1.0 The Pilot Episode or 'Accidental Boyfriend'
A/N: Okay: Sirius is really draining me of ideas fast. Science fiction is fun for awhile, but then you have to come up with plot every two chapters to keep readers interested. I know the high-school bit is old and overdone, especially in recent times, but I'm taking a stab at it.
I'll grant, I'm not really strong in the tense I'm using. This is the first time I've ever used first-person as a narrative. I'm not overly fond of it, but it's working so far. It doesn't start off as First person, it doesn't even start with the main character. Eh... what can I say?
Anyway, while I'm taking a small break from the Sirius Chronicles, this should give me plenty of creative spunk to refine myself and make another push through to end book two of my other series.
Explanations aside now: I'm trying something new with this. It doesn't take place in any specified real-life place, that I know of. It IS taking place in southern Ontario, (write what you know comes to mind...) however, the city is, as far as I know, make-believe.
Any resemblance to any persons, places, or events; alive or dead; new or old; past or present; is entirely unintentional. All characters are copyright 2007 Arctic Fox Studios under WhiteArcticFox as Author. Reproduction or distribution is highly questionable, considering content, but as long as due praise is given to the author: No harm done.
This chapter contains no actual graphic sexual acts, but it does contain M/M relationship hints, plenty of character quirks, a few trivia questions, and foxes. Lots and lots of pie- I mean foxes. Again: The characters portrayed in this story will be engaged in male-to-male activities of the sexual variety. If slight underagedness, homosexuality, furries, foxes, corny names, my seriously horrible fixation with A-...-S names that relate to astronomy, or pie offends you in any way, I would click the little back button in the top of your browser window.
If you are under the age of majority in your area, don't get caught reading this, or better yet, turn away. I've warned you already, it's your own damn fault if you scar your precious, innocent minds.
I've labeled this with 'Cub' because of the ages of certain characters. If this is untrue to the label, someone please tell me.
Little side comment: All of the characters in this story are plantigrade unless I say otherwise. Just an FYI.
Anyway, here we go.
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1.0
The Pilot Episode or Accidental Boyfriend
An alarm clock hiccupped, tried to buzz, and was silenced almost immediately. Movement a few rooms away followed by footsteps. Suddenly a sharp series of knocks on the door roused the youth from a light sleep.
"Geddup, kiddo, or you're walking to school," came a maternal voice, before the footsteps continued down the hallway.
The canine teen just rolled onto his stomach and groaned, pushing himself to a kneel; the light blankets fell around him and a cool breeze swept through the dark chestnut fur along his back. He twitched his red-brown ears and yawned wide before bringing his feet around to the edge of the bed.
'Here we go again,' he thought quietly, before beginning to get ready.
--
The small farming port of Skyridge, fronted with farms and backed by sea, was perhaps one of the wealthiest cities its size. It had seven elementary districts, three secondary districts, and a single large campus in its centre.
The campus was the jewel in the crown of the city, several acres wide. Streets ran web-like from the institution in seven spokes. A slightly beaten black pickup rode down the northern road, it's younger passenger looking out the window at the passing streets.
"In another year you're going to be going to the college, Art; you've gotta' get things together," said a woman in her late twenties.
The other fox just continued to look out the window as he spoke. "Yeah, yeah. I know mother," he said, knowing that 'mother' just made her squirm.
"Oh don't call me that! I feel old!" she mock-shouted, chuckling a bit.
"Then call me Nex; Arcturus is just so... nerdy," retorted the younger oddly coloured fox. He had all the same markings as a red fox, but they'd all been jumbled. His mom shared the trait, but he'd never met his father. His chest was white, like one would expect, and up under his muzzle; but his ears were the dusty red that is so traditional. Where the red should be was chestnut brown, and his 'socks and gloves' were just as white as his chest.
Flicking his tail quietly he listened to his mother speak. "I won't be home this evening, I've got to work late, so I'll be staying with Mum. You're seventeen though, you can take care of yourself," she said, as she turned the truck into his high school's parking lot. "So I'll see you tomorrow evening. Remember, nobody comes over tonight, got it?"
The younger fox just grumbled and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you Mum, good luck with that client!" he said as he climbed out of the truck. He heard her shout a reply, but it was drowned out by the noise of a horn.
Nex' mother drove off as he closed the door and turned towards the school.
--
The first day of second semester was upon him, and as the teen fox wandered through the hallways he was reunited with his friends. Exam-week had been killer this year; at least half of them had an exam on any given day. Nex was lucky; he'd only had one exam, for English.
His group of peers was decent-sized, but there were seven that he associated with more frequently; Anita, Devin, Felicia, James and Kirk; who were twins, Mark, and Oreo. Before he could even get near enough to his friends to speak, though, he was blocked off by a couple of football players.
"Where you goin' queer?" remarked the large Beagle on the left, sneering quietly.
"Go away, idiots," said Nex before he pushed around them and kept walking.
This is where I come in, though at the time I wished I hadn't. I had just closed my locker and turned around to start walking before I came face to face with a dark-brown ball of fur. Nex fell backward and I stumbled back against the lockers, blushing rather vividly.
The other jock squirmed a bit and made like he was going to throw up. "Aw, gross! Did you see that? They fuckin' KISSED man!" he remarked, turning away.
For the split second between collision and fall, yes our lips had met. It was an accident, but it was made no less true by that. I looked down at the fox and noticed his vibrant green eyes instantly. He was coloured strangely, but he was definitely vulpine. He was dressed in a warm green jacket because of the weather outside. It was the middle of January after all.
Nex looked up at me, then over at the football players. He half-grinned at their reactions and climbed to his feet. "Heh, fraid of a lil' guy-on-guy are we, Paulie?" he snickered, leaning an arm on my shoulder.
Now I'm going to break the fourth wall and reveal a bit of background to you. I'm new to the school, just moved in not four days earlier. I'd never even met Nex before then, and I hadn't done anything with him excluding that accidental kiss.
I'm not that tall, barely 5'4". People tell me I've got remarkable blue eyes, but I don't see what's so great about them. Head to toe I'm covered in a silver-white coat of fur, and I'm a fox just like Nex; however while he's a member of the family Vulpes, I'm from the Alpoex line. I'm an arctic fox, in laymen's terms.
Nex just grinned at them and I blushed a bit harder, pretty well paralysed with fear. "Come on babe, let's get out of here," he added, directed towards me of all people. With shocked silence I realized that my left paw was pulling me away from where I stood.
"Play along," he whispered, "I know what I'm doing."
I don't know why I trusted him, but I did just that. I started walking with him, and even squeezed the paw slightly, my blush no less evident.
I was surprised, to say the least, when the pair of bullies just walked away. I was suddenly very relieved to have met Nex, but I let go of his paw as soon as we rounded a corner.
"'name's Nex," he said, adjusting his backpack. He looked over at me and extended his far paw. "S'short for Nexus," he quickly added. His voice was smooth and well-toned. Mid-range for a male, not really deep but not a Castrati; a low tenor, and as fine as silk.
"N-nice to meet you... um..." I stammered. I was so shy around people to begin with; this was just too much right now. My own voice was pretty high on the scale. I had a reason for that, mind you, which you'll learn about later.
"Hey, don't worry about back there; it was an accident and it pretty-much got us both out of there without a lot of fuss," he smirked, letting the paw drop. "So, what are you called, stranger?" he asked as we kept walking.
I blinked a few times, blushed again, and extended my own paw. "Oh, s-sorry. I'm called Cam. Thanks... for back there and all."
"Heh, no problem. Don't worry about rep around here either, my buds are all pretty level-headed, you'll fit right in," he said with a smile, shaking the paw that I'd offered. "Even if you are into guy-on-guy action," he added with a smirk.
"Wha? No! I'm not!" I half-shouted, blushing profusely.
"Eh... figured I'd try--Hey Jim! Meet Cam. Give 'im the tour while I unpack?" he shouted to a rabbit down the hall. He unzipped his jacket and began working on the lock to his locker.
Jim smirked and nodded, walking up to me. He was wearing a gold-cream colour turtleneck and a pair of bluejeans, and his fur was a dark chocolate. "Cam is it? Th'name's James. This here's my twin, Kirk. We just call him Luke, cause he's such a nerd," ribbed the rabbit, leading me towards the rest of the group. The brother was dressed in a navy blue dress shirt, skyblue longsleeve shirt, and a pair of corduroy painters pants.
"That's Devin, the deer over there. Anita's the gazelle with the book attached to her face. Over there's Mark, the husky, and Oreo, our favourite treat," he pointed to a rather flamboyant black and, what could be assumed to be white cat. The white parts of him, excepting under his muzzle, were dyed in rings of red through violet. He was wearing form fitting clothes, black like his fur to make it almost seem like he were nude. My heart skipped a beat, to say the least.
The pair waved, chatting amiably between eachother, as Jim continued. "The literal black sheep in our group is Felicia. She tries too hard, but she's never let any of us down yet," he said with a smirk. I'll never forget that sly statement for the life of me. She was dressed in only the highest fashion, and she was chatting with a group of preps. She waved at us, completely unconcerned about her reputation as she continued her conversation.
Let me clear something up about myself.
The reason I blushed from that split-second kiss was, frankly, because I enjoyed it. I knew I liked it then; was I asked I would admit to it. Nex was attractive, and I was thinking about him in rather compromising poses for a good fifteen minutes afterward.
Now normally, I'd be thrilled to have dropped into a school, found a circle of friends that had at least one openly gay member, and have kissed a guy who was so adorable; fact of the matter is, though, I was nervous. What had Nex meant when he told me that he 'figured he'd try'. And what about James' comment about Oreo? Favourite treat; what could that possibly mean?
Unfortunately for me, the bell rang and everyone in the entire hall yelped in unison. My ears were ringing for several minutes afterward, it had been so loud; it was time for me to get my schedule and figure out where first period was.
"Hey Cam," shouted Nex over the calamity around him. "Office is up a floor. Just head towards the front of the school, you can't miss it. I'll see you at lunch," he added, before wandering off.
'Well thank you Foxy Helpful,' I said in my head, snickering quietly. I was off to the office.
--
Math, Visual Arts, Anthropology, and Graphic Arts; what a schedule I had. Lunch was wedged in between Anthropology and G.A. so I still had another three periods before I knew I'd get to see Nex again.
I walked up to my first period, room 222, second floor, hallway two, second room. It was easy enough to figure the school out. I knocked on the door, being the polite fox that I was raised to be, and was a bit stunned to see Nex walking out of the room. He gave me a smirk and said, "Hey, fancy seeing you here. Go sit by the husky in red."
I nodded quietly and stepped through the door, looking at the cow teaching the class. No I'm not being rude or derogatory, the teacher was thoroughly bovine. She looked over her thin-rimmed spectacles at me and smiled warmly. "Well come in, come in. Don't be shy. First day with a new class is always a chance to get to know eachother," she said. I'll grant, she was rather well-figured, and she looked no older than twenty-three. A silky coat of short, silver fur graced her.
"Take a seat anywhere there's room, mister... Rhodes," she said, checking my timetable.
She handed it back and smiled, and I took a seat by a husky in a red T-shirt.
"Okay, well Clark. Mind finishing your introduction?" asked the teacher, now sitting on the low shelves in front of the whiteboards. She was dressed very formally, her hair tied back. The husky beside me coughed a bit and began to speak.
"Like I said, I moved here at the start of the year, and there's really not a whole lot about me," he said, smirking quietly. Nex slipped back into the room almost as if on cue. All eyes were on him, and the teacher grinned.
"So, Arcturus, tell us about yourself," she said, a small smirk playing across her features.
"Oh, but Miss Renwood, you know I like to be called Nex," smirked the fox as he sat back in his seat, in front of me. "I'm seventeen, I'm pretty good with numbers, and I'm out of here after this year. My hobbies are video games, writing, and anything artistic. I'm into techno, rock, anything from before I was born, and Great Big Sea. I've lived here all my life," he added with a smile.
"That makes it our latecomer's turn. Come on Cameron, don't be shy," she seemed to enjoy making guys squirm.
"H-hi. I'm Cam," 'and I'm totally in love with a guy' I thought silently. "I moved here four days ago and I'm still between friends, I guess. I lik--"
"Between friends? Come on Cam, bud!" interrupted Nex, and everyone chuckled.
I blushed and sunk a bit. "Okay, I've got a couple friends here already. I'm into gaming, music, and I really like Graphic Art. I listen to a lot of old music, from like, the eighties and that. I think my favourite band would have to be... well they're a synth-pop group called Freezepop. Like I said, I moved in four days ago," I finished, and the teacher nodded.
"And, how old are you Cameron?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.
"O-oh... I'm only f-fifteen," I admitted quietly, and everyone snickered quietly.
"Interesting," she grinned, and then addressed the fur behind me. "Alright Liz, I know you know me, but these folks here might not,"
First period seemed to drag. I couldn't talk to Nex at all because everyone was being so quiet.
For a moment his tail disappeared beside him, and the next I felt it brush up against my leg. I almost let out a scream in shock, but managed to quiet it down to a near-silent muffled gasp.
There was a note folded into the fur on Nex' white and near-black tail. I took it and opened it silently under cover of my desk, making like I was listening to what was being said.
'By the way, you're cute when you blush.'
It had a winking smiley and a tiny little heart shape. I blushed vividly and quickly scribbled a reply with a pencil I always keep handy. It's an artist thing, you get used to it. The tail was still brushing up against my leg, and I deftly slipped the note back into its groove, quietly enjoying the sensation.
'Oh really?' I had written.
The reply never reached me; as Nex was passing the note back, the teacher slipped it out of his tail and shook her head. "Passing notes boys? Tsk, tsk. Maybe I should read it aloud to the class."
I almost had a heart attack, but Nex just smirked at her. "Alright, Miss Renwood, I've got nothing to hide."
She just smiled quietly and opened up the note, reading it silently before she spoke. "Hmm. Must be some camping trip you're planning if you've started this soon, Arcturus. Well, it's the first day, no harm done. If I catch you again, you'll both be sent out of class, though."
I collapsed back in my chair, looking down at my lap. There was another note folded under Nex' seat, his footpaw half-concealing it. As the teacher walked back to the front of the room I slipped my own foot in and grabbed it, my sneakers barely making a noise on the linoleum. Making like I was checking my backpack for something, I picked up the note and hid it in my palm, bringing out my day-planner and scribbling some gibberish in it as I opened the note with one paw.
'Cute enough to kiss again, that's for sure,' he wrote back, and I smiled quietly.
The period ended and I slipped my tail 'accidentally' into his lap as I walked by, depositing the note one final time.
'I hope that gets the point across well enough...' I thought silently as I headed to Art.
--
The day progressed even slower after that. Art was just a bunch of handouts. Anthropology was one big discussion that I tuned out. Then there was lunch, when things just moved so fast.
Among the gibberish I had written into my day planner, I had written Arcturus several times. It was subconscious, I think, but it was still really freaky.
I walked into the Cafeteria and was assaulted by noise. High-school cafeterias are always noisy places, but not like this. There was some music flooding over the din, quieting the students some, and you could hear conversations well enough, but I think what startled me most was the mural on the far wall.
It was of a fox and a lion standing proudly, paws clasped. It was apparent they were both male. There was also a lesbian couple and a few straight couples, and they all just stood there, grinning. It was like a photograph of a group of friends, and there was text over the top of it. 'Acceptance Doesn't Conform'.
And there was Nex, sitting with some of the 'gang' right beneath the fox and the lion in the centre. There was no table, they were sitting up on a stage, on the 'floor' and grinning quietly. It was almost like they were daring anybody to be more controversial. Nex had noticed me and began waving me up, and I began to cross the hall towards the stairs.
Jocks. Why is it always football players? I'll never know, but they stepped in my way and just wouldn't let me pass. "Where do you think you're going, faggy-boy," jeered the otter from before.
I don't know how Nex had managed it so quickly, but he'd gotten all the way around the cafeteria and up through the aisle of tables to my left, grabbed my paw, and smiled warmly.
"There you are, I've been waiting for--oh, hello Paulie. How's your mother doing?" he said, with a quiet smirk.
The otter just backed away a step and grudgingly moved out of the way. "She's fine, fox," he said quietly, and the other football players looked at him oddly. "Let 'em go guys. They're not worth the trouble."
"But dude, they're a couple-a--" started a Doberman to his left.
"Guys that we're giving a hard time. I'll explain later, let's go practise," interrupted the otter, and they all just blinked and wandered out.
"What the--" I began, and Nex silenced me with a finger pressed against my lips.
"His mother is a lesbian. He doesn't want it getting around. I told him if I saw him giving you any more trouble, I'd spread it round the school, along with a few other things," explained the odd-coloured fox as he lead me to his group.
Nex had short, black head fur back then. Maybe an inch long, and straight as an arrow, well, figuratively.
"Now, you know Oreo and Mark,"
"Hey," said the cat with a quiet smirk.
Mark just chuckled and held out a paw. "Yo, nice meetin' ya."
"Same to you," I said, not quite so shy now. I took the paw and shook it briefly as Nex continued.
"This here's Mat," he said, motioning to a quiet looking gecko, "and that's Karen. Call her that and she'll neuter you five ways before you can realize what happened. She prefers Rin."
The mentioned leopardess grinned quietly, and from what I could tell she was sizing me up with her reddish eyes. She turned her head as another joined us up on the ramparts, as I'd eventually learn they were called.
"And that's Pink, don't worry about him; he likes to make statements," smirked the fox, as a panther sat down beside Rin and looked up at me.
Yes, I know I know. It seems so cliché to me too, but the panther was dyed head-to-toe in pink fur. He had a pair of pink contacts in, but to top it all off, he was wearing nothing but pink. He grinned mischievously.
"Yeah, yeah. I always get that look. I'm actually not called pink by anyone except Arty over there. Name's Shawn; you must be Cameron. Pleasure meeting you finally."
Nex tugged me backward and onto the floor, chuckling. "Kay Cam. So, care to explain this?" he asked, handing me the folded note.
I blinked and blushed, but shook my head. "Um... not here," I said shyly, and he grinned a bit.
"Hey, Rio, lemmie borrow your keys bud. Need to chat with Cammy here," said the fox towards Oreo, and the cat tossed him a handful of keys with enough weight to down a zeppelin.
"Don't worry about your stuff, the guys'll look after it. Follow me," he said, grabbing my paw again.
--
Oreo's car was pretty standard. Nothing flaming about it except for the bumper sticker, 'I am what you did last night' with a pride flag. I laughed when I saw it.
Nex just sat on the hood, after turning off the alarm. He looked at me and chuckled. "Now, what makes you think that I'd be that shallow, hmm?" he asked me, and I blushed a bit.
"I dunno... but I just don't..." I started.
"Cam, come here for a second," he said, holding out a paw.
I wandered closer and blinked a bit, taking the paw. He squeezed a bit and smiled. "It's flattering, really, that you'd even think I'd be willing to do that. Fact is, I barely know you, y'know? Don't get me wrong, I'd like to know ya' better. Truth being, I've never even had a relationship before. Right now though, you're my bud got that? I don't use my friends."
I blinked and blushed a bit, nodding. "Heh... glad you're different..." I muttered quietly, remembering the reason I'd moved.
Nex chuckled and kissed the back of my paw, gentleman to the last. I blushed a bit and he smiled. "Do you think you'd be allowed to a friend's house tonight?" he asked quietly, and I blushed harder.
"Um... I doubt it. My dad likes to meet my friends before I go anywhere..." I replied, honestly.
"All the better, my mom's out of town. Do you think I could come and help you unpack?" he asked, persistent on spending time with me already. I was a bit surprised at that.
"U-um... I don't see why not. Why don't you meet me by the flag out front of the school after final bell?" I suggested, smiling a bit. My dad was going to like him immediately; he was just that kind of person.
"What is this, an invite over or an after-school fight?" snickered the fox, before he slipped a smirk across his face and nodded at me. Something you never forget about someone is that characteristic face they always make. Nex had several back then, and he still does now, sort of.
"Ha, ha. How do you know it won't end up being both?" I joked, poking him in the ribs. "And why did you grab that cat's keys anyway? We aren't even in the car," I asked, smiling a bit. Somehow he'd managed to slip his claws into my shell and was beginning to pry me out of the cloisters. It was liberating, and at the same time frightening.
"Oh, well I figured you might want a bit more privacy than just out here. But mostly so that his 'loud and proud' car alarm didn't go off," he replied, snickering quietly.
'That makes sense...' I thought, and nodded before turning to head back. "I don't know about you, but I'm star~ving. I could really use lunch."
--
Swapping timetables over lunch to figure out if anyone was in anyone else's classes, I noticed that Nex only had three courses this semester. 'That's why he was so confident he'd see me at lunch. He's got both standard lunches,' I thought, putting the pieces together quietly.
'Oh! And he's got G.A next period with Ms. Weber, no flagpole, we can just head out!' I exclaimed in my head, grinning as I scribbled a little note on the timetable and handed it back to Nex, comparing with Oreo next.
When I got my timetable back, I noticed a shadow through the paper, and turned it over to see a few phone-numbers scrawled. I blushed quietly before I realized who's they were. 'Huh, the cat seems to have a liking to me...' I thought quietly, quickly depositing the timetable back in my wallet as the bell for fifth period rang.
--
Graphic arts, it turns out, is a combination course. The culminating unit, we learned beforehand, was a project where, with a partner, you designed and posted a controversial logo strategically around the school. It had to be anonymous, simple, and it had to be done in a vector program. The course started off, however, with Typography.
Coming to the city's foremost arts school was a big thing for me. Professional artists in the faculty structured the curriculum; in fact the school had an official artist in residence. We'd have several Art History units but altogether, the course sounded like it'd be a blast.
Ms. Weber was a very fun teacher too. She was young, and seemed to bounce with energy. She was a fennec fox in her early thirties, but she seemed so much more like a student than a teacher. She even called us all by a nickname, and had asked us to call her Kell.
"It's short for Kelsey," she said, grinning. "But Weebsey works too. I dunno, call me whatever you want but nothing insulting," she let out a loud chuckle, almost obnoxious but just annoying enough to be absolutely perfect for the situation.
The class was spent talking, with almost nobody even able to sign in. She watched the class like a hawk, and her ears twitched every time a keyboard clicked while she was talking. She'd stop halfway through a sentence and warn people before continuing flawlessly.
"So we'll be headed directly into a unit on modern art after-Simon turn the monitor off-we do our typography, then we're right into advertisement photography. Pick your partners now people, cause you're stuck with them till the end of the course," she smirked and let out another chuckle.
Nex had seated himself right beside me, but from the angle the computers were set at, and with all of us staring at the teacher, he was behind me. He slid a small folded note across the desk and it hit my paw silently.
I read it without thinking.
'I wouldn't mind being your partner...'
I blushed a bit, and the teacher walked past and scooped it right out of my paws.
"Our first matchup folks!" she announced, motioning to Nex and me. "Good on ya Nex for showing such support to the new kid," she grinned.
I almost wanted to sink into my seat, and Nex laughed aloud. "Well what can I say? He looked a little lonely," he said, winking at me barely.
I flushed vividly as the teacher tossed the note back into my lap, fresh wording already on the page. Somehow she'd managed to write a note without me even noticing.
'I don't mind notes if you don't mind some embarrassment. Enjoy the class.'
I blinked and was about to say something when the final bell signalled the end of the day. Nex swung his backpack over his shoulder and grinned at me, and I stood and did the same to him. "Well, I need to make a quick stop at my locker to grab my jacket. Mind walking with me," he said with a smile.
"Heh, sure. This fur is thick enough for me, though," I smirked, and blushed a bit.
--
I live in the furthest district from our high-school. The only reason I'm going there is because of the special arts package. The same was true about most of our group. I was in one where I moved from too, but when my dad had to transfer, I had to come out here with him. We were lucky to find another arts school, and they had accepted my portfolio willingly.
My neighbourhood isn't exactly the best, but it's in a nice, residential area; obviously, since it's a neighbourhood. My house was halfway down Amethyst Boulevard. The city 'ring' I lived in had streets named after gemstones, minerals, and precious metals. The city hall, which was beside the campus in the centre, had decided on that in 1924, when it was where the campus is now.
My house is rather large, for just two furs. I live with just my dad, but we have three whole floors to ourselves. He's an industrial engineer, and he does jewellery work on the side. We're not rich but we're well to do. I walked up to the door and Nex froze, noticing two cars in the driveway; my dad's classy, dark-green SUV, and a slightly beaten black pickup.
"What's the matter, Nex?" I asked quietly, glancing over at the truck.
"N-nothing, I'm just seeing things." He replied, and wandered towards me. "Who owns the pickup?" he asked, not really able to see the license plates from this angle.
"Oh, that would probably be our accountant. Dad said he was meeting with someone today about moving our accounts, they're probably still here," I said, and opened the door.
"Dad! I brought a friend over, hope that's okay!" I called into the house, and my dad, the tall fox that he is, looked out from behind a stack of boxes in the middle of the living room.
"Well, come on. Don't be shy, Ms. Castor, this is my son Cameron," said my dad, with Nex barely in the door.
I walked into the room just as Nex yelped. "Mum?" he called, not as shocked as he should have been.
Ms. Castor was the spitting image of Nex, excluding a few odds and ends. She yelped and straightened herself out a bit as she heard Nex' voice. This is when dad got a good look at Nex. He smirked a bit, suppressed a chuckle, and ultimately failed at holding back a quiet laugh.
"Well, isn't that just wonderful?" he grinned while motioning Nex into the house. "So this is Arcturu- you said he preferred... Nexus, right?" he asked her.
"Yeah, that'd be my boy. It's nice to meet you Cameron," she smiled at me and I somewhat nervously moved over and took a seat on the couch.
Nex followed me in, but stopped and shook dad's paw before sitting beside me on the Sectional.
"Well, fate seems determined to make this arrangement work, Ms. Castor," grinned my father, and the woman nodded.
"So, you don't see a problem with next week then?" she asked, smiling a bit.
"Wait, what's going on next week?" asked Nex, just as lost as I was.
"No problem at all. I'm sure these two wouldn't mind having someone else around to talk to, either. They seem to be friends already," grinned the large arctic fox, and I quietly tried to piece together what was going on.
"I got a call from Mr. Rhodes at around noon yesterday, dear. That 'client' I was going to see, he was actually responding to a reverse-ad I put in the paper. As of next week, the top floor of the house is ours, Art," said the vixen with a smirk. "And about time too, that hole we were in was about to shoot up in price."
Nex blinked a couple times and fell back against the couch. I looked at my dad for confirmation.
"Well, seeing as how you two have already met," he started, nodding a bit, "I can't see why we would hesitate to take them on as boarders. Hell if I know Cam, he's already started treating Nex here like family. He always gets really close to the friends he meets," boasted the fox, and I too fell back against the couch.
Nex and me looked at eachother and practically started to laugh on the spot. "Dad, you just made my week," I said, snickering quietly.
Nex just nodded and looked over at his mom. "For real, we're moving in here? They've barely been here a week and we're already moving in?" he asked.
"Well, I'm going to be over here helping to unpack every day after work, help them get settled and all that," smiled the Vixen.
I started to tone her out after that. Dad's room was on the bottom floor. There was one bedroom on the top floor and two on the middle floor. This meant that more likely than not, Nex and I would be sharing the 'sandwich floor.'
'Every night I get to say good night, and every morning I get to say good morning...' I thought quietly. I liked this move already.
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Not as juicy as chapter one of Sirius was, I'll admit. Not as many details, not as much drama, perhaps a BIT more angst. I'm not sure. I think I captured the teachers well-enough. I'll admit, I've actually had teachers like this (Not cows or foxes or lions or anything, but with similar personalities).
Arcturus was too juicy a name to let slide, and I've always liked Cameron as a name. Anyway: Stay tuned for chapter 2, but don't be expecting daily updates.
Comments are always welcome,
~WAF