1 - Hidden under the walls

The Casey family were vastly unaware of the mouse hole in their house. It wasn't that they were oblivious of it's existence but that it had matching door. Various furniture inside the mouse's burrow was done by on-demand additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, by mice and was based on blueprints handed out by the mouse who made the orders.

Despite the instant availability of most items, food was hard to come by and is what was forced the mouse to create an entrance into the house itself, but without being noticed. Until one day the mouse was sneaking away on top of a counter with his favorite cheese unaware of a cat-fox staring right at him. It wasn't until he looked the other way that he saw a blue and white cat-fox, wearing a green sweatshirt with a white hoodie, and typical blue pants. The mouse squeaked, slipped and all of his food dropped. "How long have you been looking?" The mouse asked hesitantly.

"Not too long," the cat-fox stared. "Who are you?"

Gathering the food, the mouse ears perked up at the question. "Um, I'm Aidan. Aidan Cheddar." The mouse, feeling guilty, put the food down and apologized for stealing. The cat-fox happily forgave Aidan. The mouse gave a huge sigh of relief. "Who are you? If you don't mind me asking."

The cat-fox pointing at himself with an eyebrow raised. "Me? Oh, I'm Zack Casey! This is my home." He smiled cheerfully and laid his arms down on the counter, staring at the gray mouse who was only two inches tall, and wore a green jacket and blue scarf.

Zack stood up, paws to his hips, "since you've already made yourself at home, you might as well be part of the family." He shrugged with a smile. Aidan was thrilled with excitement. "How's Aidan 'Casey' Cheddar sound?" Zack looked down at the small mouse. Aidan squeaked in excitement and nodded. The only problem was that the rest of the Casey family were vastly unaware of their new friendship.

2 - Meeting the family

The rest of the Casey family were unaware that Zack had struck up a friendship with a rodent or that they even had a rodent living in their home. Whenever Aidan wanted to stay with Zack, Aiden would hide in Zack's pants pocket until they were safely in Zack's room. Zack's family had assumed he'd been reading or playing games. Both were true, although now he had someone else to share the excitement with.

Zack told Aidan that eventually he would have to introduce his new rodent friend to his family. Both were nervous of how they might react. He wondered if tomorrow was good. Aidan didn't care, he hid in Zack's shirt in fear at the thought, knowing that he was the one stealing everyone's food, which made any day too soon for his nerves.

The very next day the family all lined up to see what Zack had to show. Zack raised his arms out and opened his paws to offer a mouse all curled up and scared. "This is Aidan."

Zack's parents stared in shock but Zack's brother Alex, ever curious, poked at the mouse. Aidan looked up at Alex and gave a shy smile.

"Um, hi." Aidan gulped waving nervously to Alex, unsure of what to do next.

Mrs. Casey, a pure white feline, was visibly miffed, "So, is this the rodent who's been taking our food at night?" She asked tapping her foot angrily at the ground.

Zack nodded and Aidan apologized. Mr. Casey, a blue and white fox, turned his wife around to him and explained he had not done any damage to the house other than making a doorway into itself. "All he ever wanted was food." Mrs. Casey looked away from her husband, pondering for a brief moment, and sighed.

Zack explained that he already adopted the rodent, giving their last name for his middle name and enjoyed having the rodent for company while the rest were away. The others couldn't argue with that, his parents only wanted what was best for him.

Mr. and Mrs. Casey both agreed to adopt the rodent into their family officially. Aidan squeaked with joy. "But," Mrs. Casey pointed out, "you would have to help out around the house just like the rest of us." Aidan nodded in agreement.

Aidan looked up at Zack and asked if he could move his home into his room. Zack agreed, and the rodent gave the cat-fox a big hug.

3 - Sunset

During one summers evening, Zack took Aidan, who was sitting on his shoulder, up above the neighborhood to a hill where there was a tree as old as the world itself. Zack explained that he always comes here to think while listening to music. Then he sat the rodent down next to him. "I've known you for almost a year and I trust you not to tell anyone of this place." Aidan nodded in agreement.

Tugging on Zack's pants leg, Aidan asked a very important question, "What did you do before you met me?"

Zack sighed and put his hand to Aidan, asking him to get on. The cat-fox placed his rodent friend back on his shoulder where they both would relax on what felt like an ageless tree. "I use to be a DJ." Aidan looked at the cat-fox with his eyes wide open. "I use to play every week for my friends as we went on wild adventures together."

Aidan was intrigued, "What happened next?"

"Well," Zack gently slumped a bit and sighed, "everyone moved on. They all went their separate ways, unfortunately. All I have left is you," he nuzzled the mouse, "and my longtime friend John who's underwear I still haven't returned"

Before Aidan said another word he took a deep breath. "Can I ask another personal question?"

"Shoot," the cat-fox happily replied.

Aidan pointed to Zack's pants, noticing the boxers slipping out. "Are those John's?" He hesitantly asked again. The cat-fox laughed and nodded. Aidan gave a huge sigh of relief, then he paused and looked over at Zack, who had his head down towards the mouse too. "Those are clean, right?" The cat-fox nodded again. "Um, good. Good. So, why did you steal his underwear?"

Zack chuckled. "There's this thing back on Earth known as '4th of July'. It's where you raise your flag up to salute for some people for doing whatever it was they did that day. So, I..." the cat-fox snapped his underwear, "wanted to celebrate. The only person I knew with the right colors as the ones on earth was John's. That's when I snuck in and stole his entire pair of underwear to find the right colors, which I knew he had, and lifted them up in place of our city's flag."

Zack placed Aidan on his tummy, "So Aidan, do you have any friends of your own?" He wondered, patting the mouse.

"No," the rodent gave a sad sigh. "When you found me that day it was just me. Most of my family had passed and I've been left to feed myself for a long while."

Zack was heartbroken. "You don't have a short life-span, do you?"

"Oh no!" Aidan shook his head. "We live as long as anyone else here. The problem was the typical mouse traps, being experimented on, or somewhere having to fight in the streets of Furville just to find a decent meal." The mouse looked up at the sky. "My Dad, who was the last I knew of to get caught, taught me how to survive and to learn from his mistakes. I also watched a lot of spy movies."

Zack grabbed his mouse friend, who let out a squeak, and hugged him tight, almost in tears. "I'm so sorry. Well, you already met my parents." Mrs. Casey had an attitude, you don't want to mess with her. Mr. Casey was more friendly around other people, though. Zack was fortunate at this point to not get his mother's attitude. "I have no idea how they ever got along." He shrugged.

4 - Old friends, new feelings

During one weekend, a knock on the door could be heard. Mrs Casey went to go answer. It was Zack's long time friend John. John gave a bow to Mrs. Casey and wondered if he could come in. "Of course! You're always welcome into our house," she said cheerfully. John thanked her and made his way to Zack's room.

While Aidan and Zack were playing up in Zack's room, a sudden knock came from the door. "Who is it?" Zack yelled. John yelled back in return, saying it was him. The cat-fox panicked, grabbed Aidan by his jacket, and shoved the struggling mouse down his pants. Zack ran to the door and opened it up. "Hey, John!" Zack grinned, trying not to sweat. Meanwhile, Aidan struggled to keep himself upright, pushing himself up ageist the cat-fox's bulge with his feet towards Zack's pants.

John raised an eyebrow and looked down, which was something he doesn't normally do. "Um, Zac-" Zack covered John's mouth, putting his second paw on his groin, gently rubbing it. "Am I missing something?" John scratched his head.

Aidan, a tad annoyed, though not the least bit angry, was starting to enjoy himself. He decided to get back at Zack and stroked his groin. Zack's eye twitched, letting out a cringing moan.

The cat-fox collapsed and undid his pants before the mouse went any further. "Don't EVER do that again... without my permission." The mouse walked out of Zack's fly, sticking his tongue out at him, having enjoyed himself for that brief moment and took note to those words. John coughed. Then both of them looked up, at the brown fox, having almost forgotten he was there.

John stood there baffled, yet frustrated. "What was that!?"

Zack gulped and moved his paw over to the mouse, "John, this is Aidan. Our new family member." Then back up to brown fox, "Aidan this is John, my oldest friend." Suddenly, Zack faced the other way and zipped his pants back up. Thankfully we're not blood-related or else that woulda been even more awkward, Zack thought to himself with a sigh of relief. Then he quickly turned back around at the two.

Aidan looked up at John, "sooo, you're not wearing any underwear underneath there, huh?" The mouse smirked. John smacked Zack. Aidan took that as a yes.

Zack rubbed his cheek, "yeah, I deserved that." The cat-fox kneeled down to the mouse, "You had better wash up. Unless you want Mom to know why you're carrying my scent." Aidan's eyes opened wide at the realization and rushed to Zack's bathroom.

John slapped Zack again. The cat-fox could only think that he deserved that too. "Can I at least have one pair of my boxers back!?" Zack nodded and asked in return if it meant he would stop slapping him. John nodded.

5 - The last mix

Zack was walking home after going holiday shopping with Aidan in his own little pouch that wrapped around the cat-fox. It was completely handcrafted for the mouse by Zack himself. Aidan loved it, but he could only remember the Halloween he had with his Mom long before meeting Zack. Aidan looked down at the walkway, sighing.

Zack wondered what was up. Aidan simply explained that he wished the cat-fox could have met his family when they were around. Zack felt sorry, yet he admired the mouse for how well he managed to survive without them. The cat-fox gently patted Aidan, "Hey, hun, at least you survived." He lifted the mouse's chin up, "You've made it this far, and I'll protect you." Aidan smiled wide, hugging the cat-fox's finger.

Zack was feeling a bit dismal himself. "I'll be doing my last mix this holiday," he felt as if he had done enough mixes to last him a lifetime and that it was time for a change. "It just hasn't been the same since everyone went their separate ways," he sighed. "I want to have new adventures and have them with you. I want to get to know you more."

The mouse was in tears, then paused for a moment "but what about your brother and John?" Scratching his head. "What about them?"

Zack chuckled, "Of course!" The cat-fox no longer felt dismal, feeling very ecstatic about his new life direction and finding Aidan in the first place. "The last mix will take place at our place with John too. We'll go out with a bang."

Aidan's only worry was Zack's Mom. A complete feline from head to two and her son was friends with the one thing cat's go after. "How has your Mom adjusted to me?" The mouse looked up at the cat-fox. Zack shook his paw at the mouse with that uneasy look on his face.

Zack shrugged, "She's a cat. Watcha expect?" The cat-fox patted the mouse again. "She's still a bit torn but things have changed since you were a kid. It's rare to find a cat that'll go after a mouse now." Zack kept his mouse close.

6 - Tomorrow

Zack and Aidan were back up at the hill where the sun was setting again. The mouse rested his head on the cat-fox. Zack gently stroked Aidan's shoulders. The two watched the skyline light up. Things were gonna be different from here on out and both were fully aware of that. Despite having adopted Aidan as part of the family, Zack's and the mouse's feelings grew deeper, Although the size difference did limit them in some ways - they didn't care. The two just wanted to be together.

The lights on the tree began to illuminate. Zack placed Aidan on his lap. The mouse tickled the cat-fox, who chuckled and squirmed. Zack lifted the mouse up and kissed his forehead. "You're so adorable!" He gently nuzzled Aidan. The two smiled, looking at each other. He placed the mouse back down.

The mouse rested on the cat-fox, "Had you not found me, I'd still be alone."

Zack felt accomplished, hearing that. Then he checked his pockets for his music player. "Here," the cat-fox handed the mouse his ear buds. "Listen." When Aidan placed the ear buds in his ears, Zack played nice calming music for him. Finally, the two relaxed together and looked forward to tomorrow.