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It is 0605 when the diner is fully ready for business. Daron had taken the chairs off the tables and set them up. He also had put out the paper place mats that were covered in cut-out coupons and advertisements, as well as silverware already wrapped in paper napkins. Natalie, on the other hand, had taken up the tasks of brewing the coffee, sliding on an apron, and preparing herself by placing straws, a few pens, napkins, silverware, and a notepad in her many pockets.

When every part of the diner is prepped, Natalie walks over to Daron and reminds him of what they discussed in the kitchen. The wolf agrees with an okay-I'll-play-along tone, and sits down at the end of the long bar, almost squishing himself against the wood paneling of the wall. It is uncomfortable, so he moves to compensate. Natalie hands Daron a copy of the laminated menu with a spiral spine, and inquires, "Could I start you off with a drink? Coffee?"

"Sure, a coffee is fine; black, double sweet." Daron smiles at the vixen as she walks to the opposite end of the bar, where the coffee is nearly finished brewing. With a swish of her tail and a pot of coffee in hand, she reaches for a saucer and mug, both a creamy white porcelain, and continues to walk back towards the wolf. She sets the dishes down in front of him, and fills the coffee mug with two packs of sugar, and the rest with the fresh coffee. "Thanks, Natalie."

"Sure thing. Have you decided what you want? Or do you need a few more minutes to decide?" Natalie is speaking like a professional waitress to one of her most loyal regulars.

Daron's ears perk up when the bell above the entry door rings quietly. Natalie, however, doesn't seem to notice, so Daron suggests, "Well, you might want to tend to the other customers who just walked in. I need a few more minutes anyway."

"Oh! I didn't hear the bell. Back in a few." Natalie rushes her speech as she begins to walk away to seat the family of badgers that has just entered. The male is short and rather heavy set, as well as his wife. Their children are slightly overweight as well, but the son, about thirteen, is the same height as his parents, and the two daughters look to be twins of about ten; they are about a head shorter than their brother and parents. The twins are each holding a 3DS in their paws, and the boy looks to be texting on a smartphone. "Good morning! Five?"

"Yes, but could we request a table, rather than a booth?" The father responds with a concerned expression.

"Of course. Right this way, please." Natalie answers cheerfully as she leads the badgers to their table. When they are seated, she treats them the same way she treated Daron a few minutes earlier. The parents each get coffees with cream and sugar, as well as the son. The twins ask for hot chocolate, and Natalie takes it upon herself to put whipped cream on the hot chocolate, which the twins are thankful for. They also need a few minutes to decide what they want, so Natalie makes her way back to Daron.

"I'd like just a cheddar omelet." Daron gives his order nervously, feeling slightly uncomfortable about asking for food from friends of his. Especially since Robert and Natalie are the ONLY real friends that he has.

"Toast and home fries?"

"Sure, if you insist." Daron shrugs as he rolls off his response.

After Daron finishes the meal Robert had prepared for him from behind the pass-through window leading to the kitchen, the rest of the employees that have their shifts on Sundays begin to enter the diner. One by one, Hatori the raccoon, a lioness called Gilda, and a falcon, Samantha enter through the glass double doors. Several truck drivers who leave their rigs parked next door at the gas station follow them.

It doesn't take very long for business to be in full swing. The morning rush piles a large amount of work on the Lane family and the rest of the employees. Hatori and Robert are cooking the food without any problems, and Gilda and Samantha are waiting the tables; all the employees handle the situation like professionals. Since the diner is small, Daron is given a tip from Gilda, "as the morning comes to a close, it may be best for you to give up your seat. The rush isn't over." He sees no point in arguing, and he's willing to leave the bar stool anyway due the discomfort it gives him.

Robert finds a moment to direct the wolf to an area of the diner behind a curtain, which has gone unnoticed until just now. Daron is forced to lean down a bit to step through the archway and into the back of the diner where a small room awaits him. In the middle lies a circular metal table with four dining chairs, as well as a light blue folding chair. Windows fill the entire room with light, making the assumption that this room was originally a sunroom a more or less logical one.

After bowing him in, Robert pulls Daron down for a small peck on the cheek. The fox boy then whispers to the silver wolf. "There are four computers built into the table. The control panel is in the far corner, and you're welcome to use them to do whatever. There are no restrictions on the guest account, but Natalie doesn't know that. You wouldn't mind helping me keep it that way, would you?"

"You're too cute to argue with. I just might go as far as to say that I love you." Daron embraces Robert and holds him close to his chest. They stay like this happily until the fox points out that he needs to go back to work, and his partner releases him from his clutches. The silver furred wolf has a difficult time suppressing the impulsive urge to gently slap Robert's back side as he leaves the room. Sometimes I wonder if he's a dream. Daron questions the reality of the situation in his mind.

Daron examines the desktop computers attached to the table, and notices an abnormality on the one labeled, "Robert." It is different from the other towers. There are blue lights glowing inside the case, unlike the others which have red lights. The wolf notices on top of Robert's keyboard a list of computer specifications, and he recognizes all the parts on the list for Robert's computer; ones of the most powerful computers money can buy. Daron immediately hops into Robert's chair, grinning from ear to ear. The silver wolf clicks on the GUEST account and logs in, and immediately notices that Steam was left open from when the last person used the guest account. Daron logs into his own account and opens up Team Fortress 2. The wolf contemplates without speaking, Of course he has it. Why wouldn't he? What kind of Steam user doesn't? I mean, besides the obvious. Nevermind. Self, you need to stop asking pointless questions when talking to me. Got it?

"I see you like my rig, don't you, Danny Boy?" Daron does not respond when Robert walks behind the curtain and speaks while leaning against the polished maple grate of the archway. Daron cannot hear Robert because of the headphones he found in a cabinet under the glass table. Robert decides to seize this, another opportunity to try and startle the silver furred wolf. The fox boy is careful not to make a sound as he creeps towards Daron. Just a few... more... steps... and... Daron pauses the game and wags his index finger just as the sneaky little fox is about to whisper a very naughty statement. "HOW DO YOU ALWAYS KNOW!?" Robert shouts.

"I told you at the hotel, Magic-Wolf-Ears. Don't you remember?" Daron smirks as he inquires to the cute fox.

Duplicating his body language from the last time he had failed to startle the wolf, Robert responds, "Yeah, I remember. Just... *sigh* could you just shut it down and log out soon? It's almost closing time."

Astonished, Daron asks, "Wow, have I really been playing this one game for THAT long? That must've been, what, twelve hours? Minus the times I came out, of course. Right?"

"Yep. I'd say that's about right. Now come on, puppy. We need to go. I'll tell you what: if you can be out of this room with everything put away within the next minute, I'll cut you a slice of cake."

Daron widens his eyes and smiles widely with razor sharp canines, as he immediately shuts the game down, logs out, and places the headphones back in the cabinet under the table. He pushes in the chair as he asks, "Now then, shall we be off?"

"We shall. We're off! (To see the wizard!)" Robert wraps his arm through Daron's, linking them like a chain as the two canines leave the meeting room, and enter the main dining area once again. He notices that the wolf is swinging their arms a bit as they walk to sit down in the corner of the diner. "My, my, you seem really excited for just a piece of cake!"

Daron blushes as he answers, "Oh, I guess you're right. Sorry. I guess I just really like cake. Heh."

"I have ice cream cake, carrot cake, New York cheesecake, red velvet cake, coffee crumb cake..." Robert is cut off by a moan and panting coming from his "boyfriend." It's not official, but the fox hopes to not have to put "boyfriend" inside quotation marks at some point in the near future.

"Mmmm, I do love red velvet."

"Then I'll cut us both a slice."

"Just don't show favoritism. I don't want Natalie or any of the other employees to get upset that you aren't sharing with them. After all, don't they teach 'sharing is caring' in kindergarten or something?"

After slicing the cake for Natalie, Daron, and himself, Robert sits down at the booth in the corner with the wolf and the vixen. Hatori, Gilda, and Samantha declined any of the cake, and they left a little before the foxes closed up. The entire diner is clean, dark, and ready for the business to come in the morning, and Robert is confident that what he's about to ask Daron will not be alarming. "I want to know two things, Daron. First, why did you really kiss me this morning? Tell me what really happened."

The silver wolf rolls his eyes while he smiles playfully at the fact that Robert is showing confusion even after receiving an explanation. He replies, "I told you, already. Natalie had a change of heart over the past few days, and she told me to do it in front of her so she could show that she approves of our relationship." Daron pauses for a second before continuing, "And to answer the other question, which I assume is, 'what are we to each other?' I'd think that I know you well enough to say that you're my boyfriend. Wouldn't you agree?"

Robert sighs heavily in relief at the thought of not having to put "boyfriend" in quotation marks when writing it out in his head. The fox boy's eyes begin to close before he realizes that he's drifting into a trance. He returns his attention to Daron's statement, but it is too late as Natalie has already replied for him, "I think he would, Daron."

"Would you mind not answering for me? I think I can speak for myself, thanks," Robert snaps at his sister next to him. The vixen only smirks in response, as she feels that she's had enough fun for the moment. "But, yes. You're both right. I would agree. It's just that I've been waiting for you to make the first call on that matter. I didn't want to seem perverted by taking you in when you needed a place to stay, and then get to know you to the point where it's intimate." The fox pauses and sighs before finishing his statement. "I hope you don't think less of me for hiding it."

To his surprise, Daron chuckles loudly, "Kid, you just get better and better! Look, for future reference, or if you are ever required to tell this to someone else, just know that if you like someone, you should just come out and tell them, and if they say no or whatever, just move on. But right now, you won't need to worry about that, because that's not the case, Rob. If at all, now is the time to count your blessings."

"Well, isn't this nice?" Natalie interjects with sarcastic jubilance. "Here you two are discovering yourselves, while I'm sitting here with a piece of red velvet cake sitting inside my gut. After careful consideration, I have decided that I need to stretch my legs, so I might as well let you two finish this conversation alone. Robert, if you wouldn't mind letting me out?" The vixen rudely, but playfully nudges her brother with her elbow before he stands from his seat and allows her to pass by. Natalie turns around with her paws behind her head and winks at her brother before swishing her tail and disappearing into the darkness of the diner.

"I guess that's one way to kill the mood," Robert whispers to his lover. The scarlet fox is very glad that he no longer needs to put intimate words like that in quotations anymore. He does not plan to share this thought, so he forgets about it and focuses on listening to Daron. "It's times like this when she's annoying as all hell."

"Well, I can see why you would say that, but I'd have to disagree," Daron replies carelessly while staring at the city skyline outside the window underneath the starry sky. He turns his head back forward and faces Robert again, and he squints playfully as he smirks. "I think she's a bit cute. She's definitely indecisive and I like that about her. But, that doesn't at all mean that I like her more that you, Foxy."

Robert blushes as he replies, "Well, now that we're boyfriends, I can accept Foxy as my nickname. And you can accept yours, Puppy. Why? Because you're my Puppy, and I love my Puppy."

"I guess that means you and I can kiss and it'd be okay, right?" the silver furred wolf asks, winking to the fox boy.

Robert stands up from his seat and walks to the other side of the table where Daron is sitting. Daron does the same and meets his lover halfway. They meet in an embrace, which is followed by each partner tilting their heads slightly clockwise. The silver wolf leans down and meets the scarlet fox boy's muzzle with his own.

As this kiss is happening, in the other corner of the diner sits a little vixen. She watches in comfort as her brother shares joy with his new lover. Well, I guess my work here is done, she tells herself in relaxation.