FSE

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--Naki--

The entire room quieted as Uncle Orville and Jerry walked down. I kept staring at them, almost daring Jerry to say anything. I just didn't have the patience for any of it; I wanted Fen to have as few negative memories about today as possible and Jerry was not making it easy.

"We're just gonna get more beer, that's all," Uncle Orville said almost defensively as he and Jerry walked past. Attached to the main room of our basement was another room that hid the laundry machine, boiler, and various other utilities. There was also an old, old backup fridge we used to hold extra food during the holidays. Apparently Dad had put extra beers in it. They went to the back and grabbed enough cases from the fridge to fill their arms before walking back through the room we were in.

"Oh, we're gonna do presents soon too. So come on up in... I guess fifteen minutes or something?" Uncle Orville stated.

"Yea, alright," I replied and watched them march up the stairs again. Jerry gave us a look as he walked up, grinning a bit dopily which pissed me off a little. I held it in, though.

"You gonna be okay if we open presents up there?" I asked Fen.

"It'll be alright. I'm wearing my thick skin today. Don't you see my pelt?" he asked with grin.

I was actually pretty happy he was being so loose about this all even if I didn't quite understand why yet. Before we could find another topic to talk about, the door opened again and Aunt Caitlyn and Becca began tromping down the stairwell.

"Half the party is down here now," Aunt Becca said with a grin as she followed Aunt Caitlyn into the room. She automatically trotted over to me and gave my back rub.

"Feelin' okay, Naki? You know you can't take Jerry too seriously on the holidays."

"It's fine, I just--"

"Melina did say they wouldn't be wearing their rings," Aunt Caitlyn piped up. Becca just looked at her for a moment and gave a shrug. "It's not like there wasn't enough food anyway."

"Yea, I know," Caitlyn said somewhat dismissively. "Kinda feels like they'd have taken them off anyway. I mean, why eat the extra food when you need so little?"

"Well we've got two here you could ask," Becca said, smirking. I didn't feel as playful as her, though.

"I-- why even talk about it?" I asked, wondering why this even kept coming up.

"Why not talk about it? Kinda seems like you're the only one that doesn't want to talk about it, Naki," Caitlyn said before looking to Fen settled next to me. "What do you think? Nothin' wrong with asking a question, right?"

I resisted the urge to glare.

"Well, no," Fen began to say. "As long as the questions aren't malicious or anything, I guess. I mean, I kinda feel like it's obvious why we prefer this height."

"Zeqa doesn't even have one and she was fine," Caitlyn pointed out.

"Yea, but Zeqa's always small. She's used to it," Becca responded.

I shook my head. "Why should they even feel pressured to do anything? They're guests here."

"Plus it's not like me or Khole don't wear them regularly anyway. This is what we're used to. This size feels normal to me."

"Alright alright, fine," Caitlyn said, settling down on a stool. "I guess that all makes sense. Anyway, Jerry didn't mean anything by it. At least not towards you," she said as she peered at Fen and Khole. Without delving into what she meant, she looked my way.

"Everything okay? You seem tenser than normal today."

"No... I just... it's kinda unfair to pick on them. With all that's happening, I guess."

"Yea, and I'm pretty sure Jerry -did- mean something by it. He wasn't drunk but he was drinking mighty fast," Zeke mentioned.

"And then there was whatever he was talking about when they came in after church," Khole said.

"Weeeellll-- that has more t'do with... well, a couple is getting married at the church. A Requoran couple. He just kinda thinks Lasscut's putting too much into it. Like he's moving focus away from the church's regular community. And that's just icing on the cake. A lot of church money has gone towards helping the Requorans in the area."

"Well it is part of the church's goal, isn't it? Vulnerable communities?" Khole asked. "I do remember seeing flyers about that pinned up outside the sanctuary."

"Part of it, sure. But the church's roots are this community, which didn't include Requorans until just recently. None of them have even become members except the two getting married," said Caitlyn. "Why put so much into a group you don't know will even become contributors?"

"To be fair, it's not all about membership," Becca added. "But it's true the church has money problems and lack of membership isn't going to help those money problems. If this venture falls through and the Requorans simply take and leave-- never give anything back, then where's the church going to be?"

I didn't disagree with her point even if it felt a bit greedy for people of the church to think that way. Would we give up on a vulnerable Neotrian population if we thought they might not pay? Is that really how a church should work? Still, money doesn't just appear...

"It can't be that big of an investment. It's not like they're wearing cloakers and eating the church out of food," Fen responded. "I'm not that religious, but I doubt they wouldn't be grateful for a place to stay and some food."

"You're right. This is what people are angry about, though," Caitlyn responded.

The room went quiet for a moment before I spoke up. "Still not a good reason to make a big deal out of things. It's completely out of left-field to take that out on Khole or Fen."

"I didn't say he was right; was just giving some context. He's not just being mean to be mean," Aunt Caitlyn sighed. "Anyway, it's probably about time we go open presents, don'tcha think?"

Becca nodded. "Yea, let's head up and get started before it gets too late."

I glanced at Fen who gave me a little smile. That's all I needed, so I headed upstairs with the others towards the living room. As we tromped up the stairwell I heard a familiar voice-- one I wasn't sure I was gonna hear before the end of the evening.

"Hey Motts," I said after getting to the top and seeing Motley talking to my Mom in the kitchen. I approached them and Motley's head glanced my way.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late-- had some stuff to take care of."

"Just glad ya made it. I hope they left some food for you."

"Yep. Mom's got me covered," he said, glancing at my mom.

"You know we wouldn't forget about you, Motley. We were just about to open presents so you can take your plate to the living room to eat and unwrap at the same time, alright?"

"Got it," he stated before grabbing his plate and walking with me towards the living room. He peered at me after we got a good few steps away. "Everything goin' alright?"

"Yea," I said. "Jerry and I almost got into a shouting match but everything else has been okay."

"Aww, it wasn't bad was it? He's usually not -that- bad. Just loud." Motley smirked. "But so's the rest of your family."

I snickered. "I guess that's true." We all gathered in the living room where Fen'd apparently waited; settled at one of the table chairs away from everyone else sitting on the couch, on chairs they'd pulled over, or on the floor nearby the tree.

"Sure you're okay?" I asked.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just didn't wanna... y'know, start something again with my presence," he said with a joking grin before looking at Motley.

"Hey, Motley. How're you?"

"Nabad, thanks for asking. Merry Christmas," Motley responded.

"Same to you."

We made our way over to the rest of the group and settled down on the floor next to Khole, Nate, and Ron.

"Alright, let's get these sorted," Caitlyn said as she grabbed presents and began shuffling them off towards their intended receiver. We all kinda helped out; taking gifts and passing them about the room to try and speed the process along. I figured I'd give Fen his gift later-- after we'd left. So I kept that one a secret. I did get something for Khole, Motley, and my immediate family though.

As with every year, gift opening was mostly an orderly affair with younger relatives opening their presents first and older last. So we sat and watched Nate and Reggie open their presents to start and then went up the ladder; Zeqa, Ron, Motley, me, Fen, Khole, and then Zeke. When it came to me, I pulled my parents' box first. They got me Phalance hoodie and a pair of swimming shoes made for otters.

"To help motivate you to keep swimming even if you're not gonna be a on a team anymore," Dad said. "I remember you tellin' me you hadn't gone in a while. And you wanted to go more because it relaxed ya."

I grinned. "Yea, I do. Thanks guys," I said, peering over the footwear again. They're actually more like gloves than shoes. They fit around toes and webbing and velcro around the ankle. I noticed Fen staring at them and couldn't help but inwardly laugh. I wondered what was going through his head. Next, I opened Zeke's family's present. It was pretty heavy. Inside were the books I'd need for my classes next semester.

"I asked for your schedule for this next semester and bought books for your classes. Figured it'd help save you some money," Zeke said. "Well, I didn't buy'em but I looked it up for Mom and Dad."

"Wow uh... thanks," I stated, just a little surprised; that wasn't a cheap present.

"Just make sure you keep up the good work," Uncle Orville stated.

"I will," I said with a smile.

The last three presents were from Jerry and his family, of course. Part of me didn't want to open them-- not because I thought it'd be bad but because I didn't really want to have to thank him for anything right now. I resolved that I'd just have to pretend I was only thanking Ron and Aunt Lilly.

"Wait," Ron said. "The two larger boxes are for Fen and Khole-- I couldn't remember their names so I put them with yours."

I looked at them for a moment and then gave one box to each. They stared at theirs while I opened mine; it was a gas card. Okay, so it was underwhelming-- but useful. I smiled and looked up at Ron. "Thanks; can never have too much gas money... what'd you get Fen and Khole, though?" I asked-- in hindsight maybe slightly dismissively of my own gift. I was surprised they'd gotten anything at all from Ron's family.

"Open them," Caitlyn said. Fen had already begun and Khole wasn't far behind. When the wrapping was off I was left kinda surprised. They'd received a little set of forks and knives just like what Zeqa had.

"We figured it'd... come in handy," Jerry muttered. "Hopefully another day, I guess." I in retrospect, I figure he was hoping Fen and Khole would get to use the sets at dinner. Maybe.

"Thanks," Fen said. "I appreciate it; these are pretty neat."

"I like them, too," Khole commented afterwards; having already pulled one of the pieces out to stare at it between a pair of fingers.

Ron smiled. "Glad to hear; a guy that lives down the street has been making them for whoever asks and since we knew you guys would be here we figured it'd be neat."

"I bet Mrs. Pelwisk will be happy she won't have to improvise for me anymore," Khole mentioned.

Mom just chuckled. "Oh it wasn't a problem. Hopefully it'll feel more natural for you, though."

Zeke went next, then my aunts, uncles, and parents opened their gifts. It took forever to get through everyone-- as it always does. In the end we don't have much else to do but hang out with one another so I suppose it served to fill in time.

Once it was all finished, we all just kinda sat around and talked. Dad started drinking with Uncle Orville and Jerry. Aunt Lilly and Becca had some wine but Mom doesn't drink so she sat and talked with them while they did. We all sat around on the other side of the room at the table.

"So out of curiosity, where do you even get those things you wear to stay our size? I mean, I guess it's probably pretty hard to find them," Ron replied.

"Why, you gonna get one for Zeqa?" Zeke asked with a smirk towards Ron.

"I doubt I could afford one."

"I don't know," Fen said, looking up in thought. "I've had mine since I was a kid. My parents gave it to me. They got theirs from Les Gardiens."

"They just gave them away?"

Fen shook his head. "No. Uh... they stole them."

"Stole?" Zeke asked. "How?"

"Well... long story short, they'd been captured or whatever you wanna call it. With my grandparents. Mom and Dad decided they didn't want to stay and ran away. Before they left, they stole a few that Les Gardiens had taken from other micros. I guess they figured it'd be easiest. I only know that they must've managed to get at least six. One for me, Mom, and Dad. And then three more for my friend Sy and his parents. I don't think they got more... or if they did they've never told me."

"Ahh. So Les Gardiens stole them from other Requorans, then," Zeke pondered out loud.

"Yep."

"I never got my hopes up for finding one anyway," Zeqa muttered.

"Whatever number there are out there, the government is confiscating what they can from Requorans they exclude," Khole said. "So if anything, it'll be harder to get one. Now that I think about it, though... I'm not sure where cloakers originated from. Nor do I know how they're distributed. Mine was a gift, too. Like Fen, my parents gave me mine."

Before then I'd not given it much thought, though the thought had occurred before. I wondered just how Requorans actually obtained cloakers in the first place. I mean, some of them had to buy them or make them at some point, right? Or did it happen some other way somehow?

"Neotrians have technology kinda similar to cloakers, though, don't they?" Nate asked

"It's way weaker and takes way too much energy," Fen responded. "I don't think Neotrians came up with these things. Or if they did, it doesn't make much sense that the government is confused about their existence."

"It's even less likely that Requorans managed it, though," chimed Khole.

"There was an article a few days ago-- kinda a conspiracy thing maybe. Was still interestin'. It talked about some evidence that the gov really did do some research on cloakers. More than a decade of it. It said that the team they had doing most of the work on it disbanded, and that barely anyone even knows who they are," Motley said. "Very conspiracy-sounding, yea. But nothing about those things makes a whole lotta sense to me anyway."

"Well, high schools use special equipment to show off the physics behind using matter from one thing to augment or modify something else. That technology is only related to how cloakers work, though. It's too weak and it sucks way too much power for what little they can manage-- a cloaker uses an energy source that doesn't make any sense to us right now. They're extremely efficient for how much they do; growing and keeping us at this height. We don't even think they're running on electricity at this point..."

"What else could they use?" I asked

"I wish I knew," Fen muttered. "That's a good question."

"Is this what your advisor has had you reading?"

Fen smiled a little, peering at me. "Yea-- he gave me some papers to read over break."

"Now I wonder what those Requorans were stealing when they were caught. I wonder if they somehow had some idea of what's going on," Khole stated. "If we don't know how we got them, or how they work, and the government doesn't know... then who does? In a way, the cloakers almost feel too good to be true."

"They seem happy enough to figure you guys are doin' somethin' behind their backs," Motley stated.

"It's not a bad assumption. I mean, Requorans benefit from the technology so it makes sense that they had something to do with it, doesn't it?" Ron asked. "I mean-- not to argue it's fair to go after all of you, but it makes sense that they want to figure out what's going on, doesn't it?"

"I dunno, still doesn't sit well with me that you go after a population that doesn't seem all that malicious," Zeke said. "Sure, we don't know how they got them, but there's no evidence that this is organized by Requorans as a group."

"Well, yea. I'm just saying that that's probably what they're thinking. I mean, the entire population was a secret a year ago. And then suddenly we realize they're everywhere. That's... well, I mean, that's not something they were bound to just let go. And after all that, it turns out there are some Requorans that were trying to steal and use research us Neotrians were doing. There's a lot to this. And... I think they're just trying to keep people safe."

"Where 'people' means Neotrians," Fen muttered

"I'm not saying it's fair," Ron sighed. "But -where- you're getting that kind of technology is a very good question. I mean, wouldn't you be curious if you were our PM?"

"I don't think it's fair t'ask Fen or Khole that question. If you were in their position, would you want something to happen to your family?" Zeke asked.

"No-- I get it," Ron said. "I'm not trying to be heartless. I'd never let anything happen to Zeqa so I'm not in favor or locking all of them away or anything."

Khole gave nod. "It's true that they have some reason to be suspicious. I think the real problem to us-- Requorans like Fen, Zeqa and myself-- is that it's hard to tell if they're just rounding us up and planning to... well, get rid of us. Or if they're -really- just trying to protect everyone. Fen summed that much up in one of his articles; I think it's a good point."

"It's good to know someone's on my side," Fen chuckled. "But yea. If only they'd... y'know, just come out and say they wanna be sure it's safe and that everyone will be released in a month or something. Fine; not optimal, but... I could live with it."

We went quiet for a while; everyone seeming to hang on that last part.

"Sorry, it's a topic I could go on and on about," Fen said. "I like to think I'm getting better at actually talking about it and not getting pissed off."

"I think you'd be right to get pissed off," Zeke chuckled. "It's a tough situation."

"Yea, but it doesn't help. I admit it does sting to hear someone trying to say there's a good reason for what's happened. But at the same time I also realize it's not as simple as just... pretending nothing happened." He rubbed a paw over his ears. "To change topics, though, what do your grandparents do during the holiday season since they don't get along with Naki's parents?"

"We have two celebrations," Ron muttered. "Really, I don't know why it's still a thing."

"Pride. Just like with the way our uncles and aunties argue with one another," Zeke stated. "They can't admit that they were wrong about Uncle Jeff and Aunt Melina."

"And Dad nor Mom want to move back for fear that it'll seem like they were somehow wrong and are giving up. It's dumb. Not that I want to move-- just it doesn't make sense. You'd think seeing your family would trump that kinda stuff," I said.

"They -are- right over there, you're not worried they'll hear ya?" Motley chuckled.

"They're not listening. Too busy bantering and drinking," I chuckled.

"We should get a game going before it gets too late and they decide to go to bed," Nate spoke up; apparently tired of the serious talk. Honestly, I was too.

"Yea, I agree," Motley grumbled as he got up with his now barren plate. "Dungeon Raiders as usual?" He asked.

It'd become a tradition. Every year since we got the game we would squeeze into our room and play Dungeon Raiders. It's an old, multiplayer game and one of the few we could all play at the same time. Well, granted a couple of us had to bring some sort of console or laptop for everyone to be able to play at the same time.

"Oh I've heard of that game. Yea, let's play that," Fen said. "Sy'll be jealous," he snickered.

"It's not hard to get, I don't think," I said.

"Well, no. But we never went and got it because we didn't have enough friends who'd play. Never figured there was any reason to bother unless we could get a group."

"Ahh. Alright, then. Let's go set it up," I said, getting up at the same time as Nate. He was apparently more excited, though, as he rushed off towards the stairs while the rest of us shuffled.

It's a fun game with a lot of people, I'll admit. We spent the rest of the evening playing and being just a little too loud since Mom came up to shush us a few times through the night. Not that -they- weren't being loud, too, since I heard them laughing about things downstairs over the noise we were making. Whatever, though.

My only regret is that it had to end. Around one thirty in the morning Mom came to let us know people were going to begin winding down for bed which meant we'd all have to stop playing; being quieter wasn't an option after what happened a couple years back. Well enough; I still had to take Fen home.

"That was fun," he said as we stood up and got ready to go.

"Yea, you'll have to come next year too," Zeke replied. "Too bad the night's already over. It was great meeting you. Hope we kinda made up for dinner."

He just shook his head with a grin at first. "It wasn't that bad. I got to see Naki get pissed off for something I'm normally the one getting pissed off about. It was worth it just for that."

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Are you coming back for the summer with Khole?" Nate asked. "Naki said you might."

He hesitated for a moment. "Maaaybe. It's... possible."

"If you do, we'll have to see if Zeke and Ron can come back and invite Motley over."

"Yea, it'll be fun." I grinned and nudged the wolf.

He crossed his arms and peered at me for a moment.

"I think that'd be a good plan even if he doesn't stay. I mean, he lives around here, right? Could just go pick him up," Ron piped up.

I wanted to push further but figured it'd be best not to; didn't want to give things away even to Zeke or Ron... and didn't want to push Fen into feeling uncomfortable, so I relented. "Yea, true."

"I'm down," Motley said.

"It's a plan, then. Alright, I'll be back after I drop Fen off," I said.

"Later, guys. Thanks for the fun," the wolf said as he turned with me to walk towards the door after grabbing his bag. Everyone waved us off and bid farewell as we trotted down the stairwell towards the door and, soon, my car.

As I drove, I noticed Fen staring quietly out the passenger side window, watching the road shift by as the car moved. I let it go for a while but eventually decided to break the silence.

"What's on your mind?" I asked.

His head turned slightly and those orange eyes peered at the side of my face for a while. He paused just a little too long for me to believe him when he finally said: "Nothing." He looked towards the road again as I came to a red light. Once stopped, I looked at him.

"Something," I responded. To pretend I knew what he was thinking would be a lie, but as the silence wore on I began to take guesses; one of them seemed more likely than the others. It was Christmas, after all. And his parents were still unable to contact him.

"Really, I'm f--" he began to say before I interrupted.

"You wanna visit your house?" I asked. "We could go check up on it. It's not far from Ian's place and... I know you probably miss them today, right?"

He didn't respond at first. His eyes stayed on the road as I started driving again-- the light had turned green. I began to fear I'd hit a nerve before I noticed him nod out of the corner of my eye.

"Yea. I'd... like that."

The trip to his parents house was silent. I don't know what was going through his head but I know it couldn't have felt good. When we arrived, it looked... really peaceful. Nothing had changed about it since that day; the day they left to flee the country. It was dark on the inside, there were no cars in the driveway, but without context one could reasonably think that they were simply out for the holidays.

We got out of my car and I grabbed Fen's gift out of my back seat, figuring this might be a good time to give it to him. We approached the door and he pulled his keys out and began to unlock it once we were close enough. The inside had been taken care of, apparently. According to Fen, Mr. Luwinfe had given his old boss the key to help take care of the place. Someone came by regularly to keep things tidied until it could be sold. As we walked around, I remembered the last few days I'd spent here. All that stress and pain. I almost felt like I was under duress again... I can only imagine how Fen felt.

"What did you guys do for Christmas? Did you celebrate?" I asked him as we walked to the living room.

"There's a tree in the attic," he responded. "We'd set it up and Sy and his family would come over and eat dinner with us. My dad and his would always get up to something-- play a joke on Mom or try to rope everyone into karaoke night or something. Everyone let loose on Christmas. We took our cloakers off sometimes, we talked about old family memories-- about our extended family even though Sy and I never really knew them.

He looked at me. "They used to celebrate Christmas even before they'd gotten their cloakers. With the rest of my family. They'd to agree on places to meet up in secret, away from Neotrians, and they'd just celebrate with one another. They had nothing to their names but they still had fun-- at least our parents seemed to like talking about it a whole lot."

I gave a nod, moving to wrap my arm around his shoulder and pull him to me gently. "Sounds like a lot of fun," I responded.

"It was." He leaned into my side and yawned a little. "It's weird being in here. It feels like they should be around the corner. It feels like they could just... suddenly be here. Then things'd be normal again."

I squeezed him a bit more tightly and rubbed a paw against his side.

"I'm okay," he reassured me. "I had fun with your family. They're pretty... out there. Well, some of them. But they seemed nice."

"Nice?" I asked. "That's a lot better than I expected you to say."

"Heh. You're hard on them because they're your family. Yea, they ask weird questions and your uncle can be a jerk... but most of them didn't seem that bad. Not worse than I'd expect, at least. They have their problems... but that's family, I guess."

I'll admit I was a bit surprised to hear that. "You sure you're okay?"

He bumped me gently, which caused me to grin as he spoke. "I didn't say they're great and I haven't forgotten our graduation dinner. But I guess maybe some things have changed. They've been nice to Khole and most of them were nice enough to me."

"Thanks, Fen. I'm really happy it kinda worked out. I really wanted it to."

"I know. That's why I tried not to judge too harshly. I know how much you wanted it. You weren't going to leave it alone until you convinced me they were alright." He shifted against me. "Were you?"

"Not likely." I grinned and moved to grab and hold his present near to him. "Merry Christmas."

He smiled back and pulled what turned out to be my gift out of the bag he'd been carrying. We exchanged and he felt it a few times. "Book or video game?"

"You have to open it," I muttered while feeling over my own. I began peeling the wrapping paper back and blinked when I'd finally gotten the box out. "A new cellphone?"

"Yea," he said. "One that can actually, y'know, use apps and stuff. Unlike what you use now. Should still work with your parents' plan, I think. If it doesn't, we can find something else. Plus, since you can have apps now, we can try out one of those tracker apps that lets you see where your friends are. That way you can stop worrying about me when we're on campus."

"This is kinda expensive," I muttered. Though, I did kind of like the idea of being able to figure out where he is without having to call or check up through text. I gave sigh and smiled. "Thanks, hun."

He grinned. "Don't worry about the price. Anyway, I'll open mine now," he said as he tore the paper off and peered down at the book I'd gotten him. "Oh! I've heard of this story," he said, peering over the title.

"Khole suggested it," I explained. "Sounded kind of interesting and it is kinda... well, relevant to us."

"There aren't many inter-size relationship stories around. This is one of a handful I can think of." He flicked his tail. "Thanks, Naki. I can't wait to read it." He walked over and we hugged for a moment.

"Merry Christmas," I said.

"Same to you, Blockhead," he replied with his tail still flicking.

We held one another for a good thirty seconds before releasing. He peered at the door for a moment and then looked to me. "Well, no use in standing around and just staring at things. I guess I'm gonna have to really think about selling the place," he muttered as he moved to open the door and turn the light off. We both stepped out into the cold, wintery evening; our breath visible in the air around us.

We walked back to my car and were off towards Ian's house soon enough. The ride was silent again and I can't help but feel both happy and a little sad. Mostly sad for Fen.

"Is there anything I can do to cheer you up more?" I asked.

He looked for a moment before shaking his head a little. "Nah, you've done a lot already. I'm really not that sad... just deep in thought, I guess. About the future and all that. I had enough time to be pissed off about it. It hurts sometimes more than others, but on the whole it's nothing I can't handle. You don't have to worry."

"I do anyway."

"You shouldn't. I've told you that before. If you spend your time worrying about me you'll never stop; I breed stress." He smirks.

"Heh, you can say that again." I pulled up to Ian's house and parked in the driveway to let him out. "Well, I'm glad you had some fun, at least. And that you got to meet my family."

He unbuckled and opened the door before he peered at me again, pausing.

After a few seconds he lifted a paw and rubbed over his head, looking down. "I know you want an answer about summer... so I guess I'll tell you that I think I'm going to try. Khole seems happy enough, I guess. And your parents did apologize. So... we'll talk about it. But I'm not against it, alright? I'll stay with you over summer"

I felt my heart swell a little at that. I tried not to grin -too- widely; I may've failed. "You have no idea how much I wanted to hear that."

"I think I do. How many times you think I can handle saying no and watching you get depressed over it?"

"Kinda felt like you enjoyed watching it happen," I replied.

He rolled his eyes and leaned in. We kissed quickly and he flicked his tail. "Drive back safely. I'll call you or something tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you, too," I spoke as he got out and closed to the door. I watched him to be sure he got into Ian's house and then drove home.

~Present Day~

I shake the memories out of my head when I notice the time. Fen would return soon with Sy and shortly after that, Motley would be back. "This summer will be different," I tell myself. It had to be, after all. Plus, Khole might not be the mouthiest but if anything were bad I'm sure he'd have said something. I shake my head again, trying to clear it. "Whatever," I mutter in my anxiousness before standing up to walk over to the little dorm fridge to get a snack.

I'm a bit surprised when Motley comes in before Fen or Sy. "Hey," he says, waving his paw a little and settling his equipment bag down near the door. He steps the rest of the way in and kicks his shoes off before moving to the couch.

"Sittin' here all quiet like usual? Don't get used t'havin' the place to yourself for much longer," he warns with a grin. "Back to family for both of us soon."

"Don't remind me," I mutter. "Nah, I was just sitting and thinking about Fen bein' at Mom and Dad's over the summer."

"I think it'll be alright."

"Yea, I think I do, too. But I know they'll screw it up somehow..."

"Hah, that's part of the fun though, isn't it? Can always count on your family to make ya squirm when you least want to."

"Yea... that's not all of it, though," I admit. "It's also kinda... well, you know they're not going to be okay with the gay thing. I can't be affectionate with him and I know that's going to be something we have to deal with."

"Yea," Motley mutters. "Well, what choice do you got? I mean, I guess you could wait 'til everyone's sleep then..."

"Don't start," I chuckled. "I don't even mean that... I mean... just-- hugging and stuff like that."

"Yea, I know. They're gonna have to find out someday, man."

"I hope that day is a long ways away. It'll be enough to make them like Fen and Fen like them. If I get that far I'll consider myself lucky."

He laughs a little. "Yea yea. Well, if you wanna come around my place you can huggle up to one another there. I could use the company and Mom and Dad won't care. Dad's too busy being useless and Mom's always working."

"Fair enough," I said. "I haven't seen your parents in a long time."

"You haven't missed much." He sat down next to me. "Let's do some blitz before they get back, yea?" Motley asked.

"Yea, I could use a bit more relaxing," I reply, grabbing the controllers and passing one to him. I'm excited for the summer to begin, but I'm also anxious. For once in my life, I hope the summer is just a quiet, easy, relaxed few months where I can work a little bit, enjoy time with my boyfriend, and get ready for my second year at college. That'd be nice.