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Betaread by Khito Rhustu

Nathan was just finishing breakfast when it happened. The doorbell rang and he ignored it, beginning to put his dishes in the sink. Probably just some door-to-door salesman or something. A moment later he heard a loud banging and shouting. He frowned, "That's not normal." Cautiously he made his way to the front door. "Alright already! I'm coming, what do you-",

Nathan opened the door to see a dozen officers in front of the house. Two of them were in front of the windows to either side preparing to smash the glass. Another was immediately in front of the door with a battering ram poised to strike the now-open door. What the fu-. A rhino officer fired a pistol, missing him by inches.

"Hold fire, you idiot!" "Freeze!" "Hands in the air!" "Police!" He froze on the spot. That could have killed me! A coyote quickly moved in front of him and forced his arms behind his back while the bear that was breaking down the door put zip ties around his wrists. What's happening? Why are police raiding our house?

Nathan was forced to the ground outside the house. The bear shouted. "Officer Silver, keep an eye on the kid!" The coyote stayed outside while the rest of the officers formed up at the door. There was a loud "BANG!" and then the sound of boots thundered away through the open door.

"Hey kid, what's your name?"Officer Silver slung her rifle over her back and sat next to him.

"Nathan, Nathan Yoshinoi. What the hell is happening? Why are you in my house?" He winced as the sounds of shouts and a few bangs rang out from the house.

She was quiet for a few seconds, "Your dad has a warrant for murder. Are there any other relatives you could stay with for a while?"

"No, it's just me and my dad. That shouldn't matter though, he couldn't have done anything. You've got to stop this. My dad isn't some crazy murderer. You can't arrest him!"

The officer frowned, "I'm sorry, but we have to arrest him. He'll get a fair trial, just like anyone else."

A few moments later he heard a series of shouts and then his dad was being marched down the stairs. "Dad! Hey, let him go, he didn't do anything! Let him go, Assholes!." The coyote from before put a hand on his shoulder to keep him still while they marched his dad out to the parked police cars on the side of the street.

He pushed the officer off of him and ran. They can't take dad away, he's all I've got left. The last time he saw his dad was when two officers shoved him inside a police car. One of them nodded to the driver and the car was gone.

He woke up in a panic, his body flying upright, chest heaving as he returned to wakefulness. He sat there for several moments, breathing heavily. "I can't keep doing this every night."

A while later Nathaniel is dressed and ready for the day. "Alright, just gotta run by the shop after school and check up on things. I've gotta make sure the shop is still there when I get dad back after all." BRIIIING!!!BRIIIING!! Who's bothering to call me at seven in the morning?

Nathan makes his way back to his room and looks at his phone.

Sis Calling

Answer Decline

---

Text response

He hesitated as he reached for his phone. Before he could answer, the call timed out. Should I even call her back? The choice was taken away from him as the phone began to ring again, caller ID confirmed she wasn't going to give up without a response. He answered the phone.

"Nats, hey, I just...had a moment. Are you doing alright? I know it's hard right now, with....everything. I just wanted to see if you're okay."

"I'm doing about as well as I can Ash. Things are complicated back here, the store's not doing so well, and I don't really know how to run a business." He paused for several seconds. "I don't know if dad's going to be okay, there's just no way he would, I just can't believe he would kill someone, and he's gonna be in jail for LIFE. I'm all alone out here." He felt weak for even saying the last part out loud, wasting his breath on how unfair things were.

Ashley sighed, "Yeah, I know it's hard Nats, I wish I had the time to come back and help, but the whole office is still in crunch mode for that big case"

The case? Is that what she's worried about? Are we really that unimportant to her? "Sis I know you've got a life out there and all, but couldn't you come back? Just a little while. Please, I need some help with all of this, it's just too much for me to deal with. I need help."

She sighed, " I really do wish I could, I can't make it back. I'm really busy with work and the office, I'm the lead for our team right now."

He growled, hand clenching dangerously hard around the phone," You could make the time! Why is that job more important than your family?!" He regretted it immediately, he didn't want to fight her, and he didn't want to hear her tell him that he wasn't important enough to help.

It was her turn to get angry, " What, so you just want me to ruin everything I worked so hard for? Come back to that place where everything went to hell and leave the one thing I've gotten right behind?"

"Gotten RIGHT! Is that what you call it?"

"Yeah it is, I have a career, I'm going places and I'm not stuck in some dusty small town anymore."

"And all it took was you abandoning us, moving halfway across the damn country, and forgetting about it all."

"I didn't abandon you! I had to do something to live my own life. Mom died and dad turned into an alcoholic mess. For three years we were neglected by him, and he didn't get any better!"

"He lost his wife!"

"And we lost Mom, just because he hurt doesn't make it okay that he abandoned us."

"Like you did?"

"That's not what happened! I had a chance to make something of myself and I took it. I'm not apologizing for that!"

"And all you had to do was throw away your family, guess it is that simple when you put it like that. You didn't even come home when he was arrested. I really needed you dammit!"

"I know, I know, I just have a lot on my plate right now, I didn't have the time to fly back home, not with this big case-"

"I can't believe that you cared more about some case than your little brother."

"That's not true, I didn't know it was that bad! I didn't realize that any of that was. I mean, I thought it was okay."

"Well, I'm glad you found the time to take care of yourself. It's fine, I guess I didn't need your help anyway."

"I-"

He couldn't do it anymore, he ended the call before she could respond. A few seconds passed before he got another call, Sis, again. He denied the call and turned off the phone. A moment later he was on the floor, hands on his knees and back pressed tightly up against the wall. Tears filled his eyes as he finally let himself cry. Why do I have to do this all alone?

He decided to go back to bed and sleep it off. It was a school day but his attendance and grades were nearly perfect so missing one day would be fine he reasoned. He went back to bed, this time he didn't dream.

A few hours passed before he got out of bed again. It's still school hours but I think I can get away with checking up on the store. He got in his dad's truck and drove off.

Thirty minutes later he was at the store, Erick's Music Hall.

The building wasn't overly large or even fancy, but it was professional enough and it did have a certain charm to the old sign out front. The inside was spacious, to make room for displays of instruments, from high-quality drums and guitars down to cheap recorders, practice kits, and even a couple of used acoustic guitars that were refurbished in store. Off to one corner was a series of stands and racks to display all of the smaller bits any musician might need, drumsticks, guitar picks, various types of stands for sheet music, and a few guidebooks for the different instruments they sold for beginners, among other things.

It was a nice place, cozy enough especially with the warm orange and yellow on the walls, old photos from concerts, and even a few photos of local cover bands. Nathaniel's dad absolutely loved music, from the greatest rock stars and orchestral bands to the smallest garage players, he loved it all and he made sure everyone who came in those doors would know it.

He stopped a bit inside the store to take it in, this place was almost like a shrine to the idea of music, or at least that's how he viewed it. It always had something playing, though it was anyone's guess as to what genre it would be, sometimes it would play hits from the legends of rock and roll, other times a home-made recording of a blues street artist that caught Eric's eye, and of course, on some days it would be a live performance. Never anything big of course, but that small stage over the corner did get used now and again. Eric and Nathan had both been known to sit there and just play whatever came to mind for hours on some days... He did love this place, after all, he did take after his dad in a whole-hearted love of anything musical.

There weren't that many customers today, it was a weekday and school was still in, but even then they should have more people, business just wasn't good ever since the news came out that Eric was found guilty of murdering Franklin Tennington. The Curator was well-liked in this small town for his easygoing attitude and his delightful collection of stories. The man had a tale for every occasion.

He decided that if he was going to do this now was a good time before school let out and hopefully business would pick up for a bit.

The fox wandered over towards the counter to see Gary, assistant manager of the place behind the counter, and another associate leaning against the wall behind the counter. There was not much to do with so few people here. "Hey Nathan, you should be in school. What are you doing here?"

He brushed a hand over the back of his head, "I had a bit of a rough morning and decided to skip it, nothing but wasting time and some extra credit, and my grades are more than fine already. Think we could talk in the back room for a minute?"

"Sure, sure. Hey Carlos, watch the floor while I talk with the mini-boss"

A casual wave and a "Can do" later, and they were walking into the back room. It was way more cramped, part of the price of making the front so spacious was that the employee-only areas were just barely big enough for function. The rooms were simple and spartan, a keypad-locked door led into a small hallway joined by the middle to the rest of the store, and the sides of the hall had shelving racks filled with cleaning supplies and extra stock of smaller items. Towards the right was a small break room that was just big enough to hold a small fold-out table and a pair of chairs. A small coffee maker sat on the table with styrofoam cups in a plastic sleeve laid down next to it. The other way had a small office, a desk with another fold-out chair and a micro-desktop, and piles of paperwork that Eric would have called "organized chaos".

"So how's it going really?"

"It's not that bad, we are still making a profit, just, not enough to live off. Truth be told, it's you I'm worried about, the loan on that house you're living in is probably going to take a bit more money than this place is putting out to keep up with if nothing changes."

"I'll be fine, I just want to keep this place running. Dad loves this place, and I'd hate to have to tell him we lost it before we get his name cleared up." He realized his mistake just a moment too late. Gary was a good friend of his dad's, but he wasn't convinced that he was innocent after the trial had ended. It was a source of tension between the two of them, now more than ever.

"Look, I know you love your old man. But the court-"

"I get it, you think he did it. Can we just not do this today."

Gary frowned a look that conveyed all the understanding that just made it so hard to hold on to anything against the man. Eric felt bad for holding a grudge over their disagreement. The silence between them lasted for a few short moments that felt like years. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, the store's doing alright, we had to cancel a few orders for newer stock, but we'll be alright."

"Great, look' I'm gonna spend a while here, keep myself busy."

Nathaniel left Gary with some paperwork. He did need something to do. He walked out of the back rooms and past the weasel at the counter. He ended up working on the stands out on the floor, tidying up some instruments that were left when a customer decided against a purchase, finding smaller bits that were in the wrong places, and straightening out the displays of music books. All in all, it was tedious but satisfying work for the young fox that just needed to zone out for a while.

Eventually, as he was tuning up some of the guitars, a particularly stubborn string on a steel guitar had him completely focused. He thought he had finally got it to tune, so he tried playing a few chords. A moment later he was strumming a tune, the world fell away when he played like this. Just him, an instrument, and the sound of music. The troubles and the stress melted away and he just played.

"Wow, that sounds great. I wish I could play like that, I can barely keep mine in tune yet." Nathan jumped. With the stool he was sitting on, this was decidedly a bad move. He slipped backward and balanced for just a moment on the tilted stool before falling with a crash.

"Ow." From under the guitar and stool, he looked up at the one who had startled him so badly. Heat rushed to his cheeks at his clumsy maneuver. It was a calico cat, jeans and a t-shirt under an unbuttoned denim jacket with a pride button stuck on one flap. Nathan felt his cheeks get even hotter.

He's kinda cute.

"OhmygoshareyouokayIdidn'tmeantoscareyoulikethat" The Calico went frantic for a second, before realizing the fox was still on the ground. He tried to step closer to offer him a hand up, and then promptly tripped over the stool and fell down on top of him as well.

"Ow...again" He opened his eyes again to find the cat's face inches from his own. His eyes were a sparkling blue and he could feel his warm breath on his face. Okay, I have a cute guy on top of me and his eyes are gorgeous, abort, abort, I am not ready for this right now.

"Hehe sorry, I'm usually not so clumsy."

"Could you please get off of me?"

The cat's eyes widened and a bit of a blush showed under his fur. "Oh yeah I should definitely do that." He scrambled around a bit before he picked himself up. Once they were both upright, the cat was looking at the floor. "Sorry I didn't mean to uh, well any of that, but like you're so good at that. I just wanted to tell you it's really cool, and then I scared you and I tripped, and um, SORRY!" He pushed out his hand to the fox who simply stared at it for a few seconds.

Well at least we're both acting like idiots... "It's uh, fine?", He took the hand and shook it once. This is a complete trainwreck, isn't it?

"Nonono it's totally not fine, I'm a menace." He grabbed at his ears and pulled them down over his eyes.

Nathan couldn't help it. He laughed, a small chuckle at first, until he was laughing out loud with tears in his eyes. The whole thing was just too much. The cat started a bit, then he started laughing too. By the time they were both done they had smiles on their faces,

"How about we try this whole meeting people thing again? I'm Nathaniel, but my friends call me Nate. Or they would if I had any. Nice to meet you."

"My name is Nick, short for Nicholas. You're Sooo good with that guitar though."

Oh great, I'm blushing again "Well I mean, dad was always a musician at heart, so growing up I got a lot of practice, I can play other stuff too, and sing, I'm just okay at it though, really there are way better players out there."

"It's way better than anything I can do though." He looked a bit disappointed by that. This guy is a bit of a clutz, but maybe it would be fun to hang out some more.

"I could teach you some things. If you want I mean, and it's not like you couldn't learn it on your own, but ehm, if you want." Oh great now I'm doing it.

Nick lit up like a figurative Christmas tree. "You would? Sure, totally, when do we start?" He was visibly excited, it was incredibly adorable.

"Well I'd have to get your guitar in here to help you, we really can't just use the display models for that. I probably shouldn't have been playing on that one in the first place like that."

"That's fine, I brought mine in to get it tuned here. I was coming over here to pick it up in the first place."

Nathan looked back behind the counter and noticed one of them had a cartoonish set of letters that spelled out N.I.C.K.Y. It's not exactly hard to find yours, huh? "Is it this one?" He held up the guitar, checking to see if the tuning was paid for.

"Yeah, but, well, we shouldn't be going through that stuff. We don't work here you know. It's like, really bad manners to do that." He kinda looked upset as he said that. Somehow, that was even cuter. Nathan laughed again, "Hey, I mean it, you shouldn't mess with stuff that isn't yours to mess with." He actually looked a bit angry now. Maybe I should stop him before he gets wound up anymore.

"It's fine, I'm basically the co-owner. Eric's my dad." He visibly deflated.

"Oh, geez I just keep putting my foot in my mouth today. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." He dragged the hand that wasn't holding onto his instrument over his face."

"Well, why don't you sit down for a minute, I'm going to help close up and send everyone else home, then we can use the shop for those lessons I promised." Nick nodded, hand still held over his face.

It didn't take long to get the last couple of customers out of the store. After that, it was just a few more minutes to get the store mostly locked up and send Gary and Carlos home.

"Alright, so we've pretty much got the place to ourselves. Your guitar got tuned up, so let's start with the basics. How about how you hold it to play?" Nick set the guitar strap around his shoulders and held the guitar, his right hand was on the strings. However, his left was curled tight around the neck, it wouldn't be impossible to play like that, but it would cause pretty bad cramps. He also had the guitar at a forty-five-degree angle over one shoulder, which would be fine if he were standing.

"Uhm, like this, can't you just hold it, however?"

"Not really, here, let me show you something." He walked around the back of the stool and adjusted Nick's arms. First he adjusted the fingers on his left hand around the neck into a more natural grip. Next, he pushed the neck flat with the ground. "See that, it should feel a lot better to play now."

"Oh, yeah, this is better." He tried to strum a few chords, though they came out way off. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was playing them badly on purpose.Only one good way to correct that.

"Hmm. Alright, let's see about that." Nathaniel leaned over and put his arms over Nick's, "Okay so when you're going for a C chord you want to ..." He felt warm as he guided Nick through basic chords.

Nick had learned the chords quickly enough, and even managed to play a few simple songs."Alright, I think it's about time we wrapped this up. The sun is starting to get pretty low."

"Oh, yeah. Hey, so there's this new cafe opening up and they have a great stage, it's open to anyone so you see a lot of cool acts later at night. Maybe we could go together?"

"Maybe another time, I should really get to sleep soon." He could swear he saw the briefest flash of disappointment before the cat grinned back at him.

"How about I get your number then? We can do it when you're more available."

Nathan shrugged and couldn't help but smile back. "Sure thing."