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"Gryetta!" Mrs. Haig scolded the young wolf. "How dare you swear?"

"But-"

"No buts missy!"

"Mom," Brance butted in calmly, "I think this is one time when that's not the important part."

Mrs. Haig sighed. "I guess," she said hesitantly.

"Crap is a swear word in your house?" I asked Brance as quietly as I could, leaning in to his ear.

"Yeah," he looked to me calmly and whispered.

"FREAK SNOWSTORMS ACROSS THE COUNTRY!" a loud voice cut into our quiet exchange. The two of us turned to the intruding announcement's source to see that Brance's mom had turned on the radio. "AUTHORITIES ARE ADVISING CITIZENS TO AVOID TRAVELLING!" the voice continued. We could see why as the view through the window was slowly getting whiter. It looked like before long, it would be white-out conditions.

Brance and I suddenly looked to each other, understanding spreading across our faces. "That means no school!" We both exclaimed simultaneously, embracing each other.

"Maybe," Mrs. Haig agreed, "but if this continues, we won't be able to go back home any time soon. Also, I'll have to drop you off at home Roger."

I grumbled at that idea.

"So where do you live?" she asked.

"Near to the school," I answered, not wishing to go home, "about a mile in the opposite direction of your house."

Suddenly, my phone rang. As Mrs. Haig kept on driving, I answered. "Hello mom?"

"Roger, are you doing okay? They say it's snowing on the news."

"Yes, mom. We were on our way to school just now."

"Oh, good! I'll come pick you up there."

"Okay then, I'll see you soon, mom."

"Bye, Roger."

"Bye." I hung up and leaned back on Brance's shoulder, eager to spend whatever time we had left being close to him. Still about ten minutes from the school, my phone started to ring again.

"Yes?" I asked, answering the call.

"Roger," my mother's voice was pained, "I don't think you'll be able to get home tonight."

"Why?"

"Frederick's Bridge is out."

"What!?" Brance, his mother, and I exclaimed at once.

"Is there any chance they can have you over for a while. I really want you home for this time, but I can't risk taking another route." That's not good. If my mom was fine with that, then the weather was truly getting bad.

"O-of course you can stay, Roger," Mrs. Haig answered my hopeful stare, but her tone made me feel like I was being a problem. I felt the car slowing down, and noticed police lights coming up from behind us.

"Yes," I answered my mother, "Mrs. Haig says I can stay with them."

"Great! I hope I can get there soon."

"Don't try before you're sure it's safe."

"Don't worry hon. I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

As I lowered my phone back down to my lap, Mrs. Haig was lowering her window for the cop. A gust of chilled air blew in as she did so, and I shivered violently. Without thinking, I snuggled up to Brance, putting my arms around him and apparently earning a moment of the officer's attention.

"Is everything alright back there?" he asked politely, but with an intense frown plastered upon his face. He was clearly one of the more anti-hybrid cops.

"Yes," I answered him, "I'm just a little chilly." I felt Brance put his arms in a loop around me then, as if trying to help me stay warm.

For a moment, the officer looked like he was going to say something more--maybe make a crack about getting fleas--but the look passed and was replaced by a smile. "Well, kid, you've got the right idea," he said with a chuckle, "but where are you going with these... hybrids?" the officer barely managed to remember to use the politically-correct form.

"Well, I stayed over at their house last night, and we were supposed to be going to school today."

"School is cancelled, kid," he said flatly.

"Yeah, but my home is past the school."

A frown grew upon the officer's face. "If you live in Glave, you're not gonna be able to get home, kid. The bridge is out." He turned his attention back to Mrs. Haig. "Where do you live, ma'am?"

"In Shaded Draven."

"I don't advise you drive home then, ma'am. The school's set up for any of the kids that already got there, they'll let you guys stay until we give the all-clear for travel."

"Okay," Mrs. Haig responded with a hint of uncertainty.

"Please follow me. If you get in an accident, it'll be better for me to be there."

"Is it really that bad?" Brance took his head from off my shoulder for a moment, at the same time pulling me into a more protective embrace.

"Yeah, son, I'm amazed you guys got as far as you did safely." Another cop came up and tapped him on the back. He turned around, and I buried my face back into Brance's chest, taking a deep breath of his freshly-washed fur. His shirt was in the way a little, but I could still pick up some of his smell. His shampoo was sort of walnut-scented, and it worked with his natural scent to make something wonderful.

After the other cop (assumedly) walked away, I heard ours continue. "It looks like things are getting worse; we'll have to head there now. Stay behind us, and if we stop, you stop too. We wouldn't want you getting lost in the snow."

As he walked away, Mrs. Haig rolled up her window and I felt Brance's nose burying itself into my shoulder. I caught the reflection of the red and blue lights in the rear window, and out of the corner of my eye. As we started moving, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Looks like we get to stay together a little longer," I said, nuzzling him.

"Yeah, but we're gonna be at school."

"So?"

"Rodge, it's not like we're the only ones that'll be there."

"Well, we may not get to... you know... but we still get to hang out."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "that is true." I felt his paw running through my hair softly. "Do you think anyone we know will be there yet?"

"Maybe," I answered, "Jake is usually there by now."

"Jake? I don't know him."

"Come to think of it, that makes sense. We've never really met each other's friends, have we? Aside from your friends at the lunch table, that is."

I felt Brance's expression tense, as though he was thinking hard. "Huh," he said after a while, lifting his head from my shoulder, "I never noticed that. It makes sense, but I never did notice it."

"Do you think anyone you know will be there?"

"Maybe," he sighed, "Gunner's usually there before me, and Jessica normally has some club meeting going on before school."

"Jessica?"

"She's from my History class. We get thrown together in groups a lot of the time."

"Is she cool?"

"Cool? She's ice cold!"

When I stared at him questioningly, he was quick to explain that she was a penguin-like hybrid--one who got a lot of crap for being so--and that it was a joke among her friends that she was "Ice Cold."

"What's the matter?" I asked, looking up a little from my position against him. As I stared into his deep blue eyes, I could see the longing forming within them. When he opened his mouth again, a smile formed on his lips, I froze, waiting for his words. None came, though, and the gleam in his eyes left, replaced with an unfocused look.

"Never mind..." he finally said, resting his jaw back on my _other_shoulder.

"Ow!" The pressure on his bite mark came more as a shock than a pain.

"Sorry!" his ears went back a little, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just forgot about your bite." Seemingly satisfied, he rested his head back on my right shoulder, avoiding his mark all the same. "Really, though, what is it? It can't be too bad."

Brance looked betrayed for a moment, then sighed again and spoke. "I want you to hang out with me and my friends some time."

"That's all? What's so bad about that?"

Brance took my wrists in his paws and held me so that I looked directly into his eyes. "But I don't want to hang out with you just as a friend; I want to hang out you as my boyfriend."

"Oh," I looked slightly away from my lover, giving myself a moment to mull over his words.

"I don't want to force you into that too soon, what with how much you'll be judged, but I don't wanna have to lie about our relationship if we're with friends."

I looked back up at him then, resolve stupidly hardening and steering me on what was most likely a bad course. "Brance, I'd be glad to let our friends know."

"Our? As in yours too?"

"Well, yeah."

"You really think they'd not care?"

"Well, they wouldn't wanna hang out with us, but I think they'd not tell anyone else, and it would be easier if they knew. Then they wouldn't start asking questions. Anyways, don't some of your friends already know about us?"

"It's not like I thought those were your only friends," I ruffled his head-fur affectionately, "after all, you're a pretty cool guy to hang out with."

"There's the school!" Gryetta interjected, ending our moment.

Suddenly, Brance lit up, as though he wanted to part. _Really?_I thought to myself.

"Can I walk you in?" Those simple words sent me into panic. Does he want everyone to know? Never mind, stupid question, of course he does. Would it be that bad to concede? Yes, of course it would. But does it really matter. Oh, fuck it, I looked at his face, taking note of what was probably his begging expression, he's too cute to turn down.

"Only if you tell people you're keeping me warm."

"Agreed, then?"

"Agreed," I huffed.

As the engine stopped, I quickly jumped out of the car only to freeze my ass off. Soon, Brance joined me, and I was more than happy to hug him close. "You are so lucky you have fur."

"And you should hurry inside before you freeze to death," the officer from before said from close behind, startling us.

Quickly, trying not to let the officer catch on, I tugged on Brance's arm, trying to hint that we should go to the building. As he followed my lead, I breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, encountering what seemed to be a wall of white, we made our way to the building. Brance held me tightly the whole way.

As we came upon the glass doors, we were greeted by the stares of multiple other kids--human and hybrid alike--looking out at the rapidly-falling snow. I looked behind me to see that Gryetta and Mrs. Haig were following closely then directed my attention forwards to my fellow classmates to find that their gazes had, for the most part, gravitated towards the odd couple walking towards them. I mentally winced as I saw some of them exchanging words behind their hands. One of the faces quickly moved towards the door as we got closer, and I recognized Mr. Charac, who gestured us in hurriedly as we got close. He wore a worried expression as he did so.

"Are you okay?" he asked, us as we walked in.

"Yes," we answered rather in unison.

"I'm just keeping him warm," Brance added breaking away a little belatedly and drawing the odd joke from nearby people. Strangely, though, none of the hybrids seemed to partake in the jibes; however, two or three of them did wrinkle their noses. One of them, a blond equine, whispered to her nearby friend and giggled.

"What about your mother, Roger? We heard that the bridge is out. Is she okay? Were you guys there when it happened?"

"No, we weren't. In fact, I sort of stayed over at Brance's last night. She wasn't driving me today."

"Really?" he looked at me as though I had caught some weird disease.

"I was helping him to study for English."

For a moment longer, he was silent then he glanced to Brance and back to me. "Okay then," he continued, "it's good to hear that you're alright." Abruptly, he turned away from us. I guess you'll have to stay here for a while, Mrs. Haig. Parents are down in the cafeteria right now."

"Okay, and where is that?"

"I'm sure Brance wouldn't mind showing you the way."

"Yeah, it's no problem," Brance assured.

"Mom, can I stay here with Roger?"

"No, Gryetta, you're going to stay with me." Mrs. Haig said, putting a hand on her back and pushing her along behind Brance.

"But mom..." As far as I was concerned, Gryetta trailed off, but I soon heard a guffaw from a nearby hybrid. Turning my head to the offender, I found a black-feathered girl with a distinct white tuft sticking out near the top of her shirt. Noticing she had gotten my attention, she was quick to make a zipped lips gesture, and dipped her beak down to imitate a smile.

"Hey," I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Jake. "How's it going?" he asked.

"It's going great!" I was a little too excited.

"Did you really spend the night at the fleabag's house?" Henry said, walking up and holding out his fist for a bump.

"Brance is NOT a fleabag." I said angrily, ignoring his gesture and turning slightly towards Jake.

"Okay, okay, don't bite. Why defend him anyways?"

"Yeah," Jake began, "Why? It seems like you were getting a little bit cozy with him when you walked in."

"I was cold!"

"Sure," Jake added a wink for good measure, "and you just happened to stay the night at his place."

"Well..." I rubbed my shoulder and acted like I was scratching my foot.

"Roger! You. did. not!" Felia butted her way into the conversation knocking Henry to the side. She had her hands up in the most stereotypical girly way.

"Umm... maybe..." I smiled sheepishly at her.

"Oh my gosh! Why would you?"

"Why would he what?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, what did you do?" Jake asked.

"Uhh..." I was starting to feel cornered.

Felia leaned in and whispered in Jake's ear then I watched as his face contorted and froze up into a cross between a grimace and a grin. Eventually, I got tired of waiting in tension, and started to back away from my friends. Then, just as I turned my back, "You fucking sicko! I was just kidding!" Jake didn't yell it, but said the words softly; they bit into me hard and I bolted.

I ran to the only secluded place I could think of--the hallway behind the gym. It wasn't like my friends would have trouble finding me there, but it was better than having to deal with anyone else at the time.

Why did I think that would go well? I wondered to myself. Henry's never going to let me live this down. Heck, he's probably going to blab to everyone, and now that Jake knows, there's no way he's going to want to be friends anymore. Heck, I was going to be lucky if they even let Brance stay at the school after this. I might have to move. How the heck did Felia know anyways? That thought gave me pause. How could she have possibly figured it out? All she had to go on was us walking in together, right? Maybe I was suspiciously quick to defend Brance, but could she have pieced it together? It would be like assembling a puzzle using only half of a piece--it couldn't be done.

Then again, there was a reason everyone called her "Feels." She could read just about anyone like a book. Frankly, it was kind of scary.

By my lonesome, head in hands, Brance found me. "Everything okay?" he asked softly.

"Not really." I mumbled from behind my hands.

Brance didn't say anything. I could hear him settling himself on the floor next to me and felt his warm arms circle around me.

It took barely any time for me to return the hug, burying my face in his chest. "They know, Brance," I said with distress. "My friends know about us and they definitely do not like it."

"It's okay, Roger, we didn't expect it to go over well, remember?"

"Yeah, but there's no doubt they're gonna blab, or--at least--Henry is, and if they do, you're gonna get in trouble. You know how these things go. Punishments are always more strict for hybrids."

"Look at me," he commanded, positioning my head between his paws so that I could see into his eyes, his rough pads feeling rather unusual on my cheeks. "There's no need to worry. Besides..." he planted a kiss on my lips, "they're the ones who told me where to find you."

"They are?"

"Yeah, in fact they're right over there." He smiled and nodded his head towards the center of the hallway. Fast as lightning, I turned my head to see Jake and Felia standing there. Felia was gawking at us like we were some rare jewel (okay, I'll give her the rare part) and Jake looked uncomfortable--like he really didn't want to be there--but smiled at me nonetheless. "They really do care about you," my attention flew from my friends to my lover.

"What about Henry?" I asked, turning to Jake.

Felia was very quick to answer. "He's probably too thick to understand."

"Besides," Jake added, still looking extremely uncomfortable, "he didn't seem to get it at the time."

"Personally," Felia continued, "I wouldn't even think of telling him." She paused for a moment, as if thinking, then continued, "In fact, I'm sorry I opened my big mouth when he was around." The way she said it actually convinced me she was telling the complete truth.

"It's okay," I assured her, "I was planning on telling you guys anyways. Besides, it's going to get out sooner or later."

"We hope by then we'll have a better way to tell them." Brance added, "Though most of the hybrids can already tell."

For a moment, Jake's frown of discomfort dropped from his face and was replaced by one of dubiety. "And how would...?"

"Well, we didn't_just_ exchange stories last night... if you know what I mean." I winked at him to close my statement and was amused to see his eyebrows shoot upwards. It was funny seeing Jake, the most serious of my friends with his eyes like saucers. Unfortunately, then, he got a sickened look in his eyes that worried me. "You feelin' well?"

"Yeah. I'd just prefer you didn't talk about that too much."

"Besides," Brance added, "he was just answering you."

Jake looked like he was about to debate it, but Felia interrupted him. "They can tell you did it?"

"Yes, they can. Or, I think they can." I looked to Brance as I said this.

"Yes, they probably can tell," Brance confirmed.

"But they don't care?!" Jake asked.

"They care alright, but they aren't gonna expose us. Hybrids--unlike you humans--don't have as much of a problem with these types of things."

"Hey! We're not that bad!"

"But you're his friends."

"Well, surely there'll be some that make fun of him when they find out, but I don't think everyone's gonna be a dick about it."

"When they find out?" I interrogated him, resentment entering my voice.

"You don't expect them to stay ignorant all the way until the end of school. Do you?"

"Not actually, but you guys aren't gonna out me, are you?"

"Nah," Jake waved it off as if it were a silly, childish thought."

"Out him for what?" I dropped silent for a moment as I heard the voice. The next few seconds went in almost slow motion for me. I turned to see Henry, walking towards us with a smirk on his face. "I was just wondering where you guys ran off to." He looked to me and his smile suddenly brightened. "Oh!"