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Unlike yesterday, the shop was busy. Jamie spent more time in the front with customers than he did in the lounge with Jack. Once, he was even forced to leave in the middle of changing Jack, leaving the cheetah cub lying on the floor with his wet diaper open for almost twenty minutes before the tawny wolf returned.

"I'm so sorry about that," Jamie apologized profusely once he had closed the lounge door and returned to his brother.

"It's okay," Jack replied, looking up at his brother as the lupine resumed wiping the cub's diaper area. "Why is it so busy today? It wasn't like this yesterday."

"It's Friday," Jamie explained as he opened a fresh diaper. "I'm closed during the weekend, so everyfur is stocking up on supplies. Monday is going to be just as busy, because of everyfur that didn't come in today."

That made sense, and curbed the kitten's resentment at not spending as much time with his brother, though he was still upset. As Jamie oiled the kitten up, the wolf smiled. "Hey, look at it this way. For the next two days, you'll have me all to yourself."

That did brighten Jack up, and as he was lifted to his footpaws and settled back on the couch, he found he didn't mind as much when Jamie's phone went off again and had to go back out to the front.

At one point, Jamie gave up on going back into the lounge and spent the little time without customers he had straightening his shelves and going over inventory. Jack just shrugged and picked up on Breath of the Wild where he'd left off last night.

He had really gotten into it, and so was surprised to hear the door opening, looking up to see Jamie sticking his head in. "Hey, it's four twenty," the wolf said quickly. "Go ahead and change into your uniform and pack your stuff. If your diaper is still dry, leave it in the diaper bag; I'll take that with me when I close."

Sighing, Jack saved his game and set his Switch aside before getting started on changing. Still, his tail was wagging. It was almost time for practice!

Up front, Jamie was rearranging a display so everything wasn't so spread out when he heard the door open again. "Just a minute!" He called.

"No worries, Jamie!" Called a familiar voice. "Brian, go sit down there."

Thought confirmed, Jamie slid the display door closed and stood up. A beagle woman several years older than him was standing next to the sign warning of no underaged furs while a beagle boy around Jack's age was sitting in one of the chairs up front.

"There you are," Clarice Galileo remarked, smiling at him. "I knew you were in the room, but I wasn't sure where. Good to meet you in person, Jamie."

"And you, Mrs. Galileo," Jamie returned, coming around the displays and shaking the beagle's paw. "Jack's getting ready now, so he'll be out in a minute."

"Sooner if he knows we're here," Mrs. Galileo chuckled. "And call me Clarice. I'm not that much older than you."

Suppressing a shutter at the reminder that his brother's mother was old enough to be his sister, Jamie nodded. "Will do, Clarice." He turned to Brain and smiled at him. "Hey there, Brian. Ready for practice?"

"Yup!" The boy beamed, his tail wagging. "Though admittedly, probably not as much as-"

The boy was cut off as the door to the lounge burst open and Jack came racing out, wearing the same red and white uniform as Brian and his backpack. He took one look around before spotting Brian and blitzing over to the beagle.

Jamie sighed and shook his head as Jack completely ignored the rules he'd set up, but he ignored it for now. He knew the cheetah was just excited. Clarice laughed quietly. "I hope he never loses that energy," she said quietly to Jamie as Jack embraced Brian and started chattering wildly.

"You and me both," Jamie agreed, smiling fondly at the cubs. Before he could say anything else, though, the door opened again with another customer. He chuckled quietly. "I'm sorry, but I've got to get back to it."

"We need to get going, anyway," Clarice chuckled, nodding in understanding as she shook his paw again. "It was great to meet you, Jamie. You have a beautiful store here; for a while I was afraid it was going to be a head shop or something like that."

"Thank you," Jamie grinned. "I specifically went out of my way to avoid that image. You take care."

As Clarice herded the cubs out the door, Jack broke away to give the wolf a quick hug. "See you in a few hours!" He said before bolting out the door, leaving Jamie and the hawk that came in chuckling.

For Jamie, the next few hours were a whirlwind, and before he knew it, it was seven o'clock and closing time. He closed the drawer and cleaned up before locking up and heading to the baseball diamond. He could see a group of cubs standing in the parking lot, waiting for parents, but he didn't spot Jack until after he parked and got out to head to the group.

Jamie stared. Jack stood proudly in his uniform next to his coach, and he was absolutely filthy. His uniform, which had been a pristine white and red when he'd changed into it earlier, was now a dusty tan. The little cheetah had just as much dirt on his face and arms, making it look like he'd dyed his fur a paler yellow.

The coach let out a braying laugh at the look on the wolf's face. "Your mother had a similar look the first time she picked him up looking like this," he said, thumping Jack on the back and sending a dust cloud flying. "This little guy is fond of ground slides, and I have yet to see him called out from them."

"Stepmother," Jamie corrected absently, trying not to shutter. He liked Sandra, but she was old enough to be his sister, and that brought implications he did not like to think about. Why was everyfur determined to remind him of that today? He took another look at Jack, sighed, and hung his head. "Oh, Jackie, what am I going to do with you?"

"Love me?" The cheetah suggested cheekily as he raced forward and dived into a hug. Returning the embrace, Jamie just sighed heavily, though he was smiling as he looked back at the coach.

"We good, coach?" He asked.

The donkey nodded. "We're good. His mom told me already that you'd be picking him up instead of her, so go ahead. You'll make it to his game next week?"

"Already have it on my calendar," Jamie confirmed, wrapping an arm around the cheetah's shoulders. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. C'mon, scamp. Let's get home and get you cleaned up."

Remembering the plans for Jamie to bathe him today, Jack cheered and raced to his brother's car, making the wolf chuckle as he followed behind. "So how was practice?" Jamie asked, amused, as they pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.

"Great!" The cub chirped, his tail thrashing against his legs. "If we keep today up, the Knights won't stand a chance! Coach said so!"

Jamie listened in amusement as Jack chattered on about the practice the entire ride home, at times not sure if the cub was even taking breaths between words. Soon enough, they pulled into the garage and climbed out.

"Alright," Jamie said, reaching into the back to grab Jack's diaper bag. "Head upstairs and get ready for a bath. Bad enough you got my car dusty, let's not leave a dirty house for Dad and Sandra when they get back."

"Okay!" Jack grinned, grabbing his backpack and bolting into the house.

Following behind, wondering how Jack still had so much energy after spending a couple hours running around a baseball diamond and chalking it down to being a cheetah thing, Jamie followed behind. He found Jack in the bathroom, still dressed in his uniform.

"I thought I said to get ready," the wolf commented, perking an eyebrow as he dropped the diaper bag on the counter.

Jack just grinned. "I'm just a little baby cub, big brother," he countered, lifting his arms up so his jersey could be taken off. "I can't undress myself."

Jamie let out a snort of laughter at that and nodded, coming to kneel down before the cub. "Alright, alright," he chuckled, lifting Jack's jersey completely off of him before tugging his pants down, leaving the kitten in his underwear. "Just sit still for now. I've gotta get your bath ready."

As Jack sat on the toilet and practically vibrated in anticipation, the canine turned and turned on the water, getting it a proper temperature before turning to smirk at the cheetah. Before Jack could ask, he opened a cabinet and found, right where he remembered placing his own, a bottle of bubble fluid.

Jack squealed happily as Jamie added the fluid to the running water, immediately sending white bubbles floating all along the surface of the water. "Alright, that's enough to get started," Jamie said, turning back to Jack and helping the cub to stand up.

He quickly tugged Jack's undies down to his ankles before picking the kitten up and settling him into the rising water. As Jack sighed happily, Jamie turned back to the cabinet and pulled out a small basket, filled with boats, torpedos, and other bath toys.

"The water still needs to rise a little bit," he told Jack as the kitten's eyes lit up. "So you play for a little bit. My clothes seem to be a little dirty. I wonder how that happened?"

Dumping the toys into the rising water as Jack giggled, Jamie waved and stepped out of the bathroom into his old room so he could quickly change into a plain t-shirt and a set of basketball shorts.

Returning to the bathroom, Jamie paused and leaned against the door. Jack didn't look up at him, engrossed in the narrative that he'd set up. It was a full naval war setting, and everything had its place. Even the rubber duckie was included in the game, though it bewildered Jamie to think of how. How did cubs come up with this stuff? The wolf was fairly sure he hadn't been this inventive at the cheetah's age.

After a moment, he shook his head and focused after noticing that the water level had just covered Jack's tummy. Coming completely into the bathroom, he turned the water off, finally catching Jack's attention.

"Alright, buddy," he cooed as he grabbed Jack's shampoo and dolloped some into his paws. "Let's get you cleaned up, and then you can play some more while I go check on dinner."