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Hey there, pals. Free Association, Episode 22 here, Episode 1 is to the left and all. Have funs!

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_ Tuesday. _

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Knock knock knock.

Ka-chunk! Creeeeeeeak.

"Hi there..."

"Hi..."

A short, stocky raccoon offered a shy smile, before opening the door a little more fully. He presented a fairly homely image, wearing some soft, sleek-looking gray track pants (a few shades darker than most of his fur, which also bore a bit of a tannish-brown cast, next to the blank gray), and a black t-shirt with a small logo in the corner. His long, fluffy ringed tail flicked behind him, his caramel-and-chocolate eyes looked out with wet warmth.

"I'm just about ready..." he said, turning and heading back into the room. "You can come in a sec, I still need to get my shoes on and stuff... wasn't sure quite when you'd be coming, or I'd be ready, but it won't take long, sorry..."

"It's all right," the dark-furred wolf said gently over his babbling, stepping inside and nudging the door shut out of reflex. Trying not to stare at Jonathon's rear end when he bent over to grab his shoes, he looked around, nodding to the scrawny gray fox sitting at his desk under the loft. "Hello, Riley."

The fox gave him a genuine-enough smile and a little wave. "Hi." He looked back to his computer screen, frowning.

"He's way behind on an essay," Jonathon chuckled, straightening up, his sneakers hanging from one paw by their heels.

"Ah, I see." The wolf stuffed his paws back in the pockets of his leather jacket, habitually.

Outside, it had long since grown dark, and the news had mentioned freezing rain coming in around an hour from now. Brad supposed they'd have to drive back in it.

Flopping on his beanbag, Jonathon quickly applied his shoes to his footpaws and secured the laces, and then hopped up and grabbed a nice heavy jacket.

"Alright, I think that's about everything... nope, wait a sec, keys, and wallet, and where's my phone..."

"It was on your bed a little bit ago..." Riley mumbled, paws coming up to rub his eyes.

"Found it." Jonathon stuffed things into his pockets. "Okay. I think that's everything." He padded back over to Brad, and smiled quickly.

Brad smiled back. "Good to see you, by the way," he rumbled.

Jonathon's expression shifted back to that warm look he'd had a moment before. "Good to see you too."

Brad hesitated... glanced at Riley, who was engrossed in his computer... and then reached out, and pulled the other male against his chest.

Jonathon tensed, surprised... and then relaxed, rubbing his face against Brad's collarbones, nosing under the collar of the wolf's leather jacket. His arms wrapped around Brad's torso reflexively, slowly, gently.

Brad pressed his nose into the raccoon's headfur and nuzzled him with extreme prejudice. His tongue extended, and he gave Jonathon a little lick. The raccoon looked up, drawing back a bit.

Brad leaned in, and abruptly, not entirely by his intention, they were about to kiss.

Jonathon hung there for a moment, eyes squinting a bit, a single breath sucking in, and then blowing across Brad's muzzle. Then, he angled his head away, uncomfortable. "Brad..." He looked anxiously back toward his roommate.

Riley's eyes flicked over toward them, and he huffed. "I don't care if you kiss, not like I'm gonna watch. Just don't start making out or something."

Jonathon looked back at Brad. Brad looked at him, dipping his head a little. Jonathon glanced away, craning his head to see Riley again, and then jerked it back to his boyfriend, his eyes meeting the wolf's.

Wow, he looked scared.

Brad just held him, close and tight. He couldn't do anything to rescue Jonathon from this sudden situation, though he could feel how uncomfortable it must be for the raccoon. Jonathon felt a strong internal pressure to conceal his orientation, a pressure that coming out to his roommate hadn't totally relieved. And yet, he'd been given permission by the fox... so, if he didn't kiss his boyfriend now, did that mean he was refusing on personal grounds? Grounds that... might signify something wrong... in their relationship...

The raccoon was paralyzed. He gasped shallow breaths, the fur on his neck and tail visibly standing up. His ears were dropping back, and his eyes...

It was tearing Bradley apart, staring into those eyes. He couldn't stand it a moment longer. He had to take the dilemma out of Jonathon's paws.

With a gulp, the wolf darted in, and gave the raccoon a quick mwah, right on the mouth. Jonathon tensed, but his boyfriend had moved too quickly for him to back away, or something insane like that.

Brad drew back, and gave him a tentative smile.

Jonathon let out his breath in a rush. He smiled a little, too.

Then, quite abruptly, he blushed.

You dumb coon.

Brad let him go, and turned to open the door again, while Jonathon stood there, lips still tingling from the wolf's quick peck.

You dumb, stupid, idiotic, stupid dumb coon!

He'd just freaked out over kissing Brad.

Really going the distance to show him you're capable of moving on after Friday, aren't you, drumskull? The raccoon stuffed his paws in his pants pockets, and followed Brad out into the hallway.

"See ya," Riley offered distractedly.

"Yeah, see ya later," Jonathon responded automatically. The door shut.

The wolf exchanged a complicated look with the intensely embarrassed raccoon, cheeks and nose strongly red, visible through his short facial fur that tufted up when he blushed. His ears had dropped from the flicked-back fear position to the flicked-back-and-flopping-down position of humiliation.

Finally, Brad smiled a little, and urged him on with a paw on his shoulder. They began walking toward the stairs.

Damn... it's a good thing he understands you... Jonathon thought. At least... at least, well enough to realize what just happened. And how to handle it.

Brad was pretty good at taking care of stuff. That could have been a lot more awkward than it was.

Jonathon shivered a little. He didn't want his insecurities to be a hampering factor on what he had with the lupine guy... and he was afraid that was a risk, after multiple such occurrences.

Still, Brad was good at recovering from the raccoon's self-provoked awkward moments. If he'd learned anything from Friday... he should have learned that. And in any event, they were going to hang out, and hopefully have fun, and wasn't it just extra nice to see Brad again?

Yeah. Yeah it was.

The raccoon smiled a little to himself, as they exited into the chilly air, and began walking south onto campus. His blush began to fade; they passed the union; a car drove by.

"How was class?" Jonathon ventured.

Brad blinked and looked at him, and then smiled. He must not have expected the raccoon to strike up a conversation... but he delighted in being surprised. "Good! I was dumb and didn't do my homework, so I had to finish it after English... but I got it all done, and I even caught a couple mistakes in the rest of it."

"That's good." Jonathon smiled.

"Yeah." The wolf made a face. "Still kind of worried about that class, though."

"That's the one you've failed twice, isn't it?" the raccoon remarked, a wee bit sardonic.

"Yeeeaaaahhh..." The wolf's ears dropped, and he gave a sheepish chuckle. "I suuuuck at math, a lot... I think I can pass it this time, but... I thought I was gonna pass it last time!" He huffed.

"Which class is it, now?"

"Uh, it's Math 176... it's like trig and pre-calc and a bit of calc and stuff." He made a face.

"Oh, well heck, that stuff's easy!" Jonathon laughed. "I loved trig in high school, it's fun."

The wolf stuffed his paws into the pockets of his jacket. "Maybe for you," he said, a little grumpily.

Jonathon's smile faltered as he reevaluated his own words. "I didn't mean it like that," he said quietly, after a moment.

Brad's expression softened slightly. "I know you didn't," he grumbled. "Just... just, I'm not dumb, okay?"

The raccoon reached out, and touched his arm. They stopped walking, turning to face each other partway.

"I know you're not," Jonathon said, his fiery copper eyes fixed on the wolf's cool blue.

Brad huffed, looking away. "I know you know I'm not..." he rumbled stupidly. His neck felt hot. They resumed walking.

After a little ways, Jonathon glanced over to the now-silent wolf... and saw he was smiling, watching the sidewalk before his feet, now lost in thought. The sight made Jonathon smile, too.

They reached the parking garage, and Brad's ugly old car. Jonathon curled his paw under the rectangular door handle, waiting for Brad to unlock it. "What I should have said, is that if you want me to help you with math, I'll help you as much as I can. I was good at trig and pre-calc and all that."

Brad stuck his key into the lock. "You mean that?" he asked, dubiously.

"Sure do. What do you say we meet up in the library sometime? Maybe... Thursday, before your math class? You've got some time free, right?"

The wolf climbed in and unlocked the door, smiling. "Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

"Least I can do," the raccoon said happily. "I'm sure you could teach me some things, too."

The engine rumbled to life. "Heh. Like what?" They backed out and cruised out of the garage.

"Well, for instance... Hmm. I really don't know much about psychology at all, tell me something about it."

A little surprised, the wolf blinked, as he turned out onto the road. "Oh. Uh, okay, what do you want to know?"

"Just anything. Tell me something you think is cool, that you've studied."

The wolf considered. They rolled and shuddered along, pulling into the left-turn lane and coasting to a stop. "Okay, well... Okay. There was this fellow Maslow. Most psychologists tend to study people who have mental problems, you know, because they're the ones that need help. But Maslow liked to study the most successful, mentally healthy people. And he came up with this idea called the heirarchy of needs. Basically, it's like... like the food pyramid, except more general, about just everything you need to live and be happy. At the bottom are things like breathing, food, water, going to the bathroom, stuff like that. Also sex, heheh." He gave the raccoon a little grin, and Jonathon chuckled.

"Then at the next level is... oh, I should know these, they're going to be on the test... security, that's right. In different ways. Like, being able to feel secure that you're not about to be beaten up, but also not about to be fired, or feeling secure that you're making the right decisions in your life. Above that, is the level for friendship, family, people caring about you. Intimacy." He gave Jonathon another look.

"I see."

"And then, above that, is self esteem, and respect. Both respecting other people, and other people respecting you. Finally, at the top is stuff like creativity, spontaneity, and acceptance of facts. And what this guy Maslow said, after he organized them this way, was that everyone needs all these things in their life... but you can't fill the things at higher levels of the pyramid, until you've filled the things at the lower levels."

"Hm." The raccoon considered that.

"So, like, everybody needs friends. But, you can't have friends, until your need for water and food is supplied. You can't afford to have friends, you have to find food. And you can't trust people enough to be friends, until you can feel secure in that they won't beat you up or steal your food. But once you have those things, your desire for friendship becomes important, and you have to take care of it to worry about things like improving your own self-esteem."

"And you can't have intimacy until your sexual needs are satisfied?" the raccoon remarked dryly.

"Well... well, I think for the purposes of the sex one, pawing works as well as anything else," Brad said, a little flustered by the observation. "But, in a way, yeah, you're right. I mean, think about it. If you're sexually frustrated, you're not going to be able to commit the time and emotions needed to be intimate with someone. You'll just be like, raaawr, let's bang. Right?"

Jonathon giggled a little. "Right!"

"I suppose that doesn't mean you have to have sex or paw, because some people don't, just that you have to find a way to not be frustrated, before you can move up. And, of course, the whole point of the thing," Brad continued, pulling into his parking lot, "is to reach the top of the pyramid, and fill all those slots too. That's called self-actualization. It's basically the best and happiest state you can be in. And when you look at the criteria... A lot of people in the world are really, really struggling to reach it." He huffed. "Myself included."

"Yeah, can't say it sounds like something I'm really on top of, either," Jonathon murmured.

"Very few people actually manage to check all the little boxes." Brad climbed out of his car, Jonathon followed. "But, you know, the more you check, the happier you are. So, you just have to keep markin' 'em, and goin' back when life erases your marks." The wolf's little checkbox for 'intimacy' had been erased so many times it was starting to wear a hole in the page, and someone had scribbled all over 'self-esteem' and 'confidence' in angry red pen. Life was such an A-hole.

They traipsed up the stairs, and Brad pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. The dim lamps of the hallway were suddenly overpowered by a blaze of light from the kitchen, along with a wave of delicious smell; a moment after, a loud VRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRrrrrrrrRRRRRRRrrrrrr began on the other side of the big wolf. Jonathon followed him in, faintly amused by Brad's form silhouetted against the light, and peeked around his boyfriend to see what was making the deafening sound.

A skinny boar was standing over a blender, holding the top on with one paw and pulsing the switch with the other, his scruff of brown-black headfur wild and uncombed. Brad was thankful to see that he was at least wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt; he'd forgotten to remind his roommate that he was bringing Jonathon over today, and thus real clothing was warranted, as opposed to his usual habit of wandering around in just his shorts or underwear.

Marty released his grip on the blender and flicked it off. "Oh hey! I figured you'd be back here soon, you're kinda late-ish!"

"Yeah, had to run something by the psych department and then head up to north campus to pick up this fella." He jerked his thumb at Jonathon, who was standing a bit in his shadow. "Ended up being a lot of walking. What's with the blender?"

"I'm making nachos!" Marty said happily.

"In a blender?"

The boar snorted. "It's the salsa, dummy, the chips are still in the cabinet. Figured we'd want something to munch on, and I haven't eaten yet." He glanced expectantly at the raccoon.

Brad jumped. "Ohright! Jonathon, this is my roommate Marty, he's been pretty much my best friend since we started college. And Marty, this... is my boyfriend. Jonathon."

"Hello!" the porcine male said cheerfully, waving at the raccoon, even though they were only a few feet apart. "I've heard lots about you!"

"Hi..." Jonathon said, a little shyly.

"Of course, the way he put it to me was..." Brad raised his voice from his typical smooth baritone up to the boar's higher, raspier tenor. "'Geez, do you ever shut up about that coon?!'"

Marty chuckled. "I have heard lots about you!" he repeated, in a slightly more sardonic tone, and Jonathon laughed too, feeling a little flattered. The boar turned back to the blender and gave it a few more pulses, and then yanked the top off and dumped the contents into a bowl. "Arright, that's the red salsa and the green salsa. You like spicy things, Jonathon?"

The raccoon nodded eagerly. "Yesss!"

"Oh, jeez, not two of you. Okay, okay, let me get the poison, I mean peppers..."

"Want me to make the cheese?" Brad asked, shucking his jacket off quickly and tossing it in the general direction of the couch; it flopped on the floor halfway there.

"Yeah, the stuff's all over there, just toss it in the microwave, and then if you could stick the chips in the oven a sec they'll be nice and warm, I turned it on a little bit ago..."

Jonathon, no longer the center of attention for the moment, padded over to the couch and picked up his boyfriend's jacket, putting it over the back where Brad had probably intended it to go. Somewhat hesitantly, he removed his own jacket as well, and put it next to Brad's. He'd been in this very room twice before, but both times he'd been so unfocused on the surroundings, that in the bright light of the kitchen and with the bustle of another person, it seemed like an entirely new experience. He hesitated, and then sat on the futon primly. It was a little stupid, the way one always acts when in someone else's place for the first time.

At least he was fairly familiar with this futon, after Friday.

Whoever had arranged the furniture had at least a semblance of capacity with interior design. He supposed it would be a bit stereotypical to assume it had been Brad. The room as a whole was rectangular, with the front door being in one corner. That half of the room was the kitchen, while the other half was the living room. On the wall opposite the door, a short alcove right in the middle opened onto the two bedrooms, and what looked to be a closet.

On the living room side, everything had been arranged around a small coffee table, literally covered with magazines, newspapers, and other random crap. There was a scruffy couch with burnt orange, stringlike, multi-toned and horrible upholstery, with one armrest against the wall, its back extending out into the room in line with the entrance to the bedrooms. The futon, black and simple, was at right angles to it, against the wall with the entry door. On the other side of the coffee table from it sat Brad's desk, computer and printer a familiar sight from a week ago, and past them, the TV, a moderately-sized LCD affair, nothing gigantic. On the wall beyond was a fairly large window, and a bit of empty space between it and the end of the futon.

On the other side of the room, the kitchen was demarked by two parallel counters, both extending from the wall shared with the bedrooms. The nearer one, in the center of the room, was island-style, and had the stovetop right in the middle. At the end of it, there was a slightly lower counter section without cabinets below it, that served as the table. The further counter had the microwave in the corner (where Brad was standing) the sink, the blender (where Marty was standing), and then the fridge, leaving a few feet between the fridge and the entry door.

Marty came over carrying a large number of bowls awkwardly. "Green, red, spicy green, spicy red. There." He set the bowls down on the edge of the coffee table, putting the spicy ones on the side by Jonathon and the mild ones nearer the other side, and then paced around it and took a seat on that end of the futon. "So you go to the college with Brad?" he asked, turning to look at the raccoon with interest.

Jonathon nodded. "Yup."

"What's your major?"

"Technically undecided, but I'm focusing on chemistry classes and stuff. I'm probably going to do chemistry or chemical engineering, one of those."

"Ah, cool."

"How about you?" Jonathon asked, mentally switching to 'polite conversation mode' with a bit of effort. "Do you go there too, or..."

"Went there," Marty corrected. "I was the same year as Brad, so I graduated about a year and a half ago."

"Yeah, he was a good student, unlike me." The wolf's tone was a bit grumbly, there; the boar gave him a big grin as he ambled over. Brad set the steamy cheese dip between the two salsa groups, and then balanced a giant bowl of lightly toasted chips on top of an old newspaper. He edged in front of Jonathon and sat between the other two men. "Dig in, gents."

Jonathon did so, with gusto; that cheese dip smelled like it could bring about world peace and increase the global median lifespan to three hundred years. "What did you major in?"

"Statistics," Marty replied, "with a minor in logistics. Which is mostly what I've ended up using, my major's done me almost no good."

"He works at a shipping depot for some big science and industry type equipment company I can never remember the name of," Brad explained. "Testicle Minivan or whatever."

Marty rolled his eyes, while Jonathon giggled. "Testurin-Menaevon."

"Oh, I've heard of them!" the raccoon exclaimed. "Our centrifuges are all from them. At least, all the big ones, the little ones are Kenwick Sciences."

"Aaaah, the archenemy..." Brad intoned, while the boar scowled and grumbled things. "They ship faster than TM, it's won them a surprising number of contracts. And of course Marty gets all the heat for it."

"I think I remember when we lost the uni lab equipment contract, too!" the boar growled. "It was right after I started working there, my first internship with them."

Jonathon grinned. "If it makes you feel any better, your equipment's a lot better. The Kenwicks are so damn hard to balance, and we lose a rotor at least once a semester. Scared the shit out of me the first time it happened."

"I'll relay that to my manager," the boar replied, chuckling. "Maybe we can put it in our next ad."

Brad adopted a singsong PR voice. "Testicle Minivan - we never terrify young, bright-eyed chemistry students!"

All three were laughing now. "I don't know..." Jonathon replied. "I do tend to avoid creepy vans!"

"Want some candy, little boy?!"

"No, no, you have to use chemicals to attract chemistry students!" Containing his giggling with effort, Jonathon managed a wildly guttural, raspy voice. "Want some catalysts, little chemist?!"

Brad gave a giant snorting guffaw, wiping his mouth quickly to prevent cheese from dripping out too much.

"And I would be like 'Oh dear gawd yes the lab fee is so expensive!'"

The wolf wiped his eyes, doing a funny yelping laugh that made him sound almost like a coyote. "Oh geez... So... So I'll have to keep that in mind... if I ever need to kidnap you!" he said, to his boyfriend. "Catalysts, not candy!"

The raccoon giggled, and then his expression shifted a bit. "Weeelllll... I think in the category of words that start with 'C', you could probably pick something even better."

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What's that? Jonathon's behavior is nonsensical and erratic, you say? Why, yes! It is.

Anyway, yay, these two together again, right? This was a somewhat rambly episode, but it was also fairly long, so I don't feel guilty about the extra description and Brad's little speech about his major. When I was writing this the other day, a 2000-word intro quickly became a 7500-word extravaganza, so I decided to split it in half to make it a bit easier to read and think about. In addition to giving myself more 'breathing space', I like making episodes around this size because I do want you guys to think about them and not have small details get lost in there. But, anyway, next week will wrap up the Brad/Jonathon/Marty scene.

Wow, I'm chatty tonight. Quite excited for where FA is going to be going in the near future. I think some of you will be very happy as well. That is all :3.