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"I can't be_lieve_your boyfriend likes mint ice cream. And I thought he was fuckin' hot."

I couldn't help but snort - and then also couldn't help but shiver with the slight tickle of Sandra's paws coming up along my side, pressing the smooth fabric of the suit closer in against my body. The original plan was just for Lexi to come along to my suit fitting (she's a girl, she knows her shit when it comes to fashion) but after meeting Sandra at the ice cream place after the concert last night, which_had_ to have been planned by this vixen on the other side of me, she weaseled her way into the adventure. Tony offered to sit this one out, since he wanted to be surprised by what they chose for me. I told him, I don't think it'd be anything quite so... creative as his suit.

He sparkled when I said that. I can't think of a better way to put it. He kind of took his lapels in his paws and preened, and I got that _"holy fuck I want to kiss him"_feeling. Something tells me I wasn't the only one, either: Sandra licked her lips when he did that, and Tony noticed and laughed, and returned a wink.

"I feel good tonight," he told me afterward, right as we were saying our goodbyes for the night. Sandra and Lexi had gone ahead to wait for me, and me and the cheetah stood there outside the door of the ice cream place with our arms around each other's waist and noses together. "You make me feel great, Matt. Something I have not felt in a long time."

"I noticed that you're really..." I licked my lips. "Confident."

He grinned. I was starting to get used to the little fluttering that he always ignited in my chest when he did that. "Yes..." One of his paws came up to my chest, as if he knew he made me feel like that. Probably did, actually. "You do that to me."

"I was worried that, since... you know, your thing with that... other boy..."

"Ohh, Matt." Little pink tongue flicking out across my nose, soft sandpaper. "_Perrito. _You are not him. I was worried at first, and yes, sometimes I still get worried again, but... you are not him. You are you. And I love that about you. You make me feel a lot of things that I never have before, and things that I have not felt in a long time."

"Oh man. I could say the same. You don't even know." Lean in - we both felt it - and kiss, nuzzle, kiss. Didn't even care that there were people walking by, in and out of the ice cream place.

"It has taken a while to be sure about it, but... I am happy." There was that smile again. "You make it so. I am lucky, Matt."

We would've continued there, had Sandra not tromped back over and threw her arms around our shoulders, to tug us away from each other. "Fuckin' lovebirds," she'd said, a similar grin on her face. Now she had that same grin on, knowing that under no other conditions would I let her poke and prod at me like this, both physically and emotionally.

It wasn't as if Lexi hadn't seen me in my underwear before. Me and Tyler used to have plenty of sleepovers, back when that was still a thing. Sandra I was a little sketchy about at first, especially when she slid into the dressing room and tugged Lexi with her before I could close them out, but... you know. Best friend of my best friend. That kind of thing. Besides, she wasn't weird about it, and that was the important thing.

"This fits a little tight, doesn't it?" Lexi said from the other side of me, and gave the collar a tug. "What do you think about the color?"

"Um..." Tony had said his favorite was orange - I believe - but he already had that covered, with his modern art piece of a suit. There was nothing quite on that level of complexity in this shop that appealed to me, and those that were in a similar style were also far out of my price range. The three of us today had so far narrowed it down to one of the solid colors, with maybe a pop of something else for the tie. Mostly I was just leaving it up to them. "A little dark, do you think?"

"'Cause your fur looks like fuckin' sand." That was Sandra. The possum looked me up and down, arms crossed in front of her chest. She'd make a good teacher, if she had the mind to devote herself to it - or a good grandma, if she'd ever want kids: she had that stance, that look, that solid glare down. Probably got that from having to face down receiving those looks herself. "Makes everything else look a lot darker. Um... earth tones go with earth tones. What about a dull green? What color are your eyes?"

"Green on an entire suit?" I held out a leg and looked at it in the mirror. This one was this deep, navy blue all the way around, probably the kind that would look black under any other lighting. "I don't know. That might look weird."

"No weird than what your boy was wearing." Lexi huffed and took my muzzle in both paws, turning my head to face her. "Hazel eyes... okay, with your fur, I think a green would look good too... yeah, Jesus Christ. Orange and white? Orange like that? Boy looks like a creamsicle."

Sandra shrugged, and turned me around to push me back to leave the fitting room. I just let them toss me around; it'd make it faster and easier, right? "A damn tasty lookin' creamsicle. If you hadn't gotten to him first, swear to God I would've. You know two people asked him out to prom before you did? Emily - the, the, fuck... the marten - and Sven."

"He told me." I shook her off once we left the fitting rooms; I was still capable of walking. "Wait. Another boy asked him out?"

"He does have that effect on people, you know..." Lexi mused, and shot me a sly grin. "You were interested in girls 'til you met him, remember?"

"Are you still_interested in girls?" was Sandra's follow-up. "I mean, this _is high school. Don't gotta know who you are just yet. I thought I liked only boys 'til I met Jenny." She shrugged. "Then I thought I only liked girls. Now there's your damn cheetah, and I'm not so sure anymore again."

"Matt, did you _know_he was a damn virtuoso?"

"No." We slowed down by the same section we'd spent so long browsing through already today. Good thing we'd decided to do this on a Saturday. "Well, I mean - kinda? He got here halfway through the semester, put together an impromptu audition for orch, and got rocketed right into first from there. The other kids were practicing for their solos all year, and he's had... what, hardly a month?"

"Jesus fuckin'..." Sandra shook her head, looking up at a wall we hadn't visited yet. Unsurprisingly, most of the suits here were either black or dark blue, with only the slightest variations between them: this one flares a little more, this one has more padding in the shoulders, this one has a lower cut, this one has longer lapels, and so on.

"He said he used to move around a lot." That much was true. We'd spoken about it a little bit in our off time and on those days where we had our free periods. "I guess sometimes for a short enough time that they didn't bother setting up internet or anything? So he didn't have much to do other than homework and practice."

"I could not do that." The possum reached for one, paused, drew her paw back, then reached for the one next to it, and looked over to Lexi for verification. "I was in band for one year back in elementary."

"You played flute. I remember." Lexi looked over the suit with her, then glanced towards me. "No offense, but you, uh. Weren't good."

"Because I could never get myself to practice! I don't know how he does it. I remember I'd get the thing out, and I'd try, but... I dunno. Just wasn't there." Sandra held the suit up towards me, eyes flicking back and forth. I posed, and Lexi stifled a chuckle. "At least I didn't have to take gym that year."

"The one good thing that came out of it... you know, Matt, maybe you should just stay in there while we do the shopping for you." Little smirk. Foxes were good at that. "First time you get to wait around in your underwear for two women?"

"Oh my God." There was_supposed to be someone manning the desk outside the fitting rooms to make sure things like exactly what we _were doing, didn't, but... it was a slow day. I guess most everyone else had already gotten their stuff for prom. "So are you two gonna tell me who you're bringing to prom?"

Sandra laughed so loud that I jumped. "Shit! You think anyone wants to go with me? Better luck Lexi going with Tyler, the way things are right now."

"Ooh." Could hear the vixen's shudder. "Don't remind me about him. He did ask me, and I _did_say yes, back when we were still together - and I wouldn't put it past him to try to go, since we already got the tickets. Try to pick someone up there. Ugh."

"I hear _you've_already had to turn some boys away, too," Sandra went on, pushing open one of the stall doors and ushering me inside. Here we go again. At least they let me undress myself. Another 'at least' was that I hadn't worn my bright orange underwear today. "What about a girl, then? Will you be my date, oh Lexi dear?"

"Yeah, sure." She said it so blandly that my laugh made her jump. "I was planning on going anyway to see our dog here and his little kitten. Can you cover your own ticket?"

Sandra seemed surprised too, but quickly gathered herself. Once I'd shimmied out of the other_suit pants, she handed the new one to me, wasting not another look on my almost-naked body. Thankfully. "I mean, yeah. I _was gonna buy a few more grams this weekend, but, hell. It'll be fun.

Lexi then voiced what I'm sure the rest of us were thinking. "God, I hope he doesn't show up, though."

"If he does..." Sandra shrugged again. "Just do what I do. Fuckin' ignore him. He deserves it. Lex, he's been treating you like rotten ass since-"

"I know, I know. And it's thanks to both of you that I finally stepped up and broke it off." She smiled at the both of us, though it took me a while to notice from doing up the buttons. "I don't know if I ever actually thanked you two for that, so... thank you."

I shrugged. What was I supposed to say to that? It hurt me, too. I felt that chasm most prominently on weekends, and between classes. During the time we used to spend together talking about whatever. "I don't think I've ever actually wanted to punch someone in the face before. Back when that happened, I was just... too startled to do anything, I guess."

"Oh man. I wish_he'd been there to see you smooch Tony yesterday. That would've just - _rrr. I dunno what it would've done to him, but it would've been so good. He almost had a fit when he saw my brother kiss his boyfriend once."

Oh, jeez. I'd forgotten that we did that not once, but twice, out in the crowded auditorium lobby... "How many people saw that?"

"Lots. You can bet on that." Lexi eyed me while I pulled the jacket on, and stepped over to the mirror. "If you were wanting to keep this quiet for a while longer, uh... I think you oughtta throw that idea out the window."

Sandra shrugged again. "I wasn't even there and I heard about it."

"Yeah, but you're friends with Lexi."

"I didn't tell her. Turn around?" I did so, and then stopped facing the vixen. She thought for a moment. "...Yeah, I think that's alright. I wish it weren't so... army green, but I don't think we have any other choice."

"Your other choices were lime and spinach green, so... whatever, right? It'll look black at the dance anyway." Sandra rose back up from where she stood along the bench, and readjusted the fit of the jacket. "But. Yeah, I think that looks good enough. Nobody's gonna be looking at you, anyway."

I mockingly grasped at my chest near my heart and pretended to crumble. "Ow. You've killed me."

"Yeah, well..." Another shrug, this one more noncommittal than the others. To my other side, Lexi laughed. "If you've got no other complaints, I think it'd be good for you to go with that one. Lex?"

"I think so too. Wait, did we decide - bowtie or regular tie?"

"Regular, I think." Sandra put her paw to her chin. "Fuck. We haven't thought about the color of that. Orange would be nice, but that'll get you looking like a comic book villain, I think."

"Purple?" I suggested. That was another color I liked, but I-

"Shit, no. That's even more comic book villain." Soft possum fingers squeezed at the empty collar, her brow furrowed in thought. Then, abruptly: "You know, his mom's pretty damn hot, too."

Lexi came over and rested her paws on her hips, looking me up and down again. "Ms. Amador?"

"More like Mama Amador. _Hooo_shit."

"D'you think it's just a cheetah thing? If she were ten years younger and asked me out, I think I might say yes. Actually, how old is she?"

"I was wondering that too! If she told me she was, like, twenty-eight, I'd believe it. And if she told me she was forty-eight, I think... I think it'd believe it just as easily." Once more Lexi eyed me, with that same glimmer in her gaze. "I hear Matt here's got her for a substitute teacher."

"Oh shit, is that right? I've seen her in the halls." Sandra stood up on her tiptoes. "I can't imagine what it'd be like if my girlfriend's parent was subbing for me..." Then, her ears flicked. "You know, I should rephrase that. Hey Matt, is Tony sub? I hear that you've already seen more of him than we've seen of you today."

"Um. Well, you - you might be surprised." I tightened my lips and avoided making eye contact, which I think was more than enough of an answer for both of them. Lexi burst out laughing, and Sandra looked as if she might get a nosebleed right then and there.

"Shiiit," Sandra breathed, while Lexi covered her mouth with a paw and murmured "oh!" - then the possum looked over me again, an appraising glint in her eye. "You're not exactly beanpole skinny, but you're also not really built. Can he hold you down without a problem? Or do you just let him?"

Relentless. For the rest of our little outing Sandra kept on - would you believe it - poking and prodding at me, while Lexi giggled behind a paw or slid in her own little quips. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy hanging out with these two (and this was really the first time I'd ever spent some quality time with Sandra), but I was more than glad to get home later that afternoon. The clothing store said they'd have the suit in by Wednesday, and if I needed any adjustments done, I could bring it back Thursday. Kind of tight for scheduling, but... that's what happens.

Dad's favorite subject of conversation over the weekend was the concert, and especially the soloists. He went over a few stories about things that happened to him when he was in orchestra in high school, and gave me that no-nonsense "You've got a good one this time" with his fork pointed at me over the dinner table in that way he did, when he moved on to talk about Tony. "I actually ran into Aurora afterwards."

"Yeah? I knew I saw her there." I wonder what she'd said to Tony then.

"Mhmm. I know the look of someone trying not to brag. Like a dang magnet for compliments, tryna pull 'em out of you no matter what. It's a good look for her." He shrugged. "Said the concert was recorded, and that was Tony's Sixam audition."

"Oh dang. Really?"

"You didn't know?"

I shook my head. Damn cheetah probably wanted to surprise me with it.

"Darn. Maybe I shouldn't've told you. Well - she said they had scouts there, which is apparently what they do with every high school in the area, but needed the audition recording for the higher-ups. Now, I never went to Sixam-" he looked up at me as if expecting a laugh. "-so I don't really know the level of skill they're looking for, but... I don't know, man. If you'd blindfolded me and brought me to that concert? I woulda thought it was a professional up there."

Honestly, I felt the same. There was a clear difference in skill between third and second orchestra, and then between second and first that difference was magnified exponentially. Have I treated Tony to dinner yet? Maybe that would be something to do soon. A kind of... 'congratulations' wasn't really right, was it? 'Good job'? 'Thanks'? I don't know.

Sunday night, I was starting to get that feeling again, that I miss you and I want to see you. I let him know before bed, to which he replied with a little heart emoji, a *kiss*, and an I miss you too. I will see you tomorrow.

That brought some warmth to my heart. I wanted to hug and kiss and nuzzle, and smell his scent, and-

One more message, right after I set my phone down on the nightstand: And I will kiss you too.

Shivers, remembering how Friday had felt. I wonder if his confidence and surety came from the same place as mine, the simple I don't give a fuck if anyone sees, I want this and he makes me feel good, and I want to make him feel good too.

Part of me also wondered if he knew I couldn't say 'no' to him...

~ ~ ~

Just like last week, this one felt like it went slowly. Classes continued to slow down as well as the end of the year drew closer and closer, with the official final testing week coming directly after prom weekend, probably in an attempt from the administration to cull debauchery and underage drunkenness and whatever. Trying to get kids to stay home and study rather than go out and mess shit up.

It was always times like these where you can really see the differences between the students. There were those who remained out in the halls, lunch in one paw and homework in the other, or you'd walk by classrooms and see some in there studying... and then there were those who put in arguably less effort than they did during the rest of the year, simply because they'd been taken over by that "I'm so fuckin' done" bug.

Ms. Amador let up a bit off me in class, though every now and then I'd look over and still catch her _just_looking away, that so-familiar amused glare in her eye. Monday when passing back last week's quiz - that was usually her favorite time to pick on me, passing back assignments - she had this curious tilt to her whiskers, and eyed me forcefully enough that she could've knocked me over if I weren't already sitting down.

"What?"

"'Tonio is excited to go to prom. He has never been, you know." Those whiskers flicked forward, relaxed. "Never had someone nice enough to ask. Until you."

I swallowed. "I - like him a lot," was my answer, a bit quieter. A kiss in a huge crowd was easy enough, but saying something in a silent room where anyone else knew _exactly_who was saying what... "I'm excited to take him."

Naturally, though, she wasn't the only person to question me about it. On my way to astronomy that day, Lauren - that striped tabby in the library - called me from across the hall, and spent a few seconds mowing through the crowd to get to me. When she did, she kind of shuffled around a bit there in front of me, last week's stack of books clutched against her chest; she'd probably be turning those in tomorrow morning.

"Um... hey, Matt..." she began, and swallowed.

Luckily I was already right outside Ms. Langford's room, so I wasn't in any rush from there. I kept an eye on the surrounding crowds for golden fur and black spots, and sunrise-orange eyes. "Yeah? What's up? I don't think we've had a conversation outside of a classroom or the library since last year."

"Hah. Yeah. Um... the concert Friday-"

"It was great, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! My - sister plays viola with second, so that's... that's why I was there, I..."

"I thought I saw her." How the hell were you supposed to treat talking with someone who's so nervous? I feel like it'd be facetious to say "I wonder why she's nervous", because if she brought up the concert like that, there really could be only one thing. "I was near the front." Do I say 'supporting my boyfriend'? Should I-

"That cheetah." Lauren swallowed again and glanced around, ears splayed. "First's pianist. Is he-"

"He's my boyfriend." Hopefully she could understand that, with how I'd said it. Relaxed and calm before, and then all of a sudden twitchy and nervous. I'd mostly gotten used to that word in my head, but actually saying it out loud to someone was something else entirely.

And actually saying it had the opposite effect on her. She visibly relaxed, and let her jaw fall open to let out a relieved sigh. "Oh thank God you said it. I was so_nervous to ask. I heard that you two kissed, and I just - I just saw you holding paws outside afterwards. _Aaaah. Goodness. Okay. That's the cutest. I just wanted to make sure. Um..." Then, she lifted those books up a little bit. "See you tomorrow?"

That's the cutest. A different little warmth blooming in my heart, coolly dousing the smoldering flame of nervousness. That pushed a little smile to my muzzle, and I nodded. "Yeah. See you tomorrow." And just as she went off, Tony swept in from the direction I wasn't looking, and snuck a paw-squeeze and cheek-nuzzle before I could do anything.

Lunch the next day was much the same, with a husky I shared chemistry with nudging me on the way out of the class. "I know we haven't really ever... talked..." he said, "but, um - Tony's your - boyfriend, right?"

"Mhmm." Yeah. It still made my heart bounce to hear someone else say it.

"Okay." He nodded. "I always thought you were straight."

"I did too," was my instinctive response, and that got a tiny little laugh out of him. Was that the right thing to say?

"Well," he went on, "okay. I'll see you later."

When I got to our group, Lexi and Sandra were talking about what they'd wear to prom, Lexi saying she'd already gotten the dress so she might as well wear it, while Sandra complained and said something along the lines of "I don't look good in a dress, so I'll just wear some fuckin' - I dunno, jorts? Like two years out of high school, nobody takes high school prom seriously, and-" I stopped listening there, since Tony sparkled up at me from where he sat beside the possum. They'd gotten along surprisingly well Friday night; I'd never seen Tony so sociable before. Throughout the night once they'd gotten to know each other, she kept on elbowing him and leaning in to whisper something, and he kept on nodding and laughing out loud and whispering something back, which gave her a similar response... and the embarrassing part was, knowing Sandra, thinking about just what the hell it might be that they could be gossiping about.

Didn't help that they did it once as we were standing to leave, and Sandra looked me up and down and up again, then nodded, shrugged, and gave Tony a look. You know - a Look. He just gave her this big kitten grin.

Apparently he'd gotten the same treatment from friends and classmates that I had, with people (usually) nervously approaching him and inquiring as to our relationship. "People here are... a lot nicer than what I am used to," he mused, a little piece of his bread roll puffing out one cheek. "I was very nervous at first. Ky was there, though, and Ari, too, and they... ooohh. They are supportive. Ari had a boyfriend once, too. Did you know that?"

Later in the week, somebody that neither of us even recognized came up and said something like "damn, all the cutest boys are gay", half-jokingly. Then she asked us to kiss, and I looked at Tony, and he looked at me, and we went for it. That time I couldn't pin down the source of my thumping heart, whether from the affection itself or from the doing-it-in-public or the 'yes, he is my boyfriend' that seemed to be the main theme for the week.

Not to say that we didn't get some nasty looks. At least, I was looking out for them now since I'd expected at least some of that. There were people who glanced at us, glanced away, then looked back when they thought (correctly) that they saw us holding paws in the hall. Some of them went out of their way to bump us, or try to walk through us, or whatever. I dunno. Petty little things, but nobody actually_came up to us and let us know in very clear words how they felt. Maybe that's the way things were now, or maybe this school was better than others in that way, or maybe it was just because the other students _really didn't care with summer so close around the corner.

Some good attention, some bad attention. All in all, it was a pretty good experience. Got a glimpse of Tyler every now and then before classes or at lunch, but it seemed he'd gotten the idea that none of us really wanted to hang out with him anymore. _That_wound still ached a bit, but it'd go away. Besides, there were more important things to think about: calculus quiz Friday morning and astronomy test fourth period, then prom that evening.

Thursday I drove to school, so that me and Tony could leave in our free period and get some studying done for the test. I mean, we did study.

Some.

Friday morning, my alarm got me half-awake - and then a quiet, throbbing pain right along my shoulder brought me the rest of the way there. Not only that, but my thighs were sore, too. That pain only came to me once I'd actually gotten up. Of course neither of us mentioned our little distraction once we'd gathered at the school in the morning, but it was there in his eyes. Something told me he was feeling good today, and I was too, honestly. At least my fur covered the bite marks fairly well, though Sandra did ask me at lunch that day if something was bothering me.

The test went well. That class had never really been that difficult, and thanks to a certain cat, I'd been able to retain a little more of it than I otherwise would've, so our study date was a win-win-win. I finished first

which so far seemed to be the trend between the two of us

and waited outside for him; since it was prom weekend, Ms. Langford said we could leave when we finished. Turned out he felt the same way about the test, and on our way to the buses, he reached over to squeeze my paw, and I squeezed back.

"Seven o'clock," he said, and rolled his fingers between mine. "You have your suit?"

"Mhmm." Another squeeze.

"It fits and looks good?"

"It fits." I chuckled. "Whether it looks good..."

"Mmm. I shall see. _You_look good. Would you like to spend the night after? Mamá is making soup."

"Oh! That sounds good." Out along the sidewalk by the buses, we turned and faced each other, and came in for our routine nose-bump. "I'm a bit nervous."

"I am too."

"Yeah, but you actually have a reason."

Tony shrugged. "I also have you, and that is a reason to not be nervous."

Admittedly it _had_been a little awkward to kiss him those first few times, with my longer muzzle and his short. But I think by now we'd started to figure it out. God knows we'd been getting enough practice, and if I'd be staying over after prom, there'd be plenty more.