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_ Voices _

'Dear Jiri,. Thanks for taking the time to meet us the other day to discuss our Line Cook vacancy. I'm getting in touch to let you know that while we were very impressed with your knowledge and your enthusiasm, competition for the position was incredibly strong and we have decided not to--'

"Ugh." I couldn't have closed that email any harder. Not without sending my phone tumbling right out of my paw anyway. Yet another job rejection. I should have been used to them by that point. At least enough to stop my gut from twisting and wrenching itself into an aching lump each time. Failure never came easy, no matter how familiar I got with it.

I slumped back, sinking deeper into both that oversized couch and my darkening thoughts. Was I ever gonna get back on my feet? Sure, I'd got myself off the street and underneath a very high roof, but I couldn't live as a small guest leeching away in a giant Visoka's home forever, no matter how welcome I was made to feel. One step forward, two steps back. Always and forever.

A clicking echoed from out in the hallway. Then again. I got out of my head long enough to realise it was the front door handle. Still, even after staying here for as long as I had done, I needed to resist the flash of desire to run away and hide. A hangover from my earliest days spent hiding away out of sight.

"I can't believe it's this cold in April," Tomas called above the thunk of the door closing behind him. "So much for springtime."

"Colder than yesterday?"

"And then some." His plodding footsteps grew louder and louder. "I hope there's no more garbage to go outside because I'm not heading out there again."

"No... My can's empty."

Tomas appeared at the doorway, filling it with his stocky, chubby frame as he rubbed and blew at his handpaws. "I wouldn't rule out more snow at this rate."

"No, thank you."

"I hear you." I craned my neck up to watch the far bigger badger tweak the thermostat upwards as he stepped into the living room. "As if the winter we had wasn't cold enough. Another reason I'm glad over being allowed to work from home as much as I have lately."

A muted, mumbled mutter was all I could give back to him. My head was still so cloudy from that damn rejection email.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh... Just..."

Tomas approached the couch with far softer steps, voice matching them as he half-asked, half-sang, "Did something happen?"

"I had an email from that restaurant up near the metro station. Another rejection." I huffed, shoulders collapsing as I gazed down into my lap. "I had such a good feeling about that one. Guh."

"Oh no" The floorboards trembled as Tomas brought his large Visoka self to the seat beside mine. "I'm sorry to hear. I remember you saying that you liked that place."

"I did--" I had to pause as he settled himself down, shaking the couch hard enough to bounce me closer to his wobbling thigh and muffin top. "The manager seemed nice, and both head chefs were decent too. Rare you get the triple win like that."

Tomas kept quiet, hovering above and smiling down at me with sympathy. Each shift he made forced the cushions flatter. I had to keep readjusting to stop from falling against his side.

"I'm sorry I can't chip in towards rent, bills, and all yet."

"It's ok--"

"I thought I was set with that job washing dishes at that motel, shitty as it was, but... two weeks. I've never lost a job that fast. You'd reckon a place'd know_before_they hire someone if they can afford 'em or not."

"Exactly. It's wasn't your fault--"

"I_am_trying. Honest." I threw my paws together, wrapping one around a fist and shaking it. "As soon as I get something solid, I can pay my way and get outta your fur once I'm stable."

"Hey, hey," Tomas held up his paws, leaning closer to the point where I couldn't stop myself from tumbling into the warmth of his side. "I know you're trying. You've had more interviews over this last month than I've had... maybe ever."

"Really?" My paw sank into his shirt as his hip squished from my attempts at sitting back upright. "That many, huh?"

"No," he cried, bouncing me into his side all over again. "Sorry, I didn't mean... what I meant was the right job will come. You just need to keep at it, that's all."

I gave up trying to correct myself. To be honest, being sprawled out against his side wasn't the worst place to be. "I am. And I will."

"As for rent, bills and all." Tomas reached down to rub my shoulder with a delicate fingerpad. "You know, you don't really add much to the bills at your size. The prepped Maleni groceries aside."

"Still--"

"And as for all that talk about getting out of my fur..." He drifted off as if he'd suddenly lost his train of thought. That smile of his weakened, then disappeared from view as he turned towards the lifeless TV ahead. "...It hasn't been all bad, and, uh... It's not like you're a problem to have around."

Not a problem? Was that it? As I pushed myself away on this crumpled up couch cushion, I figured that was better than the alternative at least. "You've changed your tune."

"Hmm?" Tomas fixed his glasses as he peered back down towards me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that's a big step up from almost tossing me back out onto the street. Not to mention how those few days I was supposed to stay here has turned into... more."

"Okay, fine." He regained some of his cheerfulness, though he kept on glancing at the television like one of his sci-fi shows were on. "I've... liked having you here. It's... I've lived alone for a while now and... I suppose you don't realise how nice it is to have company? Someone to talk to and stuff... Oh!" His ears sprang upright as he raised a finger. "Plus, in my defence, I dare anyone finding a Maleni hiding away in their breadbox not to lose their cool."

Hearing Tomas say that helped lift me along with the corners of his mouth. Letting gravity tug me back towards him didn't seem so inappropriate. "I've liked it here too. And not just 'cos it beats homeless shelters and sleeping under park benches while trying to steer clear of all you Visoka crashing and stomping about the place."

"Good," he sang with an even stronger dose of sweetness. "Plus you..." Those big paws of his moved together, rubbing over themselves as his happy voice climbed down from its musical peak. "...uh, you've been helpful, too. Like with that problem about the electricity bill? I was sure glad to have you here to help get it straightened out... I don't do phone calls that well."

"It was fine. No big deal." A voice told me to pat at the fuzzy underside of his muffin top pouring out from under his shirt. I decided against it. "Figure after working in busy kitchens with borderline psycho head cooks all up in your snout, dealing with grumpy call centre workers comes easy."

"Heh." The couch seemed to shift from Tomas' chuckling. Fate dictated I'd get a pawful of his black-furred hip regardless. "Having my boss video call from the Vitmark office to chase me for project updates is bad enough. At least code can't talk back at you. Unless it fails to compile and errors out, I guess."

"Hmm..." I didn't bother to push away again. Tomas _was_pretty comfy, after all. "I'll haveta take your word for... whatever you just said means."

Saying that gave Tomas the cue to start trying to explain some of the finer details behind coding. Of course, it was in one ear and right out of the other. The question that did linger in my head, however, revolved around how much of my stunned silence came from a lack of tech prowess versus the brightness he glowed with whilst raving about an obvious passion.

Tomas the big, round badger... My first face-to-face encounter with him after being found hiding away in his apartment involved getting hit by real, uncompromising anger. Strong enough for him to pluck me up by the scruff of my neck and toss me out into the cold, grey hall outside. That'd be the one and only time I'd see him that way. After he came back out to find me and bring me back inside his home, not once would he snarl or gnash his teeth at me in the four months that followed.

I took a deep, easy breath, relaxing enough to send me slouching over against the soft fuzz covering his even softer side. After that first encounter of ours, I got to know the kind, quiet guy Tomas really was. In fact, I might go as far as to call him timid, for all the negative connotations that might unfairly hold. Either way, he was like a totally different badger to the one that kicked me out, very nearly leaving me to fend for myself on snowy winter streets all over again. Far closer to the one that allowed me to stay not only for those first few days I'd begged for, but for the weeks and months that followed, even going as far as to invite me to spend New Year's with his family along the way.

But still, even after all that time I'd spent here, lodging in the improvised bedroom that I'd made and he'd improved at the bottom of his wardrobe, hearing him openly say that he liked my company filled me up with a weird... soothing warmth. What's more, I had to say I liked Tomas' company to the point where, honestly, a part of me didn't mind losing that dishwasher job. Not just because of how awful it was, but more... because it meant I had no choice but to stay here with him.

"Jiri? What are you smiling at?"

I stumbled out of my thinking. Above, past his thick hip, I found Tomas watching, sharing a wide smile of his own. "Uh... what?"

"I have a feeling that you don't find programming interesting enough to get you as happy as that."

"Oh..." I tried searching for an excuse. What I was excusing myself from, I wasn't sure. Whatever the case, Tomas' glow kept me distracted, pulling me into a haze that prevented me from doing anything but focus on his smile's every detail. The way it creased the white fur that speckled his otherwise black stripes, dotted around deep brown eyes that practically shone behind glasses lifted by cheerful cheeks. "...No, nothing. I... thought of a joke I heard the other day, that's all."

"Ah." He snorted gently. His sparkle seemed to fade as he looked away and towards the living room doorway. "On a totally unrelated note, I suppose I should go and get dinner started."

My head began to clear. A whole sentence came to mind all at once. "That sounds good."

"Do you want to come help me out?" His smile returned, coupled with a wobble of his hip as he twisted. "I'd wager it won't be as busy or as angry as all those kitchens you mentioned."

"Sure." I grinned up at him. "Actually, should I be asking if _you_want_me_to come help?"

"Maybe." Tomas gave a small, timid shrug, scratching at his jaw. "You're the cook after all."

"Puh. Tell the places that keep rejecting me that."

"Aww." His paw moved towards me, stopping suddenly short. "Well I'm happy to have you as my cook in the meantime-- Oh!" The whole room seemed to rock from how hard he shifted, wincing and lurching forward like he'd taken a punch to the gut. "I-- sorry, that came out wrong. I should-- I meant I'm happy to have you helping me. I like cooking with you--"

"I'd love to come help."

His mouth hung open, frozen mid-flow, just like the rest of him. I watched him watch me, spotting his ears breaking ranks to perk up high. "Thanks."

"You look surprised."

"No, no... It's not..." He eased back into his seat, waving the suggestion away. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it."

Both of his paws reached down for me. I found myself gravitated towards them as Tomas' weight shifted my way, flattening down the couch cushions beneath us. Getting handled by a Visoka remained something I needed to get used to, given how little I'd experienced it before meeting Tomas. So then, I could never quite believe the ease with which he managed to start handling me, especially given how clumsy and heavy-handed he could be whenever he got carried away. To say some of those earliest paw rides were an adventure just wouldn't do them justice...

In position, Tomas scooped me up with fingers thick enough to match one of my legs, but with a gentleness that meant I'd never notice from their touch alone. His blunt claws tickled my thigh as he carried me over to his free paw, cupped and waiting to join the other in offering me a soft, leathery palmpad seat with his well-cushioned chest serving as a backrest.

We rose from the couch together, shifting from side to side as Tomas settled onto his feet. The momentum made sitting back the sensible option given how well his padding sank and shifted to hold me in place. I caught a waft of Tomas' sharp yet delicate scent as we took our first step towards the kitchen, the sickly sweet hint of mintiness from his medicated fur shampoo tickling my nose as I breathed it in. It smelt pleasant. Appealing. I wasn't sure why.

"Are you deep enough?"

"Mmm?" I peered on up at him, view blocked by the thick tuft of white-dusted black chestfur pushing out over his shirt collar. "What?"

He chuckled lightly. "Your snout is halfway into my chestruff."

"Uh!" I pulled out fast. "Didn't notice. Guess you _were_holding me kinda close and so my head kinda ended up there..." Tomas kept on walking, an easy smile visible from the underside of his jaw. I cleared my sticky throat and asked, "What are we having for dinner?"

"Estordorian Rice."

"Nice! One of my faves."

"Hah, I know." His smile grew, head tilting to allow him to peer down past his snout at me. "And one of my favourite recipes that you taught me."

I settled back again, finding my head sinking in a cosy clump of his fur. "You planning on forgetting to season the chicken again?"

"No... Though half the reason I'm asking you to help tonight is so you can make sure I remember."

My laugh in response ended up cut short. Tomas' finger curled back to rub at my stomach, catching me off guard. I shook in surprise... but it did feel good. Real good. Even better as his heat and scent washed over me from behind.

"Sorry," he blurted, straightening his finger double fast. "I, uh..." Tomas curled it back again, but this time, it came to rest next to my thigh, scratching at the edge of his palmpad. "...My darn palm's so itchy."

Once we got ourselves out into the kitchen, the food prep went great. We got the chicken seasoned perfectly, the vegetables and herbs diced and chopped ready for the rice, and under our combined efforts, it all came together on the stove without issue. After so long away, it felt good to be able to get back in the kitchen to practice. Tomas never forgot to remind me how much he appreciated my help, but honestly, I think I appreciated being able to offer it just as much, if not more. Poor guy. Seeing him in action in the kitchen, I did wonder sometimes how he'd managed not to burn this place down before I got here. That wasn't to mention my amazement at how he'd never got bored of curries before I'd got the chance to teach him a few extra dishes. Not that they were bad, far from it, but... having one for dinner every other night kinda pushed it.

An hour or so later, we returned to the couch to scoff down our dinner together. Keeping myself and my food level with Tomas sat right beside me had taken some practice, but it got way easier once he'd bought me some actual Maleni-sized plates to eat off. The folded pieces of card that I had to use in the early days were useful enough, but I'd made a mess in my lap more than once because of them, helped along by Tomas moving all that weight of his around.

With dinner finished, clothes stain free and belly pleasingly full, no doubt adding to the extra layer of softness I'd developed since rooming with Tomas, the time came to decide what to settle down with for the rest of my Saturday evening. After I'd grabbed myself a shower, that is.

"Jiri," Tomas asked gently. "Do you mind if I play some C of H without my earphones?"

I stopped on my way across the bedroom, peering back up at him sitting at his computer desk. He looked hopeful, paws clasped atop his belly while bending over towards me in his creaky seat.

"They've been making my ears itchy lately," he added, reaching to rub at one of them. "Hopefully a break for them will help."

"Sure." I shrugged a shoulder. "I don't mind."

"Cool." The smile that got back spread way wider than I figured it deserved. "Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it."

I started off towards the wardrobe again, planning on grabbing a clean change of clothes from my own 'bedroom'. Tomas' trusty old bottle opener sat waiting beside the old computer game case offering a convenient step up to that enormous door. Even with all of Tomas' help, using that opener remained the easiest way for me to lever it open and get inside. Saying that, I sure appreciated not having to use it around the apartment as often as when I first got here.

"Oh, hey," he called again. "Would you like to play some with us again?"

"Now?" I stopped, turning around to find him nodding away.

"There's still another two weeks left to run on that trial account we got you." His paws came back together. "That old Maleni laptop I had stored away runs the game way better than you'd expect, right?"

"Guess it does." I scratched at my nose, mulling over how best to let him down gently. Right then, as fun as it was to try that Charge of Heroes game with Tomas and his computer friends, channelling my inner geek in hopes of getting my head around it again wasn't how I wanted to spend my evening. Hell, I didn't even know if I _had_an inner geek to channel! "...I'm kinda tired, though. Headachy."

"Aww," he cooed out loud, leaning down in that rickety seat, looking to be hurting as I claimed to be. "Have you got some Maleni painkillers you can take? I'm sure I had some delivered with the groceries last week."

"Yeah. In the cupboard. In my part of the kitchen." The frayed section of carpet under my feet caught my attention. Easier to bite the bullet and keep up my white lie that way. "I'll wait to see if it wears off first."

"That's fair."

I braved a glance back up at the big badger, still finding nothing but smiles and sweetness. That helped lift me, too. "I think I'll chill with a movie instead."

"Oh," Tomas shifted further forward, heavy feetpaws shifting and thumping. "Which movie?"

"Something called Book of Fates? Magic and ghosts and stuff. Looked interesting--"

"Cool! I know it!" He spun around towards his desk, mumbling and mulling over something. "I promised the guys I'd play, but..."

"What's up?"

"I've been hoping to watch that, too." He turned back to me, stomach jiggling in his lap from the speed. "Maybe... I could try and get out of playing tonight and we can watch together instead?"

"Get out of it?"

"Yeah!"

"But you've been looking forward to your game all day."

"I know, but..." He shrank down into himself, eyes creeping away towards the window over his bed. "We're playing tomorrow too, and I..." His leg began to twitch. "I want to watch it with you. Like last time."

My thoughts moved from the moment and back to that last time. We'd watched a late night showing of Fool's Labyrinth together a couple of weekends previous. Or rather, I watched most of it. My seat next to Tomas on the couch ended up kinda cosy, what with his insistence on resting a paw against his hip... and me along with it. As a matter of fact, the cosiness didn't end there, given how I wound up, by Tomas' recollection, dozing off against his thigh before getting half-wedged between both it and the couch cushion. Admittedly, strange as I felt about it at the time before he plucked me out into the open, it wasn't the worst feeling in the world.

"How does that sound?" Tomas' voice strayed higher. His eyes were back on me, wide and bright behind his glasses.

I knew what I wanted my answer to be, but something in my head forced me to bite it back, just for a moment, before I finally managed to say, "Sure. But play your game first."

"I don't mind, seriously! The guys won't either, and--"

"It's on that 'By Request' selection thing you've got, Tomas. We can watch later, tomorrow, anytime." I pointed over towards the door. "Was gonna go grab a shower first anyway. Then I can do a little more job hunting while you play your game. Maybe read a book after."

He didn't seem at all satisfied by that. The disappointed grunt he gave with the roll of his shoulders all but confirmed it. "Are you sure you'd not like to play some? The job search can wait, right?"

At that point, he damn well had me tempted. Maybe there was a geek inside of me after all. "...I don't know."

"Aww, come on," he sang out loud. Like a one-badger choir. "It'll be fun, you'll see."

That game, it _really_wasn't my thing, but... that smile. That cheek-lifting, ear-to-ear smile was awfully tempting. I didn't have the heart to wipe it away. "Okay."

"Epic--!"

"But let me go grab that shower first."

"Sure, sure!" Tomas sprang up in his seat like my answer had lifted him right out of it. A fierce creak came before he rose, followed by a sharp shudder of the floor below as he landed. "Can't wait."

I snorted to myself as I adjusted my feet for balance, watching a toothy smile emerge beyond his bouncing belly. Quiet and soft-spoken he might be, but as a Visoka badger, even one on the shorter side, Tomas still packed that all into a _very_large package.

Nice and clean, dried off well by the furdryer set up beside the shower cubicle tucked away next to Tomas' larger version, I threw on my clothes and made my way back across the hall to the bedroom. Even after four months of staying here, and even with Tomas as my only roommate, I still couldn't bring myself to trot out into the open without at least two or three checks in both directions. Pointless, really, given the fact I rarely missed hearing or feeling him coming when down on ground level.

Happy in my belief that the coast was clear, I dashed across the cold wooden floor and skipped across the threshold of the smaller Maleni door into the toasty bedroom. I caught Tomas mid-conversation with a couple of his computer friends. The same ones I'd played with last time and, sorry to say, whose names I'd already forgotten. Their topic of choice sounded familiar but confusing all at once: standard for their gaming nights. Loot, specs, gear, they were chatting excitedly about the lot. I hoped they might bring things back towards stuff I could get involved in once I'd fired up the laptop.

As I neared the leg of the desk closest to Tomas, my ears perked to someone in the group moving things on from game chatter. The direction he went caught the both of us off guard.

"Yo, Toma, is your better half playin' with us this eve?"

"Hmm?" Tomas' hefty feetpaws jolted back to and shuffled around the base of his chair. "Better half?"

"Yeah, your partner. Where he at?"

"My..." I could hear his ears fold and his hands grab hold of themselves. "Partner?"

"Dude, I thought... Ah, sorry. The way yous two was speaking to each other on here, I figured you was like, y'know. Together."

"No, no..." Tomas' voice crept higher and higher, grew softer and softer. His legs crossed to the point his feet were tangled up together. "We're not."

"Shit... Didn't mean to go assuming, dude. That's my bad."

"Oh, uh... it's fine... But how do you mean, the way we speak?" There was a pause. All went quiet, save for a rapid tapping at the desk above. Tomas' claws, maybe?

"I guess like..." His friend seemed to sigh into his mic, crackling the speakers. "Ah, like back when we was showing him the ropes an' all early on. Remember? I remember you being kinda..."

"Kind of, what?"

"Like... There was a lotta awws and stuff when he said or did somethin' nooby, and he was... like I dunno. I can't explain. Yous just sounded like... close. Like a couple. That's all." Gaps of silence came and went that whole time, like waiting in vain for Tomas to cut in and say something. "I didn't mean to go offendin' you if I did do."

"No, uh... You didn't... He's..."

Their broken up conversation stalled, again. I waited for more, peeking out further and further to get a view past the underside of Tomas' desk. Peering up, I found him sitting hunkered down, compact, as small as a giant Visoka badger could be in his seat. He'd wrapped his arms tight around himself, snout dipped low, hanging his desktop. The only movement came from his twitching leg and foot scuffling across the carpet. An 'aww' much like the one his friend had described was my instinctive reaction, but I managed to suppress it while watching and waiting for long-delayed Tomas' reply.

"He's just my roommate." His whole body moved with his grumbled sigh, unwrapping himself from his own hold to sit back upright. "That's all."

Forceful, assured, those words entered my ears and rattled all around my head. A nasty, aching pang radiated out from my hollow chest, tearing right the way through me. Tomas wasn't wrong. We _were_just roommates, but... to hear it said so strongly, so matter of fact... It stung... But why? It didn't make sense. I was being weird again... Right? That wasn't a normal response, no way.

That awful, painful ache dulled down, only for something else entirely to rise and explode from deep within me. From toe to fingertip, head to tail, agony turned to numbness. I froze solid, my dropping jaw the only exception. I'd never experienced anything like that before. A feeling like someone had flicked a switch and shifted my whole perspective, my whole self even, unleashing wild, uncontrollable emotion that ripped me in all directions. An overpowering, knee-trembling sense of thrilled foreboding arrived with the three simple words I whispered within my head: I liked Tomas... No, no. I liked guys, sure... but Tomas? That didn't make sense. He wasn't...

'He's kind though.'

Electricity coursed down my spine, paralysing me where I stood. As if my brain were forcing me to hear these... stupid thoughts. Kind. Friends could be kind. That didn't mean--

'Considerate.'

Yeah. For a Visoka. Maybe.

'You're safe with him. You can trust him.'

That wasn't...! Nah, no. This was just... species bias gone berserk. That or some weird... saviour complex or whatever you might've called it. He 'saved' me from the street and so... what? I was supposed to like him, like him because of it? Besides, he was _Visoka._The same Visoka that I needed to try so hard and so often to steer clear of while sleeping rough. What's more... I wasn't into all that sizey stuff, never had been, so how could I...?

'He's adorable. Cuddly. With an amazing scent--'

I grabbed my head, squeezing two thick pawfuls of fur into my grasp. None of that made sense. No chance was I gonna even start to entertain those weird, crazy thoughts. I was being... stupid. In fact, right then, I figured I'd change things up and go right ahead and watch my movie. Leave Tomas to play his game with his friends, just like he wanted. He always got so caught up in it to the point where an hour would always become three or four. As I broke my legs free from their concrete shells, hurrying back to the bedroom door and the draughty hallway, I figured that'd work for me and then some.

Even though it came from the height of that petrifying, debilitating moment of madness next to Tomas' desk, my prediction played out just as I thought. It took no time at all for his friends to drag him deep into that Charge of Heroes world of theirs, barking and chattering away long before my movie's opening credits had even got going. Perfect by my reckoning. I left them, and they left me to roll right on through to a second movie that caught my interest in the 'By Request' menu. One that kept me glued to a small part of Tomas' couch until after midnight and helped me to forget all about those weird, nonsense thoughts I'd had about him while hidden under his desk. That whole time, those happy, blaring voices rolled out of the bedroom, down the hall, and into the living room, only stopping a short while after my growing grogginess fast had me pondering bed.

"Jiri!?"

Tomas' yelling, coupled with his rumbling footsteps, dragged me back fully into the waking world. The thumping at the floorboards got louder, peaking at near-crashing by the time the big badger appeared at the doorway, snatching at a thick white clump of his long, swept back headfur.

"Something's wrong with the heating."

"Hmm?" I mumbled back, pushing it past a long, body-shaking yawn. "What?"

"The heating!" he growled. "It's not coming on. I think it's broken. Again."

My whole body felt heavy as I sat myself up on the couch. Soreness in my neck made peering all the way up to Tomas' face that much tougher. Once I got there, I finally noticed the extent of his frowning and sulking.

"I tried to call maintenance, but there's no answer," he started to explain, stomping over towards the couch with flat ears and sagging shoulders. "So much for their so-called 24-hour emergency line."

"Are you sure something's wrong? Maybe it's taking time for the heat to kick in--"

"The radiators are ice-cold! Come feel them if you don't believe me--"

"Never said I didn't believe you."

His head hung lower, ears dipping even further to match. "Sorry... but it's broken, honest! Just like last time... Twice in six darn months."

I had to admit, once I'd been made aware of the issue, the apartment_was_feeling even colder than usual. "Listen, it--"

"What are we going to do?" Tomas threw up his paws, then threw himself down to the couch next to me, crashing onto it so loud and so hard that it shook away any lingering sleepiness. "Of all the times... on a night like this. Gosh darn it! I hate this place!"

"Hey, hey." I started leaning towards him, intent on reaching out to rub at his hip. I only stopped once I realised what I was planning. Don't go being so damn weird, I chided to myself. "Don't go getting annoyed."

"It's hard not to be."

"Listen," I grunted, pulling away and sitting back upright. "It's fine. It's all fine. If maintenance isn't picking up, then there's nothing we can do now, is there? We can try again in the morning."

"But..."

"For now, we'll just haveta make do." The chill in the air dug deeper and deeper the more I thought about it. I resisted the urge to make any bigger deal of it in front of Tomas. "We can wrap ourselves up warm for the night and see what's what in the morning, okay?"

He huffed, shook his head, wincing his eyes closed. But, in the end, he nodded and muttered back, "Okay."

"Have you got something like a spare blanket you can use?" Tomas took a moment to think, glancing and glaring up at the ceiling before giving me another nod. "Good. I'm sure I can find something in the wardrobe to throw on top of my blanket. Dig out my sleeping bag maybe."

"That's not enough!" he shot back, rubbing at his arms. "Not when it's_this_cold."

Seeing the concern on Tomas' softening face warmed my cheeks and ears, helping me to fight against the cold, and to start wanting to shift closer across the couch cushion. Again, I bit down and shook the idea from my head. "I'll be fine. This is a far cry from sleeping out on the street. Don't go worrying about me."

He stared on down at me, his angry frown rapidly replaced by one of sadness. Bah, so much for not worrying.

"Listen. This is nothing." I pushed myself up onto my feet, having to balance against both the returning sleepiness, and the shifting of the couch cushion that came with Tomas' each and every movement. "Come to the bedroom with me. We'll get ourselves ready to deal with it. Okay?"

As it turned out, Tomas didn't end up coming with me. Instead, I ended up bundled into his protective paws so fast that I barely had a chance to react. All I could do was sit there atop and between his palmpads, swaying with each solid step he took back to the bedroom.

After listening to a little more of his complaining, doubting my ability to cope in these so-called 'freezing' conditions as he set me down, I managed to convince Tomas to calm himself down and grab a thick second blanket from the top of the wardrobe.

"What about you?" he asked, once again. I found it hard not to snap back.

"I told you. I'll be fine. Stop worrying about me!" His mouth twisted, ears tucking back. I hated to see it. "Tomas, listen. I'll be okay. Really."

He huffed hard, hugging the bunched up blanket to himself. "If you say so."

"I do say so." I hopped the two makeshift steps up to the bottom of the wardrobe. "If I'm not okay, you'll be the first to know. Happy?"

"Not really."

"Tsk." I leaned against the edge of the wooden framing. Admittedly, it was colder to the touch than I expected. "You worry too much. Stop."

"It's not worrying," he muttered, slowly turning away towards his bed. "It's caring. There's a difference."

My head went weird, ears perking all the way upright. I didn't know how to respond as he slouched and stomped away from me. Had I hurt him? Really? Just by telling him that this wasn't anything to be worrying and fretting about? I swear, Tomas was too soft for his own good sometimes... Not that his concern was unappreciated, filling me up with a strange, warm fuzziness as it did.

I left him in peace to make up his bed with that extra blanket, padding away to do the same in my sleeping area at the dark back corner of his wardrobe. No matter how much Tomas doubted it, I knew for a fact that my old sleeping bag would work fine as an extra cover. Actually, I'd have gone so far as to say that the duvet he'd bought me was toasty enough that even that might've been overkill.

I climbed my way into my old graphics card box bed a short time later, hammered hard by the rapid return of that sleepiness Tomas and his panicking had hollered away. As I buried myself under all that extra warmth that he insisted wouldn't be enough, I felt as if I was almost spiting him. Not that I meant it to. I got why he was concerned, but the big, soft lump needn't get himself into a state on my account. After all, I'd coped just fine during those first few nights here, sleeping in one of Tomas' bundled up hoodies in the middle of winter. And as rough as that might sound, it still didn't come close to the month I spent sleeping out in the wind and rain, hunkered up under benches and in bushes, hoping for the snow to stay away. Nah, no need for Tomas to worry. One night spent sleeping with a chill in the air would be easy street compared to that, no doubt in my mind.

Pride comes before a fall: I'll never forget how much one of my former foster parents used to say that amongst a bunch of other stupid proverbs. I never used to put too much stock into that sort of dreary nonsense. Not until more recent years anyway.

Despite all that confidence I'd built up, the toastiness I'd settled myself into didn't last anywhere near as long as I hoped it would. The heat seemed to pour out of that box like a waterbed springing a leak, leaving me struggling to find any at all under those thick, useless covers. Even with the door mostly closed, shielding me from the worst of Tomas' tapping at his keyboard, it couldn't save me from the lingering draughtiness jumping up a level, whipping icy blasts of air all around the bottom of the wardrobe. No matter how deep I tried to bury myself undercover, or how tightly I wrapped myself up in my sheets, that bone-chilling cold seeped into me from all directions. My teeth started to chatter. I lost the feeling in my nose to the point where I couldn't smell a thing. Tossing and turning did nothing for me. The darker it got in the wardrobe and the bedroom beyond, the less I felt sleep was a realistic prospect. Had staying with Tomas those last few months softened me up that much? I'd been through much worse than a chilly bedroom in my time. Gods, I had to grab myself by the scruff of the neck and pull it together. The pity party gathering inside my head wouldn't help anything, just like it wouldn't have out on the street. This was just a bit of cold. Nothing more. All I needed to do was man up and deal with it.

I got so caught up with my yammering thoughts, almost bickering with myself, that I never noticed the bedroom light turn on. In fact, from the frozen cocoon I'd wrapped myself in, I don't think I noticed the approach of footsteps, either. Either Tomas had been super quiet, or the cold air had messed with my hearing because the first trace I noticed of him was the whine of the wardrobe creeping open. Light flooded inside for barely a moment, blocked off again by Tomas' giant frame squeezing itself past the doorway. The whole wardrobe clunked as his shoulder made it inside, pushing aside his clothes hanging above. His snout followed soon after. As did his hip, jiggling as more and more of his bare stomach pressed and poured around the creaking wooden framing. Stealthy, Tomas was not.

"Oh, you're awake," he said, voice far gentler than his arrival. "Sorry. I hope I didn't disturb you."

"You didn't." I freed myself from my blankets enough to be able to sit up and better see him. Not that I could really miss the guy filling my whole upward view. "I wasn't sleeping."

"That's good." The wardrobe trembled again as he jerked and held up a paw. "I mean, it's good that I didn't wake you."

I smiled through the chill. My cheeks weren't frozen solid at least. "What time is it?"

"Almost two."

"Ugh. That late?"

He nodded, head tilting as his own smile offered the only warmth in my makeshift room. "I was just about to head off to bed too."

"Oh..." I gathered my blanket, pulling it closer to try and protect my chest and neck from the stabbing cold. "Done with your game?"

"Yeah. We finished the daily dungeons. Got our bonus rewards. Zarian got his fifty rep tokens, so now he can buy his new sword from the outpost quartermaster."

"Nice."

"Mhm." Tomas lingered there, still smiling, still... searching me. What did he want? "It's awfully cold in here."

"Yep. Comes with the heating being out."

His eyes narrowed just for a split second. "And you look cold, too."

"Nah, I'm fine." My body shuddered as a stiff breeze hit the back of my neck. The worst of bad timing. "N-Not too bad."

"That's good..." Another tremor rocked the wardrobe as more of his wide shoulder and chubby belly squeezed inside. My nose had thawed enough for me to catch a thick dose of his scent wafting down. "So... yeah. I'm about to climb into my own bed."

"You said." My body trembled again, joined by my breathing too. Not from the cold that time. "Hope it's warm."

"Claws crossed." He bent his arm to scratch at the other. "Actually... I had a thought."

I shoved my snout down into the top of my blanket, easing the chill. It blocked off some of Tomas' scent as well. Not all. "You did?"

"Yeah." Tomas turned away, peering back out into the bedroom. His scratching got faster. "I thought it might be easier to keep warm in a proper bed. Not down in this old wardrobe."

My heart beat harder, faster. I'm sure every strand of my fur leapt up to stand on end. "Maybe. I'm good here. You'll be fine in your bed too."

He sighed so hard that the heat made it all the way down to me. That scratching stopped as he clung onto his forearm. "I figured... You might be fine... in my bed too."

"Me?" I sat up straighter. My blood ran hot and cold all at once. I didn't know where to look or what to say. "Sleep _with_you?"

Tomas grunted, grumbling. The light outside took his interest again. "What I meant was... it's freezing in here and you should get yourself into a proper bed."

I looked away the moment his eyes moved back towards me, scanning not much at all down here at the bottom of the wardrobe. The edge of the old phone Tomas let me use as a TV of sorts gleaming in what little light made it in from the bedroom, brightening and fading with every move he made beyond my eyeline. Share a bed? With Tomas? It'd be a lot warmer than in the wardrobe, but... no way was that be anything but weird. My head kept on screaming at me, offering one, two, five, ten excuses to get out of it right there and then. All while something else entirely whispered away in the background, imploring me not to use any of them. "...I'm fine here."

"You're not."

He shot that back so fast, so... confidently. Was that Tomas that said that? "I really am."

The strength of his scent grew as what little light there was dimmed completely. The wardrobe shook its hardest yet as Tomas closed in on me, leaning down, reaching out for me. I had nowhere to go. All I could do was sit there in my corner and wait... for his giant fingerpad to find the top of my paw. The wonderful warmth of his delicate, leathery touch sent a blaze of heat up my arm, all the way into my chest... my heart.

"Oh, gosh! You're so cold."

"No." I yanked my arm away, relieved, saddened. "I'm--"

"Come on." Tomas' paw approached again, tilting as if it were about to scoop up me and my entire bed in the process. "You can't stay in here."

I clenched my jaw, squeezing my eyes closed. Something started to tug away at me, slowly tearing me in two. Nerves and excitement clashed. That headache I claimed to be suffering earlier that evening came on for real. I reminded myself to breathe. My arm lashed out to try and push Tomas' paw away. "I'm good where I am!"

"No, you're really not! You're freezing and you're going to make yourself sick."

"Back off," I growled, pushing at him with both arms. "Stop fussing! I said I'm fine. I'm always fine."

Finally, his paw stopped, fingertips a flick away from pressing down into my bedding. I'd bitten back so hard that I expected Tomas, timid and quiet as he was, to pull away and back off, exactly as I'd ordered him to. He didn't, though. In fact, the big badger made himself bigger, somehow squeezing yet more of himself past the doorway to loom over me, rattling and bouncing my bed, that phone, and the rest of my stuff in the process.

"I'm... I'm not going to back off," he insisted, glancing away for a moment before stabbing at me even harder with a soft yet stern glare. "And I'm _not_going to stop caring."

"It's a bit of cold! I've had worse than this. Out on--"

"I don't care!" Tomas' snout creased. A flash of his teeth blew my comeback clean out of my thoughts. "I don't care about how you coped on the street... or how tough you are..." His aggressive streak faded, voice falling back its usual mild-mannered sweetness. It didn't make him any less forceful. "You don't have to cope or act tough around here or around me."

I sat there silent, stunned, rubbing at my elbow, snout sinking towards bedsheets that'd long since stopped covering me. What in the world could I say to that?

"Now..." Tomas, with calm, inviting eyes, made sure I wouldn't have to figure it out. "Stop being so darn proud and... come get warm in my bed. Please, Jiri."

He caught me in his gaze. I couldn't turn away from it or the rest of his wide, hefty frame. What choice did I have as I sat there beneath him, air thick with his soothing heat and scent? I managed to snatch my eyes from his, but only to peer on down at that paw of mine, still warm from his earlier touch. I really did appreciate Tomas... The way he cared. I couldn't remember the last time someone _had_cared.

His finger crept into view, followed by the rest of his paw, open and offering. It's just a bed, I told myself. And... I _was_awfully cold down here. No need to be all weird about it. "...Sure. Thank you."

Tomas eased into the sweetest smile yet. With tired but attentive eyes, he closed in on me from all sides, easing me up out of my freezing bed and wrapping me within the comfort of his paws.

I'd have been lying if I said that Tomas' touch hadn't warmed me ten times over. The way he'd cupped and curled his paws as we walked the short way to his bed left only my head and shoulders exposed. He'd clasped his big paws a little tight, maybe... but I sure couldn't complain about the protection they offered from the growing chill in the air.

Tomas settled his heavy self down atop his mattress first, filling most of it as the whole thing sank and shifted around him. Once all the movement and the racket that came with it ended, the time came for him to open his paws, tipping me out onto a spot nestled between his arm and the edge of the side table. The mattress itself offered warmth enough, but once Tomas had got himself tucked up beneath his blanket, the top corner section he'd pulled aside for me shielded me from the frosty air completely.

We were close. I should've expected that. Generally, a single-sized Visoka bed would fit a single someone who was Visoka sized. As my head sank into my pillow, I could only concentrate on the heat Tomas gave off, practically playing the part of the biggest radiator imaginable. Not a doubt in my mind that hunkering up close with him would feel a million times better than his metal equivalent.

I clenched my jaw, then my fists, forcing that thought, that pleasant, happy thought, right out of my head. It'd started to trick both me and my instincts, asking me to grab that pillow, scoot closer, and sample him for myself. Of course, I had to put a stop to that. Me and Tomas, we weren't like that. We were just roommates. Friends at best. Tomas had said so himself during his call with his computer friends. There wasn't any space for mistaking on my part. I knew exactly how things stood. So I lay there, silent and still... still basking in the cosiness of my position hunkered up between both the blankets and the bulky badger beside me.

"Comfy?" Tomas asked with barely more than a whisper. "Warm enough?"

I turned towards him and nodded. That's when I caught the perfect view of his gentle... pretty smile, peeking at me over the edge of his pillow. A subtle shift of his sizeable self moved the mattress again, but also, it blew a generous helping of his scent all over me. I had no choice but to breathe it in and allow him to flood my senses. That mint-tinged sharpness... I couldn't deny how pleasant I found it. Endearing. Delicate... but strong. I caught myself trying to slide closer all over again.

"Jiri?" He lifted his head from the pillow just enough to spot me. "Are you okay there?"

"Uh, yeah." Spotting even more of his perky nose and fuzzy chin fur didn't help me stay situated. "Just... don't roll on me. Okay?"

"I won't," Tomas said with a chuckle, lifting the covers and pushing himself up onto his side towards me. "Don't mind me. Just taking off my glasses."

"...Alright." He slipped his specs off slowly, extending his chunky arm out over me to place them on the side table. However, at that moment, neither his arm nor his eyewear were my focus. Instead, I took in the sight that was the thick, white-dusted black fur covering Tomas' plump, wall-like chest. Further down the bed, his hefty stomach bulged and spread across the mattress, blocking my view of the room beyond it. Visoka were big... but for sure, you could never grasp just how big until you got up close with them.

All that said, as Tomas settled back down again, returning the comfort of our blankets to us, I couldn't say the whole experience was unpleasant. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it was... breathtaking. In more ways than one.

"Thanks for calming me down earlier," he sang sleepily. "I think I'd still be panicking now if you weren't here."

"It's nothing. Don't mention it." I smiled as his snout wiggled closer to the edge of his pillow. "Least I could do to help pay my way, I guess."

"Aww, stop with all that. I told you, I've liked the company. Now in particular."

My eyes shot fully open. "What?"

"It's like I said. I probably would've still been freaking out about the heating situation."

"Oh..."

"What did you think I meant?"

"No." I waved something away. At least, I tried to. "I misheard what you said."

His teeth started to come on display. "What did you think I said?"

"Doesn't matter." I chuckled as the fur frizzed at the back of my neck. "It's like _I_said. It's nothing. Don't mention it."

"Well, I wanted to." He shifted and jiggled some more, snout sliding further off the pillow. I shuddered in shock as he bumped the very tip of his nose to mine. "Thank you."

"Don't... uh, mention..." That was touchy-feely, even by Tomas' standards. I rubbed my nose, tingling as it was from the sensation. That same tingle stayed within the rest of me as I watched his sweet smile and soft eyes slip back towards his pillow. "We'll... call the maintenance team first thing... Get 'em to come round whether it's Sunday or not."

"Here's hoping... Oh!" I spotted one of his ears spring up. "The light."

Just like before, but faster, Tomas wobbled up and over to reach towards the side table. A flick of the lamp switch left a repeat of his huge, doughy chest and belly looming large as my final image of him before darkness filled the bedroom. The bed trembled beneath us as he dropped back down one final time, bouncing me gently beneath the security of his heavy blanket. My eyes adjusted in time to spot the widening, cheek-creasing smile he offered. A silent 'goodnight', I figured. I sent him one back in return. Something from somewhere told me that wasn't enough.

Tomas rolled his shoulders, getting himself comfy under our sheets, wafting yet more of his delightful scent my way. As I lay there, there must've been little more than a Visoka's paw width between us. Too far, said a voice, way less alarming and unsettling than most of the thoughts I'd heard that evening.

I grabbed my pillow and wiggled my hips, closing some of the distance between myself and the bigger badger beside me. My head remained empty, all except that same voice repeating that same thought. Too far. Another shift took me closer still, before a third left the distance between us the width of a Maleni's paw. How easy then, for my paw to bring us all the way together.

My palmpad sank easily into the welcoming fuzz of his arm, experiencing a heart-stopping heat that radiated right the way through me, only stopping once it reached every single tip of my own fur. That incredible sensation seemed all but unmatchable for the briefest of moments before my pads found his soft, malleable skin. I trembled, gasped, then sighed, bathing Tomas in whatever warmth I could offer in return. Too far, still, I insisted to myself.

I rolled over, pressing my bare stomach and chest, then my thighs and my legs up against his bulk. My nose followed the lead of my paw, welcomed warmly by his snout-tickling fur. The starts of a nuzzling helped me reach his flesh, as well as the source of his soothing scent. I breathed him in. Then again. A spark ran from my head to my tailbase, ears flicking against his fuzz. My heart eased into a slow, steady, but strong beat. What else could I do but place my other paw to him?

A different voice piped up, far to the back of my head, insisting that I stop, move away. It was easily ignored, barely noticeable above what each and every other part of me demanded. Gladly, I listened, obeyed, gave in, allowed my paws to part, my arms to spread, and the whole of my body to press with all it had into his comforting softness. That quiet, yapping voice died once and for all. The calmer, friendlier one I was becoming far more familiar with quickly took its place.

'You really tried to avoid this?'

I snorted to myself, squeezing tighter still against Tomas' thick arm. Yes... I really had--

"What's funny?"

My whole body rocked hard. I jolted back far enough to see one white-speckled black eye stripe peering my way through the dark. Only then did it dawn on me what I was doing with myself. I expected Tomas to question me, or to pull away. Instead... his arm stayed there in its natural position. Just like I did.

"Did I do something?"

"Oh, no..." I let my snout return to the fuzziness of his fur, my head and my eyes growing heavier and heavier. "Just... a joke I heard... earlier."

"It sure sounded like a good one," he said past a yawn, tugging the sheets, and me, even closer to him. "You'll have to tell it to me in the morning..."

Something went thump. Inside, outside, I wasn't sure which. My sore eyes got even sorer from forcing them open. Everything beyond the top of the bedcovers was a blur. I shook away the haze and found dim dusklight seeping in through the broken window blinds, filtering down towards the mattress below me... Below? Window? Never mind the thump. Where in the world was I?

Above, below, left, and right, I had black fur closing in on me from all sides. So warm. So snug. So overwhelming. Laying on his side, massive arms crossed over my chest and stomach, Tomas had me completely in his grasp, holding and cuddling me deep into his toasty fur and bulk... like I was a stuffed toy. I went stiff, realising that I couldn't hope to move away, such was the sheer, shocking strength of his hold on me. But, as overwhelming as it was to be trapped in the big badger's unbreakable hold, the idea of struggling for freedom never came. Instead, I... just lay there, basking in how it felt to be buried in the tightest yet most comfortable hold imaginable. Safe. Secure... Appreciated.

A long squeak of a groan slipped out from my snout, shaking me in all the right ways as it joined Tomas' steady snoring. It was no use. There was no other option but to admit... that voice inside me, the one that'd been fighting to get out and be heard over the rest, the one that'd finally won its battle, had been right all along.

I escaped from my stiffness, sinking, melting away into Tomas' thick fuzz. Another exhale exited like yet another body-rocking groan. I couldn't wait to breathe in and breathe him in all over again. In fact, I realised that while I didn't have a hope of moving away, even if I wanted to, that didn't mean I couldn't move.

I wiggled and tugged myself around beneath Tomas' close, squeezing grasp, pressing and rubbing at his chubby, hilly chest with cheek and snout. With my front to his, I caught so much more of his sharp yet super-sweet scent, revelling in the way his pads pressed so firmly yet so delicately into the whole of my back.

With all that comfort and warmth bombarding me, my drowsiness returned at speed, coming down on me like a curtain. Locked in place but so totally relaxed and at ease in the depths of his chest, I wasn't sure if I'd drifted back off to sleep or not. Either way, the next thing I remembered was that peaceful calm being shocked and shaken apart, as if the whole room had begun to move.

"Woah." In a flash, Tomas' arms pulled away. I fell forward from the closeness of his chest, landing face up atop the paw he'd left behind to catch me. I'd barely woken up before I found myself back down on the mattress, bundled up in the darkness between him and the covers. A short slide out from underneath them let me see Tomas cringing in the twilight, covering his eyes with his other paw while his pillow half-hid the rest of his face. "Sorry."

I didn't know what to say. The cool air gnawed away at me as I grabbed my own smaller pillow, holding it to myself as I lay facing him. It couldn't offer the same warmth or comfort as I snatched what words I could out into the open. "For what it's worth... I don't think I minded the cuddling."

"I didn't... I... must have done it in my sleep? I... Sorry."

I curled up tighter, snout pressing deep into a pillow that smelt nothing like the badger beside me. Seeing how distraught Tomas was about this... It stung worse than the cold. "Was it really that bad?"

His mouth fell open just enough to be seen. He uncovered his eyes for me, only to squeeze them closed and cringe even harder.

"I can go back to the wardrobe if you prefer."

"No!" Tomas burst into life, throwing a paw towards me but pulling it back almost as quickly. He went quiet all over again, tugging more and more of the covers away from me as he rolled away onto his back. His ears tucked themselves almost far enough back to touch his pillow as he stared on up to the ceiling. A rumble started beneath me, growing stronger by the second. I watched the blankets bunch even closer to him, forced up and down, again and again by Tomas' trembling leg. A shaking mattress or not, as the cold closed in from all sides, I came so close to climbing to my feet and heading back to my box bed. Tomas stopped me in my tracks, though, and he didn't need his big paws to do it. Just three small, timid, delightful words.

"I like you."

The time came for my mouth to fall open. I lifted my snout from the pillow I'd kept a tight hold of, paws squeezing, trembling as I watched the big badger slowly shrink within his silence. His leg kept on twitching, arms wrapped around and holding himself. The last thing I wanted was to torture him, but as those three meek words rattled about my head, I had to know for sure their meaning. "You like me?"

Tomas nodded short and fast. It would have been easily missed if I weren't hyperfocused on his every movement. He kept his eyes hidden, gaze still focused on the ceiling regardless. "I wasn't sure if you... I didn't know if you liked..."

His words barely made it out from his trembling mouth. I slid myself closer to the blankets he'd hidden away within. "Liked what?"

"Guys," he hacked out, barely understandable past his tired, grunting gasp. "Let alone... Visoka guys, and I've never..."

Tomas faded, whimpering and whining as he locked up his jaw. The mattress shook harder as the trembling in his leg moved to affect the rest of him.

'Help him,' snapped a voice, guiding me to raise a paw and reach it towards his huge, frightened self. I hoped he could feel me through those thick, Visoka-sized sheets.

"I-I've never..." Tomas took a huge, frightened breath, sighing so hard that the mattress quaked and those protective covers parted enough to expose a slither of black fur. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to... tell you."

I smiled so hard that my cheeks started to sting. Something washed over me. A feeling of relief, almost. My heart was thumping as if it were trying to escape my chest. All the while, Tomas' scent carried even sweeter, fueling the thought, the sensation that screamed at me to shift even closer to the 'smallest' giant badger I'd ever met.

"I do," I called with the same song that was starting inside of me. "I like guys. To answer your question."

"O-Oh," Tomas replied with more a sigh of relief than words. Whatever he tried to tell me next, I could make out past his muted, sob-like mumbling.

I pushed what I could of the covers aside, slipping beneath them to get to and hunker up against his huge, pudgy bicep. As I wrapped an arm up and over as much of him as I could, a spiky thought prickled the back of my mind. It reminded me that Tomas was a Visoka. The very same Visoka who'd come so close to literally tossing me out onto the streets... and the very same Visoka who'd invited me to spend four wonderful months with him.

I gritted my teeth and threw myself tighter to Tomas' softness, sinking deep. Visoka, Maleni, did it matter? Letting the warmth of his fur, the covers and my thoughts fill me, breathing in that breathtaking scent, I hugged him as hard as I could, wanting so badly to see more of that adorable, smiling face I'd gotten so used to around here. "And as for you liking me... Well... I like you too."

Tomas gasped out loud. The moving mattress settled along with his leg while he shifted the covers away to find me. Beyond his chubby arm and curvy chest, I watched his ears spring up while his mouth dropped and eyes opened wide. "Really?"

No, that wasn't the expression I'd craved, but the gentle innocence of Tomas' musical voice offered a heartwarming substitute. One that started me silently snickering as I rubbed at his fur and, steadily, nosed into his bulk. "Really."

The shock eased from his face. More and more daylight seeped in through the blinds, further brightening his glowing, spreading smile. It caught his cheerful brown eyes, too, starting them sparkling as his ears flicked upwards. A prelude to the happiest, cutest grunt I'd heard Tomas make to date. His paw reached out for me, slipping beneath and scooping me up and away from his arm. I didn't have to wait long for him to return me to his softness, settling me down pride of place into the fuzzy, three-way valley of his stout belly and marshmallow chest.

"I've wanted to tell you... for a while..." Tomas crossed his paws atop me, cuddling me tight, pulling me even deeper into his pillowy pecs. "I tried to back when we were watching Fool's Labyrinth... when we were cuddling... but you fell asleep before I could get the nerve. I was going to try again tonight, while we watched Book of Fates, but... I got scared... Played C of H instead." His huge paws started to tremble, matching the harsh quivering in his breathing. "I... you're... I really like you. I really like being around you... Doing things with you."

"Same here," came my reply. Easy. Natural. Under Tomas' grasp, I couldn't move anything but my paws and my head. Still more than enough to let me rub his chest and nose at his finger. "I... think I wanted to tell you, too. How I felt."

"You think?"

"I mean..." I froze mid-flow, expecting a voice to pipe up and fill my head with noise. With doubt. But, nothing came. Instead, I had only the sensation of Tomas all around me. A sensation that sent me wriggling and nuzzling deeper into his fur. "I mean, it took me a while to be brave as well. To get my head straight."

As more of the morning crept in, the murmuring of crowds and Sunday traffic building beyond the blinds as the city outside slowly came back to life. Meanwhile, inside our bedroom, the peacefulness persisted. Tomas and I lay there together, silent except for our steady breathing and contented grunting. The chilly air that'd first brought me to Tomas' bed was all but forgotten as I sprawled out under his firm, borderline roasting hold, such was the heat that the big, cuddly badger gave off. Not that I'd have had it any other way.

"Jiri," Tomas whispered into my ear, sending it flicking with the brush of a whisker. "Hey, Jiri?"

"Hmm?"

"You know... I thought I was happy to have you stay here when you were helping out with cooking, the bill issues and all..." He squeezed me downwards, finger brushing at my cheek. "But I'm double happy now."

I chuckled into that finger, wiggling and shifting myself over onto my front; far easier that way to sprawl across Tomas' chest and sink my snout into his fur. "That makes two of us."

"Good," he muttered under a happy grumble, rubbing a fingerpad between my ears right up until he rocked with a sudden, "Oh..."

"What's wrong?"

"I just remembered about the heating. We need to call maintenance."

"Can't it wait?" I mumbled into his chest. "I'm comfy here."

"Heh. Me too." Tomas started to shift. I turned my head and peered up past his snout to find him looking back, eyes creasing to give away his smile just out of view. "Makes a change, hearing you talk like that."

"Like what?"

"About being comfy like this." Two of his fingers rubbed over the back of my shoulders. "You're usually not one for hugging."

"I wouldn't go that far..."

"I would... Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"See, It's 'cos you're a... cuddlemonster, that's all."

"Cuddlemonster?"

"Yeah."

He snorted, bumping at me with his thick-furred chin. "And a cuddlemonster is _what_exactly?"

"Someone who hugs and cuddles. A lot."

"...And that's bad?"

"No." I'd heard the worry in his playful words. It earned him a bump back at his own snout. "But it can make seeing the TV tricky when we watch movies together."

"Oh." Tomas breathed easier, first brushing my fur through his nostrils, then with his affectionate fingers. "I, uh... I suppose I can't help it... You... feel good against me."

"Likewise... But it's probably more fitting to say you feel good when I'm smothered against you."

He chuckled. _We_chuckled. Tomas' sweet laughter rolled out like music to my flicking ears. With a creaking from the springs below, we began to move together. Tomas rolled onto his side, pulling our covers up over us to help us hide from the light outside and the chill inside. I shook, shivered, squealed out loud as his arms crossed, snuggling me up like a stuffed toy all over again.

"Oop." He bumped his nose between my ears. "Too hard?"

"No!" I squeezed back at him as best I could. Gods damn, what a feeling. "It's perfect."

For the first time in the longest while, I actually felt happy not to have a job, nor any other reason to haul myself out of bed. That morning, nothing in the world would've had a chance at pulling me away from Tomas' thick, cosy chest. What's more, I doubt Tomas, huge cuddlemonster that he was, would have ever allowed it either.

"Jiri?"

"Hmm?"

"After we call maintenance, grab some breakfast... I know you watched it last night but... would you like to watch Book of Fates again with me?"

"Please."

He giggled gently, cuddling me even deeper into my soft, fuzzy nook between his pecs and belly. Perfect, it really was, and not a single thought, or voice, in my head could've hoped to argue otherwise.