FSE

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Chapter 5

The street was dark and the porch light on the fox's home was out like usual. Alex hopped up the steps to the door, a smile still on his face. He slowly opened it, trying to slip inside unseen but his father was on the couch, wasting away in front of the T.V. with his six pack of beer next to him.

"Huh?" his father grunted, turning his head as Alex walked in. "are you a soldier now little man?" his father laughed at his own comment.

Alex was still thinking about Will and wasn't able to muster a response, instead he stood sheepishly by the door.

"Hmph." his father turned back around. Alex took that as his cue to leave and walked silently to the bedroom. He slipped inside and closed the door, the light was off and his brother was rolled over in his bed. Alex slipped off his shoes and wiggled his foot paws. He kept thinking about Will, his eyes, how soft his paw was. He laid back and closed his eyes to let his mind wander.

"Did you actually do it?"

Alex turned his head to see his brother had rolled over towards him and was wide awake.

"Do what, make a huge mistake? I'm not sure yet. But thanks for asking.

"You know most people are excited when they get accepted for something" his brother could be a bit of a smartass.

"I don't know if I'd call it that, the whole thing was pretty intimidating honestly."

"Is it set in stone? What's next? Do you know what you'll be doing, where, when? Come on you better tell me everything." Joey was now propped up on his elbow, the visible whites of his ears alerting Alex to his attentiveness.

"I leave in two days," there was a pause after Alex spoke. He imagined Joey had a look of disbelief since he hadn't replied yet.

"You can't leave in two days are you kidding me? You can't leave me here just like that." Joey said with some frustration.

"I'll be back, I get vacation time I think. Look if it gets bad here in a few years you can just move in with me."

"A few years? I can't believe you're doing this." Joey turned onto his back and folded his arms across his chest.

"What? It's a job, money, I can go to school..." Alex felt a little guilty as he repeated the selling points like a recruiter would, "I know it's fast, and I'm sorry, but I'll be fine and once I'm settled in I'll be there for you."

Joey looked back over and Alex smiled at him in the darkness.

"You better not forget about me, I'll find you and beat you up," Joey laughed and Alex couldn't hold a giggle back behind a smile. Joey had gotten taller and bulkier than him once he hit puberty. He was on the wrestling team at school so he spent much more time working out and practicing than Alex spent doing anything physical.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Alex said, "but speaking about dreams... I had a dream about a wolf last night."

"Gross. Please don't tell me about your guy on guy dreams, and a wolf too? Weirdo." Joey stuck his tongue out as if he'd just eaten something unpleasant.

"It wasn't that even that kind of dream. I haven't said anything yet!"

"Fine tell me, but as soon as things get crazy I'm checking out."

"There was this guy, a wolf, but I couldn't see him and he kissed me-" Alex started to explain.

"I knew it, I knew it was gonna get gay." Joey interrupted.

"Jeez what are you seven?"

"Yeah, seven inches deep in your mom!" Joey clapped and snickered, proud of his comeback.

"My mom is your mom you idiot!" Alex sighed from how immature his brother could be sometimes.

"Aw why'd you have to ruin it." Joey shook his head as his muzzle distorted in disgust.

"As I was saying I met this wolf today and he totally reminded me of my dream, it was weird."

"Did you guys make out?" Joey asked.

"What? No we just met."

"Well you might as well, you aren't going to be making out with anyone for a while you know." Joey had a point, Alex was going to have to act as straight as possible, so kissing men was off his list of possible activities. His phone started buzzing in his pocket and kept him from retorting to his brother's comment. The screen lit up with Jay's picture and Alex remembered he had messaged him earlier for a ride home.

"Who's that? Your dream wolf sending you a message?" Joey said in a mocking tone.

"It's just Jay." he read the message quietly and replied, informing his friend he was home and about his decision to join. Within minutes he had too many replies to respond to, Jay was spamming him with short messages filled with his confusion and curiosity. Alex put his phone down and muted it so he could take a minute to think of how to explain to his best friend.

"Jay really wants your attention." Joey chuckled.

"I didn't tell him I was gonna join today."

"Well you didn't tell me either you just sort of went."

"So? It's not that big of a deal." Joey scoffed at that comment. Alex was about to reply when a knock on the window startled them both. Joey got up and flicked the light on before going to the window.

"Hey Alex, I think Jay really, really wants your attention." Joey slid the window up and Jay's paw flung in. The fox could be heard muttering curses as he pulled himself through the window. He flopped through onto the floor and sat there for a moment panting, the three of them exchanges glances.

"Don't look at me like that." Jay whispered angrily, his ears up and pointed like spear tips.

"What are you doing? You couldn't wait 5 minutes for me to reply?" Alex shot back quietly.

"Me? You couldn't wait a day without joining the Army? Without even telling anyone?"

"I already talked with your dad about it."

"So? You're my best friend not my dad's best friend." Joey had turned around and laid back on the bed, not interested by their bickering.

"I'm talking to you right now, what more is there to say? I joined and I'm leaving in a few days."

"A few days?!" Jay raised his paws in anger, first bawling them up and then opening them up in front of him. He couldn't manage to find an outlet for his anger because he was unable to be loud without alerting Alex's parents. Jay's eyebrows eventually settled in an upright position, as if waiting for some explanation or apology. Alex responded with silence first and hunched up his shoulders.

"I'll be back! It's not a permanent thing. I might even make it to college before you graduate." Alex's words bounced off right off of Jay.

"They're going to eat you alive."

"What are you talking about?"

"My dad makes our family go to these lame military dinners with him and they treat us like garbage." Jay's whispering had tapered up to a normal volume though he looked like a pouting infant on the floor.

"It wasn't that bad when I went today." Alex lied through his teeth, his tail moving behind him anxiously.

"Just wait till you're surrounded by them, one time a damn wolf gave me his jacket expecting me to hang it up for him."

"I bet he was just messing with you."

"No, he barked at me when I didn't take it and told me to get out of his face. That guy was a doctor, imagine the crap you'll get from being grunts."

"Not all other species are like that, I met a wolf today that was alright." Alex crossed his arms and Jay stood in disbelief. The bigger fox turned and slapped Joey's leg to get his attention.

"Hey! What did I do?" the youngest fox pulled his legs up and wrapped his tail around them.

"Your brother's getting cozy with wolves and you don't think that's weird?"

"Oh we're past that point, he's having dreams about em' too now." Joey smirked.

"Shut up Joey!" Alex's voice escalated and like clockwork there was a thundering down the hall. The brothers groaned in unison before the door to their room flung open and an irritated father stood in the doorway. The light flicked on and they all flinched briefly.

"Keep it-" he paused, noticing after a few seconds that there was an extra person in the room. "What are you doing here? When did you come in?"

"Hello Mr. Rocker, I came in with Alex earlier, don't you remember?" Jay's face was about as pleasant as a car salesman's. Mr. Rocker's frustration faded to confusion as his eyes wandered to the side.

"Oh... Right. Don't stay too late, and keep it down in here." he left the light on as he shut the door firmly. Joey sighed and Jay gave Alex an odd look.

"Coach Wynn is intimidating but your dad's on a whole other level dude."

"You scare awfully easy for a jock." Alex smiled and flicked his paw at his friend.

"No really, I could smell the alcohol as soon as the door opened, is he always like that?"

"Why do you think I never invite you over?" Jay just shook his head.

"What were we talking about before he came in?" Alex asked, inviting his friend to lay next to him on his bed. Jay walked over and crawled over his friend to lay next to him shoulder to shoulder.

"I was telling you about your poor life choices. Did you're bed get smaller?" Joey asked, his eyes trained on the ceiling.

"I think we just got bigger, remember when we used to lay here and talk about everything?"

"Yeah, way back in the day." Jay moved his arms, trying to get more comfortable by pushing Alex closer to the edge of the bed.

"Watch it fatty you don't need the whole thing." Jay laughed at his friend's comment, swatting his paw at Alex's side.

"I can't believe you're doing this." Jay's voice was quiet and his words sounded defeated.

"I know, that wolf I met might help me out though."

"You can't trust wolves dude, or any other species for that matter. Do you remember when we played soccer as kids and went uptown for those league games?"

"Of course, that was the last time you played soccer."

"Do you remember what happened when we finished?"

"They wouldn't shake our paws but so what? They were just sore losers."

"No, it's because we're foxes, they think they are better than us."

"They don't all think that." Alex shook his head gently from side to side. He really didn't want to talk about this with his friend before he left.

"They do. Why do you think inter-species marriage is illegal? Remember that tiger exchange student? His first day he pushed Mark Hagel into the mud because he sneezed standing next to him."

"Look, the world is messed up I know. There's nothing I can do about it. All we can do is deal with it you know?"

"Just take care of yourself, don't take shit from some other species just because they are bigger than you."

"I'll do my best not to pick fights." Alex said jokingly.

"You better, I won't be there to back you up." Jay's smile finally came back to Alex's relief.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Alex got up and walked over towards the window. "I've had a long day, do you think I could head to bed sometime?" the fox was too lazy to bring his paw up to cover a yawn.

"I guess, you want to hang out tomorrow?" Jay scooted to the edge of the bed and jumped up. "By the way, how much time exactly do you have before you lose your soul?"

"Ha-ha, I was told early in two days. Not tomorrow but late night-ish, early morning the next day. Do you think you'll have room in your busy schedule?"

"I might be able to make room, I mean I'm not a basketball star just yet."

"You keep working on that." Alex said as he helped his friend out the window, holding his forearm to ease him down the side of the house. A few more whispers and Alex closed the window, he was relieved that his friend wasn't too upset. Joey had fallen asleep despite their talking and had begun snoring softly. Alex headed to flick off the light before returning to tug some sheets up over his brother. He flopped down in his own bed and did his best to fall asleep. Jay did good job activating his imagination in bed and the fox hoped he wouldn't encounter too many furs who fit his brother's narrative.

The next day went by too quickly for Alex. Hugs, goodbyes and social media entries seemed to take up the whole day. He went around with Jay to give the news to their closest friends and most were as surprised to hear the news as Jay was. Some weren't so supportive but Alex figured at least he had a better idea now who his friends were. Mr. Johnson was kind enough to have an impromptu bar-be-que to send Alex away. Joey was there but their parents couldn't seem to make it. There was a strange feeling of guilt that kept coming up within Alex. He wasn't upset that his parent's seemed disinterested, just disheartened over his own apathy towards their disinterest.