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The room was silent for a minute, the only movement being Mrs. Walker bringing a paw up to her husband's shoulder.

Finally, it was Nate to break the silence as he waveringly repeated "...moving?"

The older lion sighed and nodded. "Got my orders earlier this evening. They actually wanted us to leave tomorrow so I could start Sunday, but then asked about Christopher's school. I told them your last two finals would be Wednesday, we got some strings pulled." He turned to his wife then. "It'll give us time to actually plan a bit, and pack up in an organized fashion."

The room was quiet for a moment again before Cross quietly asked "So... where are we going now?"

"I've been reassigned to Travis AFB in Fairfield, California - it's between San Francisco and Sacramento."

"C-California??"

"That's literally on the other side of the country!" Nate said, deflating even more than he already had.

"Could they have moved you any farther away from Dover??"

"Well... technically yes," his mom answered "there are bases all over the world, you know that."

"At least we're getting to stay within the country..." Mr. Walker added, trying to pull something positive out of the situation. It didn't work as they lapsed into silence again. Finally, the older lion forced a topic shift as his stomach growled. "I need to eat."

His wife handed him a plate as the boys, thoroughly lost looks on their faces, took their pizza with them back into the living room. Cross's parents sat down at the kitchen table as they heard the TV turn on. The two adult lions ate in silence for a moment.

Mrs. Walker finally shook her head. "And we had just bought the second car last month..."

"I know, hun, I know... I'm sorry."

"Oh Sam, don't say that, it's not your fault someone decided to reassign you."

"Well, it's my fault I picked a career where that's somewhat expected."

She didn't have a direct answer to that, shrugging and having another bite of her pizza. "I guess we've been here almost exactly five years now... Overdue for a move, maybe."

"Maybe... I was hoping it meant I would be staying here, though."

"Me too..."

They ate in silence for a minute or two, the only sounds coming from the TV in the other room. Mrs. Walker was about to say something when they heard their son speak up.

"...Nate, you haven't touched your pizza."

"I'm... not really hungry right now."

"Come on, hun... I know you're hungry, we didn't get time to finish lunch at school today, and you said as much while we were studying. Eat."

Pause.

"Don't make me jam those slices down your throat. You know I will."

"nnn... Fine..."

The boys lapsed into silence again, presumably eating. Cross' parents stared at each other for a moment, digesting the short conversation they just heard. Mrs. Walker was the one to break the silence.

"They both sound so... defeated..."

"Tell me about it," Mr. Walker grumbled. "You know, though I knew there was a possibility of breaking up a relationship Christopher might have, I never thought I'd feel guilty about that breakup being with another boy."

"Yeah... I always looked forward to having grandkids... It's still weird to think our son's gay, but I admit I've gotten somewhat attached to Nate. He's a sweet pup, and they've been so good together."

Mr. Walker nodded. "I think it's going to to be a rough next few months."

They ate in silence for a while before starting to discuss the logistics of the upcoming move and their schedule for the intervening days. They were interrupted a while later by Nate, who gave them a small wave and forced smile on his way across the kitchen before disappearing into the first door in the adjacent hallway, the bathroom. A little bit later, Cross stuck his head into the kitchen, looking toward the bathroom. He sighed, then shuffled over to the kitchen table and slumped down into a chair.

His father gave him a hearty few pats on his shoulder. "What brings you in here?"

"I - I dunno..." Cross answered slowly. "I guess it just felt... empty in there, all of a sudden."

"I hear ya, ace," Mr. Walker said sympathetically, his large paw now rubbing his son's shoulder. "Thanks for joining us."

"Your father and I were just talking about what we'll need to be doing over the next few days..."

"Packing and getting the house ready, right?" the young lion asked flatly. "I mean, we actually have time to do that this time around."

"Right," Mrs. Walker answered, "and even have a moving company ship stuff for us. Our new house will feel that much more like home..." she tried, but it wasn't helping much. Even though Cross knew that for any move they'd done before, he would've been thrilled to take more of his stuff than what would just fit in his smaller suitcase, this time he felt like he would've given everything up if it meant being able to stay.

Mr. Walker tried to change the subject. "Sooo... how was school today? And Spanish club?"

"We got our itineraries for Mexico today..."

"Oh." That line of conversation was instantly dropped.

Cross sniffed - whether from being upset or just being in the kitchen, he wasn't sure, but it made him decide he wanted another piece of pizza. He got another slice and came back to the table as his parents started to discuss more logistics. He ate it as his parents talked, looking toward the hallway entrance several times as he finished. His parents started noticing his glances and caught on as well.

Finally, as Cross' mother got up and took her and her husband's plates off the table, she said "He's been in there a while, hasn't he?"

"Yeah..." Cross answered a bit nervously as his father picked up empty glasses.

None of them talked while the dishes were being rinsed and put into the washer, so in the relative silence that followed, they were able to hear muffled crying coming from the bathroom. Cross, who had been holding together relatively well up to that point, seemed to crack hearing his boyfriend like that, his ears dropping against the back of his head. Worry and a touch of fear crossed his face as he started looking back and forth between his parents, wordlessly pleading for advice.

Mr. Walker came over and placed a large paw on his son's back. "Sounds like you need to go in there and check on him," he said supportively. He then leaned in a bit and added "I noticed that he usually follows your lead; you're confident and outgoing, he's quieter and more sensitive. I think he may need you to be the strong one here, ace. So this whole thing goes... well, maybe not better, but smoother. He might really break otherwise. He can count on you, right?"

Mrs. Walker would later tell her husband that he might've been putting undue stress on their son, but at that moment it seemed to be the advice Cross really needed. It was a mission, and it wasn't like he'd never been there to boost Nate's confidence before. His shoulders came up and back straightened as he gave his father a quick, sure nod before striding across the kitchen, into the hallways, and to the bathroom door.

The young lion knocked quietly, causing the crying to instantly stop, but Nate made no other response. After a moment of waiting, Cross spoke up. "Nate? Are you okay in there?"

It took a moment, but the Lab responded with a very unconvincing "...I'm fine..."

"Okay... Can you open up for me?" After a brief pause, he added "Please?"

He was about to say something else when he finally heard movement from within the bathroom, followed shortly by the click of the door unlatching. Cross almost crumbled when he saw the tearstains running down the fur on Nate's face, but he managed a comforting smile and just said "Now that's better..." He reached up and cupped the side of his pup's chin in his hand. The Lab let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and closed his eyes, tilting his head a bit into the touch. Cross then pulled him into a hug.

"This... sucks beyond sucking," the lion said quietly into Nate's ear. "I'm going to miss you more than you'll ever know. But if we don't have much time left, let's try to enjoy it together instead of worry holed up in different rooms, okay?"

Nate took a shuddering breath at the mention of their upcoming separation, but kept himself together (instead of start crying again) and nodded into Cross' shoulder. The Lab slipped an arm around Cross' back as the lion half-broke the hug, the two of them walking together back out to the living room. Nate finished his pizza as the reality show they had been watching switched over to some random made-for-TV movie. At one point, Mrs. Walker brought the boys two very large bowls of ice cream, commenting that they might as well indulge because they certainly weren't going to leave things in the freezer.

Normally whenever Nate spent the night, Cross' parents would let them know when it was time to go to bed and give "lights-out", but tonight they retreated to their bedroom without bothering the boys. As such, it wasn't until the movie ended and switched to a late-night show did the two realize how late it was. They watched for a while until a yawn from the canine was the catalyst for turning off the TV and heading in to Cross' bedroom.

The sleeping bag Nate normally used was laid out on the floor as usual. It was just one of the Walkers' rules, which was one reason the boys liked it better when Cross spent the night at Nate's, as then they usually slept together on the sofa-bed in the living room. The carpet in Cross' room was really soft, though, so Nate never complained.

The two boys slipped out of their jeans, the Lab slipping in to the sleeping bag as Cross closed the door for the night. The feline then made his way back to his bed and crawled in, reaching over to the light on his bedstand.

"...Well, good night, Nate."

"G'night Cross," the canine mumbled sheepishly from the floor, lying on his side with his back to the bed.

Cross turned off the light and lay down, staring at the ceiling. He quickly found out that he was not going to get to sleep easily tonight, his mind and heart spinning as they were. He started replaying some of his favorite times spent with Nate in his head... Great memories with other friends he had made over the past five years came up as well, but most of it was Nate, the best of it was Nate, what hurt the most was Nate...

He had just started to feel his eyes water when he heard some very light sniffling coming from the floor beside him. The Lab was apparently having trouble falling asleep as well, for the same reason...

Be strong for him.

Cross sat up in bed. "Nate?"

Like before at the bathroom, the sniffling instantly stopped as the canine tried to pretend he was already asleep. It didn't fool the young lion one bit, though, as he pulled his covers off and slid down to the floor next to the Lab.

"Hey..." He reached over and started rubbing the Lab's shoulder, which caused the canine to start shuddering a bit; he was trying very hard to not cry. Cross leaned down and kissed him on the head. Then, straightening up, the lion started unzipping the sleeping bag, saying "Alright, c'mon..."

"Wha - huh?" Nate said surprised, rolling over a bit as the top part of the sleeping bag was flipped off of him.

Cross coaxed the canine up. "There's no way I'm letting you sleep alone on the floor tonight, hun," emphasizing it with a quick hug.

"But - your parents -"

"I don't care," he quipped, easing the two of them up to the height of his bed. "Not like we haven't shared a bed before, anyway."

He flopped down onto his bed, pulling Nate on top of him such that the canine was lying almost completely on him chest-to-chest, a knee and a pawtip the only things connecting the Lab to the bed. Cross' twin left them obviously less room the the queen folded up in Nate's couch would, but Cross was actually quite glad for the closeness right now.

"Besides," he added quietly, "like I said before, I want to spend as much time with you as I can now..." He gave a light kiss to Nate's nose. "And I hate seeing you upset, I want to do all that I can to make you smile..."

Unfortunately, the show of care and affection had the opposite effect, Nate's eyes screwing shut as the sniffling and shuddering began anew.

The lion's calm face with a sympathetic smile fell quickly at that. "Oh, no, Nate -"

"I'm sorry!" the Lab gasped out. He put his hands on the bed and pushed himself up so that if he were able to open his eyes he would be able to look down properly at his boyfriend. "It's just - it's too much! It's not fair! I - I don't know what I'm going to do without you here.... There's so much I wanted to do with you..." He opened his eyes then, seeing Cross trying to smile up at him, encouraging him to continue and rubbing his arm. Trying to put things into words was at least keeping the crying in check. He gave a shaky gasp, then continued "I mean... We won't have prom. In fact, no dance wh-whatsoever, since I was out of town for homecoming this year. We won't take driver's ed tog-gether. Or some other random elective just to have a fun class together. I w-won't get to see your mane come in. We won't be going to M-Mexico anymore. And no more summer breaks at the p-pool, or winter breaks with making snow forts and having snow wars..." Another gasp. "Oh God , those last ones s-sound stupid saying out l-loud..."

"No, no..." Cross cooed, leaning up to give the canine a strong hug. "That's really sweet, hun; it's the little things that make every day feel so good... And just think of how many great memories we have..."

Nate returned the hug, his arms flapping up around the lion, sending the two of them fwhumping back down onto Cross' bed.

They lay there holding each other, lost somewhere between their own individual minds and each other. And somewhere in there, a wayward thought struck Cross.

"Hey, Nate..."

The pair shifted so they were looking eye-to-eye, the Lab with a questioning look.

"...I know we're not going to be able to do any of the stuff you mentioned, but..." He paused, second-guessing whether this was a good suggestion or not. But he had already started talking. "...Even if we won't have Cabo, we have right now - if, you know, you want..."

Nate's eyes went from questioning to confused, and then a moment later to realization. "Oh...! You mean... mate?"

"I... I don't know if I... we've been so close for so long, I think I would regret it if I had to leave and we'd never... it-" The lion swallowed. "It would mean the world to me if I could, even just once, give myself fully to you - if you would accept me..."

"Cross..."

In the darkness of the room, Cross couldn't read Nate's face clearly. What was that in his voice? Sadness? Pity? Uncertainty? Fear??

"O-only if you want to, of course," he added with an apologetic tone. "I would never want you to feel I forced you into anything, I would hate myself for that..."

They lapsed into silence at that, Cross looking up at his boyfriend waiting for an answer, Nate looking down at nothing in particular as his mind raced.

The tension in Cross' body was just beginning to slump away when Nate fervently nodded, taking the lion by surprise. "Yeah, let's do it," the Lab whispered.

"Are... are you sure?" Cross asked, skeptical of how long it had taken the Lab to answer; he truthfully didn't want to force Nate into this if he wasn't ready.

"Very," the canine answered, adding "You're right, I don't want you to go without having shared this with you..." And before Cross could question him again, he locked his mouth with the feline's, taking Cross by surprise with how impassioned and certain it felt.