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I don't think I'd ever seen the school as lit up as it was that night. For the last week and a half the gym had been closed off for preparations, and now if this were your first time seeing the school, you'd very well think that the gym entrance was the front by the way everything looked. Rear parking lot just as packed as on any regular school day and maybe even more, with all of these colored lights strung up around the signs and lamp posts, home-made signs advertising the prom and pointing the attendants where to go standing between everything else, whole crowds of people talking and laughing and posing for pictures, and then of course making out. More tuxedos and sparkly dresses than I've seen in my life.

Also more limos than I knew existed in this city: while I waited along the bench by the pull-in to the parking lot, I managed to count three of them, pulling up to let a couple (or a few couples, more often) out, usually to applause and more laughter and camera flashes. The entire area smelled of this rich mix of over-heavy perfume and cologne, car exhaust, anxiousness, excitement, and not a little bit of smoky skunkiness from around the building near the bleachers. Not a hostile environment at all, but it still bugged at me a little bit.

Of course I got nervous as time went on, as the remarkably few minutes ticked past, and the crowds grew and the sky darkened. Not about Tony; honestly, the thought didn't even cross my mind that he'd skip out on tonight. But about everything else, all of the large crowds and the fact that this was goddamn prom night, and also how I'd brought another boy, and that even with this past week, this would still be the first time where it'd be pretty obvious at a glance what was going on between the two of us.

Everyone else looked so excited and so happy, arm in arm with their dates, standing around with their friends. Meanwhile I just sat there, phone in my paws, tail tucked around my body. I'd tried the suit on when it came in, but only to make sure it fit; now that I was actually wearing it, I'd noticed there was something down along my hip that chafed and itched, and I couldn't quite move my arms up all the way, and a few other small things that seemed so much more the more I thought about them. Sandra and Lexi had been right: this green did_look close to black in this light. Indoors was probably no better, and all crowded like that... speaking of, where _were_Lexi and Sandra? Wouldn't surprise me to find out that she was the one behind one of those smells in particular, but for Lexi, I don't know. I'd just feel better if _someone were here.

Luckily, though, I didn't have to worry about that for much longer. Between glancing down at my phone and looking up to peruse through the crowd, time went on by... and then next time I looked up, there he was, strolling along the sidewalk towards me, paws in his pockets and totally unperturbed. In his facial expression, at least: I'd spent enough time with him to know the natural tilt of his ears and whiskers, and so I could tell by that and the flick of his tail near his ankles that he felt similarly. For that one moment, at least; then his gaze fell on mine, and just as all of my worries flowed out like through the drain of a bathtub, he lit up. Then I was on my feet, and my arms were half-out, and he'd picked up his step-

-and his arms wrapped loosely around my shoulders, and he kissed me with enough force almost to push me right back down. His paws drifted down my sides towards my hips, and from there found my paws, where they intertwined and squeezed.

"I told you you would look good," he murmured, nuzzling against my cheek out of the kiss. "Aah. Matt. I am so glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you, too..." And then we slid into another string of kisses, small and short yet still sweet. Just like at last week's concert, the awareness of people watching was there, but pushed back behind the awareness of him. Loving him just came so naturally - and there was that word again, tingling in my mind, tickling at the tip of my tongue as if it wanted to escape.

Tony returned my smile and gave my paw another squeeze, and then with his other motioned towards the marked entrance. "Shall we go in? It is almost time."

Some comfort came from the knowledge that just about everyone around was people that I'd spent these past four years with, and people who I knew and had talked to at least once in that time. Head-nods and waves, 'nice to see you here's and 'can you believe we've made it this far?'s and a bunch of other small little things, best responded to with a small chuckle or a grin and a nod. You know how it goes. Tony squeezed my paw throughout all of it, dragging me gently along behind him as we made our way through the crowds to find our own spot in the room.

Hard to hear ourselves think among all the other conversations and the quietly pumping music, and much less each other - Tony tried to say something to me, but I couldn't hear him so I did the whole "What?" and leaned in, and we did that two or three times until my ear was practically inside his mouth... and then it was, in one playful little nip that made me jump and jerk back, unable to keep myself from laughing. He was giggling, too, and then all of a sudden his arms were around my waist, and our lips were together again, and everything else fell away.

Tonight wouldn't be so bad after all. Hell, I don't think it'd be bad in the slightest. A few more minutes, and then the music dipped away for one of the teachers to go over a few things on the mic: some special rewards for a few students who did particularly well in the fundraiser for prom; a 'get well soon' for Mrs. Oren, who had some complications after her surgery and ended up having to stay out for a while longer, promptly followed by a 'hearty welcome' to Ms. Amador who would be retaining her place here at least until the end of the school year - Tony's tail curled around my ankle with that; then a blanket congratulations for 'our wonderful orchestra players' and then the individual student groups that competed in the county- and area-wide scholastic competitions, and then finally, without further ado...

Everyone started moving almost before the words were spoken. I'd never really been sure what to expect from a high school prom, but this... well, it didn't really surprise me. It wasn't the kind of jaunty, bouncy music you hear in the teen TV shows and the musicals and whatever, and instead pretty much just exactly the same stuff playing on the popular radio stations today. Hell, they might've just turned one of those stations on, and I wouldn't have been able to tell a difference.

Don't get me started on the dancing, though. Maybe we'd be able to get through the night _without_having to do any of that. Though honestly, with Tony's accent and everything else about him, I gotta admit it _would_be fun to find out he was, like, some tango master or something. Though this type of music wouldn't really mesh well with that.

A fair number of other couples seemed to be of the same mindset, too, hanging around the edges and talking with one another, sipping on the provided drinks and munching on the snacks. There were cookies with white chocolate chips but no macadamia nuts, which meant that they had to be homemade, and were pretty good too. Just like during the week, me and Tony had to respond to a few people coming up and asking if we were dating, if we'd taken each other to prom, if we were boyfriends - and after some of that, I leaned in and asked if he did want to dance.

The one thing I dreaded in response to that kind of question was ambiguity, and he gave me none of that. The cheetah thought about it for a moment, chewed on the little carrot stick he'd swiped earlier, took another bite of it, and then shrugged. "This is not my kind of music," he said, and leaned in to nuzzle up along my ear again. Always made me shiver when he did that; it was the tickling of his little whiskers, right up at the sensitive inside of my ear. "Maybe later, if it changes. But not now. I am enjoying meeting your friends."

"They're as much your friends as they are mine." Could take that a number of different ways. A lot of these people were classmates and acquaintances, people I'd seen in the halls before and maybe done a group assignment with before, but nothing really more than that... and yet they still grinned at Tony the same way they did for me, most of them that sweet, genuine smile, only a few showing the tension of forcing. There was one couple where the girl was all bouncy and giggly with his, while her date smiled and answered through clenched teeth. Things hadn't yet _completely_changed as all the other stories put it, but it was well on its way.

Public displays of affection were probably technically frowned upon here, but everywhere you look was a pair kissing, or doing that waist-holding thing, or just short of grinding to the music. Basically everything me and Tony had been doing, but people didn't care as much when it came to them doing it. Last week a teacher had caught the two of us sharing a quick kiss before class - one of our gentle, sweet ones, not the ones that last several minutes and end up with one or both of us out of breath and also twitching, in more ways than one - and we got this sharp stink-eye and crossed-arms, the whole deal, right before this short lecture of things like that aren't acceptable in a public place and certainly not at school, blah blah blah.

I'd _like_to say that I stopped listening halfway through, but I think that was the first real, open opposition we'd gotten since Tyler. It left my heart pounding and tail twitching, and throughout the first half-hour of my next class I was all sweaty and shifting and trying _so_hard to move on from thinking about what we'd done. And then Tony found me afterwards, swung me around and pressed my back up against the wall, and - well. You know. Boy's only got maybe two inches on me, but it still felt like so much more when he leaned in over me then, and licked his lips to break the little strand of saliva still hanging between us from the kiss...

"That cebolla does not know what she is talking about. Now that I know I can kiss you, I will do it whenever I want to," he'd said. Then, though, his ears gave a timid little flick. "...As long as you are okay with it. You get me a little excited sometimes."

Wasn't _that_the truth. I glanced over at him while we stood there, still holding paws while he chatted quietly with one of his own friends who'd come over. Weird to think that so much of his confidence came from me, and the simple things I did for him: he'd never had someone be openly affectionate before, and had never put his love into a relationship to get it so quickly and so easily returned. That was the thing, too: it felt so _natural_with him. I'd never met the other guy, the wolf he'd kinda-sorta been with before and who had instilled that anxiousness and caution in him, but sometimes it put me on edge to think about him. It felt like it would have to take deliberate, conscious effort to hold yourself back from Tony, to fuckin'-

"Oh!" The cheetah squeezed my paw, and turned to grin at me. "There is Ari over there. And his new panther friend. I will go talk to them. Would you like to come?"

"Hm?" I kept my muzzle pointed in one way, and let my eyes linger there for a moment longer. Speak of the devil, and the devil's a jackal and also several seconds late. "Oh. Nah, you go ahead, kitten. I'll be here."

He leaned in and planted a soft kiss to my cheek, which made my tail wag, and then sidled off through the crowds. It took me a moment to see him, but yeah, there stood Ari, looking good in the same tux that he'd worn for his solo, and now with a rather tall black-furred panther standing by his side, in shimmering charcoal-grey. Actually, on second glance, I think he might be a jaguar: that characteristic spot pattern (excuse me, rosettes) showed through when the light caught his shoulder, the fur between them a slightly lighter, almost blue-black. Yellow eyes caught mine for a second, and he nodded recognition before turning that gaze on Tony.

Which left me to turn mine on Tyler, threading his way forward towards me, deliberately avoiding my gaze as he approached. My back and ears stiffened and my tail wanted to tense up as well, which honestly wasn't the natural reaction I would've expected; I'd thought I was over all of that. I guess being faced with a problem you'd shoved into the back of your mind sometimes took you by surprise.

He held a glass - a loose definition of the word: of course for high school prom they served the drinks in the plastic imitation-imitation crystal cups you get in packs of a hundred at the dollar store - in one paw, half-full, and tried to take a sip from it. He missed, though, and briefly glanced down, adjusted his paw, tried again, succeeded this time, and lowered it down in both paws once he stood before me.

"Hey." Visibly struggling to keep his ears upright. "Um. How've... how've you been?"

God, but he put me on edge, too. That was the weirdest thing. "Good." Natural courtesy made me almost return the question, but honestly, I didn't care. And one part of me wanted him to realize that I didn't care, enough to keep myself from asking.

Tyler waited for a moment, as if still expecting it. Or maybe he hadn't expected to get this far, or he'd expected another response, or... "I guess you and. And Tony are still-"

"Boyfriends." This time it was a rush of hot, burning strength that accompanied that word. A verbal middle finger. "Yeah. We are."

"Ah. That's..." Tyler visibly swallowed, and peered down into his cup. Still he avoided looking at me. "That's good. Me and Lexi haven't really spoken, since..."

That's what this was about, of course. At least he didn't try to dodge around it. I tilted my own cup to my lips and took a small sip, mostly to let myself avoid speaking without feeling awkward; Tyler raised his eyebrows as I did so, and motioned at me.

"You and I haven't really spoken since then, either. I-"

"Can you blame me?"

Reluctance or maybe surprise, or simple unwillingness, silenced him for another second. The jackal's ears twitched with the pounding music in the gym, turned up quite a bit after the announcements. "...No. I guess not. I... was pretty shitty that day. To you and Lexi." Shrug. "And Tony too. Can you, uh, apologize to him for me? I was thinking that m-"

"You can do it yourself." I returned that shrug, and nodded over towards where the cheetah had gone. "He's over there somewhere. You might not be surprised to find out that he's my date tonight."

"No, that - I'd appreciate if you did it. And, um, yeah. I figured that out. Um..." Hell, he hardly looked this nervous when he had to give a presentation in class. "I want to. Apologize to you, too."

Now I raised my eyebrows. "Three weeks later."

"Well, it was spring break, and then I was busy with-" As if finally realizing for once in his life that he was just babbling excuses, Tyler snapped his muzzle shut, and cleared his throat. "...Sorry. It hasn't been a good couple of weeks for me. I already know I'm gonna have to retake precal during the summer, and I gotta get an A on my history test next week to pass the class, and a few other things, and... ugh." He moved as if to wipe his paw across his forehead, then realized halfway there that he still held his cup, and shifted to do it with his other. "I'm sorry. I'm nervous."

"I can tell." Actually, it was probably good that Tony walked off at just the right moment. With his newfound confidence, he would've given Tyler a reason to be nervous.

"So. I just..." Inhale, swallow, sigh. His eyes met mine for the first time tonight. "I'm sorry. Matt. I've got a lot of problems, and one of 'em caused me to lose my... my best friend, and my girlfriend. And my semester, too, I guess. Everything just kinda... tanked. Um... I'm sorry for being a total dickbag. I wasn't... really expecting to... well. Things've sucked. I just-" It really _was_like he had to give a presentation. One he hadn't practiced for. He pulled in another breath, trying to steady himself - and then came up with a weak little smile. "...The new DLC for _Acceleron 3_came out last weekend and I need someone to yap at about it. Are you... are you free, this weekend? Or next. If that's better."

You know when you look out the window during a storm, and you can see the light coming through the clouds? But there's no discernable detail in front of that, since the screen of the window is all matted and obscured by the rain, and the relentless drumming knocks all of the dust and dirt and grime loose. You know you should really clean it, but you just... you just don't want to, between the storm itself and the work it'll take to get it the way it used to be.

"I already have plans with Tony. Sorry."

That smile crumbled. Tyler's ears and whiskers faltered, and yet again, it took visible effort for him to keep them up. He glanced down into his drink, thought about taking a sip, decided against it, thought about it again, decided against it again... "Oh. Yeah. I guess... I guess you would. Prom night. I'm, um. Here on my own, and I didn't really... have anything... I'll just-" This time, he pinched his lips together when he looked up at me, and swallowed. "I'm sorry, Matt."

Maybe someday, though, that window would get done. He waited nearby for a moment longer and then sidled back out through the crowd; I watched him until I couldn't see him anymore, the whole mass of everybody else bouncing and writhing with the music, his black tux swallowed by the dark spaces between the colored lights. It was a simple outfit, but it looked like he'd spent a lot of money on it.

With him gone, I looked back over towards Tony and his friends, and just barely caught the cheetah's little round ears above the crowd. Looked like he'd tossed his head back to laugh - and sounded like it, too, coming in towards me through all of the other noises. Good for him. That whole encounter sort of soured my mood, and I needed something to cheer me up; were Lexi and Sandra kidding when they said they'd come together? I hadn't yet seen them, and it'd be nice to find a few more familiar faces around here. It seemed like everyone who'd come up to me and Tony so far only spoke to us because they recognized us as that gay couple. That wasn't exactly a common trait at this school, so I could understand why.

Before much longer, though, and right as I'd started to shift my weight to head over to the other side of the gym, a gentle paw grasped my sleeve - and I turned back around to see Tony smiling softly at me, whiskers straight out to the sides. "Are you okay?" he said, just loud enough to be audible over the music and conversations. "I saw you speaking to Tyler earlier. I almost came over, but... you looked like you handled it." His other paw came up so he could hold me by my hips. "I know how it can feel, though, talking to a... a stubborn boy."

"Yeah, I'm alright." Almost without thinking, I leaned in and touched my nose to his muzzle, first near the corner of his mouth and then closer towards his nose. He smiled and returned the nuzzle. "How's Ari? You mentioned he'd had a boyfriend before - is that... panther his date?"

"Jaguar." So my second guess was right. "Yes and no. They came together, and they are together, here, but - no? Yes? I do not know. Ari tried to explain it, but I think I did not understand completely. If..."

Tony trailed off there, and perked his ears. The school had hired some sort of DJ - just a student, it looked like; I recognized him from my chemistry class, and he certainly looked like he was having the time of his life - and he actually had a bit of skill to him. At least, that's what I assume, since his choices and manipulations for the music tonight were pretty alright. Slow fade, mix into the next song, accompanying change in the lights... and then, another moment, and Tony grinned at me. His grip centered in along my wrists.

"Ah! I like this song." Of course they would have a slow-dance at a high school prom. Many of the other couples had started to move in the same way, too, pairing up and floating out into the center of the gym, leaves blown along the river surface in a soft breeze. "Will you dance with me, perrito?"

Just an oversized kitten. Even more so when he stood up on his tiptoes and sparkled down at me. My own paws hovered down towards his hips and held him there, pressing into the warmth and softness of his fur beneath his suit. "I can't dance-" I began; his fingers squeezed at my wrists. I returned that smile of his. "So you'll have to lead me."

Well, he didn't toss me into a tango like I'd've hoped for if this were a musical romance, but he also didn't seem entirely unfamiliar with things, either. He placed himself firmly and confidently, even with the slow, subtle movements and rhythm; paw on waist, tail kept close to his body yet flowing behind him at the same time, muzzle down towards mine, breath coming out warm and slow in the crook of my neck.

Easy to lose yourself in a moment like that. The closeness, the affection, the comfort, the understanding... easy to forget, again, that there were other people around. My mind and heart felt much the same way as they did on that morning we'd woken up in each other's arms; like that night after our distracted study date where he'd fallen asleep on me and started drooling on my shoulder, and my paws just naturally stroked down through the bare fur of his back, again and again; like right before we'd said goodnight after last week's concert, outside the ice cream shop there. I think he'd put on a little special cologne that night, since after pushing my nose into his neck after our final kiss, every now and then I got another little whiff of him that reignited the fluttering bloom in my chest.

I guess that sort of thing was precisely why people went to prom. It wasn't until after the dance finished that we untwined ourselves from each other, and then promptly realized that a good number of people who hadn't joined in had instead chosen to watch us. The two of us. Of those, most were smiling and a few had their phones up, which could mean anything. Tyler was nowhere to be seen.

More announcements, then, as Tony and I made our way back to the edge of the room to relax for a bit. "Now that you kids have had your fun," the same teacher from the start proclaimed, "it's time to respect your elders..." and apparently that meant that tonight there'd be a fun little 'teachers dance' event. It was all in good fun, of course: ridiculous songs and dances, Mrs. Ruben from history class doing an uncannily good robot dance, Mr. Hightower - who most likely predates the advent of dirt - looking as though instead of his joints stiffening with age, they'd actually loosened and turned to jelly; Mr. Lieber, the orchestra director, doing a nice little thing with his teaching assistant...

...and then Tony nudged me to look, and to nobody's surprise. Ms. Amador absolutely took it away. It looked like she just swiped some poor kid out of the audience to be her partner, too: a smoke-furred vixen reached out for him as the cheetah dragged him away, only to then let her arm drop to her side and laugh out loud. What the hell is it with cheetahs and their-

"Oh my God," said a familiar voice from behind us, close enough that it made Tony jump. "Wouldja look at that. Fuckin' Christ, Tony, why's your mom gotta be so damn _hot?_Is she single?"

We both turned around, and there stood Lexi and Sandra arm-in-arm, dresses more complementary than matching. They sure played up the couple thing, too, with the possum leaning over to push her cheek against the slight-taller vixen's shoulder, and Lexi responding by tilting her head down against her... and then they both fell into giggles.

"I actually wanna know, too," Lexi put in. She stood on her toes and leaned over, trying to see around us. "'Cause if so, that's definitely something I wanna see."

Tony pursed his lips, thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "No, she is not. But, you can ask nicely, and she can call my papá, and..."

"Wait. So you mean there's a fuckin' chance?"

"Oh God." I tugged at Tony's paw. "Don't tell Dad that. Please."

The grin he turned towards me then could really mean anything. I hadn't even seen Ms. Amador around before she went out onto the dance floor, which was pretty surprising, considering her outfit was just as loud - and looked just as good - as her son's. Once she'd satisfied herself with her first partner, she went on and grabbed another out of the audience, who looked considerably more eager after that first display.

All in all it came out to be a very good night, I think. Lexi and Sandra there bugged me and Tony to participate in more of the dancing, and we ended up doing just that, with them alongside us for confidence and support. It worked. We switched off a few times, too, with Lexi chuckling at how unwieldy I was on my own feet during our go, and Tony and Sandra doing their usual thing further off in the crowd, their laughter coming in over everything else.

At one point I lost sight of them, and it was then that, during a lull in the music, Lexi's paws tightened a little bit on my arms. I looked back down towards her.

"You saw him here, didn't you?" she said quietly. My face probably gave my answer; I didn't have to ask to know who she was talking about. "I was joking when I said he'd come here on his own. Ugh. Did he try to talk to you at all? Me and Sandra just got here a little bit ago. Well - we've been here since before prom started, but got..." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Distracted."

"Yeah. He did."

"Oh God."

"Actually, it wasn't... wasn't that bad." Someone bumped into me from behind, and we adjusted our rhythm and angle in response. I don't know a thing about dancing. "Would you believe me if I told you he apologized?"

"No. I wouldn't. Year and a half with that sad excuse for a miniature coyote, and I can count the number of times he apologized for something on one hand. I can count the number of times he should've apologized on... mine, and yours, and I'd need to borrow Sandy's, too, and probably your boyfriend's..."

"I don't think the time is right yet, but..." Shrugging was a little bit weird with the two of us together like this. Lexi wore a different perfume than she usually did. "I don't know. Maybe I could give him another chance sometime. I-"

"Whoa. Matt. Don't feel like you owe someone something just because of the way things were in the past." Somewhere along the way, things shifted and Lexi ended up leading us. That was alright too. "Besides, it's been... what, two weeks? Three? Sit around for a bit, figure out how you're feeling without all that bullshit around you. Make your decision then. Or don't. Nobody's gonna force you."

"Don't you think you're a little bit biased?" Change in the music, resulting in the slightest change of how Lexi led the two of us around. I caught another glimpse of Tony and Sandra through the crowd, over by the refreshments.

"What? Against hanging out with total asswipes? I mean - yeah, I am. I had to do that for the past year and a half, so excuse me if I've had my fill. I just..." The vixen shrugged, which with her paws on my arms, made me mirror the movement as well. "I don't know. In the end it's up to you, Matt. But I really think it'd be good to wait a while."

"I wait a while, and we'll all be off in college, and who knows if I'll be able to get back into contact with him."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing. You've got this hole in your life for 'best friend'; college will be a great place to fill that in." Another shrug. "Or just sit around for a while, and that hole will fill itself in. You know, before this semester, I don't think you and I had had a conversation longer than two sentences. Like, ever."

"Things change. I'm..." Hazel-green eyes watched me work through the words. I looked over towards the table again, and this time, possum and cheetah were gone. "You know, I'm happy for what's happened. You're a really good friend, Lex."

That made her grin. "You are too, Matt. Besides, it's been a lot of fun seeing you feel all of these new things with your boy."

"I've had fun with it, too..."

And, really, I had. That much was obvious. Thoughts of him still stuck around in the back of my head, floating around and making my tail wag or giving me a little smile that Lexi asked me about, throughout the rest of our dance. And then we split up and went off to find each of our dates, which mean that we didn't really split up at all... and found them waiting by the door, looking rather obtrusively as though they hadn't done anything wrong. Sandra sidled off easily with Lexi, and they both gave their copious 'goodbye's and 'it was so good to see you two here's, which left me with Tony tracing his claws up my sides again.

Then, though, it came quite clear why they'd looked like that, and why the two of them had temporarily disappeared. Those thin cheetah arms settled around my shoulders, and he leaned in to nuzzle against my nose - and the unmistakable scent of alcohol wafted along his breath. Not a lot, but still just enough to be noticeable.

"I missed you, perrito," he murmured into my ear. At least he didn't drawl or slur at all; a moment later, though, I felt the light touch of his lips and then sharper nip of his teeth right along the edge of that ear. "You look good with Lexi. I did not know she could dance."

"I didn't know your mom could dance. Are you drunk?"

"_Qué?_No, no. It was just a shot." Shrug. His paws drifted back down my body, this time dangerously close to slipping beneath my pants waistband. "Or two. Are we going soon? How much longer...?"

"I mean, we can go - whoa. Okay." Whether he'd started to wobble or if he were just resting his weight more heavily against me, I reached out and caught him by his sides, and held him there. The big kitten took the opportunity to nuzzle his nose in against my neck, and continue his little nipping. "You know, I'm not really surprised that you're a bit of a lightweight."

"Mamá lets me drink wine on my birthday..."

"You need to sit down."

A low, rumbling growl-of-sorts into the fur my neck, and- "No..." he murmured again, and nipped a little harder. Hard enough to make me twitch. "I need to chuparte la verga."

I almost asked him what that meant, but - his jaw and a wandering paw made that more than clear. I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, and tried to wriggle out of his grasp. "Tony..."

"Necesito el nudo, perrito. Soy-"

"Where's your mother? Come on. Let's go."

All in all, definitely a good prom night. Even with the Tyler thing, and the Tony-having-a-bit-to-drink thing. He clung close to me as we made our way out the door, still nuzzling and nipping, and it... it wasn't really that bad. I mean, it wasn't too different from how he usually behaved around me. Ms. Amador had a hearty laugh when we found her and she realized what had happened, and she patted her son's head and said something to him in Spanish that made him laugh as well. She asked if we had a good time, to which I said 'yes ma'am' and Tony nodded and purred into my neck, and then if we needed anything on the way home.

Thankfully Tony stayed quiet this time. He crawled into the backseat of Ms. Amador's car with me, and halfway along the way I thought he might've fallen asleep on me - until he got back to nuzzling again, as well as feeling around with that paw. Ms. Amador could sense the mood in the room, too, and being herself, once we got back to their place, she told us that she wanted to go take a shower, and disappeared to do just that.

Before she went, though, she let her gaze rest on me for a moment longer, and raised her eyebrows - and then glanced to Tony beside me. Silently asking if I was okay, and if I felt comfortable. I breathed a quiet laugh, rolled my eyes, and turned to place a light kiss between the younger cheetah's ears; he rumbled quietly and nuzzled into my shoulder yet again. Satisfied, Ms. Amador nodded, and turned to go.

Which left the two of us on our own there. Tony straightened up, took my paws in his, and gave me one of the sweetest smiles I've ever seen, before he leaned in to press his lips to mine. The tingle of the alcohol was still there, but muted somewhat.

"Is that suit a little tight?" he murmured between kisses. "Come on, Matt. Let's get you out of that..."