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Cool Victor fan art by the always talented and generous kensukethecat ! Go check out his work - there's plenty of HH fan art where this comes from! Thank you, Kensuke, this was an awesome surprise to me and all the readers of HH!

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Hehhey, and welcome to the Hockey Hunk!

We're slowly approaching the end of the season, but that doesn't mean it's over yet - expect half a dozen chapters before the exciting season finale! *chuckle* It's business as usual today as well, so don't forget to comment, vote, fave and watch! All feedback is appreciated and will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!

Have a good read, everyone!

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It took some effort to get two slightly ill-on-the-legs furs plus one surgical mask-wearing cougar who didn't like touching doorframes out of the one curb-side door of the cab, but eventually we made it there, the whole threesome expelled and set to the hard concrete. I got my crutch-legs working again with a couple of swings of my tail and a little baby steps back and forth while Peter paid the cab, and Victor...well...he was just doing a lot of teeth-gnashing, the seeing of which reminded me of the fact that it was soon probably going to become the standard expression amongst us.

Weather was nice, though. Summer was definitely gearing up with the progression of June, and it must've been a comfortable 68 degrees out there. Sun nuzzled my cheeks pleasantly, and even amidst the blaring of car horns and over-excited gas pedals, my eyes could nonetheless enjoy the peacefulness of the park that opened behind us. Taft Park was a stretch of green about half a mile long in the center of the city, having survived mostly by the good grace of millionaire benefactors and the hippies, apparently, and it continued to bring joy and carbon dioxide reductions to everyone in Kirk.

Maybe the lush natural beauty would be enough to tame one big Dobie brother as well, I hoped, a bit hysterically.

"Well, let's not just stand here," Peter's voice suddenly cut through into my mind, and made my ears flick in his direction. "He could already be in there, it's almost eleven."

I didn't know whether to step forward or try to board the next passing motor vehicle. I turned my head to look at Peter, who now stood there nearby, eyes gleaming over the rim of his mask while he pushed his phone back into his pocket with a gloved paw. He seemed calm enough, but knowing his issues with crowds and soil, I wasn't so sure that he was quite as Zen about this as one might think at first sight.

I owed him my ass big time after this, I knew.

Damn Peter, always knowing the right thing to do.

"Yeah," Victor rumbled in reply.

I hurried to nod, too, and it was Peter who led us towards the nearby gate that'd let us enter the park. Victor and I fell into pace a couple of steps behind him, going along our own slower way. It made me feel safe, in a way, having the big Dobie to collapse onto should I trip and loose my balance, but then again, Victor had his own injuries to heal, and I didn't want to cause a relapse.

Better stay on my four nice paws then, I decided with a determined rumble.

"Damn, it's ice cream weather," Peter purred ahead of me, tail flicking about as he walked along. "You guys want any while we look for Cobb?"

My tail bounced a little with surprise, but I managed a smile when Peter looked over to me, briefly.

"I'm not really hungry," I replied.

Victor only rumbled something incoherent.

"Aww spoilsports," Peter declared, passing through the opening the red brick wall that separated the fairyland from the curb.

The little rubber paws on the ends of my crutches made scratching sounds on the fine gravel that formed the walkway between patches of manicured grass made for casual sprawling out except for the "DON'T GO TO THE LAWN!" signs. Maybe forty yards ahead of us, an entire school class seemed to be queuing up to the small ice cream and beverage kiosk, overseen by a harrowed-looking squirrel. I snuffled at the sight.

"Well, Peter, aren't you glad that we don't want ice cream now?" I pointed out the crowd with a flick of my tail and grinned. "It's gonna take ages to sort that mess out."

The cougar winked at me and flipped his own tail in clear proximity to my own, though not touching.

"Might've been fun watching it when the first cone gets dropped down to the ground and the wailing starts," Peter replied.

My ears dropped against my skull in preparation for the predicted sound, but thankfully Peter led us along the path to the left, which would take us to the banks of the small pond in the center of the park. I remembered that was the landmark Victor had given for Cobb as the place where to find us once we were all at the park. The knowledge caused me to keep my eyes sharp and my ears even sharper for SOUNDS EFFECTS OF THIS SORT. Victor's good ear was scanning the perimeter like a search radar, too, and his paws were stuffed in his pockets. I wondered if he had concealed any Cobb repellent in there, too. Peter walked ahead of us still, rumbling as he went.

My pulse quickened with each step we took forward to the potential Cobb location, but once we reached the shores of the Taft Water, there were no big Dobies in sight except for the one standing two feet to my left. My periscopic eyes proved that the other side of the pond was clear as well, and there were no Holdens floating face down in the patch of water either, which seemed like a good sign.

The other furs in attendance were not numerous, and I was definitely glad for that. If this was going to become a public showdown, I really didn't want much of an audience for that. The park was still preferable to any more private place, though, as we had agreed, the triumvirate of me, Peter and Victor, planning our eventual encounter with Cobb. Maybe neutral territory would spark some sense into Cobb, too.

A whole damn lot of maybes in the air today, it seemed.

"Are you okay, Rory?"

My ears perked at the rumbling, masculine voice slipping into them like a soft kiss inside my head, and I turned to face the Dobie standing a couple of feet from me, looking at me. I smiled a little, and flicked my ears.

"Considering the circumstances, yeah," I replied.

"Do you need to sit down or something?" Victor waved a big paw in the direction of the nearest park bench.

Awwww.

I smiled and shook my head a little.

"I've been sitting down for a month, I think being on my paws is doing me much more good," I said, giving little twists of my wrists to show off my aluminum spare legs.

"Okay," Victor nodded.

"I'm fine," I added, softly.

Victor smiled a little, and patted my arm.

"Alright," he said.

I smiled some more, and felt glad that Victor was comfortable enough with himself and me to offer me some comfort, and in public, even. That was certainly a boost of confidence on me, even if it didn't really take me up to remarkable levels of leonine swagger.

"Five past," Peter declared, holding up his phone to see. "Let's hope that your brother didn't decide to skip this, Victor."

The Dobie rumbled and puffed out his cheeks in a big huff.

"If he tries anything like that, I'm going to kick his ass," Victor grumbled.

I tensed a little. It wouldn't do any good for us if we were already worked up before Cobb came here, because then it would be by all means inevitable. Trying to stay calm and focused felt like the best way to go, but Victor's unease felt infectious. I couldn't blame, him, though. So much depended on this whole thing, it was almost scary to think about it.

"Maybe he's having trouble getting here, is all," I suggested, hoping to earnest, "Not his city and all that."

Victor snorted.

"I'm sure that any cab driver knows how to get here," he said, "and I did tell him to take one and not mess around with the busses, or walk."

Well I couldn't argue with that.

"Is he usually punctual?" Peter cut in.

Victor gave the cougar a look and flicked his good ear.

"How about unusually?" he snuffled.

Peter scratched his own arm and gave a friendly curve to his looping tail.

"Quite," Peter replied.

"Well I wouldn't be worried until, say, half past," I tried to sound light and flippant about it, but I knew that my voice and my ears were probably failing me big time. Still wouldn't hurt trying, right?

"Bah," Victor gripped his jaw and grumbled into his palm.

"What a nice little view," Peter commented, kicking the ground, "kinda makes me want to try skipping stones...shame there aren't any around..."

I glanced into his direction and saw that Peter was staring over at the pond, likely to observe its little population of mallards that were swimming in formation and generally probably enjoying the aquatic lifestyle and the sunlight.

"Others probably got that same idea before you and have already thrown every single rock in this park to the pond," I noted.

Peter's tail made a pleasant number 6 behind him, and I could see him dig his paw into his pocket again. Instead of taking out his phone, though, what appeared held between his fingers was a small Ziploc bag that contained coins. My ears perked a little at this curious appearance of Peter's change purse, so to speak.

"Now suddenly fancying that ice cream, Peter?" I asked.

The cougar smirked at me over his shoulder while he unzipped the bag and took out a quarter, which he then promptly tossed into the water. It made a little splash, but didn't skip.

I glanced over at Victor, who gave me a puzzled look. Peter witnessed our exchange and chuckled while he was putting the bag containing his disinfected coins back into his pocket.

"For luck," the cougar smirked.

"I'm not sure that the Taft Water doubles as a wishing well," I mused.

Peter shrugged.

"I've seen it double as a toilet and a swimming pool too, so why not?"

I suddenly felt very glad that there were only mallards floating in the murky water. I gave Victor a look and smiled a little, and was happy to see that Victor smiled back to me, too. He didn't look very happy, though, not overall. I knew him well enough by now to know. Must've been the effects of the waiting, slowly growing on him. I wasn't immune, either. My heart was already racing, and my tail kept on making more and more nervous flicks while I paced back and forth carefully, especially happy for my newly mastered backwards double crutch sashay. It helped to be on the move, even if I knew that any time I turned my head, I might suddenly be staring The Cobb in the face.

"Maybe I should call him," Victor spoke after a while, drawing our attention.

Peter snuffled.

"He did say that he was coming last night, so I think he owes us," the cougar mused. "And I doubt he wants any extra wrath from his brother, either."

Victor kicked the ground and rumbled.

"I'll sure as hell show him wrath if he decides to misbehave," the Dobie rubbed his paws together aggressively.

We hung around for a few minutes further, until Peter suddenly went...

"Aha! Godot's here!"

I'm sure me and Victor looked almost comical, with our eyes perking in his direction simultaneously, followed by our eyes once the cougar lifted one of his white-gloved paws and pointed.

Yeah...

There was no mistaking that the shape approaching the other side of the lake was exactly what we were waiting for. Forty yards or so away, a tall Dobie was approaching, and unless Victor and Cobb had suddenly acquired a brother I didn't know anything about, I was pretty damn sure that Peter had made a positive identification.

Nonetheless, it was still a very strange Cobb that loomed on the other side of the lake and moved towards us. The tall male was walking with an oddly staggering gait that only seemed to make his usual excitable walk seem even more so. His ears were half-flat and he was also wearing a pair of square sunglasses.

"Oh, shit..." I could hear Victor mutter under his breath.

Cobb must have noticed us at that point, because he altered his trajectory immediately so that within the next 20 seconds, he was crashing onto Victor and pulling his brother in a massive hug. Cobb's arms flew around his brother's waist and he practically planted himself all over the quietly rumbling male while squeezing their bodies together. Victor tensed obviously, but did put one paw over Cobb's back, and gave it a pat while I watched.

"Ohhhh Victor I was so worried..." Cobb slurred against his brother's shoulder, ears flat while he squeezed down on Victor.

Victor let out a muffled sound that was almost like a bark, which roused Cobb's face from his shoulder. That brought the Dobie and his somewhat lopsided sunglasses-covered eyes into contact with me and Peter. The reaction was instant and consisted of bared teeth and a deep growl.

My stomach churned unpleasantly, especially since I could see Victor's ears flatten, including the recovering one, which surely felt nasty for Victor. I could hear his rumbles increase as he put his paws onto Cobb's sides and extracted the overpowering brother from his person and kept him them at an arm's distance. Cobb looked at him, eye to eye now, and I could see that he was breathing heavily. Victor flinched.

"Jesus, you stink, Cobb!" Victor huffed, sniffing loudly now. "And fuck...if that's the Jack Daniels I'm smelling and you showed up here drunk..."

Victor's voice deepened and grew louder despite the fact that we were in public, and I could see Cobb's ears going fully flat now. A deep grunt left the Dobie bro's throat.

"Don't shout, Victor," Cobb muttered.

"If you're drunk, Cobb, I ain't going to talk with you," Victor grumbled.

Cobb shook his head.

"Sheesh, don't shout!" Cobb shouted. "I've got a headache..."

Well, I guess that explained the sunglasses. Maybe Cobb would've preferred a dark alley for this meeting instead of the park.

Victor bared his teeth.

"So you have been drinking, eh?" the Dobie grunted.

Somehow Cobb managed to appear as if he was pouting, even without visible puppy eyes.

"I was worried about you...and you weren't answering my calls..." the Dobie bro grumbled.

"I didn't have anything to say to you back then that would've been sensible," Victor replied.

Cobb's ears spoke dubiousness, as did the quick glance over Victor's shoulder, in the direction of me and Peter standing here, behind Victor.

"Or maybe he told you not to answer..."

Victor huffed and prodded Cobb's ribs on both sides, making his little brother jump momentarily. I wasn't even sure which one of them was growling more now.

"Just chill out, Cobb," Victor grumbled. "And you better listen what we've got to say now, or things are gonna get really rough here, ok?"

Cobb stepped away from his brother's reach and then remained there, glaring at the three of us, head tilted down to the side a little. He was breathing heavily still. Even a few yards away, I could smell the old liquor on him, besides sweat and general unwashed Dobieness. My nosepad wrinkled instinctively.

"Humph," Cobb humphed.

Victor folded his arms over his chest and faced his brother properly now.

"I hope you understand what kind of a mess you've gotten yourself into, Cobb," Victor rumbled. "Frankly, I'm shocked that you could go on doing things like that behind my back."

Cobb snorted and waved his paw in my direction.

"Maybe he shouldn't have given me a reason to," Cobb hissed.

I tensed, and almost opened my muzzle to respond, but Victor grumble stopped any attempt to speak from my part.

"Don't give me any excuses," Victor muttered. "You went on behind my back and hurt Rory pretty damn badly. And insulted him, and me too."

Cobb shook his head.

"Well what else could I have done if he hurt you first and then tried to sneak back to you through me?" the Dobie bro muttered. "I was just trying to defend you!"

"I can take care of myself," Victor replied in a low, dangerous voice.

"So what about him cheating on you?" Cobb was now outright pointing at me. "What's that then?"

I bit my teeth together and braced for it.

Victor grabbed Cobb's arm by the wrist and forced his paw down.

"Don't make a scene," Victor muttered.

Cobb snorted.

"I'm not making a scene, I'm just saying that I was trying to care of you and not let things go bad again like they did with that bastard Isaac!"

Victor lunged forward, his teeth snapping as he momentarily hovered very close to his brother's face.

"Rory is not Ismail and don't you dare to imply so now or ever," the Dobie hissed, dangerously and between his teeth, before he shoved himself back by taking some leverage from Cobb's chest with his paw.

The Dobie bro staggered a step or so backwards, and let out a bark of displeasure. Victor grumbled and stood still, stoic as ever, and staring his equally heighted brother down from a couple of feet away. Cobb was panting.

"I'm so damn tired of arguments that I'm not going to start with you, Cobb," Victor muttered. "I know everyone's done a few stupid things as of late and that includes me too, but that doesn't mean you can go on doing stupid stuff like that behind my back. Do you understand me?"

Cobb shook his head, ears drooping.

"I just can't stand seeing you get hurt, Victor!" the Dobie's voice was raised in his reply. "Never could and especially not by those lousy cheating bastards!"

"Nobody is cheating on anyone," Victor waved his paw angrily. "And you better damn believe me when I say it now, so that you can let it be."

"But you were in pieces, Victor!" Cobb moaned in reply. "You were moping for weeks!"

"I know!" Victor replied, his voice low.

It really started to look like they might actually begin to grapple each other soon, besides barking at one another, and I wondered whether I could do anything to prevent that should things heat up to that point. I just hoped that this wasn't all going to end up to a KCPD holding tank.

"So what else could I have done?" Cobb muttered. "I wanted to tell him to stop hurting you and I did!"

"And you should have asked me about it," Victor replied. "Ask me to the phone or whatever else besides doing what you did."

Cobb shrugged.

"I didn't want to give him a chance to sneak back on you, Victor, you know that! "

"You should think more and know less, I think," Victor snorted. "And most of all, I think you should apologize Rory right now. I'm not the only one who's gotten hurt here, Cobb."

The big Dobie's ears and blackened eyes turned in my direction, and I froze.

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Thank you for reading!

Stay tuned for a next exciting chapter on Monday!