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"I hate you Ximial! I hate you and all you stand for!" A large and muscular zebra grumbled in the back of his mind as he busied himself with washing one of his teammate's trucks. The black striped equine, who happened to be the football team captain for Red Veiled Academy and the best quarterback the school had in the last twenty-five years, could only smile however, when Eric Kinsmen, a heavyset mouse with a six foot ten height came around to stare agape at what his team captain was doing. The zebra, whose name was Milo Thomas, raised up from where he was at the hood of the car to wipe the sweat from his eyes with a broad hand before shaking his black and blue dyed mane before staring at the other young man.

"Hey man!" Milo cheerfully called out, his tail snapping the air behind him rhythmically. "I remember you said that you needed your car washed and waxed so I thought that I'd come over today and give you a hand with it." Milo could almost believe himself as he said this while at the same time he tried and prayed very that the three inch shorter rodent didn't become suspicious of his actions.

"ugh...yeah." Eric gave a slow nod and then looked around wildly to see if he was being filmed or something for prank of the decade. "Sure man. I mean..." The mouse was flabbergasted to say the least as he edged his way over to where the zebra had returned to washing his car, now moving on to the windshield, all the while noting what the other youth had on.

Being that the both of them were in college and Milo was twenty-three years old nobody would have really minded the fact that the zebra was wearing of pair of short-shorts that looked like they had been spray painted onto his thickly muscled black and white hips and thighs while up over his chest the striped equine had on black mesh shirt that showed off every curve and line of the football captain's well defined pectorals and abdomen. Normally Milo was more for jeans and t-shirts, as though he were trying to cover up his masculine form from shame, but at the moment Eric couldn't be too upset about the apparel that the other had on, especially when the zebra began to hum to himself out loud and shake his rump in his direction. The mouse was sure that he had never heard Milo so much as pretend that he could sing before and so upon hearing an unfamiliar tune echoing out from the upturned lips of the striped equine Eric felt that he could have been knocked over with a feather as his big brown eyes blinked in utter confusion. The only thing in his mind, beside the fear that he was about to be the butt of someone's joke, was that he was either seriously dreaming and had certain confessions to make about his sexuality later on when he woke up, or, he had somehow slipped into another dimension like in the Twilight Zone and was trapped in a world where everything was the opposite of what he had come to expect in his own world.

Milo Thomas was many things; tall, muscular, good-looking, dominant, a tad egotistical about his muscles and pecs, somewhat overbearing on the football field, and a chick magnet if every there had been within Red Veil Academy. Milo however, was not one prone to random acts of kindness and definitely did not go over to his teammate's houses to do them favors. In the three years he had been captain most of the people in the school had bets that Milo really lived in another state entirely as the zebra never rode on the public transit to get to the college and had a very nice looking red Mustang that he drove around town, whenever his classes were finished and the team didn't have practice of course. The zebra didn't talk about his home life much, probably because he was one of those neglected types whose folks had more money than god, but no time for their son. Milo didn't speak about siblings or cousins or anyone else of blood relation that might be his age so everyone always assumed that he was the only child of a very small family. Actually, as Eric thought about it more while watching the sexy looking zebra work on washing and polishing his eighteen inch rims, the only thing anyone knew about the striped equine was that he really, really liked football.

Giving his head a slight scratch Eric wondered if the other was bipolar, especially with the way Milo kept humming and turning in his direction to smile at him with uber cheerfulness. The only time the striped equine smiled that wide was when the team won games and did well enough at practice to be considered 'good enough' in Milo's mind. Not wanting to say anything, less he get caught in a real shit storm with the other if he decided to blow up suddenly, the mouse just continued to watch the other work on his car without uttering a peep. It took Milo almost an hour to go over the whole truck with both washing and waxing the thing; it was an old vehicle anyway with an engine that had seen better days and a body that looked more abused that one of those pickup trucks after a monster truck rally. Once the zebra was however, Milo simply picked himself up then shook his impressive, but now much sweatier mane off, and then walked over to pat Eric on the should.

"Here you go!" Milo bowed his head and the turned to show the impressive work that he had done. "I hope this is good enough for you. I think I got everything on the outside, and I wasn't about to try and get into the interior of your ride just to clean it out -- that would have been just a bit rude, don't you think?" Another shoulder squeeze had the mouse nodding, albeit very, very slowly up to the slightly taller zebra.

"Y-yeah! I mean, this is cool as is! Thanks!" Eric reached over to pat the striped equine on his open chest, touching the hard pecs under the short fur of the striped equine's hide in the process and getting a slight hiss from Milo. "I was meaning to get this thing washed up, but never found the time. This really helped me out, so thanks."

"Not a problem." Milo then pulled away from the mouse, went over and dumped his dirty bucket of water out into the street, rung his rag dry and then picked his stuff up to head off down the road.

"Hey, do you need a ride?" Eric shouted at the zebra's retreating form.

"Nah! It's bright out and I could use the walk. Thanks though!" And then Milo was gone. Down the street, around the corner and off to...somewhere else, which left a very confused, but ecstatic Eric to scratch his head again while looking at his cleaned off and sparkling truck.

"What the heck just happened?" The rodent asked before shrugging and going back into his house, totally forgetting about what he had come outside for after hearing the sounds of Milo washing his ride off.

All this had been early Saturday morning during the week the team had off from practice being that the college was closed -- it was Spring Break after all and the only people still at the campus were the live-in janitors other assorted police officials that watched over the place. It was also what was to be the beginning of a very strange week for the football team of Red Veil academy as their football captain seemed to have been taken over by some strange, almost likeable force that made him do the unexpected for them during the next seven days. No one would be able to understand it, but during the following Monday when the campus reopened everyone would be talking about the weirdness that seemed to have encompassed Milo's former stoic disposition. And to give a better explanation as to why, here's what happened next:

Sunday evening found the zebra taking Jeffry Donalds, a massive Pit bull that with black spots covering his muscle gut form from head on down to his toes, a sign of his mixed breed heritage from his father's side, out to go clubbing while spending a generous amount of cash on the dog's drinks. Everybody who knew Jeff knew that the dog like three things in life above all, with the exception of his little sister who happened to be ten, and those were cheap beer, going out to clubs to try and hit on females and football. If you could get him boozed up then you were going to be his friend for life. Take Jeff out to a club and buy him as much as he could drink, which was a lot with that paunchy stomach of his -- just on the edge of being gargantuan in diameter -- then he might accept you as family. But because it had been Milo who had took him out, brought him so much that the Pit bull actually got drunk, and then hooked him up with a pair of ladies of the night so that the dog could get his rocks off, Jeffery was ready to marry the zebra as he spoke about the striped equine as though he were the answer to all of his life's woes to the rest of the team come the Monday after next. The entire team was baffled at this because nobody even knew that Milo liked to go out, or had ever seen him at a club, and yet the zebra had taken the Pit bull to one of the more premier hot spots in town, the Black Butterfly, on a whim. Supposedly the Black Butterfly had been an up and coming restaurant back in the day, but the owner had passed on with a lot of debt on his paws and his children had sold the rights to the joint to an influential businessman who turned the building into a nightclub. All the better for Jeffery, or so the Pit bull said after hearing about the place from Milo, but even that happening wasn't as strange as what happened the following next few days.

Monday had found Milo going over to the Ross' place where Nicholas and Thereon Ross, two fraternal black kangaroos, lived with their ailing mother and then took them out to buy the brothers some new furniture and housing supplies. How the two 'roos managed to get into Red Veil was a slight mystery to everyone as tuition alone was almost fifty-five thousand a semester and it was no secret that the Ross family was dead broke. Working almost every hour they could to pay off the bills, Nick and Thereon had more stress lines on their faces half the time then what older adults had after thirty years working a dead-end job. How they kept from falling into depression was something miraculous, but it was a well known fact that the two never spoke about their lives at home and kept everyone at an arm's length when anyone started to pry. So how Milo knew about them and their situation was something the two 'roos were unsure of, but they didn't let their uncertainty and confusion stop them from spending up the zebra's money after the striped equine told them that they could get everything they needed for their house at the home supply store. Never one to turn down charity, despite not letting too many people in on their circumstances, the twins went to town getting several dozen pieces of furniture and equipment for their house that they had been longing to try and purchase. Milo had been more than happy to buy them whatever they wanted, almost as if the zebra had an endless flow of wealth right at his fingertips, and had to actually ended up renting a van to haul everything back to Nick and Thereon's home.

Fixing up the house was a slow process and ended with Milo having to come back on Tuesday to help the kangaroos out before they got done as much as they could with just the three of them, which turned out to be a lot as the zebra seemed to know how to do just about everything from wiring to plumbing. One hot water tank being replaced later, followed by new windows being put in, shingles padded onto the roof, tiles added to the floors, conduits and other assorted pieces exchanged for the rusting pipes and the house almost looked new again. The painting Milo had begrudgingly helped with, the first sign that he wasn't too fond with what he was trying to do, looked almost majestic slapped onto the front, sides, and end of the house as the striped equine did one hell of a job mixing and scrapping and coordinating efforts with the help of the two brothers. In the end the zebra actually ended up being thanked heartily by Mrs. Ross for his troubles, the withered looking 'roo coughing and shivering as she tried her best to move around while looking as though she were on her last legs, and she was. That was also the first time anyone had seen Milo blush and fluster from receiving praise from an older person. The red tint that covered the zebra's monochrome snout had Nick and Thereon laughing for hours later as they never imagined that their football captain could be so bashful. The kindness that the older woman had shown him by fixing the three of them lunch was something that Nick and Thereon didn't think Milo would ever forget, though it did make them wonder just what he went through at home. However, they wisely kept from asking, especially given their own story. (On a more upcoming note it was Milo who arranged for everything when Mrs. Ross finally did pass on, right after her sons graduated from Red Veil. And the zebra would forever be shown admiration from the two kangaroos because of it, but that's another story for another time.)

Wednesday followed with Milo going over to help Matthew McCormick, a bespectacled lion who was the shortest of the team at five foot ten inches tall, with the vegetable garden that he and his guardian/foster father maintained on the small piece of land that the two of them owned just outside of the city. Having been given up for adoption by his mother, who happened to be a woman of very loose, if not totally uncertain morals after being knocked up during a one-night stand, Matthew had been adopted by his foster father, a diminutive German shepherd who couldn't have been more than five foot three. A retired army official by trade, Roland McCormick was more than happy to have a son to raise by himself, even if said son was of an entirely different species, as he had not wanted to settle down and get married just yet, despite being in his early fifties. Why he adopted Matthew was simply really as it had been announced earlier in his career that he was sterile and unable to father his own child and wanting to pass on what he knew and believed to the next generation, adoption just seemed like a given choice. Why a GSD would adopt a lion had been a question that had been on many of the team's mind, though most, if not all of them, kept their inquires to themselves, if just out of respect for their short defensive lineman. Milo hadn't even blinked as he rode out early Wednesday afternoon in a rental truck, got out, looked around and then padded up to the McCormick's front door to knock and then ask if Matthew still needed that help with the farm. To say that Matthew and his father were surprise would have been an understatement as the lion and German shepherd looked at the zebra really hard before turning to regard each other bemusedly. Long story short, Matthew had been thinking about quitting the team because his father needed more help on their little path of farmland and between taking care of the house, looking after the livestock and tending their gardens the older GSD was reaching his limit.

The only thing that kept Matthew from leaving the team was that he could often sacrifice one or two practice meets, at Milo's behest, in order to go and help his father. Knowing the story between the two, as most of the team did, everyone had thought that the zebra was pretty decent for letting the lion slip away from practice every now and again to help out his old man. Though that only meant that Milo worked Matthew twice as hard on the following practice because of it. It was a good circumstance overall since it meant that the lion often had to build himself and his stamina up so that he could take the brunt of the zebra's torturous drills in order to be ready for the games they had. With his work on the farm and on the field Matthew had some pretty big muscles about himself, just not the height to fill them out as completely as he would have liked. Though because of his lack of height Matthew ended up being both dense and compact with muscles, something that the other teams took as the feline being weak as most of them were almost a foot higher than him in height. Often seen as a target whenever they came up against Matthew, the opposing team usually tried to take the lion down whenever they could as they, for some unknown reason, thought that he'd be a pushover. This became something that many often regretted because no matter the size, a lion on a field, no matter the size, was still a lion and Matthew repeatedly ended up tossing guys off of him like paperweights when the adrenaline started to pump through his veins during game time.

Back to the farm however, Milo had really surprised Matthew and his dad when the zebra showed up with farming clothes on and a cheerful smile on his face. As tall as the zebra was, not to mention as handsome and muscular, the lion and German shepherd found themselves staring in awe as they noted the blue overalls and boots Milo had tucked on over his seven foot tall body. Matthew and his father actually shared several looks between each other as both confusion, and a touch of lust, had the two men growing hard in between their legs. That however, quickly came to pass after Milo coughed a grunt and then looked away to the slightly barren world around them before asking if he should go or not. Soon after the striped equine found himself slightly regretting asking if the two needed help as Milo began to sweat up a storm as the three of them went to work readying the ten odd acres of land for seeding. Though the timing was slightly off both Matthew and his father felt that they would be just in time to grow some of their summer crops before the season came into full swing. Having a stallion as strong as Milo helping them would end up being a shared joke between father and son for weeks to come as both Matthew and his dad found themselves growing aroused every time they caught sight and scent of the zebra working himself tirelessly around the farm. Roland being as GSD especially caught it bad as his sheath would often twitch and then peel itself back from around his manhood as the smell of sweat soaked horse invaded his nose time after time. The paw session that the older man would have, after he locked himself into his room and turned up the volume of his music player, would almost rival Matthew's as his son would beat himself off in time while within the shower - both of them thinking about having Milo over and helping them a lot more in the future as the display of power the zebra showed off would stick in their fantasies for weeks to come.

So a full ten hours later Milo was still ready to go strong but had to be called to a halt as the farmland was done up as properly as anything the lion and German shepherd could have hoped for, something Roland was expressively happy about as he thanked the taller stripped equine for with all the intensity that the canine could muster, while at the same time he tried very hard to will himself not to grow a wet spot in the crotch of pants in front of the striped equine. Worn as he was though, the German shepherd found this an easy task to do as he all but hit the floor once he made his way into the house and it was only with Matthew's help that the older man got him on top of his bed to pass out. Tucked away onto his bed, dirty clothes still on while stinking with musk and sweat, Roland was sound asleep as Matthew went to thank Milo for his help, offering something for the zebra to eat in repayment, but being told no thanks as the striped equine had somewhere to be at the time. And then that was it. The next Matthew saw of him the lion's golden brown eyes were watching as the zebra left in his rental and headed off to...wherever he went to for the evening. The lion could only shrug his concerns away as he knew that there was not much he could do or say to sway his captain's mind once he made a decision about something, so instead the lion went back inside of his home, shut the door and then headed to the bathroom to take a long and relaxing shower. Unlike his father Matthew wasn't so much of an innocent as to try and hide his erection from the zebra and ended up cursing his bad luck at not being able to get some time to admire, if not all out worship the big stud's muscular form. What he would have given to run his tongue over the well defined lines of that zebra neck on down to his chest and then to his abdomen. Matthew actually chuckled as he thought of what it would be like to have his 'prey' under his tongue and then on his tongue, right before he shook his head.

And yet, in spite of Milo's random good deeds towards his teammates, many of which were turning the sexualities of some of the guys, Thursday took the cake as the person who Milo had 'helped' out next turned out to be Jamie, a six foot three ocelot that happened to be the team's wide receiver, and who almost got hit by a out of control car. The painted feline had been busy minding his own business, bobbing his head in time with the song on his Ipod when he had failed to take notice of the car zooming along the midday street, completely out of control. Though for in his defense the car had been almost three blocks away and only swerving slightly. Having seen the light signaling that it was safe to walk across the street, no amount of music could distract him from the early learned lesson of checking the turn signal, Jamie had felt that it was safe to go on and took several steps off the sidewalk without looking both ways. In a safe city like the one he lived in, especially during the midday when almost nobody was really out driving on the road, the ocelot didn't feel he had a reason to check the both sides of the street. That day, on that hour, he really should have because in the next three seconds the flashy car that sped in the feline's direction was moving so fast that Jamie would only have been able to see it had his head not been face down and his eyes half closed. Not that this meant he would have been able to get his feet to move fast enough as the car seemed to be almost gunning after him, or so Milo would have told the police later.

What happened next would forever be ingrained in the ocelot's mind as the play-by-play went by like some kind of slow motion movie, or after game recording as Jamie's mind snapped all the fine details down to the last pixel of information and then burned them into his head.

His name being hollered made Jamie's rounded ears perk into the air and without thinking the ocelot stopped and lifted his head to look in front of him. Another shout and Jamie was turning his head to the right just in time to see a black hood narrowing the distance between him and it. Eyes widening in shock Jamie watched the sun wink off the polished frame of the black vehicle speeding into him right before his world tilted and then faded somewhat as something pushed him out of the way just milliseconds before the car would have zoomed into him. There was a yell and a slam and then pain as he hit the other side of the street while rolling onto the curb. The body over him, as Jamie realized it was, but only after his wits returned to him, curled around him protectively just as the ocelot heard a sudden curse ring out from the person who had just saved him. Blinking, with eyes wide with anxiety and bafflement, Jamie took one look up to see who his rescuer was and then gasped as his senses registered the other person with both scent and sight. Over and above him, with meaty arms circled tightly around his somewhat slimmer body was Milo of all people! Face contorted into a concentrated scowl and fleshy lips pulled back slightly in a mean whicker the zebra looked as though he had put everything he had into getting the feline out of the way before he could be injured. And probably did as the heart thudding at the back of Jamie's spinal column seemed to be moving almost fast enough to be considered dangerous to the zebra's health.

"M-Milo! Ohmygod! T-t-thanks! Y-you just saved my life, dude!" Jamie was never so happy as he was right then and there as he realized just what the other man had done for him. When time seemed to slowly speed back up and world began to right itself Jamie watched as the striped equine slowly get up from off of him, but only once the zebra was sure that the danger had passed.

"Its...nothing...ahh shit!" Jamie blinked and then turned his head to regard the lower half of the zebra before hissing as he noted the odd angle the striped equine's lower ankle was positioned at. While the bone was not sticking out of the flesh, something the ocelot and zebra were both thankful for, though for differentiating reasons, the injury that Milo had sustained looked gnarly in its appearance.

"Ohgodohgodohgod!!! Milo! You! And! Oh man!" To say that Jamie panicked would have been an understatement as the painted feline could barely form words from out of his lips as his mind suddenly overloaded with information.

"Calm down, already." The zebra hissed and then reached down to rub his fingers along the swelling knot that was growing within his ankle. "It's not so bad; he just winged me is all." The snarl of pain on the striped equine's face said otherwise but Jamie was of no mind to argue. "So please, stop freaking out and call an ambulance." Nodding and doing as he had been commanded to, the bite of steel in the zebra's voice shaking him out of his mental breakdown, Jamie slipped his hand into his pocket and grabbed his cell phone, albeit very shakily. It took him a half a minute to dial the number but once he had the ocelot was too busy looking over Milo's injury to take note when the operate first picked up. He had never seen such a grisly looking injury before, and he had been playing football for almost six years now.

The call that followed had to be handled by Milo because Jamie was in no condition to speak clearly to the woman on the other end of the line, once he did realize that she was trying to talk to him. Gently taking the phone from the ocelot the zebra filled the operator in on what just happened and then listened as the, somewhat stunned, woman told Milo that emergency assistance was on the way and that he should try not to move as much as possible until they go there. Too little too late for that as Milo was already flexing his leg around and squeezing pressure onto the no longer swelling bulge, that was in actually, shrinking down along his leg on its own. However, for Jamie's sanity's sake -- the painted cat looked as though he were going to go into shock from seeing Milo getting up to walk around --the zebra obliged the woman and then hung up the phone right before plopping himself down next to the startled ocelot and then taking the other around the shoulder to comfort him. Returning the cellular device to Jamie's side pocket, Milo spent the next five minutes reassuring the painted feline that everything was alright while trying to get the other to not strangle him to death when the ocelot suddenly latched onto his neck in a bear hug. The looks the two received from the police and ambulance drivers that came along afterwards still made Milo's stomach flip-flop around whenever he thought about it as the striped equine tried to convince them that he and Jamie were NOT boyfriends. The police believed his statement more than anyone else once Milo informed them of who he was, what he had been doing beforehand and then explained how he had pushed Jamie out of danger before the car could flatten him. Jamie admitted that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings and didn't know what had happened, but he had been more than happy to not get hit as he directed attention to Milo's slightly beaten up looking ankle.

Upon inspection by the rescue officials it was determined that, as the zebra had said, he was only slightly injured and should recover in a few days, if not hours from what they were seeing.

"I'ma fast healer, so I'll be fine." Milo had waved off Jamie's concern as the painted cat stared at him as though he were chipped fine chine and then taken his leave of the area to go off...somewhere. Jamie had offered to go with him to make sure that he was alright, but again the zebra waved the ocelot off. "I'm not going home. I've something to take care of, so I'll see you later." And then the striped equine was heading off down the street, leg being slightly dragged with him in a hobble. Jamie wouldn't let up about that after he got back to school on Monday and told the entire team about what had happened. Most of the guys wouldn't even know what to think as they all exchanged stories of Milo's strange change of personality. And even though the zebra hadn't managed to get to all of them to give them required aid, some of the guys had gone out of town to visit family for the break, they all noted that there seemed to be something different about the striped equine, and it wasn't all just with his actions either.

On Friday no saw Milo and everyone assumed it was because he had been resting up after the ordeal he had undergone as any normal person would have been just a touch shell-shocked after almost being rolled over by a car, especially after it only 'winged' them. However, that proved to be slightly false as the zebra ended up sending out letters to the entire team to come to a club he had rented out for a Spring Break party. It surprised everyone that before Friday night had come around the zebra had managed to call up everyone on the football team that was still in the city. A rather strange thing since no one had ever given him their number before. A moot point really since most of the guys, well actually all of them, were raring to end their Spring Break with doing something more than just sitting around at home and going over work they had been sent home with to do by their professors. Being that Red Veil was somewhat of a premier college most of the students didn't bother too much with partying for the week they had off since the curriculum was brutal enough that almost everyone ended up studying during the week they had off. It didn't help things that most professors assigned projects to be done, either. So, completely stunned at the invitation, and not having a reason not to go, the three-fourths of the entire football team found themselves at the Black Butterfly and getting mad drunk, well most of the guys anyway, as they danced and talked and kicked the shit the whole Saturday night long. Oddly enough nobody talked about Milo's strange behavior during their fun time. It was like everyone seemed to forget about it while within the boundaries of the club's walls; however no one would fail to remember the strippers that the zebra had hired for the evening to come and sit on the guy's laps. That honestly had been the highlight for the night as ten lovely ladies, wearing little less than what should have been legal by regulation standards, made themselves available to watched, fondled, and caressed as the team lost themselves of their inhibitions. By the time the night was in full swing almost none of the woman wearing anything more than thin pieces of silk to cover their modesties; tits could be exposed for what the zebra had paid for them to be there. The fact that some of the cheerleaders ended up coming over to party with the team only made things sweeter as Milo had invited several of the girls to come and hangout.

So was it any surprise that a third of the guys ended up disappearing that night for almost an hour with nobody knowing where they went, only to show back up in the main area of the club with their pants undone with stupid grins on their faces? This was college after all, and not high school. Some things just didn't need to be explained as the guys all patted each other on the shoulders and gave catcalls to each other while ribbing them up about their 'conquests'.

Ironically enough the host of the party didn't stick around for any of the party, save for the few minutes the striped equine used to show the guys where everything was. And again, none of the guys seemed to think this odd or care as they wasted the night drinking, talking, howling, and getting their rocks off, well those who were lucky enough to have a couple of dollars to spare while in the bathrooms. When the party ended, sometime during three in the morning, most of the team ended up having to crash in the back rooms of the club to sleep off their drunken hazes. Those that weren't quite as drunk as the other had to somehow help get the more drunken one into said back room before they themselves headed for home. Nick and Thereon especially had to go since their mother had no idea they would be gone this long while Matthew had to leave because he promised to come home in time to help his dad with the chores around the house come tomorrow morning. Having a father that thought himself a drill sergeant meant that the lion would have no excuse as to why he wouldn't be able to get up on Sunday and work around the house. Jamie...well, he ended up passing out into the bathroom after getting head by one of the strippers that he had ended up talking into waxing his carrot. The woman, a slim ocelot herself, had done her best and actually caused Jamie to blackout afterwards so the painted feline was a touch confused as to where he was after he woke up, minutes later, on the cold tile floor. Nose filled with the scent of piss, disinfectants and other assorted smells Jamie was all but ready to gag as he shakily made his way out of the restroom and then walked down the hall to where he thought the front door was.

In the end however, Jamie actually found his way to the back of the club and ended up catching the last few bits of conversation between Milo and...someone else.

"Are you happy now? I did as you asked!" The zebra huffed before whickering as he snapped his thick black mane around across the back of his head with a furious shake of his head. Obviously whoever he was talking to had somehow managed to get Milo into doing something the striped equine hadn't quite liked and now they were now getting an earful because of it. With this new information in hand Jamie actually tilted his already pounding head to the side in confusion as he knew that nobody, not even the football coach, could make the zebra do something he didn't want to. So who in the hell was he talking to? And why was Milo alone in the plush looking open area that he was in?

The weirdest thing happened next and even to this day Jamie was sure he had been dreaming the whole thing up as when next he looked, around the corner from where he had stopped upon hearing Milo's voice, the painted cat arched an eyebrow as he watched Milo start to chuckle and then whinny in glee, completely forgoing the furious display of emotions he had just been enduring. Throwing his head back, his mane spilling down his backside like a waterfall, the striped equine kicked a hoof against the carpeted floor at his feet and then bellowed out a quiet laugh. And then he spoke again,

"Happy? Yes, we are. Yet the real question is, are you satisfied?" The equine stilled his chuckles and then Milo seemed to flip between modes as he suddenly went rigid while standing into place. Hands reaching out to press against the fore wall in front of him, the zebra gasped before grunting, right before he snarled and then pulled his fist back to slam his knuckles into the wall. A small indent made itself visible in the concrete as the zebra pulled his hand back to reveal the impression of the striped equine's knuckles planted firmly into substance. From what Jamie's blurry eyes could see it looked as though the impression ran really deep, but then again it could have been his imagination. Later on the ocelot would delude himself into believing as such because there was no way someone could punch solid rock to leave a bruise into the material.

"You did all of this," The striped equine paused in an attempt to try and compose himself, only to fail miserably. "just to test me!?" A quick flip of emotions and then Milo was speaking more calmly, yet much more deeply than before. Had he been able to see more than Milo's back, Jamie would have noted that the striped equine's eyes were now glowing a hot silvery color.

"We did only what you had wanted to do, but were fearful of going through with because of prior programming." The zebra shook his head and then sighed wearily. "The manner in which the beginning phase of the experiment was carried out in was done only in a way that you could have found amicable towards in its definition come this moment in time."

"Stop speaking in tongues and say what you have to say!" Angry Milo ranted to the air, or maybe at himself.

"You wanted to know what friendship was and a way was provided." Calm Milo said tentatively. "You were the one who desired to trust those around you, however, previous data had been compiled which made you hesitant to do so. Only by inciting your pride through challenge could we start you on the path towards camaraderie with those on your 'team'." Calm Milo seemed to use the last word as though it were a pseudonym for what it really was trying to say and that made Jamie scratch his throbbing head in bewilderment.

Just what was in those margaritas he had anyway?

"Friendship is useless. The only thing one need is to hold dominance over others and show them what's necessary for them and why they need it. Everything else just...complicates matters." Angry Milo huffed, though he did cross his muscular arms over his shoulders after he finished speaking.

"And yet," Calm Milo took over, uncrossing the zebra's arms to make him look at his own hands. "In less than eight days you have formed bonds with those around you much deeper than you had before. Have you lost anything because of it or been inconvenienced in some way that is detrimental?

"I'm outta almost four grand?" Angry Milo offered, though it sounded more like a grumble than a real complaint.

"Irrelevant. You are, in the terms of the people here, a millionaire. Does such a small drop in your continuously building fortune dissatisfy you in true honesty?" Calm Milo teased, the zebra's face smirking almost playfully as the other said this.

"Ok. Ok. I guess not. But," Milo reached up to grab at his mane and then rubbed over it furiously. "this doesn't mean that they're going to be my 'so-called' friends now. I did them favors and they owe me. Logically they'll see it as a debt to be repaid and try to repay me to relieve themselves of guilt. That's how these things work."

"Your assumption has merit, but is erroneous in its entirety." Milo spoke softly and Jamie had to stretch his hearing to catch what was being said next: his furry and slightly rounded ears perked before turning forward as he leaned in closer. "Some will see your actions as such, but the one known as Jamie will now. How can he as you have saved his life when it should have ended? The probability of him saving yours in turn to repay his 'debt' is less than one in one billion, and though possible that it could happen, yes, it is still unlikely. So, will he not feel a sense of gratitude towards you, which in turn, you could help to help deepen into a real friendship if you both take the time to nurture your feelings for each other correctly?"

"I...don't know. Logically, yes. Yet at the same time, no. The variables are too great to calculate with any certainty right now. I'd need to work at this camaraderie application to see how and when the situation could build itself up into something more substantial. But that could take years!" Milo scoffed at the mere thought.

"Then perhaps you should wait and see what happens in the following days to years to come. After all, we have the time to experiment with this theorem."

"Yeah, I suppose that we do, though I'm not happy about this!"

"When do you take the time to be happy?"

"When I'm crushing someone underneath my hooves!"

"And thus why it was deemed that you need to get out and explore other avenues of pleasure. Remember why we're here in the first place," That got a wince out of Milo and Jamie felt that he could almost feel the striped equine's pain. He must have really fucked up to get sent out here to the boonies.

"Alright, I'll...I'll give it a shot, but," Milo began but was cut off just as he was about to frown as his face suddenly uplifted into a smile before he could finish his statement.

"That is acceptable. This experiment shall continue until further data to prove its inefficiency is accumulated." At this Milo grunted and blew out a heavy sigh.

"Fine, whatever."

"Then shall we place ourselves into standby mode until morning?"

"Sure, I'm beat anyway." And then Milo walked away from where he was to head upstairs and into an unseen portion of the club. By this time Jamie knew he was too wasted to be conscious and shook his head before turning away to go and find somewhere to sleep of this weirdo dream he was having.

Then Sunday morning had come...

And everyone in the club woke up all at the same time, the strippers having left earlier to go back to their own lives the night before. Both the football team and the cheerleaders made their way out of the doors of the Black Butterfly to head for home all together, though some of the guys headed with the girls, probably to finish getting intimate with each other. After all, there was nothing like sex before coffee and pancakes to get the day started off right. Jamie ended up being the last one to leave as he was shaken awake by Milo, something the feline hadn't cared for as he batted the striped equine's hands from off of him several times as he curled up on the mattress he had found himself taking over last night.

Milo finally made the other get up when he barked out an order into the painted feline's ear, startling Jamie awake and getting his fluffy tail moving before the other knew what was really going. It was then that the two stared at each other for several seconds, both smiling with pleasant, though bashful smiles on their respective face, right before the zebra told Jamie to get out. The ocelot yawned and nodded before stretching himself awake to do as he had been told. Memories of the previous night assaulted his waking mind, but upon looking at the zebra, who was busy talking to someone who had just entered the sleeping lounge where everyone had shacked up earlier, Jamie decided to forget about it and move on with life. Whatever he thought he had seen wasn't worth worrying over anyway, especially if it kept the newly pleasant attitude that the zebra was maintaining in place until further notice. Why rock the boat when it was sailing so calmly, Jamie thought and then chuckled as he rubbed his eyes. He then patted his back pocket for his wallet and nearly blanched when he found it gone.

"Here," The painted feline blinked and lifted his head as he noted the black leather wallet his grands had given him hanging precariously within the beefy fingers belonging to the striped equine. "You lost this in the bathroom last night. If I were you, I'd really be careful of that."

"Oh, thanks man!" Jamie hurriedly took his money holder from Milo and then opened it up to search for his public transit card. Finding it, and sighing gratefully that he now had a way to get back to the dorms, Jamie flipped the leather folds close and made his move to get out of the club, though not before turning to look at Milo curiously. "Hey, Milo," The zebra cocked his head at the ocelot in question. "I hope you don't go back to the old you anytime soon." The wide eyed look on the other's face would stick with Jamie for a long time to come as he watched both apprehension and suspicion color across the striped equine's face. "I just mean, you know, I like the way you are now. Not in any kinda gay, faggy way, I just mean," Jamie licked his lower lip as he tried to find a way to speak his feelings. "You're much cooler now, what with helping everyone out and being more than just a captain to us on the field. I don't know if you know it, but everyone's been talking about how nice you've been and how much they respect you, well more than they already did, but that was just on the field. Now though, you're like...I don't know...a real person?" Jamie shrugged at that and then turned to head out the door. "You know what; just forget about what I said. It's Sunday, I'm hung-over and not making much sense any damn way. See you at school on Monday, dude!"

And then the painted feline was gone. Out the door and down the street, leaving Milo to stand in befuddlement over what he just heard. That was however, before a cocky smile lifted up onto the zebra's lip and the other began to chuckle heartily to himself. The bouncer behind the striped equine, a tall Rottweiler with more painted tattoos and scars than a gangbanger would want to have, had nothing to say as he was use to his boss' strange habits and mannerisms.

Sunday was chill time for everyone, including Milo as the Black Butterfly was closed to the public, and on Monday everyone came back together for the reopening of Red Veil's spring semester. The buzz floating around from many of the students was that Milo Thomas had gone through a big change over break and upon seeing the zebra walk around the campus, his mane fluttering behind him while his face busied itself with being buried into a book, several of the students nodded his way as they gained a new appreciation for the muscular striped equine. Yet, nobody was able to be as glad as the members of the football team were as they talked about everything that Milo had done for them, many of them in total disbelief since it just didn't seem like something the football captain would do. The murmurs of disbelief quickly grew into cheers and praise when said zebra walked into the room only to be tackled by his teammates as many of them came over to thank him. Surprisingly enough, in complete opposition of regular Milo-like form, the striped equine simply waved the others off and then smiled back at them while letting his eyes track onto a certain painted cat that found himself leaning against a pair of lockers well out of the way. Both the zebra and ocelot shared a knowing nod before Milo sharply bellowed out that they had practice to attend to and his new attitude didn't mean he wasn't going to work the sweat out of them to get them ready for the up and coming game.

It looked like some things would never change, but thankfully enough, some things did. And with that everyone geared themselves up and got onto the field.