shower or bath! He was a fast runner for his size too.

But he knew there was more to it than that. He was neither assertive nor strong. Always in plain clothing, unable to keep up with trends or even afford his own stationery. Worse, he didn't know why, but he didn't get along with other boys. Especially not when it came to sports; Tai knew just about everyone was stronger than he was, so why bother?

Moving to this new, unfamiliar place wouldn't change anything important like that and he knew it.

"Here we go again," Tai mouthed silently as a feeling of dread crept up his stomach. The car moved slowly past an elementary school at a veritable crawl, as if his mother was trying to taunt him. On the surface, all one could see the happy children running around, squealing in delight as they chased each other playfully throughout the playground in innocent fun and games.

Tai, however, saw other things. His young, sharp eyes knew what to look for, and they instantly picked out the desolate child sitting alone on the swings... and the gang of jerks about to make her sit elsewhere. He quickly spotted a little squirrel child surrounded by a pack of school bullies.

City or not, nothing important would change.

Finally, Tai decided he didn't care if his mother was in a cruddy mood. "Mom, do we have to live here?" he groaned plaintively. "Can't we please go back to Anchorage and my friends?"

Eraline blinked in surprise - at least it seemed to be surprise. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, chortling emptily. "What sort of question is that? We belong here, in the city; not in some backwater." Her voice had a strange edge to it, as if she were angry or embarrassed by Tai's audacity. "Besides, you don't have to hang around those bullies now, do you? Just take a look at that." She gestured towards the school they were passing as if Tai hadn't already been looking.

In despair, Tai shook his head. That wasn't the way it worked. He'd finally gotten used to dealing with the torment and teasing from those in his current school, made a few- if distant and fair-weather- friends, worked out how to avoid this jerk and that jerk... and his mother brashly decided to move to New York, a strange city he'd only ever heard about. "I can see it fine," he said moodily.

"This isn't some pathetic excuse of a town in the middle of nowhere," Eraline continued. "This is a city. Furs are much nicer, more tolerant here. It's called 'civilization' for a reason. Trust me, this is going to be better. For both of us. I promise."

Tai nodded submissively.

From the way his mother was acting, her being a city-fox and everything, he wasn't so sure about that. Besides, even if furs were, kids aren't furs... are they?

Their apartment wasn't so bad, conceded Tai when he walked in through the door. In fact, it was more than just not bad. "Opulent," Tai eventually settled on after groping through his vocabulary for a few moments as he quietly trailed along behind his mother. Though cramped, the apartment was of a level of luxury he simply wasn't used to. Everything just looked so fancy and expensive.

An exceedingly polite weasel bustled ahead with his mother, drawing the vixen's attention to the soft, burgundy carpet and allowing her to explore their new bathroom. Eraline paid particular attention to that. Tai hoped she hadn't started to wonder when he'd last had a bath; if she started counting days, it'd be a pain in the tail. He slipped away to continue his inspection alone, just in case.

Tai's eyes widened as a thought hit him. How much was a place like this going cost them? Were they renting it? He didn't understand how they could. How was his mother setting them up in a place like this?

Though young, Tai was painfully aware of his mother's indigence. It impacted him too, in ways she didn't even seem to notice. He never asked for anything. Never expected anything, not even consistent meals. He understood.

There were quite a few rooms. In fact, this supposed apartment rivaled their old homestead's size easily. Two of the rooms were capacious bedrooms, one was a dining room, another was a 'games room' -Tai paused to reflect upon the absurdity of that notion; whoever confined games to one room? - a laundry and a large kitchen. He padded quietly into the games room, crossing to the massive window on the other side of it, curiosity compelling him to peer through the venetians. The view was impressive. They were quite high up. The kit found himself getting giddy, so he turned away.

The walls were papered a warm cream color, while the lighting was soft and warm, almost as if instead of electrical lights the apartment was being illuminated by gently flickering candles. It made Tai slightly drowsy.

But it was going to take more than sleepy-lighting to make Tai's eyes any less wide when he wandered at last into the open games room.

"Wow..." he whispered to himself, gawking . The large cabinet on the side housed a large plasma screen television Tai reasoned absolutely must have cost twenty thousand dollars! Or something like that! He'd never seen a television that large, or with that peculiar flat screen. Two rounded, velvety couches created a semi-circle around it.

With a grin, Tai reckoned he'd find the soft couches much more fun than the TV, no matter how big it was. He'd never seen such curiously shaped sofas before. They were large and offered great opportunities to play on top of. They might even be a little bouncy.

He plopped down on one of the couches with a great sigh and an appropriate lack of decorum, limbs flopping down beside him like rubber tentacles.

His eyes closed automatically, either from his near exhaustion or thanks to the lighting, and he relaxed immensely. He was safe here, at least for now. Then tomorrow would come, and he'd be left alone when his mother went to her new work; that was all he knew about what was to come.

His mother had planned everything before she'd gotten here, he guessed. Perhaps that's why she as always on the phone before they left - maybe she was organizing everything. They'd just arrived yet they already had a luxurious new home and Eraline had work. Maybe everything was alright. Maybe he was worrying when he didn't need to.

The weasel gave a polite, cheerful farewell and left at last. The moment the door shut beside him, Eraline slumped into the couch next to her son.

Tai's eyes opened when he felt his mother collapse unceremoniously onto the velvety cushions adjacent to him. He looked over at her, questioningly.

"Well, it's good to be here at last," she commented, reclining with a great smile on her face. "It's going to be wonderful here." She sighed. "Oh it's good to be out of the car... I feel terrible."

Tai scratched behind his ears and leaned forwards to free the tail he'd been sitting on. He absently swished the fluffy mass behind his back and frowned with thought. "Mom, how much will staying here cost?" he asked her finally, giving her a direct question at last.

To his surprise, his mother answered. "To rent? It would probably cost about thirteen-hundred a month," Eraline replied, shrugging without bothering to open her eyes. "That doesn't matter, hon. Don't worry about it."

"Does that mean... you've already paid for it...?" The kit's expression grew confused.

She nodded evasively before suddenly getting up and striding to the blinds. With one hand she opened them, revealing the crimson-drenched vision of a sprawling city at sundown. Leaning against the window, she sighed in satisfaction.

"Where did you get the money, mom?" insisted Tai, flicking his ears in exasperation. She hadn't told him anything about all this, and it was just making no sense.

Eraline completely ignored him, staring out at the silhouetted skyscrapers in the distance. She knew she was being terribly cold towards her son. She hadn't asked him what his feelings were on the sudden move, and she ashamedly admitted she didn't truly care; at least, not enough for it to have influenced her decision. There were more important things...

She'd wanted nothing more than a return to civilization for the longest time. No matter what her naturalistic son claimed, she could find none of the vivacity or beauty he saw in that desolation of the Alaskan hinterland. They had teetered on the verge of destitution, living in poverty. It was not a life she wanted to continue, for her or her gentle son. That, and Alaska was so cold.

There was no way her son would understand her reasons. He could not understand their situation, so why should she explain it? It would merely be a source of irritation for them both.

In fact, suddenly she wanted to be away from him for now.

"I'm going out for the night," she announced in a bland tone, trying to appear totally absorbed in her city-gazing.

Tai's ears perked up, alert. "Where?" he demanded incredulously.

"I haven't decided yet." Eraline flashed her son a weak smile.

The kit's entire body drooped in dismay. Out? Without him? "What about me?" This was his first night here! Wasn't she even gonna help him settle in?

"You'll be fine." Tai watched in sadness and disbelief as his mother picked up her coat which she had draped over a chair earlier. "The address is written on the wall at the entrance. Order some pizza. Or something. I'll find the number for you before I go."

Even the promise of a cheesy pizza, a rare treat they could almost never afford, failed to lighten Tai's mood. She had to be joking. Why was his mother leaving him like this? Why tonight? Tonight?!

Giving her puzzled son a quick lick on the side of the muzzle, Eraline snatched up her purse. She fished around in it, handing Tai some notes and quickly heading over to the phone book in the kitchen. In only minutes she was ready, and she immediately headed for the door.

"M-mom!" Tai exclaimed, trying to follow her.

But Eraline was already outside before he could reach her. The front door slammed shut in his face. Stunned, Tai stared at the door, unable to hold back a pathetic sniffle.

But it all quickly changed to indignation and resentment. She was always leaving him on his own and now she had abandoned him in their new home on their first night.

He angrily tossed the twenty bucks his mother had given him to the floor and stamped away from the front door to explore the apartment again, first stopping by the ornate French window of the games room.

With a shudder, he noticed how the city exuded about as much warmth as a cemetery. It was all washed out grays. Everything looked too busy, too intimidating... too dangerous. He tingled with desire to be back in the quiet wilderness again, shutting the curtains resolutely.

He placed his paws in the pouch of his oversized green and grey hooded sweater and continued looking around.

His sneakered paws made no sound in the thick carpeting, while his cheap, gray track-pants made up for them, producing those faint rustling sounds that baggy pants often do.

As he explored, he noticed a slightly unpleasant odor. Gingerly, he plucked at the front of his hooded sweater and sniffed at it. That was a surprise: as a young fox, Tai wasn't used to discovering he had made his clothing stink, but after several days trapped in the car with nothing to change into and the heating turned up, it seemed even he could make his clothes a little ripe.

A fastidious child, he felt, well, icky too. Stuffy under his clothes - he suddenly wanted to take at least his shirt and hoodie off, to bare his chest to the warm air. Not only would it get the irritating stink away from his sensitive nose, but after so long in the car, he felt almost suffocated by all the clothing he hadn't been free of for several nights in a row.

"Yucky," he commented aloud.

A bath would be necessary soon, but he wasn't going to take one without his mother's urging. Fastidious, yes, but he wasn't crazy.

The two bedrooms contained identical beds. In fact, the rooms were identical in every aspect. He bit his lip uncertainly as he looked them over; he shouldn't mess up those queen sized, thickly covered beds. Who knew which one his mother would want? Neither one was discernible as a child's room. He decided to leave them alone. The thought of having his own bed this size was more than a little cool though.

He reminded himself cynically to not expect his mother to let him have either.

The kitchen was fairly big. A bit excessive really, for such a small apartment. The room was roughly a dozen feet cubed, already stocked with an oven, microwave, seven foot refrigerator and a spice rack that was nearly as long as Tai was tall. The white topped counter was too high for him to pull himself onto to inspect it without wasting time finding something to give him a boost.

He didn't bother with the laundry. The smell of detergent made him dizzy and nauseous.

Eventually, the kit grew bored. He was still feeling a little hurt by his mother's abandonment, and he was exhausted after the long, monotonous trip. Normally, alone, he'd find plenty of fun things to do - but tonight his solitude felt more like betrayal and he was wiped out. Starving too, he noted, placing a paw on his empty tummy. They'd last eaten miles outside of the city at a truck stop, hours and hours ago, and that had been the only time in the last twenty-fours.

He returned to the dining room where the front door was and went straight for the phone, withdrawing the card his mother gave him from his pouch. The phone rang on and on, before a grumpy voice grumbled an almost unintelligible greeting.

Tai didn't sound too surly, he hoped, as he outlined his usual meal to the guy on the other end. He gave them the address and promised to have twenty dollars- precisely- ready for the delivery-boy. He also promised that this wasn't a prank call and that he really did want a pizza... and he was in fact willing to hand over the money for it. Several minutes later, after he stretched forward and gently replaced the handset on the receiver, he blinked and idly bit his lip.

Was everyone here so suspicious?! Were they actually serious? Or just messing with him because he was a kid?

The pizza arrived no more than twelve minutes later; twelve minutes of boredom and impatience he'd passed by trying to see how long he could hang upside down from the couch by his knees. The stupid couch's backrest was too soft and he could only hold himself in place for a few seconds before he had to slither to the floor. There was a soft, yet insistent knocking on the door, and Tai bolted to open it from the other side of the small apartment, eager for food and something to do. Someone to talk to.

So when he reached the door, he yanked it open energetically.

The delivery dog, a young alsatian, blinked in surprise as the door flung open and a lithe young kit smiled charmingly at him. He hesitated, appraising the excited fox boy.

"Um, e-evening, sir," Tai said pleasantly, the promise of pizza, and the dog's humorously surprised expression at his buoyancy, helping him bury his natural shyness for a few moments. However, he did find himself grinning sheepishly.

The pizza and the money changed hands, and the canine dug out a small pouch to get the change. Tai, always observant, noticed the pizza boy glancing over at him warmly as he did so.

Usually shy beyond measure, Tai decided on a whim to do something very unusual for him. It was warm indoors, and the ripe smell was making his nose itch; not to mention the curious appraisal of the older boy made him wonder about the reaction he'd get."Um, hold on please."

With a silly, nearly imperceptible grin, he pulled his sweater off over his head, taking his green T-shirt along with it, and flinging the bundle of cloth behind him.

The alsatian coughed to cover his shock and he dropped a few coins. Abashed, he tried to hastily pick them up.

He handed the change to Tai. "Lookin' good there," the delivery boy muttered softly, barely loud enough for Tai to hear. He grinned at the kit.

"Thank you," Tai replied quietly, butterflies in his tummy. He wasn't even sure himself if he meant the thanks for the pizza or the compliment.

"Don't mention it," the teenager chortled. "Uh. You're not going to take anything else off are ya?"

Tai shook his head. "Oh, um, n-no it's just because those stink," he said bashfully, though he took great delight in the dog's efforts to conceal a crestfallen expression. The canine laughed and just looked him over. As shy as he usually was, Tai felt strangely pleased.

The kit knew, vaguely, about the concept of 'checking someone out.' Mostly from television and the lewd comments of slightly older boys at school - it brought a gentle flush to his cheeks when he realized that somebody was doing it to him.

"How about next time?" joked the dog, grinning.

"M-maybe." Tai squirmed shyly, a grin blooming on his features too. "J-just my boxers?"

The teenager laughed graciously. He couldn't have been more than seventeen. "The name's Jake," the delivery-boy said amiably, reaching out with a paw. "I work deliveries Monday and Tuesday evenings and Sunday after mid-day to late night." He shrugged wryly. "It makes much better money than you might think. If you order on those days, you'll be stuck with me delivering it."

The little fox hesitated for just for a moment, then he took the larger fur's paw. Jake gave him a kind of playful shake, eyeing him curiously.

"I'm Tai," replied the pup quietly. "Um, I'm new here. We just moved in."

"You're a strange one," laughed Jake, releasing the topless fox's paw. "Nice meeting you. I think you'll like it here. These apartments are pretty good - I know someone else in this building. I think my dispatcher thought you were him, actually."

"Thanks again," piped Tai, his heart beating fast. "M-maybe I'll see you again soon. I really like pizza."

"Who doesn't? Good night, Tai! Enjoy your meal."

With that Jake walked away, whistling as he made his way back down the oddly austere corridor to the elevator. Seemingly happy.

Tai shut the door quickly, bolting it securely, and marched into the dining room with his pizza, drink and garlic bread. He undid the cap of the bottle of sparkling apple juice, easily his favorite beverage, and settled onto the soft fluffy carpet to eat, not bothering with such customary inefficiencies as a table.

He paused for a second and reflected. It seemed he'd just made a new friend. The impromptu decision to bare his chest was a brainless, playful reaction to Jake's mere few seconds of looking at him. The much older boy didn't appear to be fazed; was his mom right about furs in the city after all?

But the time for deep thoughts was not now, not with perfectly good pizza sitting before him when it should be getting devoured.

After his dinner he walked sleepily back into the games room and closed the blinds. A good meal made him very sleepy.

He settled lengthwise onto the couch nearest the window and shifted around until he was comfortably on his back. He placed his paws behind his head and stared at the ceiling, contemplating his loneliness this night. It felt like his mother was getting even farther and farther away from him. They'd always been slightly distant, as long as he could remember anyway, but in the last few months she'd been... distracted.

She said more words over the phone, apparently to some old friend, in preparation for the move she kept secret from her son than she had said to him. When he worked up the courage to ask her who she was speaking to, she brushed him off infuriatingly.

Didn't seem to realize or care that he was afraid. Not knowing what was happening...

For some reason, his mother was leaving Tai alone more and more, forcing him to rely on himself. She listened less and less, and seemed to resent his efforts to pry information from her. To even just be with her. Was she just sick of him? Could parents just get sick of their cubs? Was she upset with him? Stopped loving him?

What had he done? He just wanted to know...

Trying to distract himself with noise, he turned on the TV and stared listlessly at the screen for nearly half an hour before deciding there were better things he could be doing. There was nothing on that was remotely interesting to him anyway, so at the press of a button, the screen flickered and died obediently, once more leaving Tai alone in a silent apartment. He wished Jake had stuck around or something. He was alright with being alone most of the time, but this was a totally new situation for him.

The lighting was still dim and warm, his eyes felt heavy. Tai's ears flicked slightly as he leaned forwards to look around for peeping-toms, as if someone could've just snuck in, or was flying level with the fourth-storey windows. He was so tired; he just wanted some comfort before he could drift off to slumber.

He slowly removed his sneakers and slipped off his cotton ankle socks - which were also oddly a little malodorous, another new thing to him. With a sigh, he pressed his paw against his taut, skinny belly and slowly slid it down to his waist. It lifted the waist band of both his boxers and his track-pants. He sighed again as he firmly slid it over his sensitive, fluffy pubic area and onto his plaything for such lonely nights as this.

Tai stroked and rubbed his small penis gently at first, becoming firmer and faster, until it soon stiffened to its full two and a bit inches.

He loved doing this. He didn't know what it was called, only that he had to keep it a secret. When he was alone or tired, he would either remove his clothing, or simply work around them, casually enjoying the warm sensations, so pleasant and strangely comforting.

It wasn't just the feelings, though. His mind would drift, fluttering from daydream to fantasy. He would happily let them carry him to sleep, or at least occupy him for a time. Often, though not always, his fantasies came to the same thing, over and over: somebody holding him. Caring about him. Touching him all over, giving him the contact and affection he pined for so badly.

Oddly enough, one of things he found himself suddenly thinking about this time was the meeting with Jake. He liked that teen, he seemed to be nice guy... and he thought the teen liked him too. For some reason, his mind wandered and it came to the notion of this teenaged canine holding him, talking with him and even doing this to him suddenly made his body tremble and breathing turn ragged.

Tai held and expanded the fantasy in his mind, continuing to firmly rub his dick against the insides of his legs, the smooth, downy flatness of his groin and between his fingers; he took the tip of his index finger and ran it up and down over the urethral opening. His other paw began to stroke his chest, seeking out the sensitive light pink nubs under his fur which made his legs twitch merely by being brushed.

It took him only a few minutes, even moving at as slow a pace as he was, before his breathing suddenly became labored and he started squirming involuntarily. He didn't have any plans to stop however. In fact, the strength of the sensations, bringing him to the very edge of what he could withstand comfortably and pushing at that limit... well, he liked that. But tonight, he was going on for even longer than normal, his movements firmer and more urgent. He clung to this new daydream, unwilling to let it stop.

He felt a tension build up while the steadily growing bliss started to overrun his entire body. The strange feelings were new and even slightly frightening, but Tai didn't want to stop them. They may be new, but they felt too good to stop; and dimly, he knew that if he kept going it'd get better and better.

Then the phone on the cabinet by the couch exploded into an annoying, tinny ring. Tai jumped up, wrenching his hand from his satin boxers. He felt his little heart freezing, then starting to thump like a machine gun. He even screamed from surprise. Only for a split second, but he still worried someone would bash down the door wondering what was wrong.

He waited until he was more or less confident he could talk without his voice shaking, he answered the phone. "H-hello?" he asked softly. His voice shook anyway, and he squeaked silently. Would they guess what he'd been doing?! Was there some way they could tell?

"Oh, hello there!" the tinny voice apologized. "I'm, uh, from Carter National Marketing. Are your parents at home, kit?" It was a telemarketer.

"No, I'm sorry, my mom's not home," Tai said quietly, still trembling slightly. No longer from surprise: the tingling remnants of the wonderful feeling he was giving himself earlier were rippling through his body, tantalizing him. Urging him to return to his earlier entertainment.

"I see," the voice said. "Sorry to trouble you, kid. Have a good night."

Tai hung up after she did. He always waited for the other person hang up before doing likewise, he insisted on it. Once, he hung up on someone; he still felt horrible about it.

Resignedly, he decided he'd better sleep. It was nine already - that was quite late, wasn't it? If his mother came home soon, he would get in trouble for staying up beyond bedtime. He was tired anyway.

He wistfully wished he could keep masturbating- not that he knew the name for it- but it would keep him awake, and he had tried innumerable times to trick his mother into believing he was asleep when he wasn't, but he never succeeded. It was as if she could read his mind, so there really was no point in trying.

Sliding a paw into his waistband again, this time Tai removed his track-pants and laid them neatly over the couch back. Eraline was fairly firm about the "don't wear clothes overnight" rule. Pajamas, underwear or nothing, depending on what Tai felt like doing. Eraline didn't like having to wash clothes too often. She said it damaged them.

He found a neatly folded soft cotton sheet in the laundry, taking up space in a basket and took it back to the games room. There he unfolded the sheet over the couch and clambered under it. He drew it up to his neck and hugged a back-pillow tightly for comfort.

With a lot of sleep to catch up on, the nearly-nude little fox was asleep in less than two minutes.

Eraline returned to her new home at five in the morning. She'd just spent the entire night at a night-club, drinking and carousing with amorous males of all types. She'd made a few promises, none of which she intended to keep, naturally. She also neglected to tell any of her 'suitors' that she had a beautiful, young son. Not because she was deliberately deceiving them... she'd genuinely forgotten Tai that night.

Dimly she knew what she had done was wrong. Tai was a resourceful, mature boy, and she knew with unshakeable certainty that each time he was left alone, he would be fine. But that didn't excuse this. Leaving him alone in a strange new place all night while she went to a bar for the first time in years.

But the truth was, she felt she deserved the relaxation. She didn't care. Tonight, she wanted to get away from her son and the stress of being a mother. Everything was just far too much for her, and was set to get worse.

So much worse.

All she had wanted, for the past few years, was a chance to be a normal fur again.

When she entered the apartment however, her motherly duties slapped her in the face. She suddenly felt guilty... not very guilty, but a little. "Where is he?" she murmured, searching the bedrooms, dining room and the game room. She had begun to panic before she realized that she'd completely overlooked her little boy. He was fast asleep on the soft couch in the games room.

A smile touched her muzzle. Tai was such a good boy. He'd ordered apple juice with his pizza, not worn his day-clothes to bed and even taken the initiative, procuring a blanket from the laundry all by himself.

But the blanket had been kicked off during the kit's sleep, and it lay in a bundle on the floor. Her tawny-furred son lay on the couch in his blue, shimmering boxers, with an oddly sad expression still on his somnolent features. His eyes were slightly tight. Was he dreaming?

Eraline lightly laid a small hand on her little cub's backside and bent forwards. She delivered a soft lick to the muzzle, and Tai's small lips drew back almost imperceptibly into a smile. He gave a little sigh in his sleep and snuggled even tighter to the pillow. Eraline lovingly drew her hand up to his shoulder, then lifted the blanket and covered him with it again.

She'd been selfish. Again. But maybe that kiss made some of it up... somehow. It would have to do for now.

Now she had to see to her own sleep...

Tai had been bored for the entire morning as his mother slept interminably. She didn't get up until three PM, and she was already busily getting ready for what she said was a night-shift. Somewhere. Tai realized quite quickly he didn't know anything about his mother's work. At all.

He hated not knowing anything - his mother was always secretive, but Tai could usually pick things up. He needed that. He needed to know what was going on. But everything about the sudden move to New York was a mystery to him. He didn't even know the name of the school he'd been enrolled in.

At last, his mother opened her bedroom door and bustled into the dining room, where Tai was sitting in a corner, bored. His toys and books were still in their suitcases, and his mom had only gotten the 'important' things out of those.

"Good evening, mom," Tai said sincerely. He went over to her and gave her a hug, which she returned, albeit perfunctorily; she was still wondering where the hell her watch had gone. She'd worn it last night.

"Good afternoon, Tai." She snatched up her handbag. "I slept in. Now I have to rush."

Tai noted with disappointment that she was fully dressed, and his nose detected perfume... "Are you going already?" he asked plaintively. "Can't you stay with me for a few hours?"

She shook her beautiful head and adjusted her new business suit. Tai had to admit it suited her, even if it did seem so strange to him. "Sorry, Tai," she told him. She sounded genuinely apologetic - Tai honestly thought she was going to snap at him instead. "I've got to be at my new job a few hours before I start. First day. Oh, almost forgot!" Once again she dipped into her handbag, handing him a twenty. "Get whatever you want. We can afford it now. There's a Chinese restaurant that delivers around here. Or there's pizza, again."

But food wasn't what concerned Tai. "Will you ever make me dinner again?" sighed the little fox, ears and shoulders sagging.

"Of course," Eraline absently responded, totally missing the sadness in her kit's voice, yet again. "OK, I'm off. I'm going to be late as it is." The vixen threw open the door and started down the corridor almost immediately.

"Mom!" Tai cried, urgently. He darted out the front door after her, skidding to a halt on the hallway's pale-blue carpeting. "What time will you be back?"

Eraline turned around, her manner impatient. "It's a night-shift, Tai!" she said as if he should already know the details that she hadn't given him. "I'll be back early tomorrow. You've got the apartment to yourself, so have some fun! Don't stay up too late though - you have school soon." She spun on her heels and entered the steel doors of the elevator. She missed Tai's gob-smacked expression in so doing.

When she was gone, Tai felt inexplicably upset and lost. Today was even more abrupt than yesterday was. Two days in a row... "Bye, mom..." the sad boy whined, staring at the empty hallway in front of him, his entire body slumped.

When he recovered, almost a minute later, he turned back to his apartment... and jumped in surprise. Scarcely a few paces away from him stood another fox-boy; older, around ten-years-old or so, and his fur was a light tree-bark brown. His wavy head-fur was long, though not quite as long as Tai's; merely neck-length. Grinning cordially, he met Tai's startled gaze with a pair of curious hazel eyes.

"Sorry!" The newcomer said quickly. "Didn't mean to frighten you."

Tai shook his head nervously, backing away a step. "It's okay. I just, uh, didn't know you were there." No kidding? He mentally kicked himself.

"My name's Mike," the older pup said, stepping closer. "I live a few floors above." He was much taller than Tai, about an extra head taller, and that made Tai nervous.

"I'm Tai," Tai introduced himself, avoiding the older kit's eyes. "I live... um, here."

Mike smiled and his eyes danced mischievously. Atop his head, his furry ears pointed directly at the ceiling. "There's never been another kid around here!" he said in an excited voice. "I heard you talking as I walked past, so I stopped and waited around outside your door."

"Oh."

This new cub eyed him speculatively. "You look fun," he said seriously. "Do you wanna head to my place?"

Tai's mouth fell agape and he was nearly bowled over by the simple offer. He'd never been invited to someone else's place! "Uh... um, I c-can't," he said. A brief second later he added, "My mother would want me to stay at home," by way of explanation.

"Well, how about I come to your place?"

This shocked Tai just as much as the previous idea. He'd never taken a friend home either, let alone someone who he'd just met. But then, he'd never encountered a person willing to walk right up to him and instantly try to make friends with him. It was almost like being hit full in the face with an explosion of friendliness.

"I-I guess," he replied, stepping back inside. Was this even safe? Was it what he should do? He didn't really want to, but it'd seem rude... "What do you wanna do?"

The fox kit called Mike shrugged indifferently. "I'm sure there's something we can do together!" he said confidently. "Do you have a game console, or a computer?"

"No, sorry." Tai blinked his large expressive emerald eyes. "We can't afford one."

"TV?"

"Yeah, but I don't like watching that..."

Yet again, a shrug. "That's not important. We'll find other things to do just by sitting in front of the box! I'm not a fan of TV either, you know."

Despite himself, Tai found himself liking this older kit. He'd come out of nowhere, was pleasant and instantly wanted to be friends. He was kinda cool too, in an outgoing way. Curiosity eating at him, the younger kit eyed this "Mike."

Tai had simply put back on his clothes from yesterday. He had to. However, Mike was wearing a red t-shirt with some totally incomprehensible, probably meaningless, tribal designs on it, black cargo pants and white cross-trainers. He gave off an air of confidence and capability, while his appearance and fashion was not what Tai was used to. Around his neck was a necklace of small beads and metal icons, while his medium length head-fur did sort of tumble in that messy, neglected like all the surfers Tai had seen on the television. He thought the older kit looked kinda cool, though that merely worried him more. But he was trapped now. He had accepted, and he didn't have the guts to backtrack.

Tai led his new friend into his home, trying to conceal his shaking paws. "Would you like a drink?" he asked politely, heading to the fridge. "All I have is apple juice. Oh, I guess water too."

"Yeah, please. Apple juice sounds cool."

Tai obliged and brought in two cups of effervescent apple juice; the last of last night's meal. He handed the larger cup to the other cub.

"How come my cup's bigger?" Mike asked curiously.

Tai shrugged. "Mom always tells me to be nice to guests," he explained. "I'll probably get more later." Truth was, Tai could only find two glasses in the bottom cabinet; he was pretty sure there were more, but they were probably in the shelves above the oven; placed there by someone who didn't consider a small fox kit needing a few cups.

"'Kay." Mike had that speculative look on his face again. He took a mighty gulp of his apple juice. "Hey, after this, do you wanna go for a walk? Scratch TV!"

Tai blinked in surprise again, but recovered quickly. He observed the other kit cautiously; could he trust this fur? He'd made mistakes before, and he wasn't fond of the prospect of making one again. "Why?" he asked bluntly.

"Something to do." Mike drank half his large glass of juice in one swig. He pointed out the massive games room window. "We should go now rather than later, while the sun is still up. I can show you the area. A guided tour!"

Tai stilled, uncertain. He glanced sidelong at the older kit.

There was a brief, awkward lapse in conversation.

"Have you ever been mugged or anything?" asked Mike, his massive grin returning to him completely out of the blue, with his eyes intently boring into Tai's. "Is that why you're not keen on going outside?"

"No..." The younger boy suddenly felt a chill in the pit of his stomach.

"I have..." Mike stood up, placing his cup on a small coffee table, and advanced on Tai. "Kinda."

Tai's eyes widened and he backed away, suddenly fearful. What was he doing?!

Mike grinned wider...

"He got me alone in my apartment," the brown furred fox continued, inching forwards at a painstakingly slow rate. Tai put his drink down and backed away even more. "Just downstairs. I was real afraid... the guy spoke very softly. He told me not to fight back, to let him have his way and I'd be alright. Then... he pounced!!" With that, eyes glimmering mischievously, Mike leaped forwards on powerful, athletic legs.

Tai stumbled backwards and was instantly flattened to the soft carpet, with Mike straddling his slight abdomen. Mike's paws were just above the little fox's shoulders and his fur-framed face loomed menacingly over those wide, frightened eyes. The larger boy bent down closer, and Tai was petrified into silence, unable even to scream, his breathing quick and whimpering softly. Mike growled, baring his teeth.

Then he leaned in closer yet. "He pinned me down." Quickly, he took and pinned the little fox's limp arms above his head, with Tai too scared to fight back against the clearly stronger boy. "He was so much bigger, stronger, older, and I was too scared to move. He lifted up my shirt with one hand..." He did so unto Tai, "and he spoke so, so softly when he said..."

Tai was now trembling violently, still unable to get his body to respond to his wish for flight, even as Mike lifted his pullover and t-shirt up to his neck, baring his skinny belly and ribs. His eyes were totally wide and wild. His stomach was clenched tightly.

What was going to happen to him now!?

"He said..." Mike lowered his voice to a whisper, lowering his head even further, so their noses were nearly touching. "He said..." the boy smirked, "....tickle time...."

He artfully paused a few seconds for the quietly spoken phrase to sink in. When he saw Tai's eyes widen, he released Tai's wrists and immediately launched a ferocious tickle attack on the slighter fox's lower ribs with amazing speed, way too fast for Tai's fear-frozen body to react at all.

Tai's scream was instantaneous, though it soon changed into shrieking laughter. "NO!!" The fox-boy cried shrilly, wriggling and kicking to the best of his ability, but Mike's much greater weight meant he was helplessly pinned to the floor, with his sweater and t-shirt pulled up to reveal his vulnerable ribs and the small dip of his stomach. "Please, n-n-no!! Ahahaaa!" He shrieked again as Mike slid his hand further up his writhing chest and mercilessly assaulted his armpits.

"No way!" Mike told him firmly, still tickling him. "I'm mugging you, remember?!"

"I-I'll give you whatever you want!" responded Tai, face suddenly wet with tears. Tears of laughter.

The older kit grabbed the younger's wrists with stunning speed and once more pinned them above his head. "Anything?" His eyes twinkled.

"Anything! Stop tickling me, please!!"

"How about you be my friend?"

"That's fair. Anything! Please get off!" Tai giggled. His face was flushed and painfully hot, and he was fighting for breath.

"Oh, gosh, no, that's not part of the deal." Mike folded his arms and settled onto Tai's hips, an exaggeratedly haughty expression on his face. "It's comfortable like this, right?"

"Well..." Tai quickly changed the subject. "Were you really mugged?" he asked quietly.

The brown fox shook his head, getting his long, fine, bark-colored hair out from his mouth. "Yeah. Actually, it happened really like the way I just said. I wasn't really planning from the start to tickle you, but when you looked so terrified, I just had to do it!" He chortled. "I won't hurt you, you know!"

Tai giggled, his heart still beating out of control. In a strange, scary way, that had been fun.

"Cool!" Mike rested his paws idly on the area between Tai's navel and waistband, touching the kit's bare fur. He still wouldn't let him up, but at least he wasn't pinning his arms.

The smaller fox leaned forwards, placing his hands behind him for support. His shirt and sweater slipped back down into place slightly, but not enough to cover his belly button, besides which sat Mike's paws. Slightly unnerved, Tai looked down at them. The fur on his chest, belly, throat and lower jaw was a dreamy, cloud-like fluff, puffed up by Mike's tormenting fingers. A wavy lock obscured the sight from one eye as it flopped down his face, his head-fur now a frazzled mess.

Part of him, however, was okay with it all. Somehow, he knew Mike would do nothing more than maybe another tickle attack. Those gentle paws just rested on his tummy, intimate but not invasive. It even felt nice just to have the heavier boy sitting on him. Weird...

"So, what happened when you were mugged?" insisted the disheveled kit.

"Well, um... I don't know." Mike looked at him dubiously. "Um, do you know what 'rape' is?"

Tai blinked his green eyes. "Nope." He'd heard the term, but his mom never answered when he asked it to be explained.

"It's where a person touches you down there without your permission." The older boy grinned. "Like this." He briefly rubbed the front of Tai's cottony track-pants. "Whoops? Did I have permission?"

"Maybe." Tai grinned, only slightly surprised. Though the little jolt of sensation made his heart skip a beat, it wasn't unpleasant. This older boy seemed to like touching him; that wasn't what Tai was used to, but he found himself surprisingly okay with it. It felt good, to get some contact other than the rare hugs from his mother. "So that's what they call it when someone touches your...?"

"Well, sort of," Mike elaborated, flicking his tail idly. "There's a bit more to it. That's rape. You know, doing stuff to someone's body they don't want."

Tai nodded. That made sense.

"What about you? You ever been touched down there?"

"No... Only by me."

"Oh, well, I have." There was no trace of sadness or embarrassment in Mike's voice. "It happened like I said earlier. The guy took off my clothes, tied my arms behind my back, yadda-yadda, all that stuff. He even sucked on it."

"What was that like?" Tai looked at him bemusedly. He'd never heard of sucking it.

Mike's face went distant. "Ahh... I could, um..." He trailed off, looking slightly ashamed. "Uh, never mind. The cops never caught him. I told 'em to forget about it, I just wanted to forget about it. He didn't really hurt me." Now it was Mike's turn to look baffled. "What he did was wrong, but at least he was nice about it. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Nope... I think you're nuts!" Tai grinned. Suddenly, he realized that he liked this older boy...

"It's a common misconception," drawled the older boy, grinning as well. His expression became exalted, as if an experiment had gone very well. "Let's go for a walk!"

"Okay," Tai said. "But you have to let me up first!"

"I'll think about it."

Chapter 2

Side by side, the fox kits conversed as they walked. They were only going around a block or two, as Mike had insisted they return home before dark, since he didn't want to get into trouble with his father. According to Mike, his father gave him a lot of freedom, but expected him to follow the few rules he did make. Tai didn't object - he felt nervous, walking with this stranger in this stifling, concrete environment.

Mike set the pace, occasionally skipping a few steps ahead, or climbing on a limestone wall, or carefully trying to walk the curb. Tai ambled along, trying to take in this strange new world that was now his home. They were surrounded on all sides by imposing, and very ugly, apartment buildings, some of them so high that Tai had to lean all the way back to focus on their pinnacle. As they rounded the block, the tallest buildings in sight were still at least three storeys high. Mike told him that these were tiny in comparison to the ones closer to the middle of the city; it made him shudder.

Preoccupied when they first arrived, Tai hadn't had a chance to examine his new home's surroundings. His apartment building was easily the tallest for blocks around, as he noticed when he and the older boy ambled out of the spacious lobby into the street. Thick stone pillars decorated the front of the building, and the sidewalk out front was more a wide boulevard of square paving stones and towering streetlights.

There was more to New York City than concrete, Tai had to admit. That had been his first impression as they were driving through the vehicle-packed roads or before then, when he caught sight of the sprawling city away in the distance. Though less than he'd like, there were trees and bushes, evenly spread along the sidewalk, and the occasional larger trees shaded the boys from the cool evening sun as they padded down the street together. Some windows and building entrances were covered with awnings or concrete overhangs, and small window-boxes housed tiny gardens high up from the ground. But the relentless noise of traffic nearby, the sour stink and the towering structures on all sides reminded Tai that he was still in a grimy city, no matter how they prettied it up.

Despite the occasional car, and one or two noisy buses that growled past deafeningly, the streets they walked were mostly deserted. Their chatter was punctuated every so often by the sound of Tai's keys jingling in his pocket. He always made sure he locked up, and he was glad his mother had given him his own keys already. If she hadn't, he wouldn't have dared leave the house.

Last time he'd gone outside and left the house unlocked and empty, it was one of the few times his mother actually hit him. He made sure to never repeat that mistake.

Curious, Tai glanced down every alley he found, and he didn't like what he saw in them. Trashcans and huge skips, bins so large he had only ever seen them at his mother's old workplace, sat festering between the buildings, and, despite their presence, carelessly discarded litter was still thickly strewn about the alleyways. Dirty, rusty air-conditioning and ventilation units thrummed away within fenced enclosures at almost every building's base. He shuddered.

Meanwhile, Mike was chortling his way through describing an incident where he'd nearly been run down by a school bus on this very road. Tai was mostly just listening, still unsure what to say to this older fox boy. He was so talkative; that wasn't a problem, no. Tai liked to have someone to talk to, and Mike's gregariousness was ever so slightly eroding his wariness.

The older boy paused, noticing for the first time that Tai was watching his surroundings like a hawk. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Tai shook his head. "No." He didn't meet Mike's eyes. "Things are just different here."

"How d'ya mean, different? Oh, hey, where are you from?"

"Alaska. Never been in a city before."

"Really? Huh. So, uh, you're a country boy, I guess?"

"I guess." Tai shrugged. Suddenly, Mike's tale reminded him of something. "Hey, what's school like around here?" he asked as they rounded a street corner and started back to the apartments.

"I dunno," admitted Mike, stuffing his paws in his pockets. "I'm home schooled." The older boy hesitated. Then he added, "I don't even like school kids."

"Why not?" Tai felt slightly offended.

"Well..." Mike leapfrogged a bollard with ease. "Not all of them, of course, but mostly they're... they're jerks. Obstreperous, uneducated jerks."

Tai actually physically staggered. Uneducated? Obstreperous? What on earth did that one even mean? How the heck was it spelt? Was it even a word? His mom had never used the latter word around him, let alone another boy! The manner of Mike's speech, too, hinted that he had a fantastic command of language, and he spoke so confidently. The eight-year-old was truly awed.

"Are you alright?" the other fox asked, seemingly amused by the reaction.

With a deep breath, Tai nodded. "Hey," he suddenly enquired, "um, has anyone ever picked on you?"

"Nope!" Mike leapfrogged another bollard, this time kicking his legs outwards and swishing his tail dramatically in mid-air. "I don't let them. If I don't like someone, I don't hang around them."

"Oh..."

Tai felt a bitter anger unsettle his stomach. His mother knew! She had to. She knew how much he hated going to school, but she'd ignored him! Instead of home schooling or something, she elected to keep him in abject misery every weekday, simply so she could save money! The sudden move, the unexplained apartment and everything else... his mother was saving up to move here! Even now, she just stuck him in school again!

"No!" he hissed to himself sternly. That couldn't be true. He had to be missing something. Maybe she only got the money because she moved here? There was too much he didn't know, and without knowing, he couldn't understand.

Mike drew away. "You look angry! You okay, Tai?"

"Yeah, I think so." Tai bit his lip.

"I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean you."

"Oh, no, not that." Tai flushed shyly. "Um. O-once we get back to my place, wanna order pizza? Maybe you could... sleep... over?" The last two words were such an unnatural pair for Tai. He felt fairly absurd just saying the phrase, but for some reason he wanted this older kit around for a bit longer.

He didn't want to be alone all of tonight.

Mike nodded, grinning broadly. "You bet! You're pretty cool and I love pizza!"

Tai looked at him gravely; had he just said Tai was cool? "Um... I get picked on. Lots. I'm not very big, y'know?" It was a weird thing to say, but he felt like the older, friendly kit ought to know, especially in light of Tai's history of fair-weather friends.

However, Mike suddenly exploded with laughter. "Yeah," he finally said, after recovering from his guffaws. "I guess you are kinda tiny. Your head-fur is kinda girly too."

"Thanks so much," replied Tai in a dry tone, not meeting the older fox boy's eyes.

"Don't be upset, Tai!" Mike had been using Tai's name quite a bit, but Tai was having trouble saying his for some reason. Just felt weird. "So, you're small. So what? So you don't look the way they expect you to; so what? See what I mean? School kids are soooo dumb." He grinned playfully.

Tai absently booted a cola can across the street, not really feeling all that playful himself. "Yeah... you're right." The can skittered noisily across the bitumen before slamming into the curb on the other side. The sound was satisfying. "They are dumb."

"But you're not. You're kinda fun." Mike chuckled. "And I was only kidding. Your head-fur is cool. You don't look like a girl at all to me. Only an idiot would think you look like a girl just because your head-fur is long."

A shy smile worked its way onto Tai's little muzzle.

When they got back, Mike quickly ran downstairs to tell his father- with whom he lived alone, he reported- before bolting back down into Tai's apartment. He relayed that his father was fine with it, because they lived so close and the apartment building was safe anyway. Tai was impressed by the amount of trust Mike's father allowed his son; his own mother probably wouldn't approve of him even having visitors.

Part of him was slightly worried he'd be punished for it, but he didn't want to ask Mike to leave.

They ordered the pizza quickly and sat down to watch something on TV. They were sitting, right next to one another, on the couch in front of the television and trying to feign interest in an insipid sitcom. In truth, they were more interested in one another, talking still.

It was Mike who decided to take a seat right next to his new friend, as keen on contact as before. It still made Tai a little nervous. As nice as it was, he wasn't yet used to such constant proximity. Slowly, he found his anxiety ebbing away as the conversation continued. Before long, he was fighting the urge to cuddle up to the bark-furred kit he had only just met; something he was afraid would net an angry rejection.

Things like this, he'd had no experience with. He'd seen other boys sitting like this before, but he never felt welcome to join them...

Instead, he focused on the conversation as it drifted towards a discussion of their hobbies... which he didn't really have.

As he expected, Mike was older than him; ten years of age. Tai found himself fascinated - the older boy was very different to others he'd met of that age. Very mature and relaxed, but yet somehow still so very obviously another boy, energetic and funny.

During a commercial break, Tai decided to ask about something that had been bothering him.

"Hey, you know the pizza that's coming?" he enquired, looking a bit bashful.

"No idea. What's a pizza?" Mike said, turning to look directly at his new friend. His tone was perfectly sober. "I was there when you ordered, y'know."

Tai ignored that and told Mike briefly about his earlier bizarre experience with the teenaged alsatian and how he was most likely to be the one to deliver tonight's pizza too... and about the odd promise he made.

"Oh! Yeah, Jake. I know him. He's a family friend." Mike nodded slightly. Tai absently wondered if you could be a family friend if the family only comprised of two members. "He's awesome. He does deliveries to this whole area; sometimes I order pizza just to talk to him."

"Um, has he ever done anything?" Tai demanded, getting anxious. His old school's vague, spine-chilling warnings about 'stranger danger' and such were starting to gnaw at him now. "Ever hurt anybody?"

"Well... no... no, of course he hasn't..." Mike scratched behind his own ears, a pensive expression on his face. "I... once saw some pictures on his computer at his house. He's a... hrm. Never mind, you'll see. He's too..." Mike struggled for a word, frowning slightly. "He's too moral. Um, too nice. He's not like the guy that mugged me. He definitely wouldn't hurt anyone. Ever."

Tai let out an explosive breath. "So, you know him and he's safe?"

"Yeah. Don't freak, Tai, he won't go crazy and jump at you!" Then a huge grin split his muzzle and he teased, "Well, he might. You are reeaaaally cute, you know."

Tai drew away along the couch, suddenly embarrassed. In spite of himself, he found himself grinning sheepishly. He couldn't recall ever having been called cute by another boy, definitely not one of Mike's age.

"It'll be your fault of course. You were askin' for it!" Mike laughed, delighted. "Relax! I'm only kidding!"

Then the door was knocked on three times.

Tai's eyes went a little wild. "Oh, that'll be him!" he fretted, getting to his paws. He hesitated. Should he honor his spur-of-the-moment, stupid promise?

Mike chuckled. "Tsk. If you're gonna be all stuffy about it, I'll do it with you."

The smaller fox widened his emerald eyes even more. "Really?" he asked incredulously. "You'd do that?"

Mike nodded with a somewhat condescending roll of his eyes. "Yeah, when you go swimming all the time, you get used to people seeing you naked," he explained patiently. "There's really nothing to worry about; and I know Jake. It's no biggie. Have you forgotten how to take your clothes off? Want a hand?" His expression was totally serious, his tone bland. Tai had already quickly learned that this was by no means an indication of seriousness for Mike, though.

Without waiting for a response, Mike walked purposefully over to the younger boy and grabbed the bottom hem of his pullover; startled, Tai barely had time to raise his paws above his head. Mike pulled the garment over Tai's head with next to no hesitation. Boldly, he grabbed the younger boy's track-pants around the waist and wordlessly yanked them down.

Tai gasped and had to grab at his silky boxers' waistband to keep them from being pulled down along with the track-pants.

"Oh, sorry," Mike teased. "That's not part of the deal, is it? Maybe later." Tai felt his face grow suddenly hot. His new friend removed his shirt, more gently this time, baring his lithe body and arched back.

Mike stepped back. "Well then..." He nodded appreciatively. "Hrrrmmm."

Unable to help it, Tai gave him a mildly abashed grin as he stood there in front of him in only his satin blue boxers. He instinctively wrapped his chest in his arms, but Mike reached out and gently put them down at the kit's sides. "Don't. I'm just kidding. Don't be embarrassed, I don't mind."

Nonetheless, Mike let out a wolf-whistle as he looked the younger kit over.

Almost totally bare now, Mike saw that Tai was just shy of being alarmingly skinny, with long, slender limbs. His shoulders were delicate and narrow, and his stomach was tight as it led down to his equally narrow and delicate hips; there was almost no fat on him at all, and yet there was... something about the very shape of his body. A proportionality that seemed just right somehow despite the thinness of his form.

Along with his adorable face and long head-fur, Tai could actually be a serious test of Jake's will-power.

But Mike mentally shrugged. Tai would be fine. Jake would be the one in trouble. Mike knew exactly what this little stunt was going to do to him. He'd flaunted his own body around the poor teenager many a time. In fact...

A slight smirk formed on the barky-furred boy's face. What he had planned would likely stun Tai more than the intended victim.

This was going to work just fine.

Seconds later, Tai stared in amazement at the older kit as he stripped swiftly down to his boxers. They were satiny, like his, and bright green, with intricate designs on the sides of his legs. The waistband of it had been visible before Mike had completely stripped, his pants themselves seated slightly lower on his waist than the underwear - Tai had never seen that before. It was interesting, but soon something else completely eclipsed it.

Grinning confidently, Mike straightened up, nonchalantly putting his shorts aside. Openly, though wordlessly, inviting Tai to look, and look the littler kit did. After all, he rarely had such an opportunity to see another boy like this.

The older fox kit had a clearly athletic frame. He wasn't bulky or muscular, but very well toned. Strong. Athletic. He was a long-limbed, slender boy, like Tai was, but had a more average thickness from his healthy musculature. Tai noticed with but a trace of jealousy that his arms were more defined, and his strong legs were thicker.

A lush, velvety fur descended from his handsome muzzle, down his neck, over his taut, flat chest and tummy and disappearing under the smooth, shiny boxers. It contrasted well with the light brown pelt that covered the rest of him, eventually ending in only slightly darker stockings towards the ends of his limbs.

Despite it being such a strange situation, the sight of Mike's nearly nude body sped his heart-rate ever so slightly, making him ache to touch or stare... it felt strange. Made him even more anxious.

But Mike didn't give him the chance to be shy. "Alright, let's go!" Laughing, Mike insistently pushed the little fox-boy ahead of him to the front door, ignoring Tai's startled protest.

They both answered the door simultaneously, and Jake jumped. His eyes jack-hammered open and the pizza almost flew from his grasp.

"You!" he exclaimed, gawking at Mike. "Uh, I mean, hey, Mike!"

Both kits giggled at that. "Hey, Jake!" Mike piped, stepping forwards. "How's it going with you?" He leaned against the doorframe, and Jake gulped, his eyes darting from Mike's nearly nude form to Tai's.

"You aren't going to tell anyone about this, are you?" asked the canine, slightly apprehensive. "You haven't told anyone, right? Oh God."

Surprisingly, Mike responded by draping an affectionate arm over Tai's shoulder and cocking his vulpine head at the delivery-dog. "I'm sure we can come to an arrangement," he said soberly. He forced his face to remain straight. It wasn't easy.

Jake reeled backwards. "Please!" he begged, swallowing hard. "Don't do that! Don't even joke about this!"

"We won't tell," Tai said hurriedly, not wanting to scare Jake off. Especially not while he was holding the pizza.

"But you gotta tell us something first!" Mike blurted, grinning widely.

Jake eyed them both, swallowing loudly. "Guys!" he pleaded. "Come on!" He looked around wildly.

"Just answer this question," insisted Mike, implacably. "Isn't this just so cute when we're like this?"

He pulled himself closer to Tai, almost but not quite nuzzling into his neck sensually. Tai shuddered involuntarily as he felt the bigger boy's breath tingle the fur on his throat, and his tail swished at the air behind him - he felt paralyzed by it. Jake meanwhile was making noises like he was being strangled.

"Yes! Whatever!" gasped the teenager, thrusting the pizza and the bag with the drink and garlic bread in it in front of the two flaunting foxes. "Look, just take this!"

Tai blinked in surprise. "What about paying?" he asked. "The money is just over h-"

"Forget it," the dog said shortly. "I've just gotta get outta here! I'll pay for the pizzas."

"So, we're sexy, are we?" continued Mike, grinning maliciously and arching his back. "Scale of one to ten?"

"Off the chart. Eleven, okay? Gimme a break, Mike..."

"Well, you're allowed to touch if you like."

Jake shot him a slightly annoyed look, as if the prank had finally stepped over the line. "That's getting a little unoriginal, Mike!"

"Just offering." Now Mike's face cracked into a cheeky, joyous smile.

"Whaddaya want from me, Mike? Quit teasing me; I can't help that-"

Mike held up a paw. "Seriously, how am I teasing you?" He shook his head slightly. "I'm not."

Doing his best to not look interested, Tai got the distinct impression this was an ongoing issue between these two that he'd just blundered into somehow. Whatever the joke was, it was fun. This was working a charm. He liked the teenager for some reason, and didn't want to drive him away, but...

Jake had nearly fainted, and his head was swimming. "You're not serious. Y-you dunno what you're talkin' about."

"Don't I!?" replied Mike acidly.

"Not according to law," Jake said firmly, fending off his arousal and reaching past the two cubs to place the pizza on a cabinet near the door. "And that's what matters. Even still, your friend hasn't got the same experience you have."

Mike shrugged and pulled Tai a little closer. "I'll teach him then," he said simply.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mike!" The alsatian whimpered at the back of his throat. The pathetic whimper of a trapped animal. "You'll get in serious trouble!"

"Nuh-uh." What Mike did then was utterly incredible. Keeping one arm loosely around his friend's narrow shoulders, the ten-year-old dropped his free paw to Tai's groin, easily seeking out and lightly stroking his little penis through those soft, smooth boxers. "We won't get caught. So what will you do then?" He dug his fingers in a little more, rubbing the twitching object more firmly. He tugged on it, massaging it from the base upwards and right on cue it started to stiffen.

Tai gasped slightly, but didn't flinch away. In fact, his body didn't seem interested in listening to him at all. He looked down at the gentle paw, and felt a familiar warmth spreading through his lower body. The wonderful caress of the silky material made it all the more intense. It felt stronger, and different somehow, with someone else doing it for him. Better. Though his paw had twitched towards his groin, instinctually looking to defend the vulnerable area, he slowly let it rest at his side again...

Jake took one look at Mike masturbating the smaller boy and fled with a yelp. He sprinted away from the scene as fast as his long Alsatian legs could carry him.

Mike gave Tai a few more seconds of rubbing before letting him go, a satisfied expression on his face; he shut the door for the younger boy, who just gawped at him in amazement.

Tai was absolutely bewildered. "Why did you do that?" he asked, awfully aware of the fact he was now sporting a stiffy. He tried to cover it as it tented his smooth boxers. With every step, every movement, it rubbed against the material, ensuring it stayed hard. He tried pushing it down so it was at least less visible but that didn't help at all.

"Because, it's funny!" Mike replied with a silly grin, taking the pizza and bag from the cabinet and into the games room. "Maybe one day he'll stop being so silly about this. Oh, it's okay. I gave you that stiffy, so you don't need to hide it or anything. Not gonna make fun of you."

"Oh. O-okay." Tai ceased trying to cover it up, though the sensation of it brushing against his boxers made him a little edgy. It wasn't easy to ignore. He peeked through the glass panel on the door. After making sure no one had been watching the show, he walked into the games room.

Seeing that Mike had decided to forgo putting his clothes back on, Tai decided to do the same. He sat down on the soft carpet in front of his older friend, crossing his legs and opened the pizza box. It was warm indoors so there was no practical reason to get dressed.

It was enough to send the two foxes reeling. The unmistakable smell of bacon, ham, pepperoni and all the other myriad things one would find on such a meat drenched pizza assaulted their powerful sense of smell. Tai forgot almost immediately about the little pole in his underwear.

"Whoa!" Mike muttered. "That smells awesome!"

"Sure does!" concurred Tai, before immediately lifting a piece up and scoffing it in less than ten seconds. When he was finished, he was suddenly aware of being watched. The silence seemed to drip amusement.

"How do you stay so skinny when you eat like that?" asked Mike, a little smile on his muzzle.

Tai shrugged, not really giving any thought to the query. "Just do!"

He reached for another slice, inviting Mike to help himself too. Tai never forgot his manners, and he knew he'd never finish the entire pizza anyway.

Though Mike did pick up a slice, he seemed to be a little less interested in eating it. He watched the younger kit, a curious expression on his face.

Tai paused. "Wh-what is it?"

The older kit shook his head. "Sorry. Just thinkin'." He took a big bite out of his greasy slice. "Um, you won't tell anyone what we did to Jake, will you?"

Immediately, Tai shook his head. "No." He meant it. He'd never even consider telling his mother about it. The idea just chilled him to the bone.

Mike nodded. "Um, well..." he hesitated. "Did you like it? What I did to you at the door?"

Honestly, Tai nodded. "It felt really good." He stopped eating, returning the barky-furred kit's gaze inquisitively.

"Do you want to do it some more?" Mike's voice was hopeful, and his hazel eyes were wide. "We can do a lot more. Um, like, some of the stuff I told you earlier."

Tai's eyes bulged a little, recalling Mike's mention of sucking on it. "You w-want to?" he asked nervously. "W-would it hurt or anything?"

"No way. I don't mean hurting or scaring you, I don't want to do that." Mike crawled closer to Tai on all fours. "It feels like what I did to you at the door. Did you like that?"

"I-I... liked it, yeah..."

"It's just like a game," the larger kit breathed enthusiastically.

"T-tonight?" the lithe vulpine whispered, trembling with some strange anticipation he could not name nor explain. A million butterflies suddenly flocked in his stomach. "R-right now?"

"Of course." The ten-year-old twitched his tail in the air behind him. His eyes seemed to positively sparkle. Excited.

Tai gulped audibly. He felt his penis slowly getting hard once again, but he didn't know or care why. Something warned him again that he had trusted older boys before, but the butterflies seemed to urge him on. Anxious, but not to run. He got to his paws and knees like Mike. "Where do we do it?" he asked excitedly.

Mike shrugged. "Anywhere, really."

"R-right here?"

The older kit smiled. "We can, sure!" He gestured vaguely at the couch right next to them. "Maybe on the couch? It's good to be comfy."

Tai nodded, his mouth dry as sandpaper. He'd touched himself in private, yes, but never done anything like this before. He'd attempted to. But only once. He wasn't lying when he said he was the only fur who had ever touched him down there. His mother had caught Tai and one of his better friends when he was six, hiding in a closet at a party. Just before any experimentation could've happened his mother discovered their hiding place and put a halt to it.

For some reason infuriated, she had yelled at him, caustically told him off and put him down. He'd been reduced to tears in seconds, right in front of all of his friends. They looked on, bewildered, whilst the adults just stared at him coldly, judging him for what he had tried to do, even though it had been at his friend's suggestion.

But his mother wasn't home - wouldn't be home for many hours. This was the first opportunity of its kind he'd ever had! His mother had left him alone countless times, but never with another kid! He wanted to seize the chance while he could. He had to do this. He really, really wanted to do this!

Then he noticed something concerning. He sat back, nervously biting his lower lip. Mike's face had grown momentarily absent. Almost scared. Was he hesitating? "S-so... what now?"

Snapping back into awareness, the older kit just smiled at him. Confident again. He sidled up to Tai, a playful gleam in his eyes. "Um. I'll show you! Let's try it on the couch!"

Quickly, they scampered over to the plush, comfortable settee. The eight-year-old clambered onto the cushions and lay flat on his back. He was trembling slightly with a nervous anticipation, unsure of what was going to happen next. He wanted to find out. He so desperately wanted to find out!

The brown furred fox looked him over. Tai could almost feel those hazel eyes trailing over every inch of his body. A gentle paw joined them, starting at his slender thigh and starting on up his body. Another started to slowly rub his chest, and together, Mike's little paws begun to explore his body.

It felt incredible. Breathing rapidly, Tai arched his back, writhing slowly beneath those massaging, tender paws as they slipped between his legs, over his fragile ribcage and down his arms. They left pleasant threads of tingling sensation over his body. Unable to help himself, Tai closed his green eyes and whimpered.

He opened his eyes after a moment of reveling in light massage to see Mike move closer, adjusting his position. He got closer, laying his strong arms upon Tai's upper body and leaning in, allowing his warm chest to press to Tai's. Cuddling him gently. A second later Mike tenderly started to nuzzle at his soft throat. Tai gasped, closing his eyes once again. He'd never been in such a position... it was incredible.

The only warning he got was a soft, almost sigh-like "Hmmmh..." Suddenly, he felt Mike's muzzle press to his. Softly, but insistently pressing their maws together.

His surprised squeal was muffled by Mike's mouth, merely allowing Mike to sensually probe the smaller boy's muzzle with his tongue. At first, Tai was genuinely scared; he didn't expect whatever this was.

But after the briefest of seconds, he understood. He was being kissed! By another boy! Another second later, he realized it wasn't really all that bad. Soon, he responded by pressing his tongue to his friend's. He'd never been kissed on the muzzle before. It was new. It felt exhilarating as tingles of feeling rippled through his tongue as it glided smoothly along Mike's. It never occurred to him that his tongue would be so sensitive - all of a sudden, he understood why furs kissed like that. His ears flattened close to his little skull whilst the kiss went on and on.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that. He fell into an almost dreamlike daze, only thinking how he wanted to kiss back...

At last, Mike pulled away slightly, a big cheesy grin on his face. "Whoa," he said aloud, lightly resting a hand on Tai's naked belly. "How was that for a first kiss?"

Tai flushed hotly beneath his fur. "I-I liked it..." he admitted.

"Gee, don't mean to force it out of you!" Mike said, feigning indignation. "It's not like I didn't just kiss you or nothin'." Then his grin turned ever so slightly malicious.

The paw that lingered on Tai's belly started to slide downwards towards his boxers...

Tai's eyes widened and his stomach tightened like someone was cinching it into a knot. His breathing picked up yet again and his fur seemed to prickle. Was this really, really, really about to happen?

"Don't be scared," said Mike reassuringly, sliding his fingers through the soft fur, over the flat stomach and under the waistband of the satin boxers. He grasped the elastic, slowly drawing the underwear down.

Tai shuddered as he felt himself being totally undressed. His little penis was yet again at its full length, the erotic thrill of the situation hardening it at record speed. The waist of his boxers pushed it down, and once the elastic slipped over, it flicked back up like a miniature catapult.

The boxers finally came off from around Tai's ankles, and Mike felt a wild surge of exultation. He was staring straight at Tai's erect little plaything. It wasn't the first time he'd seen one of course; people tend to be naked quite a bit in swimming pool change rooms... but this time it was different. This belonged to a compliant younger fox pup, and it was for Mike to play with.

He stroked it lightly, feeling the warm flesh in his paw. After pondering it for an instant, Mike brought his muzzle to bear on Tai's small cock. He cast all reservations and shame aside as he launched himself into something he'd wanted to do for the longest time, confident now it was the right thing to do.

Surprised, Tai let out a loud squeal and drew his legs up inadvertently when he felt Mike's moist, warm muzzle slide over his penis. It was something he had never felt before, nothing like it. He twitched violently as a firm tongue unexpectedly caressed and teased his tip. The feeling it caused was sort of electric, and it caused his body to shudder and jerk- his legs in particular. Mike barely managed to avoid being kneed in the head as one of the kit's legs reflexively pulled upwards. Using the paw closest to the younger boy's legs to push the dangerous limb down gently, he got closer to Tai's wiry form, holding him more firmly.

Mike was surprised at how well this was going. Ever since that frightening day a few years ago, he had sought out something that catered to his interests and could satiate his burning desire for answers. His father never restricted his internet access, often having to leave him alone too. But even with so many advantages, he had found so very little. But one day, almost by accident... there was a website he stumbled across, a repository for stories and images of an explicit nature. Mostly drawings.

He'd been amazed and intrigued. Naturally, he was driven to distraction by the things he read in there; things he wanted to try. Not just by himself. What he did by himself felt so hollow. He desperately wanted a partner - he wanted contact, another warm body to experiment with. His heart had leaped when he discovered another boy nearly his age had moved in.

The athletic pup had moved in for the kill quickly, and despite Tai's obvious initial distrust, he'd proven an enthusiastic playmate. Mike had swayed this shy, nervous boy to permit him to do almost anything to him in only a day. It scared him at first, knowing that the younger, far littler kit and he were entering a seemingly dangerous, uncertain world. Mike didn't know everything, no matter how he came across: he didn't want to harm this little fox boy.

But so far, hurting Tai was far away from what seemed to be happening...

Meanwhile, Tai felt the world was blurring, fading into the haze of his intense physical sensations. He'd played with himself before obviously, but this was... far beyond what he'd done before, and that soft, caressing tongue, smoothly gliding all over his penis, making it just crawl and itch with intense feeling that spread quickly throughout his whole body.

An inexplicable pressure was building up deep within him, and Tai was fighting off the urge to moan embarrassingly. His body was twitching, his breathing heavy, and he was clawing at the couch involuntarily, tense and gasping. These feelings were welling up, centering around his amazingly sensitive little penis, and he'd do anything for the figurative floodgates to burst. To see what lay beyond them... to feel it.

Then Mike stopped, looking over with a gigantic smile.

"Wh-why d'ya stop?!" Tai asked immediately, face suddenly anguished.

"You gotta take it slowly," replied Mike, starting to firmly rub Tai's cock tip; just the tip of the slick, invitingly soft glans. Tai squealed aloud - it was a strong feeling, and the little member's pinkish tip was raw, over-sensitive. He writhed and squirmed as Mike deftly masturbated him, sending paralyzing jolts of sensation through his body.

The older fox boy was looking intently at Tai's body. He noticed that Tai was shaking and whimpering pitiably, struggling to keep his uncontrollable vocalizations to a minimum. Like Mike was, the littler kit was damn sensitive down there.

Mike pouted slightly. The desperate little kit could probably not take much more of this. Would he even be able to stay awake after his orgasm? It seemed it'd be Tai's first, and Mike remembered his. It rocked him, dizzied him, and the only reason he could stay awake was because... he was scared.

But Tai would not suffer that. No more, that is, than the unexpected blast of sensation would cause. Mike wouldn't let his new friend's experience even come close to his own. He felt a pang of guilt - he should have warned the littler boy about orgasms, because he certainly planned on giving Tai one, no matter what.

Mike lowered his muzzle down to the slender, stiff penis and started sucking again, this time moving his head up and down, using his tongue to massage the delicate, sensitive organ like a teat. He was moving so fast, sucking so firmly, he was sure Tai would come in seconds.

He did. Mike's gifted tongue suddenly brought the little fox pup to climax. After a moment where his body tensed all over and his spine arched up off the cushions, the skinny fox boy seemed to spasm, shuddering violently. His arms and legs threshed uncontrollably for a second, pulling in towards his little chest, but Mike just held him closer, preventing him from falling from the couch.

Tai tried to cry out, but his larynx seemed to have seized up. He clawed desperately at the couch, gathering the soft material in his paw as if he were crumpling a ruined piece of paper.

His cock shuddered and convulsed as his first dry orgasm tore its way through him, exploding outwards from his groin and consuming his whole body. The young vulpine's head suddenly swam and he involuntarily tensed so much that he actually started to sit up, his slender stomach as tight as it'd ever been. Then he collapsed backwards, exhausted and dizzy. Knocked senseless.

"Wow..." Mike muttered aloud to himself. "That good?" Then he laughed at himself, wiping saliva off of his muzzle.

Tai panted to himself, spread-eagled on the couch. Completely wiped.

Smiling, Mike gently rubbed the tip of the still twitching penis. "Unnhh!!" Tai gasped, jolting again. Mike stopped immediately.

He leaned over the dazed cub, as he had before when he kissed him, and was only mildly surprised when Tai lifted his arms and hugged him close, pressing their bodies together. Desperate for contact while he rode out the last few gusts of the mighty storm. His breathing sounded as if he'd been running a marathon.

When the death-grip around his chest loosened, Mike leaned back slightly. Tai was exhausted, but in his eyes danced a disoriented delight that Mike was definitely sure wasn't there before. He was finding it hard to look at the younger kit without picturing a golden halo adorning his adorable features.

Brushing a brown lock of head-fur from his own eyes first, Mike then tenderly swiped aside the veil of head-fur that had flopped over Tai's face. "Man he's cute..." thought Mike, swallowing hard. He'd known he had something for other boys, stealing glances in changing rooms and the like, but Tai had stolen his breath away the minute they'd met.

It was all he could do to keep his paws off him until the time was right.

Tai exhaled slowly, his eyes closing.

"Love-you-Tai!" Mike blurted incomprehensibly, and then he blushed violently beneath his downy cheek-fur. He hadn't meant to say that!

The bemused cub beneath him merely smiled. Since that heavenly release, a strange lassitude came over him. Whatever Mike had said, it came tumbling forth almost as a single word. His brain just couldn't catch it. It didn't seem to matter though.

With a sigh of mild regret, Mike pulled himself onto the couch and entwined his legs with Tai's. Tonight had totally flown by. They'd do more, he knew they would. But Mike realized he didn't just want that. He wanted to know this boy. This lonely angel.

He liked him. A lot.

With great effort, Tai spoke. "I-I feel really tired," he said, blinking his bleary eyes.

"That happen afterwards," Mike said clinically. "It's normal. Would you wanna do something like that again?" Tai nodded. "Would you do it to me?" After looking thoughtful for a second, Tai nodded yet again.

Mike smiled broadly.

He glanced to the DVD player beneath the magnificent TV. It was probably time for Tai to get some sleep. Mike was pretty sure the littler kit had an early bed time.

"Where's your bed?" he asked, softly rubbing the smaller vulpine's cute ears, unable to keep from touching him.

"Don't got one," responded Tai, belatedly. Mike stifled a laugh.

"Well." Mike eased himself off his slight friend. "I'll get some stuff and we can sleep here, right?"

"Sounds good... hmm..." Tai rubbed at an eye. "Sleepovers are a lot of fun, aren't they?"

The pair smiled at one another, then broke out in soft chuckles.

Chapter 3

The next day, Tai woke up later than usual. He rolled over, almost falling from the soft couch, and slowly cracked his eyes open. His foggy brain couldn't quite recollect why, but he felt last night had been a good one.

Unable and unwilling to move, he stared pathetically at the DVD player beneath the gargantuan television as it winked its green LED screen on and off at him. The digits slowly came into focus.

According to the DVD player, it was half-past eight in the morning. It seemed later than that though.

He sat up and shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. He felt weary despite his sleep, as if last night had been particularly exhausting, or he'd overslept. Or more likely, he just didn't really want to get up.

Bright light streamed in through the large French windows of the games room, and Tai, from his sitting position under his cotton covers, admired the view.

The incandescent morning sun had risen, bright and glorious, behind the sky scrapers of the sprawling city. Tai was forced to reluctantly admit that even here in the city the sun rose with its usual impeccable grace.

Entranced by the sun's performance, slowly rising between the buildings, reducing them to nothing but dark, wavering shadows, Tai just lay there. Ears flat. Not thinking. Not moving.

Then he jumped to his feet, heart pounding. Where had Mike gone?!

Tai scampered around the couch and started tearing the flat apart in a frantic search, darting from room to room as if he'd find Mike just standing in a corner. He finally arrived, his search fruitless, back at the games room.

"No!" His voice was tiny and quiet, but that single exclamation held so much unutterable, inexplicable frustration.

Tears welled up and blurred his sight. With a sharp cry, Tai lashed out at an unoffending table. He kicked out with his unshod foot-paw.

The table didn't really care. It was made of polished oak. Tai's paw however, protested most strenuously.

The naked little fox pushed aside the pain eventually, after it settled into a throbbing ache, and simply stared long at the floor.

Why did his friends--no, everybody, do this to him?! Make him think they cared, then slink away? Did he say something to the older boy?

Desolate, Tai slowly walked to his pile of clothes that lay next to the couch. He dressed himself without much vigor, not even really sure why he bothered - what did it matter if he was nude in his own home, alone? Not like anyone cared anyway.

He ambled to the fridge in the kitchen and yanked the silver monstrosity's door open. Still sniffing, he pulled out the remainder of his apple juice. He spun the top off and adroitly threw it into the bin from five feet away.

Just as he was sitting down on the couch to spend the day with that hated television for his only company, there was a loud knocking on the front door.

Tai set his apple juice on the cabinet. "One second, please!" he said loudly. Quickly, he rubbed his eyes dry and went to the front of the apartment.

The door wasn't chained, so he just undid the simple lock and opened the door. Raised in a crime-free area, the kit didn't even think about it.

When the door swung inwards, he was met by the grinning visage of a familiar boy.

"Mike?!" Tai cried. "Where did you go!?"

Mike took one look at Tai and laughed. "Home, of course!" he told his younger friend. "I just live a minute away."

"Don't do that again! Why didn't you wake me up!?"

"I was gonna, but I couldn't bring myself to. You looked so..." Mike narrowed his eyes and perked his ears forward. "Have you been crying? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not!" Tai was shocked at himself for sounding so angry. So forceful. He sounded like a lecturing parent; even though he knew he had no right whatsoever to tell this older fox what to do.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." Tai decided to forget about it. "It's just... I was worried," he lied. "I'm sorry."

The bigger boy laughed and playfully shoved his friend's shoulder. "Don't be silly; I can take care of myself, y'know."

Tai sighed quietly and made a weak attempt at smiling. "Yeah, I noticed." He stepped aside. "C-coming in?"

"Sure!"

As they walked back to the games room, Mike eyed the slim boy carefully. He was still seemingly locked in thought.

The older cub wasn't dense, and he easily could tell that something was wrong. He felt he knew what it was too.

Tai must've thought his new friend had left him. After all, when he first met him, he was crying as his mother left him standing alone in the hallway. The last thing Tai needed was to be abandoned again.

Even another kid could see that easily.

The rest of the day was uneventful, mostly because Mike had to apologize and leave at mid-day. "My dad expects me home for lessons," he explained, showing genuine regret on his face. "I promised I'd be back before twelve. I'll see you around, huh? Feel free to drop by whenever you can."

Eraline returned not long after that. The exhausted vixen said hello to her son and collapsed immediately onto the unmade queen bed in the room she'd chosen for herself at random. She was sounding off like a lumber mill in a few minutes.

Tai spent the rest of the day, as his mother slept her night-shift away, reading a story book that he'd practically memorized by now. He sat at the side of his mother's bed, wanting some company, even if it was busy snoring. It felt reassuring to at least be near his mother and kept him from getting too lonely.

However, as the day went on and the sun receded below the towering buildings in the distance, Tai began to fear the morning.

For tomorrow was his first day at another new school.

The first day of school wasn't too unbearable. It never really was. The teasing and torment never started until after a few days at least. Everyone had to learn you were prey, after all.

Tai was astounded and bewildered by his new school. The school taught furs of all different ages, from elementary grade to senior high. They had all been crammed into one school. Tai had never heard of a school that did this. Probably since the others had recognized the dangers and difficulties involved and knew better.

It was extremely unnerving for Tai. He had never been around so many furs, let alone so many students so much older than him.

Especially of a certain type of them. Many of the students, mostly the seniors, dressed in an extremely odd style. Everywhere Tai looked, there were teenaged furs of all species sporting elaborate, though often cheap-looking, clothing that was excessively baggy, almost hanging off of them, as they swaggered arrogantly around the school. At first, Tai thought it looked silly. Then he realized that these furs were often aggressive. In one day alone, he was witness to a dozen confrontations between students, usually for no apparent reason.

But it wasn't until he saw the weapons that he realized just how bad things were. Knives, brass-knuckles, screw-drivers and more.

Next, he spotted guards. Actual security guards. But they were never around when they were needed, it seemed. They seemed to prefer harassing the very students that needed their help. It didn't Tai long to deduce that they also could be strangely aggressive, and he resolved to avoid them as much as possible.

By lunch-time's end, Tai was terrified. He had been dropped into a world so strange and threatening to him he found himself contemplating something he had never once considered before. Suddenly, he didn't want to be here. He couldn't stay here. For the first time in his life, despite it all, Tai found himself considering truancy. He wanted out of here!

Though... where could he go? There was nowhere! He was trapped! There was nothing he could do. Staying home was impossible, his mom wouldn't let him. Other adults would just drag him to school too, and wouldn't the school know if he was absent? Dread started to creep up his stomach, and he tasted what seemed to be metal in his muzzle.

He sped up, trying to get out of the corridors and into his class quickly after the bell rang. His mind whirring and adrenaline blotting out his senses, he didn't think to be careful as he turned a corner...

So he collided with a raccoon teenager, twice his height and garbed in those unusual clothes.

"Hey, watch where ya goin', little shit!" the raccoon snapped, roughly pushing the little fox boy backwards with one paw.

Barely keeping from stumbling to the ground, Tai stared up at the irrationally angry teenager. The corridors were almost empty now; just him and the lanky raccoon. Unsure what to say or do, Tai froze directly in front of the raccoon.

"Get the fuck out of my way." The teenager sneered and pushed the kit aside.

He stalked on down the corridor, glaring back over his shoulder for a split second before continuing down the linoleum corridor, his gait an absurdly exaggerated swagger. With a chill, Tai realized he had to follow the maniac to get to his own class. He shuddered and walked on, hanging as far back as he possibly could and walking at a snail's pace.

Which meant he'd be late, and likely he'd be punished by his teacher.

Briefly he considered telling an adult what just happened but he was too scared - he knew that'd be a stupid idea; what if the raccoon or his friends decided on some payback? It was too dangerous to make any noise as a new kid. Even Tai knew that. As if they'd help anyway.

His teacher was hell-bent on making his first day absolutely unbearable. His best hope, Tai felt, was to fade into the background so well that he became impossible to notice, which was hard because he was very noticeable; trying to hide just made him even more obvious. There were discomfiting stares and whispered remarks.

Tai knew how it was going to go already. Once they realized that he was a quiet boy that didn't have the guts to fight back... or the ability to even if he tried. Once everyone realized that. It was a process he'd experienced before in his young life. Several times. Bullies were predictable in a general sense; the severity and spontaneity of their behavior tended to vary, but that was about all.

But of course, what did his teachers always do? Thrust him into the limelight. Made him the center of attention. "Today we have a new student!" they'd invariably proclaim, as if the others couldn't tell there was a new kid in the room.

Another extremely odd thing about Tai's new inner city school was that they were experimenting with mixing the ages of students within classrooms, which was utterly alien to Tai. The principle was that the younger students would, aside from their own education, also pick up details and extrapolate information from the more senior students. In theory it was excellent. Unfortunately in practice it was a total nightmare that resulted in madness.

Sure, Tai could see the second blackboard with its algebra and trigonometry and page references to apparently random books, but with the vast gap in his education, the information was totally useless - after all, there was no guarantee the older students understood it all. The younger students would completely forget the gibberish on that other board in short order. The teacher, having divided his time between the two completely unrelated curricula, was as a headless chicken running around the classroom. Her expression was one of frustration and hopelessness, and she let many students, young and old, know that she was unhappy.

The senior students- of the eleventh year in Tai's class- took particular delight in making the younger students' lives hell.

The average second grader could expect taunts, destruction of work and spitballs at inappropriate times.

The less popular ones had to endure minor assault, theft, verbal abuse and so forth. And that was in class. Outside, Tai wondered what happened to the younger kids who dared to walk the corridors alone. It seemed everyone picked on everyone, as long as they were the same age or younger.

Most of the acts were perpetrated by the Baggypants Brigade (as Tai decided to call them), everyone else having been cowed into submission by the more violent hoodlums. There were indeed a few in Tai's class of second graders that at least dressed like them, and an even larger proportion of the eleventh graders were too.

One boy in particular from the eleventh grade, a wolf named Darron as Tai discovered, was definitely the worst. He swore at every opportunity, no matter how inappropriate it was, intimidated everyone every chance he got and tormented anyone he didn't like whenever he felt like it. He was the only one to specifically target Tai on his first day.

In fact, it was just as Tai was being introduced by the teacher to his new classmates. He made a passing remark about how gay his name sounded. They hadn't even seen each other at that point.

Darron was a wolf, but he displayed none of the qualities that the noble lupines were once known for. His fur was a stormy grey shot through with white, and his eyes were a dark amber. Though his frame was lean, he was still muscular and quite large, even for a wolf.

With everything he said or did, Darron made it very plain that he was here on sufferance.

Unsurprisingly, he had given himself over to the fashion trends that Tai had already begun to dislike: baggy black tracksuit pants that oddly looked rather expensive, a black shirt, and an oversized gray hooded jacket with what appeared to be silver foil highlighting an incomprehensible design on its back; it also looked expensive.

As the day wore on, Tai struggled to avoid attention from anybody. It seemed possible for once: the teacher was very busy, and the classroom was in chaos. He kept quiet, trying to focus on his tedious worksheet. The background noise in the classroom was almost deafening, but the worksheet was still easy for him - he fervently prayed that none of the other kits would figure out why. Ever.

Unfortunately, when he was finished, the teacher chose then to notice him.

The imbecilic fennec praised him, the only second-grader to have finished his worksheet, in front of the entire class. Making sure to note he had gotten one-hundred percent correct.

Not only did that earn him another gruff remark from the other side of the classroom about how much of a fag he was, but the glares from the other second-graders were venomous. Tai wasn't used to that. The kits here were very different.

When the day finally ended, Tai quickly snuck to the rear of the class, letting everyone else exit first. His teacher barely even acknowledged him as he waited. When he was sure he wouldn't be caught up in the throngs of kits and teenagers eager to go home for the day, Tai made a break for it.

He ran the whole way home, still anxious of this strange new city's streets, almost glad he actually lived near his new school and thus didn't need to rely on the dirty yellow school-buses outside, stopping occasionally to make sure he wasn't being followed; he really didn't want people like Darron finding out where he lived and that he was alone most of the time, or even that he made his way home alone. His home was his bastion, his haven, the one place he really felt safe in.

When he got to the simple, gray apartment building, he began to jog the moment his feet touched the few steps into the lobby. The only time he stopped between then and when he burst through the door into his new home was when he had to stand in the elevator. His heart beating fast, he tossed down his schoolbag, locked the door, kicked off his sneakers, and padded into the kitchen in his white and black socks. Just as he was about to go shut himself in his new room, he spotted it...

There was a note on the table in their den. The house was quiet. He took that to mean that his mother was out and she had left the little note for him. With some trepidation, he approached the note.

It said: "Tai, honey. Gone out and won't be home until very late. We need some groceries. There is a small store near here. I've left money next to this note and on the back I've put directions and the list. The shops will be closed tomorrow, so you must do it tonight. They're very close, you should be safe.

_ Love, mom._"

Tai gaped at the note incredulously. Had his mom gone mad?! It wasn't unheard of for her to ask him to get some of the shopping, but that was back when they lived many miles to the North West on the outskirts of a little town, not the greasy, labyrinthine New York. This was insane!

Still... he had to admit, she said the stores were close. He could probably handle it.

With a resigned groan, he emptied his brown school knapsack onto the floor without ceremony and slung it over his shoulders, slipping his slender arms through the straps, before bending over to pull his shoes back on.

If only he could say no, if only he could tell her why he really, really didn't want to be made to do this... let her know that he was too scared to. If only she'd listen. But she wasn't here, and wouldn't listen if she was.

Tai walked out to the unpleasant hallway again, checking his keys were still on him, and slammed the heavy apartment door. As hard as he could.

It made him feel a little better.

The city seemed oddly dark and damp, even though it was still only four in the afternoon. An obscuring veil of smog had settled over the streets and stifled the sunlight. A pitch black cloud was creeping across the sky, preparing to dump its wet load over the city.

The streets weren't empty, and Tai nervously scanned every fur he saw. He wasn't used to seeing quite so many others out and about when he walked to the shops.

Double checking the instructions on the back of his mother's note, Tai was relieved to see the instructions to turn off the busier road and onto a side street.

It took him some time to spot it, but he finally located the grocery store. He nearly leapt out of his skin when the bell on top of the heavy door jangled its greeting.

When his heart rate subsided, he looked around the shop. It was a small store, more of a deli. Tai liked it almost immediately. It was familiar to him - he was glad to see his mother had picked a smaller store rather than some massive place with hundreds of furs. That was what he had dreaded.

The floor was made of creaky wooden boards and the shelves were nothing more than suspended wooden planks. There were a few large refrigeration units in the centre of the store however, filled with meats, ice-cream and other frozen items. Aside from the thrum of the refrigerators the shop was silent.

The whole store was no larger than Tai's entire apartment.

And it was apparently empty.

Tai ambled his way towards the counter at the back of the store and stood on his tip-toes--he could barely even see over the plastic counter top, which was certainly not designed with the preteen customer in mind. There was no one there... just a few more shelves with cigarettes on them and a plaid tartan curtain that didn't seem to have any purpose.

He narrowed his eyes and strained to get a little higher. There couldn't be nobody here; it made no sense.

The plaid curtain behind the counter, the one Tai thought was just for decoration at first glance, was pushed aside. A surly-looking badger with scraggly fur emerged, revealing the existence of a back-room.

The badger was muttering to himself, leafing through some documents. The middle aged badger leaned idly against the counter and grumbled, searching through piles of receipts. He hadn't noticed he had company.

Tai, feeling a little shy, tried to catch the badger's attention by making soft coughing noises--though he wasn't sure he wanted the attention of this grumpy looking fur. The badger must've drowned out Tai's coughing with his grumbling, because he seemed still oblivious to the kit's presence.

"U-umm... excuse me sir?" Tai finally said, barely louder than a whisper.

"Gaagh!" cried the badger, jerking backwards and tossing the papers he was holding into the air. He clutched at his chest.

That in turn frightened Tai, who shrieked and leaped away.

The two of them, the little fox and the old badger stared at one another. Then the badger started to laugh gruffly.

"Sorry 'bout that, kid," he chortled, his surly face suddenly becoming much more amicable. "What can I do for ya?"

A wave of relief swept over Tai and he heaved a great sigh. "Umm, hi." He showed the badger the list his mother gave him. "My mom sent me to get this stuff. Can you tell me where to find them?"

The badger lifted a pair of thin-rimmed glasses to his muzzle and balanced them carefully on his nose. They didn't seem to fit him properly. He squinted through them. "Ah, yes, we're stocking all of these things, little lady."

Tai felt the skin under his facial fur suddenly burn with great intensity. "I'm a boy, sir..." He stared at his sneakers.

"Oh, I'm sorry, kid." Unflustered, the badger went around the side of the counter and walked briskly over to a stack of shelves. "Here and on the other side. That's where everything you want is. Lemme know if you need any help."

Tai nodded. "Thank you."

The badger grinned at him and started back towards his back-room. He paused at that tartan curtain and looked over his shoulder as the young fox he'd never seen before explored his shop. He had a strange accent to the badger's ears. Possibly west-coast? Hard to tell. "Mmm," he mumbled to himself. He didn't normally like kits alone in his store, but this one seemed alright.

When the badger was gone, Tai continued to scan the shelves, fingering the canvas strap of his knapsack.

The door jangled open and he managed to stop himself from spinning around to snatch a glimpse of the newcomer. As it turned out however, it wasn't a single newcomer.

The group banged the door as they entered, talking loudly to one another. Their shod paws hit the wooden floorboards heavily, making resounding thumping noises with every steps.

"Hey man, check this shit!" one of the rambunctious newcomers said in that aggravating manner that was already making Tai feel nauseous every time he heard. Tai heard footsteps clomping towards the counter. It was almost as if the group was attempting to be as offensively noisy and annoying as possible. "This place has 'em cheap as hell."

Tai turned around slightly just in time to catch sight of a skunk, clad in urban wear and a smirk, reach behind the counter and deftly filch six or so packs of cigarettes.

The skunk noticed Tai was looking and his expression suddenly went cold. The observant kit had startled him, and he clearly didn't like that. "What the fuck you lookin' at?" he demanded.

"N-nothing!" The kit turned back to the shelves instantly.

He could feel the skunk's eyes boring into the back of his skull, but he refused to turn. He found himself holding his breath.

The middle-aged badger came out from the back-room and instantly his expression grew angry.

"What are you boys doin' here?" he demanded, eyeing them furiously. "I've told you not to come here anymore."

"Chill," a mocking voice said from behind Tai. His blood froze as he recognized the less-than-melodious voice of Darron, the wolf from school. "We're not doin' anything."

Tai stole another look over his shoulder and saw Darron, a skunk he recognized from school and he also recognized that raccoon that almost bowled him over after lunch. It didn't really surprise him that they were all friends.

"You ain't up to anything, are you?" said the badger. "No trouble from any of you."

"You got it. Keep yer shit together." Darron laughed and turned. He stopped and did a double take, a sneer spreading across his face as he recognized Tai, who was staring resolutely at the shelves.

"You intend to buy anything?"

"Naw, just thought we'd waste your time." Darron turned to leave. "Was just letting my friend here see your low, low prices."

They all snickered.

Tai's stomach lurched. He couldn't let this happen. His conscience was shrieking at him to tell the badger what he'd seen, but he knew he'd be dead if he did. If not today, then tomorrow, or sometime this week, they'd get him if he...

Finally, just as the door was swinging back open, Tai clenched his fists and whirled on the group.

"Sir, that one there stole some of your cigarettes!" he cried, pointing straight at the skunk, whose eyes widened comically in shock. Tai immediately wanted to change the past; he'd yelled his accusation about twice as loud as he meant to. Part of him wanted it to be a pathetic whisper that no-one actually heard.

Everyone stared at the little fox kit, dumbfounded.

"Y-you can't prove shit, you little-!" the skunk declared, finally regaining his wits.

"Did you, Wayle?" The shopkeeper asked in a deathly quiet voice. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

Darron and the skunk, Wayle, started advancing on the now trembling Tai, paws held as fists. Darron was smirking, but Wayle looked furious and embarrassed.

Then the raccoon made a serious mistake. Blocking the store's entrance, he dipped his paw into his oversized hooded sweater, and Tai's heart flip-flopped in his chest. "Oh crap!" he mentally whimpered.

Whatever he was reaching for, Tai didn't find out. There was a movement from behind the counter and a voice barked the simple command to not move. The four youngsters all froze immediately, slowly turning to gaze at the badger and his furious expression.

And his twelve-gauge shotgun.

The terrible sound of the weapon being racked tested everyone's bladder control.

"I don't think you want to be doing that," the shopkeeper grated. "Not in my store."

"Shit!" Darron cried, spinning on his heels and powering right into the raccoon, who collapsed onto his backside. His paw flew from his sweater and a large knife was sent skittering across the floor, but the wolf didn't even slow down.

Following Darron's example, everyone, including Tai, who was bug-eyed with fright, bolted for the door.

As one, the four of them, wolf, raccoon, skunk and fox, burst out into the side walk. They collided, tripped over one another, and fell to the concrete pavement.

The door to the shop slammed shut heavily by itself and the four on the ground struggled to regain their breath and their wits.

Darron was the first to recover. His eyes clicked upwards, locking onto the little fox boy's face. His features suddenly set in a snarl of fury. Immediately, he slipped a sharp bladed knife out from his baggy track-pants and lunged with his free paw towards Tai.

With a startled cry, Tai hauled himself to his paws and leaped backwards. He actually felt the lupine's claws touch his chest, lifting up the front of his t-shirt, and he narrowly avoided getting caught then and there.

"Come here, you little shit!!" Darron roared, his maw opening and displaying fearsome, cigarette yellowed fangs. The three teenagers all jumped to their feet and made for the fox kit, whose instincts kicked in at the last moment and he leaped agilely to the side.

"W-wait, please!" Tai tried to plead, backing away as all three of the older furs advanced on him.

The skunk, Wayle, lunged for him, trying to grab the fox's head-fur.

Again, Tai pulled backwards. He slammed into the store's concrete wall, winding himself.

The fox looked around wildly. His last second dodge had placed him in between all three of the vicious, apparently murderous teens, and he was backed into the wall. He was surrounded. The kit's heart was thumping ferociously in what seemed to be his ears. Darron's paw lashed out and Tai barely managed to twist out of reach and dash past the teenager's outstretched arm.

He started sprinting off down the street as fast as he could; for the first time ever, literally running for his life.

"Get after that little bitch!" cried Darron, taking off after the speedy fox kit.

Darron was fast, nearly catching up to Tai as they went down the street. However, Tai suddenly pitched sideways and turned onto the main road, his turning circle far smaller than the longer legged teenager.

Tai ran through the noisy yet slow traffic before running straight down the median strip. Baffled faces stared at him from the safety of expensive cars and lining the sides of buses.

Darron and company slowly but determinedly picked their way through the various cars and trucks, reaching the middle of the road to see their prey speeding into the distance.

"Don't lose 'im!" Wayle yelled unnecessarily as they started after him.

Yet again, before they could catch him, Tai suddenly skidded to a stop. He hurdled a waist high traffic barrier from a standstill and ran straight towards an expansive building complex - there were dozens of furs there, and an expansive parking lot with hundreds of cars. He needed to find help. Already he was feeling a pain in his chest and his throat was scorched.

Darron and Wayle had no trouble leaping the low barrier and heading across the road, but the raccoon's left foot-paw snagged on the top and he tripped headlong onto the rough bitumen.

"Dumbass!" Wayle cried at his friend, himself narrowly avoiding an oncoming truck. The horn-honking was nearly deafening, and there were outraged furs shouting from their cars. No one got out of their comfortable vehicles to help Tai though.

Their prey had already reached the shopping mall's side entrance, no more than two-hundred feet away. Darron put on a burst of speed, leaving his friends far behind. The sensor doors barely opened wide enough for Tai to squeeze through at a dead run, though he banged his shoulder painfully against the metal edge of the door.

Darron had to skid to a stop and wait for the doors to open far enough for him to squeeze through, giving his prey a split second's further lead. He burst into the mall, snarling and swearing to himself in frustration.

Glancing briefly back the way he'd come, he saw Wayle ignore the entrance and continued to sprint through the parking lot.

Back in the mall, Tai neatly skipped onto and over a small wooden bench occupied by two old aardvarks and landed just as neatly on the other side. Darron had to slow down yet again to get around the bench, which he wasn't sure he could jump without falling right over the startled old couple.

His little paws pounding hard on the floor, Tai saw two paths; he could head down a service corridor and hide in the toilets that were advertised by the sign on the roof, or he could keep going and hope someone would help him eventually.

Something told him hiding in the toilets wouldn't work. He'd have to come out, and Darron would be waiting--Tai did not hold much hope for the idea of someone intervening and saving his neck. So the young fox kept running. There were many furs around him, but he didn't trust a single one to come to his aid.

It was so difficult to breathe; he doubted he could cry for help.

He saw the 'wet floor' sign propped against a bench just in time and gasped. He tried to lock his feet and stop, but he was already on the slippery surface almost slipped. Panicked, he tried to walk on, shortening his steps and progressing slowly.

Darron caught up, ignoring the warning sign. He extended his paw. "Come here, bitch!" he growled before his legs suddenly seemed to repulse one another like magnets and he slammed face first onto the floor.

Tai's sneakers encountered traction abruptly and he was thrown to the floor, where a quick roll prevented skinned knees. He took one look at Darron, gingerly lifting himself back up, and bolted once again.

The kit tore into a fruit store, with Darron somehow back on his tail again. The teenager was incredibly tenacious.

An overweight tiger stepped backwards in shock as Tai ripped straight past her. The feline accidentally struck a shelf and littered the floor with apples.

"Stupid kid!" she growled, shaking her fist at Tai.

"Sorry, ma'am!" cried Tai over his shoulder, feeling compelled to apologize in some way.

"Oh, shit!" shrieked Darron before his legs suddenly flew into the air and he was planted firmly on his backside once again, courtesy of a rogue apple. He let out a nasty bark of pain.

Without waiting for his pursuer, Tai exited the store hastily, too scared to laugh. The other patrons of the store found it slightly funny though. At least until Darron shoved one of them viciously out of his way and continued the chase.

The fox ran up the escalator, squeezing through the throng of furs, and finally burst back outside on the top floor car park. He stopped and started panting, head bowed. He briefly wondered where the hell he was going; this was a dead end, it seemed. He scanned the signs: there was one saying "Street Exit". It made no sense to Tai- a street exit from the roof parking- but he didn't care! That was his exit.

He cast a glance back at the glass doors he'd just came through and saw that Darron had already caught up, glowering at him with extreme loathing.

Then he turned to the car park exit, paws pounding the concrete, seeking a way out. When he finally noticed the ramp leading down, and tried to make his way to it, it was too late. He froze as Wayle briskly sauntered into view, coming up the ramp.

Wayle upped the pace. As he passed a snake of stacked shopping carts, he grabbed them and shoved them hard. The huge metal snake, connected by elastic ropes, didn't break; instead it swung out and neatly blocked the ramp. The skunk strode purposefully towards the petrified fox.

Tai's eyes shot wide and he looked around frantically. He was screwed; the teens just knew the area too well.

The glass doors slid open quickly and Darron limped outside. "Yeah!" he taunted, baring his yellowed teeth. He drew his knife. "Nowhere to go now, huh?"

Tai was still looking around like a terrified feral animal, ears perked and fur on end. The street exit was blocked by the trolleys and he couldn't jump over them, even if he got around Wayle.

Back into the shopping mall? The doors were too narrow; Darron would snag him easily. He didn't even want to consider what would happen next.

When Tai's eyes fell on the concrete barrier at the edge of the roof, in place to prevent people falling to the lower level car parks, he knew there was no other way, except maybe in an ambulance. He regarded Darron's snarl with horrified eyes; either way, he was screwed.

Tai had no clue where the idea had come from, and in normal circumstances he'd have considered it insane. But these were not normal circumstances. He couldn't just let these teenagers do what they wanted, surrender the way he usually did - they could kill him.

He turned on his heels and bolted straight at the barrier. At the last second he leaped up onto it and kicked off.

"Holy shit!" Wayle cried, sprinting to the edge. "He's crazy!! The kid is fucking crazy!"

The kit had misjudged how high he was. With a scream, he fell over a dozen feet to the lower level. Even though the fall lasted less than a second, he automatically scrunched his eyes shut.

There was a resounding, bone-jacking bang, and Tai forced his eyes open just in time to see an explosion of toiletries, cereal and more, flying high into the sky to and raining down all over the parking lot.

He had landed in a shopping cart. He looked around wildly, winded. An old mouse was staring at him in utter horror.

Tai thrashed about, struggling to get out of the cart. For some reason, his body didn't respond well, and the cart was absolutely packed with destroyed shopping.

"Get out! Get out!!" The old mouse was squealing. She started flailing at Tai with her handbag, which wasn't helping at all.

"W-wait, stop!" he pleaded, trying to fend off sallies of handbag blows.

With a desperate twist, the little fox pulled himself out of the cart and collapsed to the floor in a heap.

Still in shock, the elderly rodent scooted away, pushing her cart away from the distressed fox child.

Tai couldn't see his pursuers, but he knew with near-certainty that they were rushing back downstairs to continue the chase, so he scrambled to his feet. Rattled badly and in shock himself, he struggled to stand.

The moment the young fox put weight on his left ankle he collapsed heavily to his side, banging his elbow on the blacktop. He screamed as the most searing pain he had ever experienced ripped through his leg. He toppled onto his hands and knees, the sheer agony blinding him briefly. It didn't stop - it only got worse.

All he could do was scream some more.

How was he gonna get away with... he didn't even want to consider that he might have snapped it! He could not have broken his ankle!

The pain was unbearable... but fear drove him on... he had to move!

"Shit, we have to get down there!" Wayle cried, turning and sprinting for the entrance to the mall. "He could be-!"

He slammed hard into a huge, immovable object and collapsed onto his black and white tail.

Wayle slowly looked up, raising his eyes slowly. He'd just crashed into a six and a half foot lion with a ferocious face and sporting a very inauspicious uniform.

It was a cop.

Darron tried to run, but was tackled to the ground by an athletic leopard.

"Darron and Wayle," rumbled the lion, glowering at them. "Never would've guessed."

The leopard slapped handcuffs onto Darron's thick wrists and hoisted him off the floor. Despite their predicament, Darron was arrogantly calm. He didn't resist. "You've been told before to stay out of here," he said coolly. "You're in deeper shit than ever before. Drawing a knife on a little kid, thievery, disturbing the peace, assault? Great stories to tell your bum-buds in prison, huh?"

"You'd know all about bum-buddies, Officer Dick!" Darron squirmed around and spat full into the officer's face.

The leopard absently wiped it off, but his face had grown livid.

"Cool it," the lion told him, having restrained Wayle.

"I can't wait until he's behind bars," Richards growled. "I think he can't either. For all his talk of gay cops, he's the one in a hurry to get into those prison showers."

Richards mockingly read the two their rights- even though he was certain they'd heard it enough already.

"Weapons offences, three counts of assault, about a ton of damage," the leopard was counting them off on his paw as the two pseudo gangsters tried to leer threateningly at him, although they weren't very intimidating in their present state. "Hope you didn't think those trolleys were cheap. Assaulting a cop, concealed weapons, attempted assault with intent to-"

"Wait!" The lion suddenly said. "Where's that kid you were chasing? The fox?"

Darron smirked. "Dunno. Probably dead. The little shit took a trip off the roof."

"You threw him off?!" The lion demanded, appalled.

"What are you crazy?!" Wayle said shrilly. He eyed his lupine friend in shock. "H-he jumped. The fuckin' little maniac jumped. We weren't gonna hurt him, just scare him a bit. We didn't know he was going to jump!"

The lion called them something that doesn't bear repeating and took off.

Tai stumbled a few more steps on one leg then fell to the ground once more, the pain over-riding the fear and he knew he couldn't press on. He knew now where he got the injury. He'd smacked it off the metal edge of the shopping cart; he could already see bleeding under the skin when he gingerly he lifted his pants and parted the fur; an uneven line of deep bluish-purple that seemed to be slowly widening. A terrible bruise the likes of which he'd never seen before.

Tears flooded his green eyes, obscuring his sight and he just gave up there and then, surrounded by a small group of staring furs. Not one of them lifted a paw to help him, they just gawped stupidly at him.

His paws clenched into fists and he bit deep into his lip.

He hated them. All of them! He hated every last stinking one of them. Some walked right past, intentionally diverting their gaze. Some just looked at him curiously. But none made any move to aid him. He didn't know why...

The little fox curled into a ball and lay on the bitumen, sobbing quietly. He hated this city. He hated everyone in it. This was just his third day of being here and this had happened to him. If Darron and his friends wanted to beat him up, they could do it. He didn't care anymore!

"Hey!" a loud voice called. Tai could hear heavy footfalls and he knew someone was coming close. He half expected to be trodden on.

Then someone was at his side. Touching his arm.

"Are you alright?" a deep voice was asking.

Tai couldn't even breathe properly to reply, so he just lay there, cradling his leg and crying.

The deep voice rumbled quietly. "Can't believe they just left you here... come on. Got to get you to the hospital, okay?"

Tai was suddenly scooped up like a doll and he felt himself being carried away. Whoever it was that had picked him up was even kind enough to avoid hurting his leg any more.

Exhausted, hurting and scared, Tai didn't try to struggle...

Darron and Wayle were taken to the police station in another car, but Richards and his partner, the leonine Jameson, gave the injured fox pup a ride in their patrol car.

Officer Jameson sat in the back alongside the kit; which he vaguely remembered he wasn't meant to do. "Are you alright?" he asked.

The little one had huddled up against the door and was still sobbing softly. He'd been hurt badly and scared witless, and he didn't seem inclined to really trust even the ones who tried to help him. His leg was propped up sideways on the back chair and sudden movements sent a frazzle of pain up his leg. "Y-yes, sir..." he replied weakly, exhausted.

The cop was worried. This little kit was breathing shallowly and his ankle was obviously damaged. The terrified boy hadn't let them touch it or even get a look at it. There was no way he was alright.

"How did you know where I was?" asked the kit suddenly. He'd barely spoken since they'd picked him off the floor, but as his crying subsided he'd become slightly more talkative. Which was good, because he was yet to tell them his name. "I didn't call anyone."

"We'd had a few descriptions from people in the mall," replied Richards, not taking his eyes off the road as he tried to navigate the mall's labyrinthine parking lot. "You're kinda easy to see."

"I-I am?"

"Never seen a tawny fox before." The car suddenly jolted to a stop, and Tai was thrust forward in the seat. "Geez, damn! Watch where you're going, lady!"

"We had reports of a 'little fox-girl' being chased through the mall, while we were eating lunch at the food court," Jameson took over. He coughed. "Oh. I mean, we can tell you're not a girl."

The fox pup smiled wanly. "It's okay."

Richards looked out the side window as they pulled out onto the road and whistled. "You jumped off that?"

The kit lowered his eyes again. He shifted slightly and winced, clearly fighting the urge to cry some more.

"We're gonna take you to the hospital for that," Jameson said. "Do you know a way for us to contact your mother or father?" The fox pup shook his head. "Any siblings we can contact?" He shook his head again. "Well, why don't you tell me where you live and I'll go there after we drop you off?"

"My mother is out at work for the day. I have my own keys."

Jameson frowned. "So, she just left you alone? All night?"

Suddenly, the fox looked up and his eyes were wary. Even slightly scared. "No, my, uh, neighbors look after me," he lied awkwardly. "Mom'll be back later tonight."

"So, why don't you tell me where your neighbors live, and I'll get them to pass it on?" Jameson said softly.

"I-I'd rather you didn't." The fox boy shook his head.

"We have to. Unless you can tell us why we shouldn't?"

The boy told him reluctantly and suddenly fell quiet. He sat there, staring at his injured paw, ears limp.

"We won't call social services, kid," the lion told him after a minute, unable to bear the silence. "You won't get in trouble. I don't know why you were involved with Darron and his friends, but I won't involve the S.S. lightly."

The fox suddenly giggled. "The 'S.S.'?" he chortled. "Isn't that the Storm Troopers?"

"You mean from the human empire? Into ancient history are you?"

"Yes sir."

"What's your name anyway, kid?" The lion extended a paw. "My name is Mark. Mark Jameson."

"Um, Tai." The pup shook the paw hesitantly.

"What, no second name?"

"I can't pronounce it." Tai looked away shyly.

Jameson laughed. "Alright, that's fair enough, we'll figure it out sooner or later. So, Tai, do you want to talk about anything?"

The little fox blinked. "Like what, sir?"

The lion shrugged, his big russet mane dancing around his head. "I dunno. Whatever you want. But you can stop calling me 'sir'. I'm only twenty-five; my partner there has twelve years on me."

Tai smiled. "Okay. Do you like history?"

"I studied it in college for a year, actually," responded Jameson. "Didn't do too well."

After a moment, the kit smiled and sat up straighter.

Richards piped up from the front seat as the patrol car finally emerged out onto the main road. "Mark, if you complain about this later on, I'll pour beer all over your head," he deadpanned, still watching the road. "And I mean a lot of beer. You have to deal with it."

"What?" the little fox asked, looking from the lion to the leopard with innocent curiosity. "Deal with what?"

"You were saying?" prompted Jameson smoothly.

Chapter 4

Mike slumped over the opaque glass table. "Daaad?" he whined plaintively. "Do I have to do this? Really?"

His father, Robert, was a quiet vulpine, but his tall, muscular body was testament to the fact that he was once as athletic as his son, if not even more so. Though he was now in his mid-thirties, the handsome fox had once been an avid soccer fan; in recent years, his athletic drives had merely been redirected towards the local football variant.

However, he now sported two thin box framed glasses on the bridge of his muzzle and wore a simple corduroy jacket and pant set as he sat back down in front of his large book.

"Yeah, sorry Mike," Robert replied, adjusting his frames and squinting at the voluminous text before him. "Bloody government morons apparently don't trust a university English professor to give his son an elementary level education."

"But this is stupid!" Mike groaned in dismay and dropped his pencil. "Look at this one! 'Who is the current president of America?' Are they kidding?"

"It's because they think I'm keeping you locked in the basement during the day and using you for satanic rituals at night." Robert chuckled and shook his head. "Not really. They just want home-schooling to become so impractical that everyone just defers to the system for their kids' education. That way, it's easier to turn them into mindless television junkies."

Mike grinned irreverently. "I'll take your word for it... until I can prove you right or wrong."

The older fur laughed and ruffled his son's head-fur. "Good boy."

The kit sighed. "Well... who was that on the phone?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, nobody. We'll be having a guest tonight, that's all."

"Who?"

His father grinned. "You'll see."

They went back to their respective tasks for another half-hour before Robert sighed and leaned back.

"All this reading can't be good for the eyes..." he said. "I already wear glasses."

"Can you still throw a ball, or are you too old and frail now?" challenged his son, looking up hopefully from his 'homework'.

"Depends. Want me to change your diaper first?"

Before their playful verbal jousting could go any further, someone knocked on the door.

Standing, Robert walked to the door, avoiding his son's soccer ball in the hall, and opened it.

Mike couldn't see very much, since his father was blocking the view, but as he curiously sat up, he caught sight of a pointed, blue cap. Then another.

"Cops?" he mumbled to himself.

Mike didn't really like cops.

He briefly considered getting up and going to the door to see what was happening, but he knew if it was anything important his dad would pass it on. He always did. The kit shrugged and returned to his pointless, intrusive busywork.

"Um, th-thank you..." a familiar voice stammered softly, the speaker obscured by the adults crowding the doorway.

"Tai?!" Mike stood up abruptly, almost knocking his wooden chair over with the backs of his knees in the process, and jogged to the door.

Robert stood to the side, draping an arm over his son. "I see," he said to the first cop, a humungous lion. "Well, we were going to look after him today anyway. We wondered when he was coming around. His mother, uh, asked us earlier."

"Good to hear that!" the lion replied, adjusting his cap. "We were worried. Good thing his school had you as an emergency contact. Then, we'll be off for now. We'll contact his mother as soon as possible. Good luck, Tai."

"Oh, look out," the leopard cop added. "That kit can be one heck of a chatterbox."

Robert allowed the little fox pup to hobble inside. Mike was taken aback when he saw that his friend was utilizing a crutch and his left foot-paw was encased in a plaster cast. The kit looked like he was fatally exhausted, and terribly embarrassed. He was refusing to meet Mike's dad's eyes.

"What the heck happened?!" Mike demanded, rushing to take the smaller kit's arm and help him sit down.

Tai accepted the aid and allowed himself to be seated in the warm living room on the comfortable sofa, while Mike rested his crutch against the wall beside him. "Um, it's a long story," he replied, looking mightily uncomfortable. "I-I'm really sorry I had to come here, but the police-"

Mike interrupted him. "Hey, you let me stay at your place, right?"

"Oh. Uh. Yeah, I guess." Tai scooted along the sofa so Mike could sit down.

"The least you could do is tell what happened to your paw!" Mike jumped the armrest and landed neatly on the unoccupied half of the sofa.

Tai just suddenly couldn't resist telling his tale. In retrospect even he could see how crazy it sounded.

"I hurt it when I jumped from the top of the shopping mall and landed in a shopping cart," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. His green eyes glittered. "It's not that big a deal."

"You what?!" Mike's eyes were as wide as dinner plates and his ears were pricked. "You're telling me what happened, hear me?"

"After dinner," Robert interjected smoothly, walking past and heading straight to the oven-stove combo in the corner of their kitchen. "We could all do with something to eat anyway." Mike held his tongue, reluctantly.

Tai surveyed this new environment. It was quite different from his apartment, although they lived not more than thirty seconds away.

Tai's home was cozy and homey with soft art-décor colors and wooden furniture. Mike's home was clean and modern with more glass furniture and features. Unlike his apartment, this one was decorated with unusual pieces of modern art--strange, vaguely anthropomorphic shapes where in Tai's new home there were more classical statuettes and the like. Tai couldn't fathom what they were meant to be, but they looked neat.

Even the lighting was different. Tai's home was illuminated by that soft, warm glow that almost put him to sleep. Mike's had a powerful, clear light that accentuated the apartment's 'modern' feel. However, in the corners of the lounge room, surmounting tiny tables of glass and wicker, were antique lamps that looked slightly out of place, producing a softer, warmer light. The room was being kept warm by a powerful gas heater that hummed and flickered in the corner, and as Tai looked at it, he noticed the air around it was shimmering and distorting slightly...

"Oh!" He suddenly exclaimed. "You don't have to feed me, mister uh...! Th-thank you let me stay here for- I mean, the cops would've... Um."

Robert held up his black furred paw to silence the stammering cub. "Tai, the first rule of cooking for multiple people is to always make more than is necessary in case anyone wants seconds or surprise guests show up." He grinned. "Most of the time, it's the former. So it's no problem at all."

He opened the oven and slipped a tray out, thumping it down on the nearby counter.

On that tray was a plump, juicy chicken, shimmering in its own heat and steaming. Spices had been cooked into it, and wafts of delectable odor assailed Tai's olfactory senses despite the distance.

The little fox jumped sharply, sitting up straight. He was absolutely ravenous and it showed.

Robert glanced over his shoulder and laughed before carving a portion of the chicken with a large, curved knife. He handed it to Tai on a white ceramic plate. "Here you are."

Tai was about to tear into the food savagely, but Mike pulled him back.

"Wait!" he ordered, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

After a second, Robert swept up close and cascaded a lot of pungent-smelling salt over the chicken.

Tai sniffed at it. "Chicken salt? O-on a chicken?"

"Try it." Mike's grin was insufferable. "Trust me!"

Tai grabbed at the plate and brought it to his muzzle. He sniffed gingerly at it, and the smell dizzied him.

He didn't eat the food so much as he slaughtered and devoured it as punishment for being so delicious. Each bite seemed to explode with flavor; that absurd amount of salt had made the simple meal more than a meal.

Tai ate the piece of chicken in less than twenty seconds and was licking the plate in thirty. He was done before Mike even had his plate in his hand.

"Hungry little guy, aren't you?" Robert asked, sitting in a leather chair adjacent to the couch the kits were on. "Had you eaten anything earlier?"

Tai shook his head. "No, sir." He carefully placed the plate down on the table in front of him. "I skipped lunch at school."

"Now why would any self-respecting, sensible young boy do that?"

Mike coughed slightly. "Um, dad?" he said. "We're talking school dinners here. They say if you put them in a microwave they'd come to life."

"Fair point, I suppose. Though I wouldn't call sodium-doused chicken a fantastic meal either. I was a little pressed for time though."

Tai smiled slightly. The truth was, in all the schools he'd been in you had to pay for food from the canteen; and Tai never had any money. He never asked his mom for any, either - she didn't have any to give him. He usually ate something he took to school, provided it wasn't taken from him, or waited until he got home, but his mother hadn't been able to make him anything today. Besides, he didn't have any intention of hanging around the refectory area. Not at his new school.

"Ah." Robert put the plate on the arm of the chair and leaned back. "So, Tai, what do you like to do?" He eyed the kit curiously.

"Huh? Uh, I mean, excuse me?" Tai blinked. "Oh, you mean, my hobbies?"

"Yeah. Do you watch TV or play sports?"

For a bemused moment, the kit didn't seem to know how to reply. "Uh... N-no, sir. I don't like TV and I stopped playing sports at school--I couldn't compete with the bigger kids. At school I, uh, I go to the library."

"You ought to have played at a club or something," Mike told him, finishing his chicken and unceremoniously dumping the plate on top of Tai's. "I've heard they're more friendly than schoolie teams." He winced and glanced sideways at his father. "I mean, friendlier."

Tai shook his head once more. "There weren't any near my home." He cried out in pain as he accidentally whacked his injured leg off the table leg.

"Ow!" Mike said in sympathy. "Careful!"

"It's alright." Tai shuffled back in the sofa. "Um, I really just read or go for walks when I get bored."

"Better than sitting in front of TV all day," mused Robert, who still hadn't touched his chicken. "So, what do you read?"

The tawny kit leaned forward again eagerly. "Well, I read fantasy, sci-fi, comics and stuff like that! I love reading history books too."

"Who's your favorite fantasy writer?" Robert prompted. He picked up his chicken and finally started chewing on it. Slowly.

"Umm, well, he's this guy I read on the computer." The little fox squirmed bashfully. "O-on the, uh, internet. He's really, really good. My mom found him for me. We don't have the internet ourselves at home, but we could use it at the library."

"I'm sure of it. It's difficult for authors to get published these days; the new guys have a heck of a time, and the internet seems to be offering the answer." Robert chomped into his chicken at last and reclined in the chair. "I've read some decent stories on the 'net."

Mike smiled to himself. His dad seemed interested in his new friend. That was good. "Dad?"

"What is it, Mike?"

"Do I have to do that stupid test today?" Even Tai was impressed at the irresistibly adorable face Mike pulled on his father. Mike was a very good looking kit, and he could do a dangerous 'puppy-face'. "Can I do it tomorrow? Please?"

The older vulpine rolled his eyes. "Sure, Mike. No one cares about it anyway, except the guys in suits that want to take you away to a foster home, but..."

Mike started backwards in surprise. "Are you serious?!" he demanded, his hazel eyes wide. "I didn't think it was that important!"

His father laughed uproariously and slapped his knee. "Oh, Mike!" he chortled. "I'm just kidding. The thing isn't due for a week. You don't have to do it right now."

Mike let out his breath explosively. "Don't do that, dad!"

"What you do have to do, though, is come right here and give me a hug!"

"Why?" Mike asked insolently, getting up and walking to his dad.

"You need a reason, do you?!" Robert said indignantly. Mike suddenly burst out laughing and flung himself at his dad.

Tai smiled wistfully but didn't say anything.

"Alright!" Robert said, standing. "You can do that nonsense tomorrow; but make sure you do. Let's put an end to the entire lugubrious affair. I don't like having those busybodies looming over us for the sake of a little test." He stretched and adjusted his glasses. "I'll be in my study, probably reading some more total gibberish, if you need me."

Mike put a paw in front of his muzzle to direct his voice and whispered furtively, "He's marking some dumb college-student's work, I bet! Some of them can't spell for crap..."

When the adult was gone and the two kits were left alone, Tai looked down at the couch he was seated on.

"Um. I guess I'm gonna be sleeping here?" he surmised.

Mike looked at him almost disdainfully. "Of course not," he spat. "You'll be sleeping out in the hallway." Then he grinned widely. "Actually, we've got a spare bedroom. We also have a fold out bed to put in my room for sleep-overs, and my bed is a double."

Tai blushed. Thankfully, his fur hid that, but his face burned nonetheless. "I've never slept over at someone else's house before," he admitted. "I dunno what I'm meant to do."

"You can sleep in my room on the foldout," Mike said slowly, as if talking to an idiot. "You can sleep in the spare room. You can sleep in my bed. Take your pick."

The look Tai shot him after that nearly made him kick himself.

"Um," mumbled the kit, "h-how about I sleep in your bed? It'll be less work and it's cold. That's not weird is it?"

"Nope, not at all." Mike wasn't lying, really, as it wasn't that unusual as far as he knew for boys to share beds during sleepovers. Not that he minded the notion anyway. Mike stood and offered a paw to his friend. "Come on! I'll help you."

They made their way slowly around the apartment to Mike's bedroom, Tai being careful to avoid whacking anything with his unwieldy crutch.

Mike's room was definitely Mike's. The walls were decorated with posters, some displaying athletes, some showing rock or pop stars, and more than a few motorbikes. Some of them were of an entirely different nature, such as one right above his bed that detailed the solar system, and a periodic table of the elements that had been thoroughly doodled on. It seemed like every little thing that interested the sporty boy had to be represented in some way. The lights were small, circular craters in the roof, giving off a dimmer, softer light rather than the powerful glare throughout rest of the house. Tai thought they looked cool.

"If you're not too tired, we could play some Game-Station until ten?" Mike asked, helping Tai seat himself on his bed before sitting next to him. He affected a conspiratorial expression and leaned closer. "Or we could check out some magazines that my dad thinks he's hidden from me?"

Tai shyly averted his eyes. "I-uhh, I can't stay up late," he murmured. "I have school tomorrow."

"Darn!" Mike punched his palm. "I forgot about that. Well, it doesn't really matter too much. I normally go to bed at eight and read until nine or so." He shrugged. "Dad's normally strict about bed-time, but I thought that with you over..."

"Um," ventured Tai uncertainly, "y-you could play the Game-Station? I'll watch? If... you want."

Mike groaned silently.

"I-I've never played before," the little fox continued. "I won't know what to do. I'm really tired." Tai saw the look on Mike's face and instantly misinterpreted it. "B-but if you want, I'll play the game with you, or read the magazines."

"Stop that!" Mike said abruptly. "I'm not going to hold it against you if you're too tired to play silly computer games with me."

"B-but-!"

"When do you wanna hit the sack?"

Tai blinked, confused by that particular expression. "What?"

"When do you want to go to sleep?" Mike was peeling back the corner of his bed-sheets.

The sight of a bed made Tai's legs go numb. It looked so warm and... warm!

"I-I dunno. Um, whenever you want to, I guess."

Mike fought off the urge to shake his small friend by the shoulders. "It's seven now," he said, nodding at the clock on the wall behind Tai. "We really ought to at least be in bed by eight thirty. Earlier, if you're tired."

Tai turned to look; the clock had all the numbers spread out all over the face. Superimposed on them were the words 'Who Gives A Damn?', written in the style of graffiti. How did Mike know what time it was from that thing? Tai sucked at reading analog clocks, and he struggled to make sense of it.

Suddenly, Tai's vision blurred and he was hit with an inexplicable dizziness.

Mike darted forwards and caught his friend before he could collapse forward and laid him on the bed. "Tai!" he exclaimed worriedly.

"I-I'm okay!" Tai replied, blinking owlishly.

"No, you're not! You're exhausted! C'mon, I think you should go to sleep soon."

Tai nodded and sat himself up. He shook his head to clear it, but strangely everything seemed misty all of a sudden. He'd been running on his second wind for a while now, and now he felt horrible.

"Sh-should I go to bed in my clothes?" Tai enquired, blinking some more. The protocols were unknown to him. He wanted to sleep next to Mike though, if he could. He could do with some warmth and such after this day.

"I don't think you should," replied Mike seriously. "Of course, it's up to you. I feel gross if I do."

Tai nodded and promptly lifted his shirt up over his head. "Where should I put this?"

Mike vaguely pointed at the floor, flicking the lights off at a wall switch. "Anywhere will do," he said, shucking his own shirt off and dumping it unceremoniously on the carpet. He pulled his shorts off and clambered into his bed, clad only in his satin boxers. "C'mon! It's okay."

Tai mentally shrugged and slid down his track pants. He climbed under the covers. Instantly his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.

Mike's eyes slowly pried themselves open and his sleepy brain slothfully started to function again, though under protest. It was still the middle of the night. The quiet drumming on his window indicated it was raining outside. He blinked a few times in the darkness of his room, trying to see just what the heck had woke him up.

In the darkness of the room, it was pointless, but it wasn't his eyes that finally explained it.

He could feel that someone had grabbed his arm, and was hugging it tightly. That someone was also sobbing very gently to himself, small, lean body shuddering almost imperceptibly as he did so.

"Tai?" the now completely awake fox asked softly, leaning a little closer to the dark shape of ears in front of his head.

It took a while for Tai to respond. "Uhh?" he moaned sluggishly, and then he gasped. "Oh, sorry," he said, releasing Mike's forearm. "Sorry..." The little fox shunted forwards slightly on his side, separating them. Evidently in the middle of the night, Tai had woken up, cuddled up to Mike and begun crying for some reason.

Mike shuffled back close to his friend and laid an arm over his slight form. "It's okay. I don't mind." He hugged to the smaller pup, snuffling at his ears. "I was just gonna ask why you were crying, that's all."

"I-I wasn't crying."

"Uh-huh. Right."

Tai lay in his friend's embrace for a while, absently registering just how warm and comfortable he actually was; he was so used to sleeping in his own bed alone. This was so amazingly different. "I was crying, wasn't I..." he whispered. The kit inhaled deeply. The room was warm and had an oddly familiar odor... Mike's odor.

"Why?"

"I-I was just thinking... tomorrow, I-I've got to go to back school."

Mike shrugged, and Tai felt it. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'm gonna die..."

"What?"

"He and his friends tried to steal something from the store in town. I told on them, and they chased me. That's how I hurt my leg."

It took a few moments for Mike to even realize what Tai was talking about. "Who is this guy?"

"A crazy jerk." Tai reached up and wiped his nose with the back of a paw.

With a wry grin, Mike nosed at his friend's ear once. "Ah. So he's just an idiot."

Tai snorted a laugh, but quickly returned to being morose. "But he's a big idiot," he mourned. "With loads of big friends. I got them in big trouble, and they'll be coming for me tomorrow. They tried to stab me and beat me up... and tomorrow...." A sob. "Because no one is my friend there, and no one stops these jerks! They can get away with anything! They're gonna kill me."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating?" enquired Mike, giving his friend a comforting squeeze. "They wouldn't, would they? They couldn't!"

Tai bit his lip. "I-I don't know..." He turned around slightly so he could face Mike, barely discerning his features from the darkness around them. "They're..." Another choked sob. "What can I do?" the little kit wailed, his voice cracking.

Mike was speechless; he didn't know what to do either. It sounded unbelievable. It made no sense to him, but then, he was sheltered.

Without any hesitation, he cuddled right up against the smaller boy's back. "Hey, you're okay," he muttered, resting the bottom of his muzzle between both of those large, charming ears. "You don't need to worry about it. We'll help you deal with them."

"H-how?!"

"We'll tell your mom, my dad, the cops, the school." Mike nuzzled under Tai's chin, snuffling his neck and earning a sort of reluctant giggle. "We'll figure it out. I swear." After a brief moment of hesitation, Tai once again pulled Mike's arm tightly to his chest and nestled against the older boy's body.

Mike noticed with a slight widening of his eyes that this was the first time he'd ever actually had another boy in his bed. The first time he'd ever properly snuggled up to someone of the same sex as him - excluding his dad of course. The first time he'd cuddled up to anyone else...

It felt really nice, actually.

"Can we snuggle?" Tai asked weakly.

Mike laughed. "What are we doing now?!"

The two kits huddled together, with Mike gently squeezing his smaller friend. Snug and contented in their shared warmth, the two drifted back to sleep.

It was the sound of birdsong that woke him. That surprised Tai a bit, since that had to be the one sound he thought he'd never hear again after leaving Alaska for the city.

Disoriented, at first he wasn't sure where he was. The room was strange, and there was a large window overlooking the street through which the sun shone in.

A sharp stabbing pain made him wince as his injured ankle gave him its idea of a 'good morning'. "Ooooh!" he whined, sitting up. Oddly enough, he felt more rested and happy with himself than he had before, at least in the time he could readily remember.

Mike wasn't in bed anymore, but that was sort of to be expected. Tai had overslept. According to the 'Who Gives A Damn' clock, it was almost nine, or something close to that.

"AAH!" Tai exclaimed, eyes flying wide and body going rigid. "SCHOOL!"

He pulled himself out of the sheets as quickly as he could, and wondered frenetically just what the heck to do now. He couldn't even stand up properly, leaning against the bed on one leg, his leg awkwardly sticking out to one side.

"Oh, I'm gonna be late!" he burbled, eyes darting around the room in a panicky blindness. "Mom'll kill me! I've never been late to school before!" He paused. "I-I lost my satchel!"

Just then, Mike opened his bedroom door. He was holding two tumblers full of juice, two sandwiches and two skinless sausages on a red plastic tray. The older boy was wearing his red shirt and denim shorts; evidently he'd been up for some time.

Mike laid the tray on his bedside dresser, next to the lamp, and leaned against the wall, eyeing Tai appreciatively. "Oooh, good mor-ning hotness!" he said, eyes sparkling mischievously. "You're real cute in your boxers."

Even in his panic, Tai flushed. Mike smiled at him: the sunlight from the window behind the pup, clad only in his underwear, made his tawny fur glitter, engulfing him in a majestic iridescent aura.

"Did you ask for those boxers?" Mike enquired, looking pointedly at them. "I didn't notice until just now you were wearing pink ones."

Tai blushed. "My mom bought them for me," he said, slightly defensively. "And they're not pink. They're light red."

"Uh-huh." Mike scratched his ear absently. "Anyway, good morning!"

Tai felt a little naked. His friend was totally dressed and looking at him like he was a marble statue. "Good morning," he replied shyly. "Um, I'm late for school so-"

Mike held up a paw. "Hold it. My dad spoke with me earlier." He picked up the tray once more and placed it on a pillow. Then he sat on the bed himself, scooting back until his shoulders were against the headboard. "The cops want you stay away from school for a few days. The hospital says so too."

"But why?"

Mike didn't know why, but he found Tai's perfect enunciation of 'why' to be sort of cool. "The cops want to be sure none of that guy's friends are gonna try to hurt you - isn't that what you were worried about? The hospital has said they don't want you going to school because your school has so many stairways." He picked up a sausage and bit in two. The aroma made Tai's mouth water. "And Dad agreed to let me have the next few days off! We got a call from your mom and she asked if we could look after you for a few days. Isn't that awesome? Mmm! These are great!" With that, he quickly ate the rest of the sausage. When he reached for the other one, Tai leaned in carefully and stole it away, grinning.

"Hey, the only problem," Mike continued, face grave, "is that we absolutely have to be at the Nerus Fair at eleven. We'll be back by three in the afternoon, but we do have to go."

Tai shrugged. A fair could be fun, and he was getting bored with being cooped up. "What's a 'Nerus Fair'?"

"It's a cool fair," elucidated Mike, grinning widely. "Cool people go there."

Tai hoped by 'cool' he didn't mean more dumbasses of Darron's ilk. He bit into the sausage, and a slight frown came to his features. Usually, he never questioned 'adult matters' like this, but... "I wonder how mom knew I was here."

Mike chuckled. "I dunno. Does it matter?"

"Hey boys!" came Robert's voice from the doorway. Tai turned to look, and his jaws suddenly felt an irresistible urge to flop open.

Standing in the doorway, glinting in the sunlight streaming in through the window, was an ambulatory suite of armor. It was easily grasping a seven foot lance with a brightly colored pennon trailing from it. In its other hand was a burnished shield, about two feet across. The helmet's face guard protruded slightly, to accommodate the vulpine muzzle.

It saluted Tai brightly. "G' morning, Tai!" Robert said cheerfully, before turning and clomping away in his suit of armor.

Mike hadn't looked up, and was busy chewing contentedly on a sandwich. "Hey, come on!" he said to Tai. "I made these, so can you at least give them a chance?" His expression and tone were totally bland.

"M-Mike?" Tai stammered, pointing at the doorway, emerald eyes wide open. "Did your dad just walk past in a suit of armor?"

"Pfft," scoffed Mike. "Don't be silly. Why would a fur going to a medieval-Renaissance fair dress in medieval armor?"

"A medieval fair...?" Tai whispered. "A medieval fair?" he repeated, a little stronger.

"I knew you'd like the idea."

Instantly, Tai swiped a beef sausage, then devoured the ham and cheese sandwich and knocked back the fruit juice within the space of a minute. Unable to help it, he beamed at Mike.

"You know, I might be wrong," joshed Mike, having swigged down his juice, "but I think something has you excited."

"I've never been to a medieval fair before!" Tai gushed, still grinning. "I've always wanted to go to one but there was never one near us! This is so cool! Are you really taking me too?"

"Yes!" the older fox pup interjected, giggling. "We can't just leave you here!"

"What are we gonna do until we leave?"

"We've got an hour and a half until we have to leave, so why don't we either put on the Gamestation?"

Tai scrambled back onto the bed, taking care not to smack his ankle off anything. "Yeah, put the Gamestation on!" he said excitedly. "I've never seen one before."

"Never?" asked Mike, slightly incredulous. "Not even in a department store?"

"A what?"

Mike chortled. "Never mind." He leaned forwards and pushed the power button on his little television. The screen burst into white static.

"Don't you have an aerial?" asked Tai, looking at the screen in puzzlement.

"I don't watch television." Mike switched the channel and pressed a large green button on his Gamestation before skipping back to the bed. "If I was going to, I'd watch it in the den."

The Gamestation logo appeared on screen, against a black background. Two symbols, a 'G' and a 'S' collided in an explosion of lava, wreathed in sparks and colorful purple electricity. Tai blinked. "Whoa."

After the logos of the developing companies had displayed themselves, the game's title appeared. Violently. It exploded onto the screen in a fiery conflagration - Tai hadn't expected that. It actually made him jump.

He didn't even read the title. The colors and effects were too beautiful. He'd never seen anything like it before. At times, the graphics were almost photorealistic.

Mike played for a short while, controlling a squirrel jumping from tree to tree, occasionally blasting an enemy with a rocket launcher, before his manners returned to him. "Oh, sorry," he said, offering the controller to Tai. "Do you wanna play?"

The smaller fox had been staring in awe at the television, the vivid images totally captivating him, paws resting on his lap. "R-really?" he finally replied, as if he'd been given some kind of honor. "Um, can you show me how to play?"

"Sure!" Mike proceeded to explain the game's controls, starting with the basics. Tai was a quick learner. He paid unwavering attention during the lesson. He took the controller into his paws with an odd reverence.

When Tai started to play, Mike found the kit himself a lot more interesting than the game. The slender vulpine's eyes were wide open, riveted to the television. His muzzle hung open, and he didn't even seem to notice it. It was all Mike could do to keep himself from laughing out loud. The idea came to him to put on his other favorite game, which was far more of a gore fest, and see how Tai reacted to the violence.

There was a knock on the door and both kits looked up.

Robert was standing in the doorway. He wasn't wearing his armor anymore, which begged the question of why he had it on earlier if he was going to take it off. Tai glanced at his friend, but Mike's expression showed no confusion or anything.

"I'm just going down to the mall quickly," Robert said, smoothing out the front of the ostentatiously yellow shirt he now wore.

"How come, dad?" asked Mike, confused.

"We need some food for today, don't we?" Robert shucked on a black leather jacket that covered his blazing golden shirt, so that at least he wouldn't look like an ambulatory traffic light. Then he took off his wire-framed glasses and put on a pair of sunglasses. "Back soon."

As Robert left Mike got up and shut the door. "Well, I guess we've got a while anyway," he said, kicking off his sneakers and padding back to the bed in his orange ankle socks.

Tai's attention was wrenched back to the game as a wall was felled by a gargantuan quadrupedal tank. The tank gracefully stepped out over the rubble from the destroyed wall and faced off against Tai's squirrel.

"Oh, cool, you're up to the boss!" Mike complimented, sitting down again. "Nice."

"Now what?!" Tai enquired calmly, neatly avoiding the tank's shell-attack. The ground shattered and flaming chunks of concrete rained down upon the arena. "What's a boss anyway? Isn't that the guy you work for? Why am I fighting my boss? Why is he trying to kill me?"

Mike stared at him for a few seconds. "Right, now that you've asked me five questions in, like, a second," he drawled, "why don't you tell me what order you'd like them answered in?"

Tai sniggered. "Oh, any order you like."

"Get into the tree top and shoot the top of it with your rocket launcher. A boss is an enemy that is stronger than normal and is harder to defeat. No, you don't work for him. You're fighting him because he's the bad guy and he's going to kill you if you don't get him first. He's trying to kill you because you're an assassin sent to kill his b... uh, employer."

"Oh," Tai said, choosing not to ask what an assassin was. "Okay."

In fairly good time, Tai managed to defeat the tank. It detonated in a decent display of destruction. The pyrotechnics were impressive, and Tai felt chuffed.

"May I have a go?" asked Mike, politely.

Tai wasted no time in handing the controller back to him. "Of course!" Tai sat back on the bed. After a pause, the underwear-clad pup got onto his paws and knees, crawled behind Mike, and affectionately rested his muzzle upon the older pup's shoulder. "Hi!" he giggled, steadying himself by placing his paws on Mike's shoulders.

"Comfy?" Mike asked, taking up where Tai had left off.

"Mmm, yup." Tai sighed and stared at the screen. He was no longer hypnotized by the graphics, but he still found them amazing. The things one could do, one could create, in a computer game, and the fun to be had with it... it just blew his mind. "So, what kinda things will we be doing at this fair?"

"Well, there's lots of food. We can't compete in the jousting and stuff, because we're too small, but there'll be things like races, competitions and games. We're gonna meet some friends too."

Tai nodded. "Is it okay if I just watch the racing and that kind of stuff?" he asked, a hopeful tone to his voice.

"Sure," Mike agreed, "you don't have to do anything. Besides, with that paw, you won't be able to keep up anyway."

"Oh," Tai muttered wryly, "yeah. I hope I'll be able to walk okay."

After much gaming, the boys heard Robert returning. They went out to greet the grownup and found him sorting through the grocery bags on the kitchen counter.

"Ready to go, guys?" he asked, when he sensed his son and his new friend standing behind him. "We're leaving as soon as I sort out the picnic food."

"Yeah, dad!" replied Mike. "Give us a sec." He turned to Tai. "Hey, come on! Let's get ready."

The two kits made their way back into Mike's room.

Tai picked up his track-pants and slipped into them on the bed. "This is gonna be so cool!" he crowed, pulling a white and black sport sock onto his good paw. "Jousting! Swords! Yeah!"

Mike giggled. "Cool, huh? We go every time." He put his trainers back on over his orange socks, still looking at Tai, who was putting his shirt on, his excitement making him unusually clumsy.

"Really?"

"Well, every year for the past four!"

"Awesome!" Tai picked up his sneaker, slid it onto his good paw and laced it up. He was told to just treat the bandaging on his other paw as a shoe... a shoe that felt really weird, because air could be felt rushing through it with every step. A few of his toes actually poked out through the bandaging, but he could barely wiggle them. He couldn't wait until he would be able to wear both shoes again. It felt truly bizarre.

"Come on!" Mike said, getting off his bed and rushing across the room to the doorway. "You ready? Let's go!"

Tai leapt to his good foot and limped after his friend. "Yeah! Ow!"

The long car ride out of the city was uneventful and quiet. Both boys were inordinately well behaved, keeping their obvious excitement under control.

Nonetheless, when they finally parked, all three of the vulpines wanted out of their seats immediately. It had taken almost an hour to get off the island and this far out of town.

With some difficulty, Tai opened his door and clambered out - managing to avoid hurting his ankle or whacking anything with his crutch. In awe, he looked around at the lush forestry around. He felt an energy surge through him. Vivacity he hadn't felt for ages.

It was so good to be out of the city! To not be surrounded only by concrete and metal and stone!

The pup inhaled deeply, smelling, tasting and breathing the wilderness.

"Over here, Tai!" Mike called to him from the other side of the car. Sluggishly, Tai turned around and followed behind his friend. They crested a small hill and what Tai saw nearly made him faint.

It was huge.

Blue and white pennons streamed from the high zeniths of over a dozen huge tents the size of warehouses, snapping and twisting in the warm mid-day air while a flock of pure white doves gracefully soared through the sky above, glinting in the light of the sun. The tents and various pavilions were of many colors, but they were almost all striped or had intricate, art-deco designs on them. The sound of laughter and excited chatter, mingled with the lively, distinctive sound of archaic music, floated up to the sky to join the birds in flight.

Hundreds of furs milled about the fairground, many in costume. As for the fairground itself... Tai could see no end to it.

"Oh, my gosh..." he whispered to himself. "This is incredible!"

Mike hopped out the car and looked out over the large fete. "Pretty big, isn't it?" he asked, ambling around the car until he was shoulder to shoulder with his friend once more.

"H-how many... a-are here?"

"A couple of hundred. I guess. It's here for a week." Mike laughed and started walking towards the hub-bub. "Let's go on down. We can meet some of my other friends." He turned to his father, who was busy hoisting up the bags he'd packed. "We'll be at the café tent, alright dad?"

"Sure," Robert replied, slamming the trunk shut. "I'll be done in a second. Just have to sort things out with Daryl. We're helping with the jousting. Tai, make sure you use that crutch. Put as little weight as possible on your sore paw, please."

Tai nodded.

"Cool!" Mike chortled, starting to walk towards the fair. "C'mon, Tai! Let's go! You've gotta meet these guys! I think you'll find Ernie pretty funny; he's a jackass."

Tai flinched as if struck. "A what?!" That was a peculiar thing to call one's friend.

Mike frowned. "Huh? Oh, no, sorry, that's not what I mean."

"Oh." The pup sidled up to his friend and together they walked towards the fluttering banners. Rather, Mike walked. Tai limped along with the aid of his small crutch.

Mike found his friends by a huge crimson colored pavilion. It was the second largest tent erected and it housed a large mobile cafeteria. Under its shade, vans and stalls were set up, and as they approached, Tai could see a forest of plastic tables and chairs within.

Standing near the entrance was an odd collection of kids. Two ringtails that looked like brother and sister were dressed in utterly conflicting styles. The boy was dressed in denim shorts, a black t-shirt adorned by intricate white patterns on the front and wore a blue bracelet on his left wrist. A steel chain linked the wallet in his pocket to his belt. He leaned indolently against a support, paws in his pockets and sporting a wide, toothy grin. The female ringtail cub had long head-fur that came down to her shoulder blades, and wore a green peasant-style dress - possibly in keeping with the theme of the festival. Her right wrist was adorned by a red bracelet and her features were composed, but smiling. A sort of modest grin. It was as if she was perpetually taking part in some gigantic joke and wasn't doing a good job of pretending otherwise.

Almost paralytic with laughter on the ground was an ash-white colored arctic fox. His jaw was wide open and he was shrieking his guffaws from behind his pointed teeth. His clothing was plain; a red surfing brand t-shirt and black shorts. His eyes glittered gold with mirth, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Then there was the donkey. That long face had the satisfied grin of one who had just received a good response from a funny joke.

"Hey, Ciaran!" the donkey said, prodding the laughing vulpine with a bare hoof. "While you're down there..."

"Get up, Ciaran," the female ringtail laughed. "You're getting grass-stains."

The formerly ash-white, now blotched a greenish-yellow, fox rolled over and managed to force out a greeting. To his credit, it was nearly comprehensible.

"Hey guys!" Mike said, guiding Tai in front of himself. "This is Tai. He lives near my apartment uptown."

The ringtail boy shot him a two fingered salute. "Hey," he said. "I'm Aaron. Everyone just calls me 'Squeaker' though. Don't ask."

Tai smiled shyly.

"He's a little shy." Mike smiled at his friend encouragingly, laying a paw on his shoulder. "He gets over it."

Now Tai's cheeks felt hot.

The girl ringtail went right up to him and sniffed at him. Tai flinched away in confusion.

"Hmm," the ringtail mused. "Does he know the secret?"

"Nope," replied Mike, smiling broadly.

"S-secret?" Tai asked, looking to his friend desperately. "What secret?"

"You don't know it?!" the ringtail pressed. "The secret? Y'know? That secret?"

"Umm, I dunno..."

"Millie," Aaron reprimanded. "You're freaking him out. Quit already. Heck, you're freakin' me out."

Millie curtseyed with exquisite grace. "I'm allowed to in your case, you're my brother." She grinned at Tai. "You know, no one knows The Secret." She laughed. "I'm Millie. Nice to meet you."

"H-hello!" Tai said, baffled.

The arctic fox clambered to his paws and picked something up out of the grass. His glasses.

He slid them onto the bridge of his muzzle and extended a paw for Tai to take. "Ciaran! Kee-ran, spelled with a 'C'!" he told the little fox, who bashfully shook his offered paw. "Don't worry about Millie's 'secret'. We're all trying to figure it out. Including her."

"I- I didn't think you wore glasses when I first saw you..." Tai murmured nervously.

But the older kit merely smiled playfully.

"Care to guess who the last one is?" Mike enquired, grinning. "That's Ernie."

"Yo, what-is-up-my-homie!? Word!" The donkey greeted them with a half-speed mockery of the dialogue Tai had only been hearing recently but already despised.

Tai scanned them all quickly. All of them were around twelve or thirteen - if not older. That made Mike and him the youngest by quite a bit. These new furs were fascinating however, and they didn't seem to mind that Mike at least was so much younger.

"Hey, where's your dad, Mikey?" asked Millie, running a paw casually through her head fur. She then began messing with it, twirling it around a finger idly.

"Talking to yours I bet." Mike pulled out a wallet. "Tai, are you hungry? We didn't have much for breakfast."

"Um, I-" On cue, Tai's stomach cut him off with a disturbing growl.

"Good answer. Come on! You gotta try the caramel-mint-chocolate milkshake they do here!"

That did sound appealing, Tai had to admit.

Aaron shuddered. "How can you drink those things?"

Instantly, his sister looked him square in the face. "Says the meat-eater."

Ciaran groaned, but still kept his grin. "Millie, some of us are carnivores, okay? Stop calling us evil because of how we were born."

The ringtail blinked. "But you are evil!"

Ernie nudged Tai. "Hey. If ever you wanna take a bite out of her, go ahead. No one will complain."

The little fox giggled but didn't trust himself to talk again.

Mike shook his head and walked towards the cafeteria. The serving cat took the order and smilingly offered to give the group a table.

"Yes please," Mike replied, motioning for his friends to hurry up. "Guys, c'mon!"

When they were directed to their seats, Tai made sure to sit next to his friend. There were so many furs around, he had started to feel anxious.

"What did you order?" Millie enquired, fussing over her head fur once more.

Mike shrugged. "Just two of the, uh, milkshakes and a beef sandwich for you."

"Har-de-har-har. So I guess we still have to order ours, huh? Typical."

Rolling up a napkin and tossing it at the ringtail, Mike chuckled. "Well, whaddaya want me to do? Read your mind?"

"Besides," Aaron added, grinning hugely, "it's impossible to feed you anyway, veggie-girl."

After a short laugh, they all begun chatting.

And Tai was suddenly lost.

The conversation flitted from one topic to the next, and even Mike spoke easily with these older kids on each subject, responding to jibes and launching a few of his own with self-confident nonchalance.

As the surprisingly mature conversation went on, Tai slumped in his seat, feeling awkward and badly out of place. This was why he never spoke when his mom had visitors. He didn't belong, wasn't welcome. It was all furs and subjects he knew nothing about. If only they'd talk about Battle Eidolon or something he knew something about...

Mike leaned towards him whilst the others were engaged in an argument about video games. "Are you alright?" the brown furred vulpine asked. "Tai?"

"Uh-huh," Tai responded vacantly. He stared at the blank table top.

"Hey, there's gonna be an archery contest in about twenty minutes. Wanna enter?"

The younger boy-fox blinked and his ears slowly perked. "Archery? Are you gonna enter?"

"Yep."

"Hey, what're you two lover-foxes kissing about?" Aaron asked bluntly.

Even Mike choked at that. "Uh? Nothing! Archery."

Another waitress, a teenage cat dressed appropriately as a servant girl, brought the two milkshakes to the table and placed the pair of them in front of Mike, before walking away, whistling cheerfully to herself.

"Seriously. For breakfast. Milkshakes?" Ciaran raised one eyebrow.

"Some of us like to live on the wild side, Ciaran," Mike replied in a falsely sententious tone.

"Some of us don't want to become blimps."

"It's not our breakfast anyway."

"Speaking of that, are you competing next week?" Aaron asked suddenly, standing up, presumably to go get something from the café himself. "On Tuesday, it's ten to eleven year olds."

Mike nodded. "Yeah. But my coach isn't back yet." He turned back to Tai thoughtfully. "Hey, how would you feel like going swimming tomorrow? You won't have school, and I don't think your paw would be a problem. It's just that I really ought to get some practice in."

"Sounds cool!" Tai agreed, slurping at his milkshake. His eyes went wide. "Mm!" He licked his lips and sucked mightily on the straw.

"Methinks he likes it," Ernie observed.

"What clued you in, Detective?" mocked Millie, leaning forwards with a vapid, adoring expression on her face.

The donkey grinned. "It was my towering intellect."

"Oh, hey, Tai what happened to your paw?" asked Aaron, slowly edging away towards the counter. "It looks recent."

"Umm," Tai mumbled around his straw. "I fell." It was an absurd understatement but he wasn't really in the mood to discuss it.

"I broke my arm a while ago; I fell from a climbing frame." The ringtail slipped off towards the counter.

"Hey, Tai!" Millie piped, clasping her paws and leaning towards him. "You're being all quiet. What kinda things do you do? Any fave TV shows?"

"Oh..." Tai shrugged. "Nothing really. I don't like TV." The only shows he watched were for kits much younger than these guys; there's no way they'd care, right?

"Geez, you must live a boring life..."

Mike tossed another folded up napkin at her. "Hey! I don't watch television much either. Are you calling me boring?"

"Sorry, you bored me. What did you say?"

Tai sniggered and Mike looked at him with a mock expression of shock. "Traitor!" he said, poking the tawny kit in the side.

While Tai was struggling back upright in his chair, having flailed dramatically from that single jab below the ribs, another fur suddenly walked into the busy pavilion, paws in corduroy trousers and whistling tunelessly.

"Hey guys!" Robert greeted the seated kits. He walked past their table as they waved and headed to the café counter.

Mike finished off his massive milkshake and sucked around the base, making a revolting sound reminiscent of a vacuum cleaner in a swimming pool. Then he stood. "C'mon, Tai. Let's go enter the archery tourney!"

Robert, who was busy fumbling with some coins in his pockets, turned to them. "Don't shoot anyone Mike," he joked. "Be careful."

"Just don't walk in front of me, dad; I might not be able to help myself!" Mike giggled. "C'mon! Let's go!"

He ran to his father first, secured a paternal kiss on the forehead, then rushed out of the pavilion, Tai following closely behind.

The day was unbelievable for Tai. Everything was so huge, he almost felt swallowed up by it all. If it weren't for Mike, he'd probably have been scared. The bark-furred fox-boy was always by his side, making light of the astonishing, cracking silly jokes and generally treating everything about this incredible day as if it was all normal.

The two kits didn't even come close to winning the archery contest - they were up against archers with decades of experience. But they didn't do badly at all. Tai was just happy that the adults supervising him didn't belittle him, or forbid him from trying something so new and fun. He didn't miss too often either. All in all, for a first timer, he was pleased with himself.

As the day wore on and the sun started to dip towards the horizon, the incredible 'Grand Melee' began. It was a lightly choreographed field battle between highly trained sword-aficionados, lasting more than an hour. As a testament to the swordsmen's skill, practically no one was hurt. Obviously none of the kits could participate, but watching it was impressive, as some of the combatants seemed to have next to no interest in safety, hurling themselves into the competition like it was an actual battle.

The jousting event rounded off the day, and Robert did in fact attend it in his costume. It was incredibly satisfying to watch, even if the kits could clearly tell it wasn't a real jousting tournament - Robert finally admitted his lance was made of paper-mache and cardboard. The large, un-evolved horses were interesting beasts, far larger than Tai expected them to be.

Eventually, Tai found himself at last able to speak to the older kids. They included him, and were never mean to him. A game of Tag broke out at one point, not that Tai could play with his ankle still damaged. It was still fun to see them all trying to catch Mike, who, despite being easily the shortest and youngest of all included in the game, was also the fittest and was near impossible to catch.

All too soon, it was time to head home. After the rocky start, it almost pained Tai when their group was split apart piece by piece.

As they made their way back to the car, Mike was skipping along, snatching at escaped feathers from the animal tent. Tai followed behind, hobbling after his friend quickly.

"That was so cool!" Tai exclaimed loudly. "That big battle was awesome! It was like they were really trying to kill each other! Are you sure it was fake? Wow!!" In his delirious excitement, entire sentences were becoming single words.

Mike giggled excitedly. "Yeah!" he chortled, skipping merrily back to rejoin his friend. "Was it fun?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

"Alright, you two," Robert said firmly, but with a warm grin. "Calm down before we get in the car please."

Mike giggled once more then tried holding his breath. "Sorry, dad," he finally said, exhaling.

"Don't apologize, ya doof." Robert ruffled his head fur playfully. "Okay, Tai, we can put your crutch back in the trunk."

"Okay."

They all piled into the car, the kits in the back, and buckled up for the trip back.

Immediately, Tai slumped in his seat, yawning. "I'm tired," he finally managed to say, ears drooping.

"Fun though," chimed Mike, also yawning. "Uuunh! Hey, don't do that!"

"Do what?"

"Yawn like that! It's contagious."

Tai giggled again before idly leaning on the brown-furred shoulder next to him and yawning once more. Without even thinking about it, he grasped the older boy's arm and cuddled into him, getting comfortable. "Pillow," he stated simply.

"Ready to go, guys?" Robert finally started the engine and looked back at the kits. "Gosh, Tai looks wiped out."

"He'll be okay soon, dad," Mike laughed happily. But despite his best efforts, yet another yawn forced its way out his muzzle. "Oh, man..."

"What did you think of the archery, Tai?" enquired the adult vulpine, showing his incisors in a knowing grin.

Tai cracked open one eye and muttered, "Oo-de-la-li!"

"That good huh?"

In spite of it all, the kits were certainly re-energized when they returned to the apartment building - almost the instant they got out of the car, they were talking loudly, and they briefly chased one another about on the way to the elevator. Even within the cramped elevator, a poking-war broke out, with Mike the clear victor in less than ten seconds. Robert tolerated their antics as they made their way down the corridor noisily.

However, when the grownup, bearing several heavy bags, finally managed to unlock and push their apartment door open...

"Go, go, go!" cried Mike, quickly slipping past his father and shooting ahead through the door.

"Hey!" Robert protested. "What was that about?"

Mike merely smiled, stopping in the corridor just some feet ahead. "Nothing."

Robert raised an eyebrow. "You know, you worry me, Mike..."

"I know, I'm worried too!"

"So, what should we have for dinner tonight?" Robert asked, pointedly ignoring Mike and hanging up his black jacket. He never needed it at all; far too warm a day. "Haven't had barbecue in a while."

"I was thinking Chinese?" Mike offered hopefully. "Something a little special?"

Robert held up a paw. "Uh-uh! As guest, Tai shall be the one consulted." He turned to the kit.

"Umm... I suppose Chinese would be fine. If that's okay with you." Tai flushed. "I-I don't..."

"Wicked!" exclaimed Mike, punching the air. "Two ta one!"

Tai was taken aback by that. Voting on issues like that wasn't something that happened with his mother.

"Alright, I'll order it then go pick it up," Robert said resignedly, picking up his car keys once more. "In the meantime, Mike, you have to have a bath."

"What about Tai?!" protested the brown pup shrilly. "Why are you picking on me?"

"Tai's a guest. If he wants a bath or a shower, he's welcome to have one. But in your case, it's bath-time." Robert frowned. "Tai, if you do decide to have a bath or shower whilst staying here, make sure either Mike or I are there. If something goes wrong and we weren't watching, I'd be in deep trouble."

"'Kay," replied the sandy furred kit, nodding his head in affirmation.

"Baby..." teased Mike, but his expression showed he meant no malice at all.

Robert opened the front door and turned around. "Alright, I'll be back in a little while. You know how long they take." He double checked everything in his pockets. "Right, I've got my cell phone if you need to contact me. If I get back and don't see some proof that you had a decent bath, Mike, I'll be upset. I've let you get away with it for two days now."

"Okay, Sir Dad." Mike said in his usual pseudo-sober tone.

"I think you've had too much sugar today, Mike. Okay then... Oh!" Robert walked quickly over to his son and gave him a kiss on the forehead before turning to go. "Almost forgot. Silly me! Alright."

"Bye!" the two kits called as the door quietly closed.

Tai swallowed. He felt... wrong. Suddenly sad. Robert reminded him of his own father with almost everything he did, even if Tai didn't even quite recall what he looked like. There was just something... so oddly familiar. Something he missed.

Mike saw his friend's expression and came over to him. "Are you alright Tai?" he enquired, put a friendly paw on his shoulder. "You keep spacing out today!"

Something sprung to Tai's mind, and he looked up at his friend, suddenly smiling. "Yeah, fine!" he said cheerily. "So, are you gonna have a bath?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Ugh... everyone just can't wait to get rid of me, can they?" he asked sourly.

"No," Tai said in a quiet voice, limping closer to his friend. "I haven't had one for days. Can I come with you?" The naughty sparkle in his eyes hinted that hygiene wasn't the fox boy's only incentive.

"Oh..." Mike giggled, laying his paws on Tai's shoulders. "Well, we've got a spa. You know, a shower and bath with those water jets? Haven't used it in ages. I'll set it up and get us some towels."

"Okay!"

"Oh, can your cast get wet?"

Tai nodded. "The nurse told me it was okay if it got wet if I dried it properly."

"Cool! One sec!"

When Mike darted out of the room, Tai started thinking. The night when he and Mike had first met was sort of distant to him, something he could barely believe he'd done. But he'd jumped immediately at the prospect of doing it again. All of a sudden, he had some inexplicable drive to be near Mike, to touch him, to look at his body... just looking at him caused his heart to flutter. That incredible feeling Mike had given him on the night of their meeting was one thing, and he wanted to feel it again, and again, and again, but that wasn't the only reason he wanted to do this...

After a few stunned, thoughtful moments, he started to follow his friend.

Mike turned the taps and switched on the spa, warming it up. A thick jet of water burst from the shower head above him and splashed noisily onto the plastic surface below.

This was great! This was awesome! A powerful sensation started to make Mike's entire body buzz and glow all over and a broad smile snuck onto his face. This was exactly what he had hoped for. No, more than that! Tai wasn't just willing to be naughty with him again - he was even suggesting it himself! Awesome!

Mike pulled his shirt over his head, feeling the moist, steamy air ruffle his chest and stomach fur. "Mmm..." he hummed to himself, checking the water with his paw.

"Boo!" Tai said quietly from behind him. Mike looked over his shoulder.

The little vulpine had shed his clothes and laid them on tiles by the door. He stood there, dressed only in his satin boxers and a sheepish grin.

Mike's breath caught. "Nearly ready," he said. The tawny boy's slender body made his stomach flutter. "Just gotta get some towels..."

Tai simply watched him, a shy little smile on his face.

"I'll just get the towels..." Mike said, dashing out of the bathroom again.

Without delay, Tai slipped his boxers down. For a brief moment, he stared down his skinny body, lightly touching the little sensitive protrusion on his downy-furred groin. Just knowing what was about to happen made him feel strange.

He gingerly put a paw under the jet of water - it was quite hot, but it felt nice. He didn't notice it until now, but after a few days with no bathing and a day at a carnival he felt a little... dusty. Dirty and dry. This would be wonderful. He'd never been in a spa before, and now he was gonna be in one with another boy who made him feel funny just to look at. This was gonna be great!

Tai took the next step and dabbed a foot-paw into the water, leaning heavily on the edge of the tub to avoid putting weight on his plaster-enclosed one. The temperature was almost perfect. Hot, but the stinging sensation wasn't overwhelming - it would be just right when they got in. After he got used to it anyway.

He shivered slightly. Whether it was from leaving one paw in the warm water or what was to come, he didn't know...

Come to think of it, he had never bathed with another boy before. With anyone else at all, actually. Who knew how crazy his mom would go if she found out? Would she even care? He didn't know. But it didn't bother him... it felt so right somehow. He desperately wanted to. Besides, he would never, ever mention it to his mother. Same with the first night Mike kept him company while she left him all alone.

It was time for him to keep secrets too.

Mike returned, also butt-naked, having shed his underwear in the hall outside, carrying three towels. He laid one on the floor near the edge of the spa, and placed the remaining two folded towels at the side of the bath. Tai realized the first towel on the floor was so they wouldn't slip when they got out - Mike just did that sort of thing without even having to think about it. It was amazing just how he was so... what was the word? Responsible?

"I've got a bath-robe about your size, if you want me to get that?" the brown pup asked. "It's my old one. It's very warm. So you don't have to get dressed in dirty clothes when we're done."

Tai shrugged. "Sure!" Still leaning on the tub, he rotated himself fully into it, gingerly lowering himself into the rising water.

Stepping into the spa himself, Mike sat down abruptly under the shower's stream. "Sit under the shower with me!" he urged, closing his eyes and tilting his head back, allowing his face to get thoroughly soaked.

After only a moment's hesitation, Tai reached out and took a hold of his friend for balance as he tried to sit down, with Mike's patient help, cross-legged directly in front of him. With a grunt, he lowered onto his backside and grinned at his older friend. The water barely reached up to Tai's knees, and the large tub was going to take a little while to fill at this rate.

The brown-furred vulpine looked openly at Tai as he sat down, unable to keep a wry smile from his features. Tai was just adorable, he thought. Under the hot shower, his eyes were squinted slightly to keep the water from them, but those clear grassy-green irises were still visible. The water had drenched his head-fur, giving him a long fringe that hung wetly in front of his face like a soaked curtain. Suddenly, he wanted nothing else but to reach out and touch those narrow, delicate shoulders...

"What?" Tai giggled, noticing Mike's unwavering gaze. A thrill went through him - he knew why Mike was staring. Probably for the same reason Tai stared back.

"Nothing," replied Mike, still smiling. He scooted a little closer under the shower, adjusting his position so he was also cross-legged. "Just looking..."

Tai gladly returned the attention. He slid even closer, so their knees touched. He looked his new friend over, holding his breath without even knowing it. He paid particular attention to Mike's perfectly flat tummy, covered in that lush white down, now matted by the water. As his gaze lowered, he swallowed loudly. Cross-legged like this, they openly displayed their private parts to one another. His eyes locked onto Mike's, and he got a sudden urge to reach forth and touch...

"Hey, do you want some shampoo for your fur?" Mike asked. He reached around behind himself and grabbed a bottle from the edge of the tub. "Here!"

Tai blinked and took the bottle. "O-oh." He looked at it speculatively. "D-do you want to do it?" he asked suddenly.

Mike cocked his head, his collar-length head-fur artfully draping over one of his eyes. "How do you mean?"

"You can do the places I can't reach!" Tai smiled bashfully. "Like my back. Afterwards, I'll do yours!"

That sounded appealing. In fact, Mike liked that idea instantly. "Sure!" He took the bottle back, squeezing a little into his paw. "You know what, I'll just do your chest and tummy too. Turn around!"

Eagerly, Tai twisted around. Mike pulled himself closer and guided Tai slowly backwards, spreading his legs out to either side of him. Tai giggled and put his arms down by his sides to allow the larger kit more access to his chest region while he lay back onto his friend's soft, comfortable body. Mike's paws started to rub through his chest fur, and a thick, bubbly lather erupted from beneath them as he did.

Chortling, Mike got some more shampoo and started to massage Tai's white tummy fur. He liked running his hands through that dreamy, cloud-like fluff, not to mention touching Tai's warm, skinny body. "Mmm! You have nice fur."

Tai giggled shyly. He leaned back into his friend's embrace, getting himself comfortable.

"Good idea!" he complimented, taking the shampoo bottle and squirting some more of the peach colored substance onto his friend's tummy. He started to massage and rub Tai's sides with slow, firm movements, investigating the warm nooks and crannies of his armpits and feeling the contours of his ribcage beneath his luscious fur and tight little muscles.

Tai's head drooped slightly and he let out a contented sigh. "Keep doing that please..." he murmured.

Distracted by the lapping, warm water and intimate massage, neither boy noticed the activity beneath the thick bubbles that obscured the shallow water. They both recognized the tingly, warm feeling deep in their stomachs, but their little members had quickly stiffened unbeknownst to them also.

At last, when a clearing in the bubbles appeared, Mike looked down spotted Tai's erection. His heart stopped briefly. "So, you like this?" he enquired, resting his head atop his friend's and letting his tender paws wander a little lower down Tai's belly. Tai looked down and smiled.

"Y-yeah," the tawny kit whispered, spreading his legs a little. Mike's slow, gentle rubbing of his lower belly caused his stiffy to waggle, and even though his paws were still some inches from it, they were giving him a strange, pleasant feeling. Trusting his friend and the wonderful feelings, Tai closed his eyes and relaxed.

"Don't fall asleep!" Mike objected loudly over the white noise of the shower. "You still have to wash me, you know."

Tai twisted around, lying on his side now. He rested his head on Mike's outstretched leg. "Haven't forgotten," he assured him. Then his eyes clicked onto to Mike's two-and-a-half inch erection. The older boy was at least as hard as he was. Tai hesitated only a moment, looking curiously at the smooth, hard little organ only just above the water's surface, before murmuring, "I still owe you from last time, don't I?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Tai shifted a bit, bringing his head closer to the erection that so demanded his attention. With his tongue, Tai pulled into his muzzle.

The bigger boy twitched. "Yerk!" he exclaimed, shuddering as that smooth tongue firmly swirled around the head, manipulating his foreskin. "Oh, Tai!" he muttered, not really caring how lame he sounded.

Tai was pleasantly surprised. The little object in his mouth didn't taste too badly at all. He was worried it'd taste foul, but not at all! It was smooth, warm and for some whacky reason just felt alright to put in his muzzle. He mentally shrugged and kept going, suckling the soft penis like it was a lollypop. Tasting it. Experimentally rolling it around his muzzle. Feeling it.

Forcing the sensations between his legs out of his immediate attention, Mike rinsed Tai's chest of the shampoo and got the soap off his fingers. Slowly, he reached down and laid a paw on Tai's belly, sliding his fingers slowly towards his 'prey's' groin.

Tai felt the paw on his stiffy, gently lifting it up and exposing it to the warm air, brushing aside the dense bubbles, but he attempted to ignore it. However when Mike took the sensitive head between his thumb and forefinger and gave it a firm rub, he yelped and kicked a leg, splashing water over the spa and onto the ceramic tiles below.

"Wh-what was that?!" he mumbled around the penis in his muzzle.

Mike grinned and looked down at him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he teased, doing it again. Affectionately, he stroked Tai's cheek with his other paw.

"Ah!" whimpered the smaller boy, shivering slightly. "It's weird!"

"But do you like it?" Mike started to do it again and again, rubbing the sensitive penis's tip over and over. He swallowed involuntarily, watching the little stiffy twitch and press into his fingers, seeking stronger sensation even while Tai started to shake and tense all over. The kit's leg would twitch, and his stomach would visibly tighten beneath his sodden fur, but despite all of that Tai didn't even attempt to stop him...

"Uhh-huh..." Tai groaned shakily. "Nnhnn! I-it's like a t-tickle! A strong tickle on my d-dick! Ah!"

Delighted, Mike doubled his efforts. "I know! It feels good, doesn't it?" He chortled happily as Tai forced himself to start suckling again.

They continued, even as the water threatened to get in Tai's way. The tawny kit was determined to do as much as possible before his friend's groin was submerged in the soapy water. He didn't want to stop. Neither of them wanted to stop.

But a horrific, painfully shrill noise erupted from the table next to the spa. Mike squealed in surprise and Tai flinched away, narrowly avoiding nipping his friend's member with his tiny, sharp incisors.

It was the waterproof telephone by the spa.

Tai groaned out loud. "I hate phones!" he cried vehemently, pulling himself off Mike as the brown kit reached up for the cordless device.

"Ditto..." Mike said sourly, shaking his paw dry then picking up the plastic phone. "Hello, Donaldson residence."

"Heya Mike!" was the tinny, distant sounding response. "It's your dad."

"O-oh! Hi dad!" Mike settled back into the tub, touching shoulder to shoulder with Tai as they both sat with their backs against the side. "What's wrong?"

"Is that you in the shower? What's Tai doing?"

Mike couldn't see anything wrong about saying the truth, so he did. "Oh, he's having one with me. He hasn't had one since before he moved in."

Robert didn't miss a beat with his reply, which Mike took to mean that he found nothing wrong with that idea. "Okay, good! Uh, I was in such a hurry to get out that I forgot to ask you guys what you want from the restaurant. I'm almost next in line in the queue; you should see this. It's not anywhere near dinner time, but everyone seems to have had the same idea as me..."

"Get there before it gets too busy?" Mike guessed, giggling. He laid his head on Tai's when the kit suddenly rested against his shoulder. "Uhh, I think I'll just have a beef curry with rice. Nothing fancy from me today, dad." He spoke into his friend's ear. "What about you, Tai?"

"Umm, I'll just have the same," Tai replied. "I don't like veggies."

"Tai wants the same, dad." Mike scratched his tummy absently. "Oh, don't forget the prawn crackers! And can you get us some soda? We've run out."

"I suppose so," replied the voice from the phone. "Right, so no vegetables, I take it?"

"Dad, we're meat-eaters..." Mike's voice had an exaggerated long-suffering twinge to it. "That stuff is gross."

"I'm kidding, Mike. Alright, boys, I'll be back in about thirty minutes. Try to clean yourself properly this time. Behind your ears, the back of your neck, you know the deal."

"Yes, dad. See you soon!"

"Yeee-up. See you soon. Love you!"

"Love you too, dad!" Mike placed the phone on the edge of the spa. "Sorry, Tai..." he apologized. "Ugh. The water's too high now."

"S'okay," Tai replied quietly, silently relieved that Robert hadn't blown up when he heard that Tai was sharing Mike's bath. His mother would have gone bananas. At least he thought she would..."I didn't do that well, did I...? I mean, I didn't give you that feeling that you gave me, right?"

Mike hugged him close. "That's alright; it takes time, and we've got all the time in the world!" He leaned closer, an idea forming in his horny preteen mind. "Hey, still wanna play?"

An excited gleam came to Tai's eyes, and he smiled broadly. "Of course!"

"Well," mused Mike, "let's wait until bed-time! We'll have hours, since my dad will be working in his study, but if we keep going now, we won't be as interested later on."

Tai remembered that heavy lassitude that descended on him like an overly-comfy blanket after Mike gave him his first orgasm and agreed with an emphatic nod. "Yeah, it's a good idea to do it in bed, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Mike reached for the shampoo yet again. "In the meantime, that doesn't mean we can't keep cleaning each other." His eyes narrowed mischievously. "Or that I can't keep rubbing you..."

Tai gulped, but didn't move away as Mike cuddled right up to his back, the way they had been before, and dropped a paw to his crotch. "C'mon, spread your legs..." instructed Mike, grinning naughtily. "Let's see if you can handle it for a little longer!"

"H-how long?" Tai squeaked as the bigger boy's fingers closed around his penis.

"Oh, I dunno... until dad gets back. About half an hour." The barky-furred kit nestled against Tai's shivering body. Amazingly, Tai also snuggled up, resting his head on his new friend's chest, completely willing.

But after a second, Tai stiffened, his ears perking straight up.

"W-wait. H-how long?!"

Chapter 5

When Robert returned, the two boys were sitting in Mike's room, clad in fluffy blue cotton bathrobes and their brightly colored satin boxers, playing the Gamestation. Their pointed ears were perked and their attention was riveted on their game. Robert smiled tolerantly.

"Sorry, that took a little longer than expected and it got cold," the grown-up apologized from the doorway, thumbing in the direction of the kitchen. "The food is in the fridge. I'll heat it back up at about six, okay."

"Okay, dad," Mike nodded, getting onto his knees and maneuvering around to lie on his belly, never relinquishing the controller. "Thanks a bunch."

"That's alright." Robert surreptitiously sniffed at the air. The distinct scent of their peachy shampoo and conditioner hung heavy in the air. "Okay, I'll be in my study if you need anything, guys. Have some work to do. Oh, Tai?" The tawny furred pup looked up at him inquiringly. "Your mother will be back in about two days. She asked me to tell you that she's sorry for springing this on you."

"Oh, okay..." Tai was wondering when his mother would try to get in touch with him. Assuming she ever bothered.

"She also says that you should grab some clothes from your apartment." Robert nodded approvingly at his son. "Good thinking, Mike. Giving Tai your old bathrobe, I mean. I forgot you still had it. Okie-dokie, catch you two later!" He exited and shut the door behind him.

"Your dad has to work? Today?" Tai's voice was slightly incredulous. "So late?"

"Of course; no rest for the wicked. Why?"

Tai frowned. "I dunno. He gets home from the fair, but then he has to work?"

Mike nodded. "Growing up sucks."

The tawny kit got up and lay down next to his friend, sliding a paw into his open robe and placing it on Mike's back. "You're warm..." he remarked softly.

Mike nodded again. "Yeah, so are you. It's because we just got out of the bath, I think."

"Hmmm. That was really nice."

Mike looked sidelong at his friend. He was getting braver. Tai was surer of Mike now, and he openly sought this contact. Wanted to keep close. A major change for the boy who seemed so reserved, almost distrustful, when they first met.

It made sense, Mike figured. Now that he had convinced Tai he wasn't going to hurt him, the kit was showing his affectionate side. Perhaps desperate for someone to touch, or hug, because his mom always seemed to be away. As far as Mike could tell anyway.

"Hey, you still haven't really told me what happened to your paw," he pointed out, not taking his eyes away from the screen, while expertly dispatching several of the computer controlled opponents. "I mean, what actually happened?"

Tai shrugged and pulled his arm out of Mike's bathrobe. "I couldn't get around Darron and his friends and I thought they were gonna kill me so I jumped off the top of the car-park and landed in a cart. I hit my paw on the edge. The doctors said that I, um, separated it or something."

"So it was dislocated, huh?" Mike nodded knowingly. "Better than broken! You were so lucky. Should be okay pretty soon. I did that to my elbow once. It really hurts when they put it back into place, doesn't it?"

An emphatic nod.

Mike furrowed his brow. "Tai, you must've been really scared if you jumped from up there! That's really high!"

"I had to," replied Tai, shifting around until he lay on his back looking up at Mike. "They had knives and they were trying to stab me!"

"Public school." Mike shuddered in disgust. "So glad my dad home-schools me."

Tai smiled a bittersweet smile. "My mom doesn't care. I've been in a bunch of schools so far, and in all of them stuff like this happened. She acted as if I was eg-ex-exaggerating. She just doesn't care." He sighed. "Ever since dad died... she's always busy."

Mike nodded somberly. "I don't know, but..." He bit his lip. "I'll ask my dad to see if we can help. It might not be anything, but-" he hesitated. "This is real serious. Maybe we could get your mom to listen."

"R-really?"

"Look, this is depressing..." Mike got up and padded over to the Gamestation. "Let's put on a game for two players!"

Tai's ears perked upright again. "You mean we can both play at the same time?"

"Sure!"

The tawny kit's eyes widened. "That's awesome!!"

When it was a few hours later, the two fox-boys went into the dining room, not bothering to get out of their bathrobes. It was almost bed-time after all.

The Chinese food was excellent, and the two kits felt extra drowsy for eating so much of it. Besides, they had to get up early so they could go to the swimming pool uptown.

Tai and Mike asked politely to be excused from the table and Robert gave them their leave.

Mike stood and yawned so hard it almost seemed like his jaw would split. "Uh. Sorry, dad. I'm beat." He started to walk around the small glass table, picking up the cutlery.

"Tiring day." Robert stood and picked up his plate, and the two kits dutifully handed him theirs. "Tai, you tired as well?"

The little fox sighed contentedly and nodded. "Yes sir," he said, shifting in the chair. "I'm always like this after I eat dinner."

"That's understandable; Mike's like that too... obviously." The adult fox took the plates over to the sink and placed them in the basin. "I'm not going to complain if he wants to go to bed without me badgering him, though." He turned the tap and a jet of water 'scooshed' loudly onto the plates.

"Thanks for the food, dad," Mike said, carrying the cutlery over to the sink as well. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Shoot." He took the forks and threw them into the water.

"Can you make our hot chocolate a little earlier?" Mike smiled winsomely at his dad. "We're gonna go to bed now."

"I can manage that."

"You're the best!" The pup hugged his father's waist then walked back to his room, motioning for Tai to follow.

Back in the bedroom, the two boys sluggishly made their way to the bed, un-belting their robes as they moved. Mike gently bumped the door with his rear and continued on. They both seated themselves on the edge of the double mattress, robes open, bare chests and boxers exposed.

There was a significant difference once that door closed behind the two kits. A major change. That change was simple: they weren't tired anymore.

Mike's eyes were alight with mischief and his mind was aflame with anticipation. He stared archly at Tai.

"What now?" Tai enquired quietly, squirming on the spot, as if Mike's gaze had pinned him in place. His ears started to get a little warm and he felt his heart beat getting quicker. A feeling, hard to describe, started to bloom outwards from somewhere in his tummy, until his entire body crawled with it. A feeling that was becoming familiar to him now.

Mike crawled across the double bed towards him on his paws and knees, robe hanging loosely over his shoulders. "I've just thought of a cool idea..." he said breathily.

Tai's entire face felt warm now. He wanted to tear his eyes away and stare at the floor, but something in Mike's eyes and voice was almost hypnotic.

"What?" he asked, his own voice automatically adopting that same whispered-quality as Mike's.

"I got an idea for what we can use these belts for..." The horny kit's muzzle was covered by his fringe of brown fur, artistically hiding one of his eyes and shading his toothy smile. "They'd make pretty comfy ropes, don't you think? You know, to tie you up?"

Tai froze, looking at Mike with worried eyes.

Mike leaned back onto his foot-paws instantly. He held a paw up and said, "But not if you don't wanna do it. It's up to you. Just an idea."

But Tai did want to do it.

Even though something inside him was screeching that he shouldn't like the idea as much as he did- he shouldn't be so keen to let another boy, bigger and rougher than he was, tie him up and place him at his mercy- Tai realized he did trust Mike. He could trust him. He wasn't scared of Mike at all... but that's what scared him. He never trusted anybody!

What if he was making another mistake?

This wasn't something as simple as being close to him, or the dirty play in the spa. Letting this bigger boy tie him up in his house was a different matter entirely. But the simple, obvious truth was... he wanted to try it. The idea made him tingle all over.

Surely, if there was ever any other boy he could trust, it would be this one?

"Alright," he said eventually. "H-have you got any more? Belts?"

"Huh? Why more?"

Tai's face suddenly flushed and he covered his muzzle with his paws. "Could you tie my legs up please...?" he asked bashfully. "I trust you, Mike. At least, I think so..."

"Oh, gee, thanks," said Mike wryly. Then he crawled a little closer. "Tai, I won't hurt you. I don't want to hurt you, ever!"

"S-sorry." Tai pulled himself onto his knees and looked his brown friend in his face. "It's not that. I-I think I'm... I'm... not sure if I should." He cast his gaze downwards. "I... I just feel so weird."

"You're not weird." Mike placed a tender and deliberate kiss on the younger kit's cheek - to his delight, Tai couldn't keep a smile away after it. But it didn't last long at all.

In the soft bedroom light, Tai stared taciturnly at the white carpet. After a few moments, he sniffed loudly, bowing his head. "I'm sorry." He blinked back tears before they could form, knowing full well that crying would just make things worse.

The quavering apology brought a chill to Mike's chest. "H-hey, hey, what's wrong?" he said softly, lightly touching the smaller boy's shoulder. "What're you sorry for?!"

Without warning, two thin tawny arms enveloped Mike's chest and crossed behind his back. Tai had snatched his friend in a firm embrace. But he said nothing.

"Tai? What's wrong?" The older kit swallowed. This wasn't right.

"Nothing!" blurted Tai, breaking out a loud sob. "Nothing is wrong! Nothing feels wrong, and that's what's wrong!"

Mike freaked. "Hey, don't cry!" he exclaimed, cradling the younger fox soothingly. "Geez! What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure," Tai groaned. He struggled to keep his voice steady. "I don't know if I should. I want to but no one likes being tied up, do they? What if mom finds out? Or your dad? Mom'd kill me if she knew!"

Baffled and a little scared, Mike's brain scrabbled for something to say. Tai being upset by this suggestion was the absolute worst case scenario.

"No, Tai, you got it all wrong!" he said, affecting an amused voice, though he didn't find this in the least funny. "You know I'll stop if you ask! It's alright to like this stuff! A lot of people do!"

"Why?"

"They just do." Mike nosed at Tai's ears in an attempt to relax him, but it didn't seem to work. Instead, he sat down right beside him, embracing the tawny kit tightly.

The little fox turned slightly and pressed against his friend's chest. "I-Is it okay?" he asked shyly. "To want to be tied up?"

"Course it is."

"But I hate it!" Tai objected, shaking his head vehemently. "I've always been pushed around. I hate that!"

"But I'm not pushing you around!" Mike said quietly. "If you don't want to do it, I'll do what you say, right? I'm not a bully. I'd never wanna hurt you. It's not the same thing at all!"

The kit opened his mouth to say something, but then he snapped it closed again, confused. He thought about it for a second. "S-so, it has to do with how much you trust the person doing it?"

Mike shrugged, remembering how baffling the explanations on this topic he'd illicitly read up on were when he didn't have the context for them. He still didn't get it all - but to Mike, that didn't matter. This wasn't something that needed to be complicated to him: he liked it, he didn't need to know exactly why. "Exactly. You wouldn't trust a jerk or a bully to do it. But what about me? Or, I dunno, your mom?"

"Um, I guess..." Tai sniffled, his expression still a little puzzled.

Mike nodded emphatically. "Chill out, Tai! Anyway, I'm not going to hurt you while you're tied up." He grinned naughtily. "Gonna do the opposite!"

The smaller kit raised his eyes at last, smiling wanly. "I know."

Mike brushed a tender paw along his friend's shoulder. "But, um, do you really want to? We don't have to. I mean, the tie-up thing was just an idea."

Hesitating only briefly, Tai nodded. "Yeah," he whispered, wiping his nose on his wrist. "Go on. Tie me up. I've never been tied up before. I want to try it."

"Okay..." Mike gently separated them, grinning. "Wait right here, I'm gonna go get the other belts."

When Mike returned from his foray into the laundry, Tai had neatly placed the pillows and comforter to the bottom of the bed and lay spread-eagled in the middle of the mattress, squinting up at the ceiling light. He was still wearing his boxers and robe, which was now splayed out under him.

He was going to be tied up soon by another boy. In another house, alone. What would that mean? This was strange. Why was he okay with the idea?

Mike lazily tossed the two extra belts onto the kit's chest, surprising him.

Tai let out a bark of surprise and shot into a sitting position. "Wh-?! Oh..." Tentatively, he rubbed a paw over the cotton strips. They were soft and smooth. He exhaled shakily in mild trepidation.

"Ready?" Mike asked, crawling onto the bed alongside the exposed younger boy.

Tai nodded, a surge of excitement dizzying him. "Yes."

Slowly, carefully, Mike started to wrap a belt around Tai's wrist. He smiled, listening to Tai's tremulous breathing. His own started to speed up to match. This was going to be incredible... if Tai didn't freak out again, at least.

"I-I can't believe we're gonna do this," Tai said aloud, aware of activity inside his short satin boxers. His chest felt strange. Sort of tight. It was an excitement so strong it almost was unbearable.

"It's just a tie up game. Never played one before?"

Tai shook his head.

"That sucks. It'll be fun!"

His arm was extended and the cotton belt was tied around the bed frame at the top, to either side. When Mike did likewise to his other paw his mouth went abruptly dry. He experimentally tugged on the two broad belts, only to find that the knots done by the older boy were tight and unlikely to budge if he resisted - and no matter what he did, he couldn't reach them with his fingers. If Mike continued, he'd be totally immobilized in moments. He didn't realize at first what it meant to be really tied up.

When Mike was finished, Tai doubted he'd be able to resist in the slightest.

"This is my last chance to say no!" he thought, breathing very fast.

He said nothing.

Mike was almost ready to burst now. He fended off the nearly overwhelming exhilaration by focusing on his task. With deliberate and precise movements, he carefully tied an elaborate knot around Tai's first skinny ankle, a knot that left a length of cotton free in order to tie the leg to the metal bars at the base of the bed, then another on Tai's other ankle, before yanking Tai down on the bed and fixing his ankles firmly to the poles. The plaster cast on his damaged ankle was no problem, as the cotton belt was just very firmly tied above it.

Tai let out a little mewl after he tested his bonds and found that Mike had left him nearly no leeway at all. He jerked hard, but the improvised restraints didn't loosen or slip at all, and Tai was nowhere near strong enough to snap the cotton-nylon strips to escape. The quiet sound he made was high pitched and quivering.

Mike picked up the comforter and draped it over Tai's body, then rolled it back until it only covered the littler kit's feet. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned after that strange, unintelligible sound.

"I-I'm fine," replied Tai, forcing himself to breathe steadily. "I'm okay, Mike, honest."

"If you think you're going to get scared, let me know, alright?" Mike grinned outrageously. "I'll let you free straight away. You have a stiffy, by the way." He pointed at the small tent in the smaller kit's boxers.

Tai stuck his tongue out from his sharp muzzle, trying to look a little braver than he felt. "So do you! I can see it from here." Then he swallowed. The brown fox boy had adopted a strangely predatory expression and hovered over him, growling archly. "M-M-Mike?!" he stammered.

Before Tai could panic, however, a playful smile surfaced on Mike's features, and the older pup shed his cotton robe, straddling his tied friend's supple chest. Tai idly noticed that the feeling of satin on fur was pretty cool.

Mike placed his paws on Tai's chest, gently massaging Tai's flat chest, using his thumbs to stroke the fur concealed nipples. "Does this feel nice?" he asked breathlessly. Tai nodded and smiled, huffing slightly as his little nipples were tweaked and rubbed. Gladly, he pushed his chest up a little.

Then the older fox kit took his index finger on his paw and traced it down the ticklish inside of an arm, awarded by the sound of a youthful giggle.

Tai wriggled uselessly underneath his friend's hips. He could feel his erection poking and brushing against Mike's backside. "You aren't going to tickle me... are you?" he enquired, eyes wide. Practically asking for it.

"Only... a lot." Mike promptly dug his paws into Tai's sides, just underneath the ribcage and wriggled them, making full use of his stubby claws. The resulting shriek was immediate and Mike winced, pinning his ears down. "Oookay, just not now." He leant down towards Tai's face. "Hey, I have an idea! You're a little loud, so how about I gag you...?"

The bound vulpine kit tensed, pulling his bonds even tauter. "What?!" he squeaked, eyes now at dinner-plate width.

"Oh, yeah," Mike giggled, deciding to push his luck. "How does a blindfold sound? That's just an extra, but we need the gag. We can't have you waking the neighbors up in the middle of the night."

"B-blindfold? Gag!?" Tai was shivering in the warm room. "M-Mike, I-I dunno!"

"Can't you just give it a try?" was the whispered response. "Later on, just for a few minutes, then you can tell me what it's like. Please?"

That took Tai aback slightly. The bigger fox's eyes shimmered, hopefully. Pleading with him. Tai admitted he had always enjoyed the kidnapping scenes in movies, where the characters were bound and gagged and tied up, but now he was faced with the chance to try it himself. And Mike was begging him... "A-alright..."

Mike smiled and started exploring the warm, tight body underneath his. With curious paws, he felt every single nook and cranny of Tai's furry body. He slid them across his friend's belly, massaged his chest, brushed at his thighs, and explored the area enclosed by his boxer shorts, all to the sound of Tai's rapt sighs. Mike was trembling, and his tingling stiffy poked unashamedly out from his groin.

It was wonderful. Tai's body was warm and the fur covering it was smooth and dreamy all over, like velvet-spun clouds. He touched everything he could of the tawny boy's adorable form, appreciating it whole.

Tai had his eyes closed, enthralled by the sensual, intimate feeling of his friend playing with his entire body.

There was a knock on the door.

Mike's reaction was instantaneous and startlingly precise. He slipped off Tai's body, so he was lying next to Tai, and wrenched the comforter up to their necks, covering Tai's wrists with pillows and stuffing a third underneath their heads. "Come in!" he called, picking up a comic book from the side of the bed and making it appear for all the world as if he'd just been reading a bed time story to his companion.

Robert entered, holding two mugs of warm cocoa, while Tai looked around in shock. "Hi guys," the adult said, concentrating on keeping from spilling the indelible liquid on the expensive carpet. He placed the mugs on one of the dressers made to leave. "Careful, they're really hot and I overfilled them, so don't spill them. Get to sleep soon, boys. It's late."

"Love you, dad. G'night!" Mike called in a fluting voice.

"Good night Mr. Donaldson," added Tai breathily, relieved that the grownup hadn't noticed anything amiss. His heart was thumping so hard he thought Robert would hear.

"Good night boys. Love you too, Mike." Robert closed the door, and the kits could hear the soft, measured footfalls as he made his way back to the study on the other side of the apartment.

When he was definitely out of earshot, Mike giggled. "That was close," he muttered, turning on a lamp above his bed and getting up to switch the main light off. "Now, where were we...?" He grinned toothily as he made his way back. "Ah, yes. I think it might be time for that gag I mentioned. Shaaaall we? We have to make my dad think we're going to bed."

An incoherent mewl.

Mike opened his closet door and started rummaging through his sock drawer. "I haven't got a real one, but we can improvise." He extracted a few pairs of socks. Long, knee-high football socks. "What do you think?"

"I-isn't that dirty?"

"They were all washed yesterday." He reached in and grabbed some more socks of various other sizes. "Besides, it's only my paws. They're clean! Are you ready? Tai?"

Tai swallowed and nodded. "...G-go on, please!" he blurted. "I wanna try it."

The ten-year-old nodded and walked towards his little playmate. "Here, I'm gonna put this is your muzzle, okay?"

Tai nodded, but when the stuffed sock was nearly pushed into his open mouth, he twisted away sharply. "Wait, I've got something to say!"

"What, what?"

Tai grinned shyly. "Love you."

On a whim, Mike took Tai's head in his paws and delivered a firm kiss to the littler boy's nose.

The tawny-pup opened his mouth to take the stuffed sock and Mike obliged, gently but firmly placing the sock into the pup's mouth. Tai screwed his features once the bland, dry sock could be felt on his tongue. The sock quickly sucked up most of the moisture from Tai's muzzle, making him slightly uncomfortable at first.

Mike, with one of his more normal length socks, tied Tai's muzzle closed. Then without giving the little kit even a second's warning, tied a football sock over his eyes, blindfolding him in an instant.

Tai's protestation was muffled.

"Just for a few minutes," Mike reminded him, soothingly stroking his brow. "Then I'll take them off and you can decide."

Blind, Tai nodded and tried to swallow, but he couldn't, not with the sock in his mouth.

The world had gone dark; this sock was thick and black. No light permeated its fibers, and Tai was totally sightless. He couldn't see what was going on anymore, nor could he speak out if he was scared, or in pain. Already, his heartbeat came louder and faster. His vulpine ears strained, but what he heard was of no use. Merely the sounds of Mike's rough, excited breathing and the high pitched mosquito-like whine that seemed to be emanating from the lamp.

He knew whatever he said now would be muffled and incoherent, so he didn't even bother.

A paw slowly slipped up the leg of his boxers, and he let out a startled complaint.

The intrusive paw slowly rubbed over his furry little scrotum, curling its fingers around and over his diminutive penis. Tai inhaled sharply through his nose and held his breath, shaking slightly as that warm sensation spread from his dick through his body.

Mike was fighting to keep up his slow and steady pace. There was nothing more interesting at the moment than the sight of this totally powerless little fox-boy, strapped down on the bed underneath his weight, squirming and moaning from his attentions. He couldn't rush this.

A wicked grin spread across Mike's face and he withdrew the paw from Tai's boxers. The little kit whined and writhed at the deprivation, bucking his hips towards Mike's, pleading with him not to stop.

That shriek, which before had been almost loud and shrill enough to shatter glass before, was muffled greatly this time by the sock-gag as Mike assaulted Tai's armpits with his paws.

"Heh!" he sniggered, bringing a paw down to Tai's belly and tickling it - causing the little fox try to press into the mattress as if it would somehow yield and he could be sucked down into its safety. "Now I got you! You can't stop me from tickling you crazy! Muahahaha!" The false laugh disintegrated into a real belly laugh, and Mike shifted his ticklish ministrations to Tai's sides.

The tied kit struggled mightily, considering his small size, but despite his bucking and pulling, the cotton belts refused to slacken even a little and all Tai accomplished was tensing his body, which of course just made a much better target for Mike.

Tai laughed and cried, oblivious to the fact his little cock had become hard as possible. "This is cool!" he thought, wriggling his toes in a futile effort to distract himself from the tickle-attack: he just had to suffer every instant of horrible sensation. "It's cooler than cool!"Mike slowed the tickling down a tormenting, slow pace, and Tai fought to resist it, completely in vain; he couldn't stop his high-pitched squeak from turning into uncontrollable giggling.

In spite of it all, Mike was right: this was fun.

Naturally the bark furred kit sitting on his pelvic area was more than aware of his tawny friend's erection. Quickly and dexterously, Mike undid the button fly on the satin boxers and left physics to do the rest of the job. It did. When the kit struggled and twisted his hips, trying to escape an inescapable tickle attack on his lower belly, his small, smooth-skinned dick slipped out of the fly. Judging by the hysterical squealing and wailing, Mike guessed he hadn't even noticed.

So he slid off the kit and started running his paws down the supple legs, feeling the warmth and tension in those skinny appendages. He shuddered. This was insane! He had Tai tied up for him, willingly, and he had offered his entire body to Mike. He could do anything he wanted!

Laughing more as he felt a smooth tongue up the inside of his thigh, Tai contended with his urge to hyperventilate.

It was weird, Tai thought. He was at Mike's mercy and Mike had done nothing that hadn't made them both happy - in fact, this was a lot of fun! The tickling was awful, but Mike knew when to stop. Besides, the simple feeling of their bodies touching, feeling one another's warmth and the ripple of each other's muscles, the comfort of being held and touched by someone you loved and trusted, was an amazing experience. Tied up or not.

Mike glanced over at his work table, where all of his stationery was kept. On the top was a thin, long plastic pen. It was the perfect length, design and width for an improvised dildo, at least for a total beginner. He looked down at Tai. The kit's chest was heaving with sobbing giggles. He'd liked everything so far, but taking the risk of scaring him again was a bad idea.

It sucked, having to take things so slowly. Mike had a big list he wanted to get through.

Mike decided to get a little naughty. He stuck his muzzle between Tai's legs and started snuffling around, smelling deeply. Tai giggled and tried to pull his legs in. He accomplished nothing.

"Mmm," Mike muttered, rubbing at Tai's lower belly. "You smell really good."

With shaking legs, Tai forced himself to stop struggling and relax once again. He let out a tranquil sigh as Mike began to breathe in his scent deeply, occasionally letting his long tongue slip out and lap at his furry scrotum. He finally realized with a mental jolt that his boxers had been opened and his privates exposed.

When had that happened?!

Mike brought forth a paw and wrapped a few fingers around Tai's cock. He licked the head wetly, drawing the rough flat of his tongue across the sensitive skin, making the pup wriggle and gasp. "Are you ready, Tai?" Mike asked playfully, starting to pump the length of warm flesh in his fingers. "Do you want me to take those things off you? Just nod if you want me to." An emphatic headshake. "Alrighty!"

Tai squealed into the sock-gag when he felt the tip of his granite hard penis being taken into Mike's soft, moist maw. Two fingers began to gently massage below the head, the two feelings sending that, what Tai could only describe as, wonderful warm-electricity buzzing through his genital area. Tai whined and pressed his hips forwards, uselessly trying to increase the pressure, or at least get more of him inside that heavenly vulpine muzzle.

But Mike had other plans. His paws firmly ensured that no more of Tai was inside his mouth than he wanted, and his tongue was driving the little kit wild with its lubricated swiping of the light pink flesh.

Mike continued his careful work until Tai's complaints stopped being merely plaintive and insistent and started becoming desperate. Then, out of pity, he decided to speed things up a little. Tai's moans become more contented.

However, the barky-furred kit wasn't going to be hurried at all. He slowly, very slowly, brought his submissive friend to the brink of orgasm, licking, kissing and suckling the tiny cock in his paws... he didn't, however, suck the whole thing into his muzzle properly. He wanted Tai to squirm, and Tai was obliging.

Finally, Tai squealed into his gag. Mike massaged his testicles in his furry sack and sucked hard on the little organ, running his tongue over the tip firmly, catapulting the hapless kit into an intense orgasm. Mike didn't stop even as he felt the penis in his paws shudder and jerk in dry orgasm, instead continuing on with his ministration, his tongue still paying particular attention to that sensitive tip. Which soon became hypersensitive. Mike's talented tongue started to aggravate the raw nerves and send even more powerful waves of electricity over the small pup's body than when he'd teased him in the bathtub. Mike remembered the almost pained gasp he'd got merely for touching it after Tai's first orgasm.

He continued on, knowing full well the strength of the sensation he was forcing upon the tied-down littler cub. He felt the dancing muscles of his belly, the tense trembling of his entire body... it was utterly awesome. He knew Tai had to be enjoying it too, even if it was so overpowering.

Tai's whines and whimpers changed note quickly. He was pleading for Mike to cease his pleasure-turned-torment. "Mmop!" he mumbled shrilly.

Mike slowly wound down; by the finish he had left his bound little friend shuddering, a clammy cold wreck on the bed, panting heavily.

"Like that?" the bark-furred fox-boy enquired. He wiped at his muzzle with his other paw.

Tai nodded, still trembling slightly.

"Should I untie you now? Do you want me to leave you like this?"

Tai nearly nodded, but then he realized that Mike had deliberately asked two contradictory questions... He snorted a laugh, and Mike snickered.

At last, Tai felt the socks coming off of his muzzle and over his eyes. A paw hovered in front of his nose, so he delicately placed the two ankle socks into it. "Untie me, please?" he asked, squinting as the lamp light blinded him.

Without delay, Mike set to work undoing the binds. He threw the four cotton belts onto the floor along with the socks, easing his friend into a sitting position. "Are you okay?" he asked kindly.

Tai leaned forwards at lightning speed and locked his jaws in a surprise kiss with those of his friend, flattening him to the bed. Then he leaned back and sat there, looking exhausted but happy, with an adoring gleam in his eyes.

"You seem fine to me," gasped Mike. Of all the reactions he expected after essentially torturing Tai, a kiss wasn't one of them.

Leaning over, Mike switched the bedside lamp off and snuggled up to Tai, holding the dazed kit tightly to his chest. "Thanks a lot for playing with me tonight," he said sincerely. "You're the coolest, Tai."

"That was awesome!!" Tai suddenly squeezed himself to Mike's chest in a loving cuddle. "Wait..." He gently broke the hug, pulled off his robe and boxers, and proceeded to crawl down the bed.

"Tai, whatcha doing?" Mike enquired quietly, then his unseeing eyes went wide as his boxers were speedily tugged down past his knees and a muzzle enveloped his still hard cock. It took the entirety of it at once, wrapping a heavenly tongue around it. "Oh!" he exclaimed, raising his hips off the mattress.

This time, there was no water to get in the way and even though he was still reeling from that amazing orgasm, Tai was very much motivated.

Mike gasped as Tai wrapped his skinny arms around his waist, suckling on the bigger boy's penis enthusiastically.

Though he had felt it before, though so long ago, it felt much better now. Mike sprawled out, closing his eyes. A shaky moan escaped his muzzle, and he started to writhe slowly, not of his own volition. Clutching at the sheets and Tai's long head-fur.

It was wonderful. So unlike his first experience. So right somehow. He was on a comfortable bed, and it was his shy, affectionate little friend cuddling right up to him and sucking him off happily. Suddenly, he found himself cursing all the time of his life that had gone by where he hadn't experienced it. It was truly amazing.

However, Tai sped up, confidence coming to him at last. He sealed his muzzle around the little member, increasing the suction and letting his tongue contour to its smooth, rounded perfection. Mike started to tense up, his gasps and groans growing more urgent...

In the darkness, Mike shut his eyes tightly, focusing entirely the bliss his enthusiastic younger friend was inflicting on him. It became his entire world for the moment; a warm, comfortable cloud of feeling, like the hot mist from the spa, that he wanted to just stay in forever.

The older boy felt it coming, but even still he couldn't prepare himself for it. Not in the least. He couldn't hold back the loud cry, and his entire body trembled in spasm, beyond his control. Splayed on either side of the smaller kit, his legs kicked and his back arched. "Unnhh!!" Even knowing it was coming, his body was no more controllable than Tai's was when it took him utterly by surprise...

Knowing it was done, Tai slowed down, starting to suckle on his friend's member for no other reason than because he admitted to himself that he liked to. After a moment, Mike was weakly struggling, afflicted by that same wonderful oversensitivity Tai had felt. Smiling, Tai withdrew, showing the bigger boy the mercy he had been denied.

"Oh..." Mike sighed, stretching out languidly. Both his voice and body trembled still. "Oh, crap... that was awesome."

"I hope it was," the kit replied, scooting slowly back up to head height, "because I was trying my best!"

Lazily, Mike rolled over and laid an arm across Tai's downy furred chest....

They were both suddenly so very drowsy. Wordlessly, they snuggled their shaky nude bodies together.

But after awhile, Tai stirred. "Mike, can we talk for a little while?"

Mike jerked his eyes open. "Wha? Y-yeah, of course." He fought away the creeping fatigue and switched his lamp on again, on the weakest setting, so it merely bathed the room in a warm glow.

"It's just that I've got a couple of questions..."

"Shoot. I can stay up for a little longer." He yawned. "Barely."

"That first time met... did you want to do this stuff with me?"

Mike tensed slightly.

"Is that why you wanted to be my friend?"

"No!" Mike protested. Then he sighed. "Well... I mean- I th-thought about it, yeah. I wanted to..."

The littler fox-pup just lay there, silent.

"Look," Mike said slowly, getting a little closer and swallowing his pride, "I'm sorry. I like you, as a friend. I swear." There was a pause. An awkward, guilty silence. "... Do you believe me?"

In the darkness Mike could see very little of the younger pup's face. "I-I don't know."

Mike swallowed hard.

The younger fox stared at the indistinct dark shape next to him. Confused. He wasn't sure if he cared about this or not. Mike seemed genuinely friendly to him, really caring. He didn't know what to think, how to feel. Mike was his friend. He enjoyed playing with him. Did it really matter if Mike first wanted to talk to him to convince him to naughty things? No, that itself didn't matter.

He had answered honestly. At this point, he didn't know if he believed Mike. Suddenly, he found himself doubtful again. Would Mike only be his friend to do these things? Then turn on him? The way everyone else did?! Tai was fine with the naughty stuff, but now Mike had made him doubt... he opened his muzzle, but the older boy spoke first.

"Did you only do this stuff because you felt you had to?"

Tai blinked. "Wh-what? N-no, I-"

"You know what that means, right?" Mike buried his muzzle in his paws, despairingly. "This means we can't play with each other anymore." Tai gasped. "I dunno for sure if you really wanted to do those things - if you wanna be my friend. I can't do this stuff if you don't want to do it for yourself! That'll make me no better than that guy who..."

The tawny fox felt his chest seize up. "Not true!" he protested, shaking his head violently. "I liked it!"

"Just coz you think you liked it doesn't mean you want it..." mumbled Mike cryptically.

There was a long, baffled silence as Tai stared at the older kit. What had just happened? What did Mike mean by that?

A heavy feeling came over him. Couldn't play with Mike anymore? Oh no.

Oh no...

Sniffing, Tai rolled off the bed, clumsily trying to stand while his sore ankle started throbbing in protest, and looked for his clothes and crutch.

"Huh - Where are you going?" Mike demanded, surprised. "Oh, you don't have to get dressed just to go to the toilet, Tai. Dad's in the study."

The kit shook his head. "I'm not going to the toilet. I'm gonna go home."

"Huh?! Why?"

"You said we can't be friends anymore and I-..." Tai pulled his shirt on and picked up his pants. "It's not right for me to stay. I've got my keys with me, and I'll be alright at home alone."

What stung Mike was the way Tai said that. He wasn't being catty, or spiteful. He was serious.

"Whoa, stop!" The older kit swung his legs over the bed and shot to his feet. "I never said that! Just that we shouldn't do that kinda stuff for awhile, until we both know we want to! You don't have to go, Tai! Please don't go!"

Tai looked at him in abject shock. Not just at how Mike had begged him not to go but at the fact Mike's brown eyes were shimmering with tears, wide with alarm. Slowly, it changed to sadness.

"No, never mind..." Mike added, slumping and turning away. "It's up to you. Go if you want. I'll miss you though." His voice cracked. "It's not what I meant..."

The two of them stood perfectly still, Mike staring at the floor, shoulders heaving gently with his heavy breathing, and Tai staring guiltily at his friend's back. He wanted to reach out and embrace him, but Mike had said no more, and he didn't know where the line was drawn. They were so close a few minutes ago, too. He could still smell Mike's fur...

But he felt paralyzed. At a complete loss for words. Tai had no idea what to do, where to go. Finally, a brilliant idea came to him. To just ask. "W-what should we do?"

Mike turned back to him, and Tai was stunned to see he was now clearly crying. "I don't know!" Mike sniffed. "I don't want you to go."

Tai shivered. "I don't... I don't want to."

With as much dignity as he could muster, Mike swiped at his nose with a wrist. "A-alright. I have an idea. Y-you wanna know if I really want to be your friend, and I wanna know if you really want to do that stuff with me." He frowned. "Then why don't we do it tomorrow? We can go to the pool like we planned. None of these types of games. Friends." He held out a paw. "That'll give me a chance to prove myself, and you get a chance to find out for sure if you want to be my friend, right?"

Without a moment's thought, Tai grabbed that proffered paw and shook it. "Sure!"

Mike looked about ready to faint with relief. "Okay... okay. Let's get to bed..."

Tai moved towards the bed, but he stopped, sniffing the air. "Um. What about the cocoa?"

Mike looked forlornly at the cups on the bedside cabinet. "Um... I think we'll just save them for tomorrow. It's late."

The ten-year-old sighed with genuine regret.

The small office was dark, illuminated only scarcely by the light from two computer screens, left on by some of the lazier workers. Eraline sighed, working her way past a few of the messier workstations to her own, which luckily was right beside a stained, smudgy window that overlooked the grimy New York dockyards. It wasn't a pleasant visage, but it was better than having to stare at a wall. With a sigh, she placed a manila folder on her desk, paused, and knelt down.

She felt exhausted, and very nervous, as she reached under her assigned desk, reaching behind the metal frame of her work computer. She felt around, finally grasping a small plastic nodule behind the machine and pulling on it. It slid out, and she looked at it. The flash-drive had to be left for hours while data was copied over to it. She should've left it overnight, but...

There was a footfall at the entrance to the office, and she quickly slipped the device into her jacket's pocket.

"Hey!" snapped a voice, young and aggressive. "Who's there?!"

Eraline stood. "Hold on, don't shoot!" she said, trying to make it sound like a joke. Though, as expected, the security guard had his paw atop his holster. "It's only me."

"Eraline?!" exclaimed the young security guard, shining a powerful hand-held flashlight at her. "It's well after hours, what're you doing in here? We're about close up."

"Oh, Katz said he wanted some paperwork done for the morning, but I'm not due to come in until nine. I figured I'd just nip in and dump them before you locked up."

The guard frowned, approaching her. "Fair enough," he said. "You're new here, so just a bit of a warning. This is the New York City docks, not some small town pier. Some of us boys can get a bit edgy when the sun goes down and we're on our lonesome. All kinds of filth try to sneak around in here in the dark."

The vixen smiled. "Sometimes in broad daylight too," she thought to herself. "Sorry," she said aloud. "I didn't think of that... Um, one second, I came over here to finish something off, and I dropped my pen. Do you mind if I-?"

The guard nodded. "I don't, but you've got five minutes. I'm counting."

"Won't be one." Kneeling again, Eraline reached under the desk and picked up a pen. One she had deliberately knocked down there earlier in the day. She stood, flipping over the manila folder.

Satisfied at her performance for the office surveillance camera.

Quickly, she finished off the paper at the very top of the pile. "Alright, done." Closing the file, Eraline walked over to the nearest desk and dumped it atop the pile of trash. She couldn't resist shaking her head in disgust at it all.

"Okay, come on," the guard insisted, ushering her to the door. "No offense intended, but I got a job to do. Bet you can't wait to get home to your boy anyway, right?"

Eraline felt a dull, painful chill settle into her chest.

"...Yeah."

"Tai?"

The sound of his name cut across the fluffy clouds of his dreams and tried to call him back to the land of the living. He wasn't interested.

"C'mon, Tai!"

The cub rolled over and mewled sleepily.

"Wake up, lazy-butt!"

At last, Tai mumbled some incoherent gibberish, then added "Too comfy!" on the end.

"Ohhh, Geez-Louise!" Mike rolled his eyes heavenwards. "Well, can I at least have my arm back?"

No response. Though Mike was sure he saw a smile on the kit's face.

"Aargh!" He yanked his arm free, careful not to hurt his slight friend. "Sleepy-head." He touched Tai gently then slid out from under the covers, making sure he didn't let any of the heat escape or the cold air of the room rush in to fill the void he left.

He walked over to the window overlooking the brightly lit street and stretched. He fell onto the window sill, dizzied.

"Woo, I gotta pee!" he muttered. He considered dressing, but his dad had seen him naked before. It wouldn't kill him. But he did have to get Tai up, he supposed. "Tai!" he said to the slowly awakening kit. "It's time to wake up. We've got to go to the pool before nine, and we need to have breakfast and shower."

Tai rubbed his eyes sluggishly, sitting up slowly. His eyes weren't quite focused and his head swayed like a cobra. "Uhh... why a shower? We're going swimming, right?"

"Showers are good in the morning, they wake you up. Anyway, if we get things out of the way quickly, we can play something before we go."

"How will get to the pool?"

"Dad will drive us. I cleared it with him last night."

The door opened and Robert poked his head in. "Actually guys," he began, "Jake's gonna take you. I tried to ask his father, but he couldn't go either."

"Jake?" Tai exclaimed, waking up almost instantaneously.

"Aww, you aren't coming, dad?" whined Mike.

"Nah, sorry. I've got a lot of work to do. Need to cover for someone at the university." Robert raised an eyebrow and chortled. "Lookin' good boys. Lost your clothes in the night, huh?"

Tai hid his face by pulling the comforter up.

"Shy, ain't he?" Mike laughed, holding his arms out to his dad, asking to be picked up despite his nudity. Robert obliged and easily hefted his little boy into his arms, nuzzling his nose lovingly. Tai could only think of how much he'd want to shrivel and die if his mom saw him sleeping naked. Let alone actually asking her to pick him up.

"What do you guys want for breakfast?" the grown-up enquired, resting his muzzle on his pup's head.

"Sandwiches!!" Mike replied, holding his father tighter. "Have we got any salami?"

"Yep. I'll throw something together."

"Awesome!"

Robert put Mike down. "Okay, boys, it's time to get dressed. You can't go to the pool naked!"

Tai just curled up into a ball.

"Tai, don't be embarrassed!" Mike laughed. "Okay, I'm just going to the toilet. Be back soon. We'll have a shower then get dressed."

Robert pulled back the top of the blanket and smiled at the little fox hiding under it, like a timid mouse. "Come on, Tai, time to get up. I won't peek." He knew his own son was very laid back about his nudity, but other kits he knew could get rather ashamed. "I'm not going to stay here to look at you."

Tai rolled over, his expression inordinately shy. He summoned his courage and sat up, knowing that it shouldn't matter if the grownup saw his bare chest at least. "O-okay. Umm, didn't you say that my mom was coming back today?"

"Maybe; she was going to try for tonight, but she might get back well after you'll have to be in bed."

"Thank you for looking after me."

"Don't mention it, Tai. It was great to have you around. Are you going to be alright with your ankle today though?"

"Yeah. I can limp around."

"Careful with it, Tai. Don't use it too much or you'll make things a lot worse. I'm going to tell Jake to make sure you dry it off. See you!"

Robert went to the kitchen, leaving Tai to stretch before heading to the bathroom to wait for his friend. The door was locked, and he remembered that the toilet was actually in there as well as the shower. He waited patiently for Mike to open the door, hoping Robert didn't return and see him fully exposed.

When the door did open, Tai, this time fully awake, was met with the visage of his friend in the nude. Mike cocked his head. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"N-nothing." Tai was suddenly reminded of his own nudity, and he felt his face grow hot. There was also that oddly familiar 'glowing' feeling in his lower belly.

"You really don't need to worry," said Mike, half serious. "Not here, anyway. Dad doesn't really care. Did I tell you? He plays football at the university where he teaches. He's spent more time in changing rooms than I have. We've seen loads of naked furs."

Tai flushed and nodded.

Mike took the younger kit's arm in his paw and pulled him gently into the bathroom. He stuck his head out into the hallway furtively, then closed the door. He turned back to face Tai.

"Wh-what?" Tai asked, surprised. He wasn't sure if he expected to share the shower with the older boy.

Mike shrugged. "Nothing. Actually, I got a question."

"Huh?"

"Do you really want to go swimming today, or are you just coming because I asked?"

"Well..." Tai squirmed and looked at his nude reflection in the bathroom mirror. "I've never gone swimming in a pool before. I guess I want to see what it's like."

"You what?"

"There was a few pools near my old home, but I never went."

"You mean 'there were a few.'" Mike correct absently. He seemed to be thinking, looking blankly at his friend and putting his hands on his hips. Tai caught himself staring when he did, but looked away quickly--they'd promised not to do things like that anymore. "So, you can't swim, can you?"

Tai adapted something he'd heard his mother say. "Of course I can. Like a brick." He smiled nervously.

"Not a problem." The bark-furred boy grinned. "We'll see how we go. Still want to come?"

"Sure... I guess."

"Are you sure you're unsure whether or not you're sure?"

"Wh-what?"

"C'mon, let's get in the shower."

Jake arrived a little later, and Robert quickly said his goodbyes and left the boys in the care of the teen.

They were lying on Mike's bed, alongside one another, and playing the video game Tai'd seen when he first stayed here - it was starting to really fascinate him. The door creaked open and Jake poked his russet muzzle in.

"Hey guys! What's up?" he said cheerfully. He was wearing black jeans, a red shirt and a light brown jacket. A long steel chain connected his wallet to his jeans, dangling fashionably down his leg.

"The roof," quipped Mike instantly. "Nothing much," he added then. "It's been a boring morning."

"A cold one too. Sure you want to swim in this?" Mike stood and stretched. "Indoor pool. Should be okay." He had on a long sleeved gray and blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Jake nodded and leaned against the door frame. "You should bring a pullover or something anyway."

Tai sat up cross-legged. He had his hoodie next to him and was wearing some new clothes; Jake noticed that twice now he'd seen Tai in the same gear. But now he was now wearing a deep blue t-shirt and cheap black track-pants with a red stripe down each leg. A cast coated one of the skinny kit's ankles.

"Are you going to be alright to swim with your ankle wrapped up in that?" Jake asked, idly wondering when and how it got hurt.

The kit nodded. "Um, yeah," he replied. Jake felt he seemed a little distracted. "The doctors said I could let it get wet, but I have to dry it off."

"So, when are we leaving?" Mike enquired, enthusiastic to get some practice in. He had seated himself again and was slipping on a pair of flip-flops.

"Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Just some sandwiches."

Jake shrugged. "OK, get ready and let's jet. I'll treat you to somethin', I got paid yesterday."

"Thanks for taking us Jake."

"No problem. Just promise me one thing."

Mike looked up, curious.

"No strip teases, Mike. None of that stuff in public."

"Of course," Tai suddenly joked. "We only do that at home."

Mike stuffed a sweater into his sports bag hastily and darted out of the room to go to the toilet before they left, leaving Tai and Jake in the room together.

The little fox waited until Mike was out of earshot, and he spoke up just as Jake made to turn and leave the room. "Jake?" he said quietly. The larger canine turned to him, and Tai quickly looked down at his paws dangling over the edge of the bed. "Um... can I ask a favor?"

"Shoot."

"Um. C-can you teach me?" he felt the familiar steadily increasing heat in his cheeks and he knew he was blushing under his fur. "Can you teach me to swim?"

Jake paused. Though he'd brought his own swimming gear, he wasn't too keen on getting into the water himself. "Mike's a better teacher for that than I am," he said coolly.

"I know, but he'll be busy." Tai already knew how pathetic he'd look, trying to flounder around on his own.

With a mental sigh of resignation, Jake nodded. "We'll see. Come on, let's get moving."

Jake let the two fox boys into 'his' car, and almost from the moment he did he knew something was wrong.

The duo sat apart, and their conversation, when they actually spoke to one another, was awkward. Tentative. Not the chatter of typical kids, nor the mature banter he knew Mike at least was capable of. It was odd, definitely not what he expected considering the... intimate show they put on when Jake last saw them. Eventually they started discussing the color of passing cars. They didn't seem even remotely interested in the topic; like they were struggling for things to say.

The teenager felt uncomfortably like he was restricting them. They clearly had other things they needed to discuss.

"Another pink one," Tai noted quietly. "Why would you want a pink car?"

"Like your boxers?" retorted Mike. He grinned over at the tawny kit.

Tai smiled nervously. "No one sees those."

The younger fox felt a strange twinge of relief for some reason, and he reached up absently to brush one of his stray bangs out of his face. It flopped right back, and he despairingly left it. It was just a nervous habit of his, and that lock naturally fell in front of his eyes anyway. It either had to be cut or just put up with, and Tai hadn't suffered a haircut in years.

The two foxes locked eyes for a split second, then they both went back to looking out the window and remarking on cars.

Jake frowned in puzzlement. What the hell was going on here?

"So, what do you guys want to eat?" he asked, pushing the matter aside for now.

"What's along the way again?" replied Mike, stretching up so intensely in the seat that his navel was actually visible.

"A lot. What do you feel like?" Jake frowned. "Didn't you guys get much sleep last night?"

Tai was already yawning before he even thought to stop it. "Uhh, yeah," he lied, badly. "I think it's just because it's early in the morning."

Jake forced his facial muscles to affect disinterest again; for Tai, maybe, but Mike, for all the years he'd known him, had been an early bird, especially when practice was involved. It was nine in the morning; Mike was usually up and about by then. Maybe the kit was getting into the teenage tradition of lethargy early.

"Ya know, I feel like some sausage... maybe a sausage roll," Mike mused. "Haven't had one in ages. Tai?"

The tawny boy had leaned his head on the window again. His breath was misting the window, thanks to the blisteringly cold morning temperature, and he was watching that with what could best be termed 'bored interest'. He frowned, thinking for a moment. "Um, a-actually, I'd like some chicken."

Jake raised an eyebrow. The smaller kit struck him as extremely deferential. Shy and unassertive, despite the strange, almost attention-seeking decision to go topless for Jake. Jake was mildly astonished he didn't just agree with Mike.

But if Mike was surprised, but he didn't let it show. "Well, Jake, it's up to you now!"

The alsatian coughed. "How about both?" he suggested. "We can go to a good home-style restaurant a few blocks from the pools and swing around again."

The kits voiced their agreement.

But then the car fell silent again.

"Hey, there's that pink car again," Mike said suddenly. "Wonder if she's lost?"

Early as it was, the trio were seated in short order at the restaurant.

It was a nice place that tried very hard to affect a southern, homey atmosphere. The alfresco dining area outside looked more like a garden. As they walked through the front door, Tai noticed there were white lace drapes on all the wide windows skirting the dining area, and the tables and chairs were well polished oak. Verdant houseplants were almost everywhere, while the middle of the dining area was taken up with a grandiose pond-like water feature, constructed of gray stone, that was home to three fern bushes.

Dozens of wide tables encircled it, set out with, white, frilly table cloths and inscribed menus.

The menus were bound in a soft, pungent wood. Mike opened his after the waitress left them seated and immediately screwed his face.

"Why do their menus stink?" he asked in a sotto voce.

Jake lifted a finger to his muzzle and shushed him, unable to keep a grin down. "Shhh! It's the wood, Mike. It doesn't stink either."

The waitress returned almost instantly. It was a perky lapin with large ears, a slim body, a smile that appeared permanent and, so far as the trio could tell, a genuine southern accent. "Hi guys," she chirped, looking at all of them and shining her gleaming smile. "I'm Jessie, and I'll be your waitress this cold morning."

"Cold alright," muttered Mike. "Excuse me ma'am, but could you turn the heaters up or something?" Across the table from him, Tai was shaking slightly and had wrapped his arms around himself, trying to focus on reading his menu.

Jessie laughed. "Sorry, we just opened, so the heating is taking its sweet time." She looked at the boys sympathetically. "It'll be warmer in a few minutes, I promise, hun. So, would you like more time to decide or are you ready to order?"

Mike nearly retorted that they'd had less than no time to decide so far, but instead kept it to himself. He looked down at the menu again and quickly scanned it. "Uhh... can I just have a breakfast please?" he said, looking up at the tall lapin-lady. "It'd be real cool if you'd swap the salad for extra sausage though."

"Sure."

Jake spoke up next, sensing Tai still wasn't too sure of his choice yet. "I'll have a burger please. With fries."

"Beef burger..." Jessie looked over to the smaller fox boy who was still frowning at his menu, a few locks of unruly tawny hair flopped in front of his face. "And you, honey?"

He looked up, slightly embarrassed, and swiped the hair back around his left ear with practiced speed. "Umm, can I have a chicken burger please?"

"Grilled or fried?"

"Um, I-I guess," Tai stammered, not even sure what the difference was, "Grilled?"

"No problem! Do you want some fries with it? Only a buck more."

Tai shook his head. "No thanks."

Scribbling rapidly on her notepad, Jessie asked one more question: "Anything to drink?"

"Cola."

"Water."

"Apple juice, please."

She scribbled a little more, then looked up, that radiant smile of hers damn near blinding. "Alright! I'll be back soon! Shouldn't take long, since you came in early." She walked away, humming softly.

When the rabbit was out of earshot, Mike grinned at the tawny kit. "Hehe!" he chuckled. "So, that's why. All grilled food, huh?"

Jake looked across the table. "What's this?"

Mike scanned the restaurant quickly to ensure it was still empty. "Go on, Tai, lift up your shirt for a second. Go on!"

Abashed and confused, Tai nonetheless did as he was told. He stood up briefly and lifted his hoodie and shirt to reveal his skinny lower torso and tummy, causing Jake's heart to skip for a split moment. Tai's lower body was very lean and embraced by a near-golden fur, creamy white on his flat belly, which slightly tapered down to his hips before widening almost imperceptibly again. Jake gulped: Tai wore his tracksuit pants quite low, resting several inches below his little navel.

"Mike!" the teen grated, eyeing Mike balefully.

"What? You'll see more than that in the pool," Mike said insouciantly. "I didn't mean it like that, I swear! See what I mean though? He, like, eats entire pizzas and he's so skinny!"

Blushing, Tai lowered his clothes and sat down again. "It's probably because I don't eat much," he proffered. "I've gone a few days without eating once!"

"Wouldn't your mom freak out?" Jake said, positively astounded. The idea of not eating at least twice a day, to him, seemed bizarre - the teen loved his food.

"Mom's always had to work all day and night shifts," replied Tai. "It's not her fault. I just don't get very hungry. There wasn't much food anyway."

"How much do you eat on a normal day, then?"

"Not a lot. I don't get hungry very often."

Jake sighed. "That's not good. You really have to be fed more. Being skinny is one thing, but it might also be why you're so short. Stunting your growth." Something had abruptly gone very wrong. Tai was staring straight downward, his shoulders slumped. Jake shut up immediately.

Tai whimpered and shook his head. "Sh-she couldn't. She had to work or I wouldn't eat at all. Not her fault."

Immediately, both Jake and Mike became alarmed.

"Tai!" the teen hastened to apologize. "I'm sorry; I wasn't criticizing your mom. Sorry."

Mike however looked sadly at the smaller boy. He remembered the eight-year-old's eyes, his quavering voice, when his mom left him on the day they met each other the first time. Tai wasn't defending his mom from Jake...

Jessie bustled back up then and handed over three glasses of liquid, smiled, and walked away, evidently still busy despite it being early. Her presence was timely, however, and Tai ducked under the table when she approached, pretending to be tying his shoelaces. He sat back up when she left, and his eyes were miraculously dry.

With a nervous cough, Jake switched topic quickly. "What have you got planned for after the pools, guys?"

Mike reclined in his chair, hoping the awkward moment had passed already. "Nothin' big," he replied, resting his head back into his paws. "Tai will probably sleep over for one more night."

"Ah, back to school soon, huh?" his tone was sympathetic. "That sucks."

"Yeah." Tai muttered.

"Is your paw better yet? Maybe you can get your mom to let you stay off for a while longer."

Tai looked under the table at his bandaged ankle, sealed inside its thick plaster cast. He flexed it gingerly and had to admit the pain was minor. "I think it's getting better..." there was a distinct note of disappointment in his voice.

Mike chuckled. "I remember when I hurt my arm; couldn't wait for it to get better."

"Oh, you broke it, Tai?" Jake looked at him in surprise.

"Nuh-uh," replied the fox boy, smiling. "Just sprained it badly and hit it off the side of a shopping cart."

"Yeesh."

"In fact," Mike drawled, "it was really lucky. He's lucky he didn't break a lot of stuff, jumping off the mall roof like that."

Jake's eyes widened. "Say what? Why?!"

Tai shot his friend a withering look. "I was being chased... it was the only way I could escape."

"Chased?! By who? C'mon, Tai, tell me how it happened!"

With a sigh of resignation, Tai passed the time until the food was brought to the table by explaining who it was that chased him through the city, and why. Jake was having trouble believing that someone his age would try to stab or kill a kid as small as Tai, but then Tai described his school to him...

The teenager swore under his breath. "Unbelievable."

Mike's eyes glinted. "What was that?"

"I said: unbe-"

"Before that."

Jake smiled down on the ten-year-old fox. "I said a word you don't know yet."

Mike chortled. "There aren't many of those."

"I know, but I have to pretend while we're in public."

Their casual, almost affectionate, banter made Tai smile, his furry ears slowly perking upwards. All of a sudden, he realized he was loving the situation. Back in Alaska, he and his mother almost never left their house, aside from going to school or work, where Eraline scarcely listened to him. When they did go out, he was simply being towed along behind his mom; the adults never listened to him, why would they? He had nothing to say, and even if he did, why would anyone listen?

Strangely, it was usually worse with other kids.

He always felt useless and distant from everyone. It hurt. All he wanted was just someone to talk to him, to listen to him. The last fur to do that died years ago. Tai was no attention-seeker. If anything, he was the opposite. But being nothing to anybody, a nobody, every day, aside from a target for mean-spirited jerks, for so long...

But Jake had just listened to him telling a story for almost five minutes. Really, truly listened! Shown some concern and real interest! No other grownup had done that! Aside from Mike's dad, maybe.

Then there was Mike himself. The bigger boy was older, and had every right to talk down to him the way all the others Tai had encountered did, but he didn't. Mike treated him like an equal. So considerate and friendly. The awkward conversation of the previous night started to seem even more ludicrous now.

A happy chuckle escaped his muzzle.

Somehow, here, now, he was somebody.

They pulled up to the swimming pools and jumped out the car, grabbing their individual bags from the trunk of the car and made their way towards the entrance. Enjoying and energized the crisp, cold morning, Mike wanted to jog, or maybe even run, but the injured Tai could hardly oblige.

It was a large complex, a sports-center about the size of Tai's old elementary school but made of a few large buildings, rather than dozens of small classrooms. When the trio opened the glass doors into the swimming pool building, the stench of chlorine nearly brought Tai to his knees.

He dry-retched and would've outright collapsed if Mike hadn't caught him.

"I-it stinks!" he complained, trying to avoid breathing in through his nose. He felt bile rising in his throat.

Mike chuckled and helped his friend find his footing once more. "You get used to it," he said unhelpfully.

"Isn't that like getting used to hitting your head on a wall? Yeuugh!"

Jake had wrinkled his nose, but didn't seem drastically bothered by the stink. "Is there even an outdoor pool here, Mike?"

"Yeah, on the other side," Mike said absently, trying to keep Tai upright as another wave of baulking nearly overwhelmed him. The littler fox was leaning heavily on him; one paw had even grasped a pawful of Mike's shirt.

"Wow, are you alright?" Jake sighed. "I think we're gonna have to wait a while for Tai to get used to the smell before we all go get changed."

Mike nodded. Tai was reacting strongly to the smell- which stood to reason, since he'd probably never smelled chlorine before- and Mike had seen what could happen to kits as young as him. They definitely didn't want Tai to puke in the pool, or start crying in distress; he silently cursed himself for not thinking about it. "Think we should make a break for the canteen? It always stinks much less there."

Tai retched once more and looked up at the two older boys. His eyes were watering and reddened, while his expression had taken on a pained quality. "H-how come you guys are taking th-this so well?!" he gagged. "I-it's so gross!"

"It is," Mike replied, trying to keep his younger friend upright despite the damage he was doing to his shirt. "We're just more used to it. You get okay with it after a while. Indoor pools stink because there's less ventilation."

"L-less wh-what?"

"Less air going through, to take away the stink. C'mon, let's get to the canteen..."

Tai held his breath, nodded, and prepared to sprint if necessary, his ankle be damned.

A few minutes later, they were sitting on the plastic chairs in the canteen, which was a self-enclosed part of the pool. The casual opening of the entrance however, allowed some of the sickening chlorine smell to waft in. Eventually, Tai had managed to tolerate the milder stench in the canteen, but the very thought of going back into the pool area made his stomach churn.

They weren't the only furs at the pool this day of course. While school was still in session, there were kids on supervised swimming lessons, as well as a handful that appeared to be there with parents anyway. There were older furs, as well as an entire swimming team comprised of teenaged otters.

Tai took a deep breath; he was surprised when he didn't throw up because of it. "Mike," he said quietly. "You can go ahead you know."

"Nah, I'm alright waiting for you," he said, smiling. "We have all day."

Jake checked his watch. "Yeah, that's alright, don't ask me if I have anything to do today," he said sourly.

"Don't you have to practice?" Tai said gently, smiling at Mike.

Mike sighed and stood. "Guess you're right!" he picked up his bag and began to amble towards the changing room. "Don't be too long, 'k?"

Once Mike was out of earshot, Jake fixed the tawny vulpine kit with a steady stare. "Yes?"

Tai winced. "Umm, well... I wanted to talk with you about some stuff... also I can't swim."

"Huh?" Jake blinked, leaning closer. "Talk about stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Well, fire away."

The boy looked around nervously, then leaned in closer too. "Uhh... um, I wanted to talk about... uhh...you know...?" An uncomprehending stare was all he got. "Th-that thing you and Mike are, uh, arguing about?"

Jake's heart stopped, then skittered about his chest for a moment like a mad rat. "Not here!" he hissed firmly. "People can hear!"

"I know, I know!" responded Tai hastily, in an equally low voice. "I'll be quiet, I promise! It's just... I need to talk to someone! Please?"

His voice was so pathetic, Jake's resolve weakened like a castle wall hit with a cannon ball. "But why here?"

"I don't want Mike to hear."

Jake buried his head in his hands, his ears drooping tragically. "God, why me?" he moaned under his breath. "Alright, Tai... be very, very quiet. Stop the moment I tell you to. I'll answer what I can."

Biting his lower lip, Tai let his eyes convey a wordless thanks. "Um, I need to know... why do you say no to him? Um, I know you..."

"Find him attractive?" Jake supplied acidly, glaring at Tai.

"Yeah." The shy kit quailed slightly.

"Two reasons, Tai," began the teen quietly. "The first is simple: it's dangerous. If we get caught, it's me that'll be in real trouble. Trouble you don't know yet and probably wouldn't understand. Just get that if we were caught, my whole life could be ruined. The second reason is a little more complicated."

"What is it?" Tai was not one to be dissuaded by 'complication.'

Jake sighed heavily. "Tai... I don't know if you can understand this, but listen: Mike was introduced to this stuff because he was raped when he was about your age. I know that's not how it is for every, I dunno, sexually aware kit out there, like yourself, I guess. But with Mike it is! I just don't think it's right. Every time he tries to get me to do something to him I think about how it began, what he went through and it's just wrong."

"But Mike said he didn't mind it too much."

"Yeah, like that's normal. I dunno, Tai, it just seems wrong, maybe you'll understand when you're a bit older, it's hard to explain; I'd care a lot less if it was a little more normal. Besides, doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous. So why do you ask? Did he put you up to it?"

"No, no! I... we just, um... well, I dunno." Tai flushed a little. "Um, do you think there's any reason for Mike and me to not do it?"

Jake blinked. Then frowned. "I don't know, Tai. I guess not really, just remember that Mike isn't exactly like you. Don't do anything stupid and don't let him do anything stupid and you should be fine; be very careful. I don't think you want to tell anybody though. You might still get in huge trouble. Just remember that if you don't want to do something you have the right to say so and he has to respect that."

Tai closed his eyes for a second and thought hard before speaking next. "J-Jake... Mike thinks I'm only doing things with him because I don't want to lose him as a friend. And I'm worried that he's only trying to be my friend because he wants someone to do this stuff with. Wh-what do you think?"

There was a pause, and the only sound was that of the canteen staff chattering and some shouting in the pool area. Then Jake burst out laughing. "I can't believe I just got asked for relationship advice by a little kit!" he chortled. "Tai, seriously, I don't know. Mike is a very honest kid, and I think if he realized that he was doing anything like that he'd be ashamed. I don't think he'd ever hold a false friend just so he has someone to be dirty with." He took a deep breath. "As for you, I don't think you're only doing what he wants so you can be friends. I mean, you're the only one who knows for sure, Tai. I remember the first night we met. Like I said though, Mike won't hurt you. Not on purpose."

Tai smiled sheepishly. "Thanks Jake..." he said quietly. "Well, just one more thing..."

"Hmm?"

The kit's smile grew even more embarrassed. "I can't swim real well. Could you...?"

"... Oh, fine... come on, let's get in there." Jake rolled his eyes and pushed his chair back, grabbing both his and Tai's bags. Anything to change the damn topic.

"Cool!" Tai stood also, then swayed a little. "Whoa... uh, I'm a little more used to the smell now, I think."

Eraline pulled the clunky old, white car over to the side of the road, and rested her pointed muzzle on the wheel. She sighed and lidded her eyes for a moment.

God she was sick of this. Cracking her eyes open again, she looked up at the two-storey murky, unclean structure that was her home for the night, once again, with a mixture of loathing and resignation.

She didn't want to be here, staying at this excuse for a hotel. It wasn't about what she wanted however. Being offered an excuse to be this close to her new "job" for the first few days, getting to know the employees and the area, was too good a chance to pass up, even if it sent her to the opposite side of the gigantic city and kept her there for days. She'd gotten a lot of information, more than she expected, but it came at a cost.

But until it had all been thoroughly analyzed, there was no way of knowing how useful that information would truly be. What they needed to know wouldn't just be lying around on unsecure servers she could access from her workstation. She was blindly grasping at straws, exactly the same as they had been four years ago.

Luckily, it wouldn't be for much longer. Hopefully.

She already had a list of things to do now. Normal things, now that she was back in a real city. Now she didn't have to endure the poverty, the isolation and the sheer boredom she had become so used to.

For one thing, the curtains in her bedroom absolutely had to be replaced. In fact, before Eraline had left, she'd removed the curtains and ugly, stout curtain-rods from her bedroom window. Before she even got ready for her... night shift.

There was more to be done too. She had a real home at last - but of course, within days she'd been called away. Leaving her son alone, again... she knew he was capable; if nothing else, Tai had always been good at looking after himself while his mother was away. He was in good paws too. Probably a better parent than she could be was looking after him. But still, it wasn't...

Twisting in the driver's seat, Eraline withdrew her black leather wallet and snapped it open. She was never one for purses and the like; she knew her femininity came from herself, not her accessories. She needed something to hold her money and cards, not an ornament that gets in the way and presents a target for thieves.

Opening the wallet, she took the key-card from its resting place on top of her credit card. She paused then, her eyes coming to rest on the little passport sized picture she had stuck in the transparent compartment of her wallet normally reserved for a driver's license. The clear green eyes and shy smile seemed to be directed right at her...

She smiled, opened the car door and stepped out onto the wet road. Grudgingly making her way to the building.

Then she frowned, and pulled out her new cell phone. She stared at it for a few moments, before hitting the speed dial and bringing the device to her ear.

It rang out. But as she brought it away from her head, disappointed, she saw the text on the screen. She had a message, so she opened it...

"Be careful, Eraline," it read. "We want you to come home safely and soon. They've gone swimming."

She paused. Tai went swimming? He was afraid of water, wasn't he? How interesting. Maybe he was getting over it? That was good.

Eraline smiled widely and kept walking.

Her son was safe and happy. For today at least.

That was something she could never guarantee...

Mike pulled his face out of the water, blinking the stinging water from his eyes and shaking his head so more of it wouldn't drip down from his medium length head fur. He flicked his ears idly and pulled himself up onto the pool edge.

He'd just done three laps in succession and a rest seemed in order.

"Huh?" he muttered to himself, as he caught sight of Tai and Jake at the shallow end of the pool. Jake was giving Tai some instructions, and trying to help the floundering fox-boy stay above water by holding him up with a hand on his stomach. Mike felt a strange, two-way jealousy as he looked on. He shook his head, as if trying to shake it away. There was no problem with Jake helping a kid half his age learn to swim, and no problem with Tai wanting to learn. That's all it was.

He blinked. Tai was wearing swimming trunks; or rather, briefs. Dark green ones. Mike chuckled to himself; he hadn't seen a casual swimmer wearing those before, at least not here. He did, because he competed, but casual swimmers seemed to be too scared to wear them. Not that he was complaining, Tai's revealing swimwear was an interesting sight for him. Mike took a deep breath and tried to focus again.

After a few more laps he'd probably have done enough; he was confident he could win this time if his competition was the same as last if he just kept this up. Few other kits took this as seriously as he did, and he was feeling in pretty good shape. He barely felt puffed at all. Then he could join the others and examine Tai's swimwear more closely...

Down the pool however, Tai felt like a total fool. There were boys a year or so younger than him, here with a school teacher or something, swimming like fish in the deeper zones of the pool, and yet he could barely stay afloat.

"Don't worry," Jake said, seeing the frustrated look on the kit's face. "We all have to start somewhere. Even if it's the paddling pool - that's how Mike and I got started, you know. Swimming since we were little toddlers."

Tai nodded and tried to keep a positive mindset about it. He could barely get his arms and legs to move in synch; it was more like he was getting used to being submerged in water than learning to swim, because he was sure as heck getting a lot of nothing done.

Jake shifted position in the water, laying a paw on the kit's fluffy tail that protruded from the tail-fly at the back of his briefs and gently pressing it down. "You're not actually doing too bad, you know..." he said, forcing himself to ignore the fact he was basically touching Tai's butt. "You're good at treading water at least. Careful with the tail, it can drag out behind you and be a real pain. Try to keep it level."

"Mmblagh!" Tai spat out some chlorinated water. "Uch. It tastes gross."

"That's why we swim in it, not drink it," Jake quipped. "Hey, I gotta ask. How come you've had no lessons? I'm not sure I've ever met a kid who didn't at least get a lesson before your age. Didn't your old school have a swimming program?"

Placing his paws down on the pool floor, Tai looked up at the bare-chested teenager in his board-shorts. Tai's shoulders barely peaked up from the water and yet Jake wasn't even wet above his flat, furry stomach so far. "Yeah, I think so," he said, brushing one of his bangs from his face and making to rub his eyes. "I didn't go to it. They couldn't make me swim."

Jake reached out and stopped him. "Don't rub, it makes it sting worse. Just blink a few times and keep your fur from dripping it back in."

"OK." He blinked a few times. "Anyway, I didn't swim at school... because I'm afraid of water."

The teenager frowned. "You seem ok to me."

"Yeah I'm fine if I can see the bottom."

"I don't get you. Why is that?"

Tai looked at his shimmering, distorted reflection in the bright pool and moved his paws through the water, sending ripples in all directions. "When I was really small, my dad died in a big boat accident. I- I kinda got scared about dying that way... drowning at night. Not sure which way was up or down, because the water and the sky are as dark as each other." He shuddered slightly. "If I can see the bottom it's okay. Or if I can stand. Someone once tried to make me swim in a cold lake back home in Alaska. There was even some ice in the water. I really hated water after that."

"Why did they try to make you swim in a deep lake on a freezing day?" Jake said, baffled.

"They pushed me in. I got scared." Tai looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't know how to swim. I guess they wanted me to drown rather than swim in it."

Jake suppressed a sudden urge to punch something. "Who did this? Why?"

"Two boys about Mike's age..." Tai absently made a wave in the water with one arm. "They heard me talking to mom when she dropped me at school one day about how I hated swimming and they pretended to be my friends one day, so they could push me in the lake after school."

"Ah." Jake smiled tightly. "I'd love to meet them one day. So, how come you didn't want to learn to swim at school or privately, but you came along today?"

"I dunno..." he looked up again, wide eyed.

"Did you tell on those boys?" asked Jake, still a little furious.

"Yes."

"Did they get in trouble?"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Because they said I fell in, and got their parents to say they were at home." The tawny boy sighed almost angrily. "They never help me. If they even listen to me."

"If I'd been there, I'd have kicked their asses for you, I swear..." said Jake.

Tai smiled up at him. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

A wave of sympathy came over Jake. He felt suddenly so sorry for Tai. Other kids picked on him, adults never listened to or helped him--from the sound of things, his mother failed to listen most of the time. Come to think of it, Jake hadn't been to Tai's apartment two days in a row and the boy's mother was clearly not around.

At the restaurant earlier, what Tai said under his breath... was she ever around for him?

Jake had to wonder how Mike had won him over so fast.

A blast of water smashed into the back of Jake's head and he turned around slowly to glare at the grinning Mike, who'd stealthily made his way around the duo by swimming under the water. "Hi guys, what's shakin'?" he asked, swiping back his head fur with a practiced paw.

"Not much," replied Tai brightly, who had managed to avoid being splashed in the face. "How about you?"

Mike lifted up the stopwatch around his neck and looked ruefully at it. "I just beat my best time."

"So when do you guys wanna go?" Jake asked blandly, giving no hint that he'd just been splashed in the back of the head. "We going to stick around here for a while?"

"Yeah, I'm done with training, I just wanna play around for a bit," Mike said, looking to Tai. "We can stay in the shallow bits. You ok with that?"

Tai nodded happily. "Okay!"

"So how does a game sound?"

"Which one?"

Mike thought for a second. "Marco Polo?" Tai gave him a confused look. "No problem, I'll explain it. It might even help your swimming out, Tai!

"Someone has to swim around with their eyes closed, and the others can only walk in the shallow water. Every time the 'it' says 'Marco!' everyone else needs to reply with 'Polo!', and using the sound he has to find people and tag them."

Tai furrowed his brow. "OK, I think I get it."

"One last thing: you're it!"

"What?!"

"You need to practice swimming!"

With a groan, Tai closed his eyes and the game began...

They had been playing happily for about half an hour before finally Jake called a halt to the games.

"Guys, okay, it's time to get out of here," Jake called over Mike's incessant calls of "Maaaarcooo?"

"Aww!" Mike whined, opening his eyes. "How come?"

"Yeah!" complained Tai, treading water a few meters into the deeper end. "I'm just starting to like the water."

Jake shrugged. "I know guys, but we've been here for two hours now. Your dad will be home soon."

With a discontent groan of defeat, the two boys swam over to the side of the pool and hoisted themselves up. Jake averted his eyes so he wouldn't stare at the two briefs-clad kits. His resolve didn't last long, and he snuck a few peeks before pulling himself out of the water as well, berating himself silently.

Walking side by side, the two sodden fox kits padded their way to the showers. Tai didn't like the way the slimy, gritty floor felt on his exposed paw, and so walked a little faster than necessary, ignoring the minor throbbing that caused in his ankle.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Mike asked, idly running a paw through the soaked mass of fluff that was his tail.

"Yeah." Tai reached the door to the changing room first, and he wrenched it open, holding it so Mike could go first.

The changing room itself was a tiled, square room with benches around two of the walls, small, white metal lockers on another, and the final wall was taken up by a row of ten shower booths, each one behind a blue, lockable wooden door. Mike walked over to his usual locker and took out their bags.

"You need to meet my coach. He's awesome, but he's on vacation at the moment." He paused for an instant, then looked back at Tai, who stood straight and looked back at him.

"What's wrong?" the younger kit asked, cocking his head inquisitively.

"Nothing," Mike lied, smiling. He stretched, then without ceremony reached down and pulled his black swimming briefs right off. "Hey," he breathed, looking around to be sure they were alone. "Let's shower together!"

Again, that odd 'warmth' in the pit of Tai's stomach returned. "R-really?" the long-haired kit asked, puzzled. "I- I mean, you sure? Here?"

"Sure! Don't need two showers for us when we can share one, right?" Mike crossed the room to a randomly picked wooden door, his furless member bouncing slightly in front of him. "Saves water, right? They're always telling us to conserve water. 'Sides, we don't want to stink of chlorine."

"Uh, r-right." Tai blushed and tried to hide his confusion as he slowly slipped his swimming briefs off.

Mike opened the door and motioned urgently for Tai to join him before turning to the taps and switching the jet of water on. Tai darted into the shower cubicle as fast as he could, shutting the blue-painted wooden door behind him. He looked around, trying to avoid looking at his friend's naked body.

Unfortunately, he was starved for things to look at in here. It was a small cubicle, clearly meant for just one adult, with surprisingly clean white tiles on the wall and floor. He tried to look up at the ceiling, but felt a stronger boy's fingers on his wrist, yanking him under the cascading water.

"Sorry, but you have to get wet if you're gonna have a shower," joked Mike, grinning cheekily.

Satisfied, Mike set about working the pool water out of his fur, firmly running his paws through his matted fur. Tai, with nothing else to look at, resigned to look at his friend as he hogged most of the water. He wasn't as good looking when his fur was soaked like that, he observed. He still looked great, but that layer of warm fuzz was something else.

Tai jumped and silently scolded himself.

Mike looked up at him in the process of rubbing down his left shin, arching his spine and looking curiously at his smaller friend. "What's up?" he enquired, changing to the right thigh. "Gah! Chlorine is such a pain."

Shaking his head, Tai forced his gaze to the floor. "N-nothing." But when Mike stretched up, rubbing down his head-fur with his eyes closed and torso pushed forwards, he suddenly found himself staring again, his breathing becoming strangely ragged.

Even now, even after the previous night, he couldn't stop thinking about...

"Did you want to do anything tonight?" Mike asked, still working on his head-fur. "I think your mom comes home tonight or tomorrow."

There was no reply at first, and Mike just kept washing himself down. Finally, he rinsed his head and squinted into the running water. "Tai?" He opened his eyes just in time to see the tawny kit take a big step forwards and grab him in a savagely tight embrace. "Whoa!"

Tai pressed his body against Mike's. "I don't want to go home..." he whispered, before standing on his tip-toes and kissing Mike enthusiastically, in a much more mature fashion than Mike had ever expected. Like the very first night they had met... When the kiss was finally broken, Tai didn't move away. Instead, he stood there, still clutching Mike's wet, bigger body as close as he could, leaning backwards just enough to look into his hazel eyes with a mixture of pleading and awkward adoration.

"Tai?" gasped Mike, wrapping his own arms around the other soaking kit. "Wh-what's wrong-?"

Everything Jake had said and the absurdity of the situation had just come crashing down on Tai. "This is stupid," he stated. "I like you. You... just seeing you makes me feel all weird. I like doing those things with you." His eyes watered and he seemed to choke for a second. "D-do you really like me? That's all I want to know."

Mike stared at him, stunned. In his chest, a bizarre feeling, as if his heart wanted to take wings and soar away, left him breathless. "W-what?" he exhaled, looking bewildered. Tai's expression changed immediately to one of heartbreak and embarrassment, before Mike managed to add, "Of course I do." He shuffled nervously. "I-I was happy to not do anything... you know... ever again if you weren't alright with it..."

"R-really?"

Mike nodded. "I... well, you're my friend, Tai!" he finally exclaimed, giving the smaller kit a squeeze. "You don't do stuff like this if you don't lo- uh, like the other fur."

He didn't know for sure if Tai remembered how he had blurted out that he was in love with the tawny fox the very first night they met. That still made his ears go red.

"Today my mom gets home?" whispered Tai, resting his head on Mike's chest and adjusting his grip so he held the bigger boy close to him by his brown-furred hips.

Rubbing Tai's sides, Mike nodded. "Yeah."

Sighing happily, Tai squeezed Mike a bit tighter, content to stay in the embrace for a while longer.

"Um. T-Tai?" said Mike, rubbing his friend's back and shoulders. "We should finish up. Jake'll wonder where we are and we'll get in trouble."

The small kit in his arms smiled and finally backed off. "OK," he agreed, shaking his head gently to get his irritating head-fur out of his face. He closed his eyes and quickly shoved his muzzle under the jet of water, washing his face. "But it's my turn!"

Grinning, Mike placed his paws on Tai's stomach, slowly massaging the furry surface and digging his fingers in gently. "Then I'll help, huh?"

"Ahaha! That tickles!"

When they finally finished working the chlorinated pool water from their pelts, Mike turned off the water and suddenly gasped. "Oh crap," he chortled. "I forgot our towels." When Tai's face took on a slight cast of horror, he hastily added, "Oh, don't worry, we don't have to leave the change rooms; the lockers are just over there."

"Should we put our bathers back on?" asked Tai, still clearly nervous. "We still have to get to the lockers."

"Nah," Mike replied, running a paw through his soaked head-fur. "It's alright. Told you, nobody cares. It's a changing room, everyone's naked in here."

Nodding, Tai pressed up against the tiled wall, letting Mike squeeze past and open the door. There were other furs out there, and with a squeak Tai retreated back into the shower cubicle.

Mike looked at him with honest confusion. "What's up? You don't have any problem with me seeing you naked."

"Um, it's different. They don't know us!"

"They won't care," Mike reassured him, taking Tai's paw in his. "C'mon... it's alright!"

Drawing courage from his friend, Tai let himself be led out into the change room and over to their locker. However, he was surprised when he and Mike received very little attention. A few cursory glances, and maybe one or two of the grown up furs looked for a little longer; maybe because they found the two foxes holding hands to be cute, or perhaps they had something in common with Jake. Either way, none of the glances, or stares, seemed malicious or judgmental, and Tai felt his apprehension ebb away.

In fact, the few brief glances, especially the one or two that lingered, were kind of compliments, he reasoned. Like when he first met Jake.

Mike handed him a yellow beach towel, and the duo started to dry off. Strangely, Tai caught himself watching Mike once again: even the way the older boy dried himself was interesting. While Tai fumbled with his towel - admittedly distracted - Mike methodically and quickly rubbed down. Even here, Mike's greater experience and confidence showed.

Naturally, when Mike spread his legs to dry his shins, Tai snuck an obvious peek, grinning cheekily - it was alright now, and Mike was always nice to look at. The older kit noticed, grinned, and silently returned the attention.

Afterwards, they both put on their boxers and pants, stuffing everything in Mike's sports bag, ensuring their soaked, chlorine-drenched bathers were safely enclosed in a plastic bag. Yet when Tai went to put his shirt back on, Mike stopped him. "Don't put your shirt on," he said quietly. "It'll help you dry off."

Tai swallowed and nodded. "Okay." Shirtless wasn't too big a deal for him. Complete nudity was another thing entirely. So, he bravely neglected his shirt, and together the fox boys quickly vacated the changing room.

"See, not so bad, huh?" chuckled Mike, draping a friendly arm over Tai's shoulder. Tai merely grinned in response. He had to admit, it was easier with his friend helping him. Once he got over the idea itself, being seen naked in the changing rooms really wasn't too bad.

Jake had showered and changed much faster than the boys and was already waiting for them outside the room, leaning against the wall. "Ready to go?" he asked, surprising them both as they exited. To his credit, he didn't comment on the fact they'd taken so long in the change rooms, or that they had forgotten to wear their shirts.

They nodded and all three of them made their way to the car outside, the sun stinging their eyes and warming their bodies. It had gotten warmer since they'd arrived, and unfortunately a lot brighter.

In the car, there was a change that did not go unnoticed by Jake. Mike and Tai sat right next to one another, the entire lengths of their bodies pressed together in a sleepy, seated cuddle. They both had contented looks on their faces, perked ears...

With a bitter-sweet sigh, Jake realized Tai had taken his clumsy advice and whatever was wrong before was patched up now. The two kits were back to being inseparable - and naughty - for better or worse.

The very idea made him tremble.

Later that evening, Jake was still with them as they sat in the den. Comfortable with being themselves around Jake now, the two boys were occupying the sofa, sitting together comfortably.

Weirdly enough, they were talking about viruses. None of them knew how they'd got onto that topic at this point, but they were discussing them, particularly how they kept changing until one day there'd be some kind of Ultimate Doomsday Influenza Epidemic. Something about the world ending because of a cold struck the boys as amusing. They were coming up with all sorts of grotesque and weird ways for the epidemic to kill billions, and Jake had to admit they were quite imaginative. Sneezing to death as per Tai's suggestion would be a pretty spectacular way to go; and everyone laughed when he tried to act his suggestion out.

Jake mentioned "vector viruses", something he'd heard about on a sci-fi show, which were retro-viruses that were used to alter DNA. Which proved to be a bit of a mistake; Mike knew what DNA was, roughly, but Tai had never heard of it. The teen found himself stuck having to explain the basics of genetics... and Mike then pushed him to explain what a retro-virus was, his curiosity utterly overwhelming as always.

Thankfully, they didn't push it when he said that this was all from a badly written television show.

Elated nonetheless himself, Jake stood to go to the bathroom, leaving the two boys alone.

As the canine got up to leave, Tai spotted something set upon the modern, black entertainment unit that housed the Donaldson's television: a small bronze picture frame, right beside the monstrous screen. Innocent curiosity compelled him to get up and have a look, though he felt Mike watching him keenly as he crossed the sitting room to it.

In the picture was a long haired female fox with chestnut fur, alluringly dark eyes and a beatific smile, standing in what seemed to be a lush cedar forest holding a tiny baby kit, clothed in thick swaddling. The beautiful vixen looked so happy, and her hazel eyes seemed to glitter.

Tai's eyes widened and he looked back at the couch, suddenly embarrassed. Mike was staring at him with a strange, unreadable expression. "Um, Mike?" he asked shyly.

"Yeah?"

He indicated the picture frame unnecessarily. "Is this your mom?"

Mike gave a peculiarly weak smile and nodded.

"Wh-where is she?"

The brown furred kit gave a strained chortle. "Uh, she died," he said softly, still smiling. "A long time ago." He fell silent again, watching Tai with that unusual expression.

Tai's face flushed a little and he smiled slightly. "She's, um, pretty..."

"I know."

Tai felt very uncomfortable all of a sudden. What was with that gaze? He'd lost a parent too! He wasn't being rude, was he? Shouldn't he have commented?

"What about your dad?" Mike asked abruptly, the blank mask of his features taking on a kind of timid curiosity. "Where is he?"

Immediately, Tai responded: "Dead." It wasn't that much of a sensitive topic for him anymore. At least, talking about it was easy for him. In fact, he broke out into a grin. "Hey, wonder if my mom and your dad will get along?"

He partly expected Mike to laugh at the idiotic notion, or look disturbed by it, but instead the barky-furred boy smiled. "That'd be kinda neat," he chuckled.

Lying on the coffee table, Jake's cell phone began to vibrate, comically jittering its way towards the edge of the table. Mike reached out and picked it up before it plunged off the edge. "Jake!" he said loudly, standing up and walking toward the bathroom. "Your phone's ringing!"

Tai stole one more glance at the beautiful chestnut fox, frozen in her cheerfulness. Though she was gone now. It was like how he always remembered his dad, smiling, laughing, tickling him... but he was dead. Gone forever.

Not smiling. Not happy. Dead.

So that was one more thing he had in common with his new best friend. Maybe... if just maybe their two parents would get along... it would be so great - greater than Tai could put into words - if they did.

And he could have a dad again. And a real family.

... To be continued.

By Kichigai Kitsune.

Copyright Kichigai Kitsune 2011.

If you enjoy this story and want to see more from me, donate a piddling amount to keep me honest! https://www.patreon.com/kichigaikitsune