Tom took a peek behind the drapes to the stage and held back a breath. There were so many people there! He could even make out the—

The wolf gasped and closed the drapes. There was his university rector.

“Cheer up, loup!" Martin shouted from behind him. He turned his head and slowly walked to the backstage.

The wolf took a deep inhale, then exhaled.

“Mon pote, écoute-moi." Martin put his hand around Tom's shoulders, pulling him close. “You can do this. You've done your all for this, and this is how it will end. You will walk over there, you will give all those fuckers your bestest best presentation. And you will amaze them. Give the rest to the universe to decide."

Looking at the fox, Tom couldn't fight a chuckle. “Did you just call your rector a fucker?"

“I don't care. And you shouldn't, too. Remember, those are just people, and the stage is all yours."

“The stage is all mine." He glanced at the podium where the host was opening the event. “The stage is all bloody mine."

“That's the spirit!" Martin gripped his back in encouragement. “You can do it, loup! Even if you don't make it, your name's still going to be hung on the wall where they list those who made the nomination."

“I can do it." Tom sighed in determination. He then walked to where the finalists are sitting and sat down, Martin next to him.

His phone beeped. He took it out of his pocket and read a new text.

Max Kleinschmidt: Sorry dude, I probably won't make it to campus today.

He deflated a little. Max wasn't coming.

Max Kleinschmidt: I believe you can do it! Trust yourself! It's all about you.

That didn't make him feel any better. Max wasn't coming, and the dog was the one he was trying to impress, that Tom wasn't just some no-one who took advantage of the large dog because of his popularity.

He heard the whispers. Of course the news travelled fast; even the next day after he went home from the library with Max, he heard people whispering behind him. Who is he? Why was he so close to Max? Is he gay? How disgraceful.

He never told Max about that, but he was sure Max knew. If not from the whispers, then from some of his friends.

No matter how much he ignored them, they kept coming. But ignoring was one of Tom's brightest points. So he kept walking with his head up and not caring about them because he knew he wasn't doing what people think he did.

Was he doing what people think he did?

He wasn't taking advantage of Max, right? While it was true that he was attracted to him, he didn't actively coax Max into helping him climb the social ladder. And it seemed that Max honestly enjoyed his company, which should make him careful not to break whatever small relationship they had.

The music started in the background as the traditional dances began. He glanced at his hands. Max's hand was… soft, warm. He still remembered that feeling, those soft paw pads caressing his own.

And he truly, truly felt sorry for Max. He didn't mean to freak him out like that. While he quickly covered his trembling hands and feet after he regained consciousness, he was sure Max was worried. And really, it wasn't supposed to happen. Max now definitely thought he was a weirdo. Lain was quick to take over, but he did a bad job of that.

Max's paw pads were nice. Strong, yet soft.

Did his muscles feel that way too? The dog's fur looked quite short compared to his own, and his muscles seemed hard. How did his fur feel like? Was it soft or coarse? How did the muscles underneath feel like?

“…first contestant, Thomas Luis Purnama!"

“Dude, it's your turn." Martin shoved him and stood up. Tom followed suit.

The wolf took a deep breath. “Gua bisa."

Mart gave his shoulder a pat. “That's the spirit! Now get on stage!"

Tom nodded, determined, and walked to the podium.

Upon taking his first step, he nearly turned back. There were just so many people! The claps nearly deafened him. The conference auditorium was simply enormous, there were colours as far as the eye could see. The podium seemed like a kilometre away.

Tom took another deep breath and continued walking. As soon as he reached the podium, the clapping stopped.

He glanced over the first few rows and regretted that.

Okay, I can do it.

“Good morning, everyone." He started, everyone responded. “My name is Thomas Luis Purnama, a fifth-semester student on Public Relations from the University of Barrowisle. Today I will be discussing multiculturalism in the campus environment and its effects on students."

Behind him, his presentation file opened, and he took a small controller for the projector.

He took a deep breath and started.

“As we know, everyone has a culture. Culture defines every one of us..."

The hallway was too crowded for him, so he decided to slip into a corner and drink his tea in silence. The paper cup he was holding was warm, and Tom gripped it to ease his freezing hands. Even after his speech and all the contestants, his hands were still ice cold.

He glanced around and made it into a small pantry near the stairs. There were some snacks, cookies, and biscuits. The wolf took one biscuit and munched it.

It tasted heavenly.

Tom hummed in appreciation, then took a sip from his beverage. The biscuit really went well with the tea. His tail wagged and nearly knocked an empty chair behind him.

He chuckled and moved the chair.

The presentation part of the conference was over. Now, they were having cultural performances, and there was a cultural fair outside. It would be later in the evening they announced who was the winner. He didn't have his hopes up too high this time; he made it to the final, yet he also saw the other finalists' presentations were awesome.

He was positive that Max wasn't coming, so he stopped hoping he'd magically appear. Although he was kind of sort of wishing that.

Okay, whatever. He should control his attraction towards the shepherd. It would hurt him later, he knew it.

Tom finished his biscuit and took another sip of his beverage in enjoyment. The juries hadn't been deadly back there, they just asked some rather easy questions and he answered those smoothly. Even his dean asked a question and he could answer her question without a hiccup.

Maybe he really explained his topic clearly, so there wasn't much to be asked.

Wanting to take more of the biscuits, Tom exited the small corner to find a plate. He was only passing the doorframe when he hit someone, bumping at them on their chest.

“What the fuck!"

The wolf stumbled a bit, then looked at the one he'd run into. “I'm sorry, are you o…kay?"

“Watch it!" The stranger grumbled and gripped his face. Tom was breathless again. If it weren't for the red fur on the stranger's outer face, he'd thought he ran into Max. But this stranger appeared to be a wolf, instead of a German Shepherd. The stranger was equally as tall, as big, but even more intimidating compared to Max.

Maybe because Max never loomed, despite his large figure.

But this stranger, he seemed to mean trouble.

The stranger looked down at Tom with a rather menacing glare to his blue eyes. “Watch where you're going, fucking asshole."

Tom just nodded to cover his alarm. “Yeah, um." He took a step back, allowing the stranger to enter the small space. “Sorry."

“Tch, whatever. Fuck off." Stranger growled, then went inside the pantry. Before he was punched into pulp, the grey wolf quickly apologised again, took his cup of tea, and ran from there.

He just saved his own life, yet for another time.

Now, where could he find a plate for the biscuits?

He gazed over the hallway. There were too many people, he couldn't make out the way. He was just about to head back to the contestant's room before someone tapped his shoulder.

 “Hey! Where've you been?"

The wolf turned around. “Oh, hey Mart, hey El."

Martin was grinning widely. “We've been looking for you, right Ellie?"

“Yeah, Tom." Ellie nodded. “You okay? You look a bit pale."

“Everyone would look pale after that thing." he gestured to the entrance to the auditorium. “My hands are still freezing."

“Tom, calm down," Ellie gripped his hand. “Wow, you are freezing."

Tom sighed. “I know, but it's just... really, I was just talking to more than a thousand people."

“Nope. About 400." Said Martin.

“Yeah but that's beside the point." Tom ran his fingers through his head fur in slight exasperation. “Where's Lucy?"

“Off to get some food with James."

“What time is it anyway?"

“About 15," Martin answered. “You have anything to do?"

“Not really, it means I have too much time to kill."

“How about we meet up with Lucy and James? I'm hungry." The fox gripped his stomach.

“They have lots of food here, you know."

“They're just snacks." Martin took their hands. “Come on! I want real food."

“Wait! I'm carrying a hot cup." Tom protested as the fox pulled him away.

The fox slowed down and released his hand. “Oh, come on!" he held his hands up, exasperated.

Tom just chuckled as Ellie kicked Martin. They walked slowly through the hallway and made it outside to the main campus park where the cultural fair was being held. There were a lot of booths, each having different flags on top of them.

“Okay, now that we made it outside, which booth do you want to visit? Also, where are they?"

“How about that one?" Martin pointed to a booth near the entrance, ignoring his question.

“Sure."

Tom was giddy. Too giddy. He gripped the medal on his neck like a dog to a new bone. His tail wiggled now and then. Sure, it was just silver, but it weighed even more than all his efforts combined. However, when he thought about it, the essay he wrote made him a little bit conflicted.

He tried so hard not to make any implications to his past, even as far as writing about his own story in the third person, and only in one paragraph. The wolf wasn't ready to share his history; if he wasn't even ready to tell it to even his closest friends, then there would be even less sense to sharing it through an essay.

“So, are we going to have some dinner tonight?" Martin shoved his upper arm, grinning.

“Bugger off." Tom replied, trying to be snarky but it came out too playful. It wasn't that he didn't want to buy them something, but it was too late in the night. Today had been a very big day, and he was looking forward to getting a nice sleep.

Both Martin and Ellie laughed.

When he was announced to be the second-place winner, his heart leapt in joy. True, he wasn't in the first place, but the juries said that his overall score was very close to the first place. And he had to admit, the winner's topic was very interesting.

Maybe if he had included his own story and gotten the audience's empathy, he would've won it.

No, this was enough. More than enough. Finally, he could tell the whole university that he truly deserved a full scholarship, including 500 euros of allowance each month. While it was very generous for the university to provide him with allowance, it wasn't enough for his plans, so he decided to work part-time.

Besides, he was looking forward to living in a small apartment or even a house, be it rented or his own. He missed being able to cook again.

Now, with the 3.000-euro prize, he was very looking forward to it, but first, he had to replace his ageing laptop.

He smiled in happiness.

“I can see you're planning what to do with your money already." Ellie teased him.

“No, I'm not."

“Eh, sure, says the one who was rubbing his medal."

“Piss. Off." Tom pushed the two of them aside, making them laugh again.

When he was on stage earlier, he saw some of the football team members in the crowd. He was a bit glad that there was someone who saw that he was worthy of being with Max, or at least on the way to be, that he wasn't only using him and his popularity. He took the second place in a provincial championship, the national was just another stair ahead.

Even if he didn't make it to the first place, at least he reached the top.

International, though, he was so underprepared.

Max still hadn't arrived; he'd like him to see what was Tom capable of. Even, he personally wanted to see Max being proud of him. Ugh, even when the dog wasn't coming he still wished he could just pop out of nowhere.

Aside from that, his classmates were obviously proud of him, from the way they hugged him to death on the stage. His professors too, and he even saw Mr Beck giving him standing applause with a very proud look on his face.

He was definitely buying that pizza, first place or not.

The hallway was lit, there were still people everywhere, but this time they looked at him and smiled in respect as he passed by. Maybe they wouldn't do that tomorrow, so Tom basked in the moment while it still lasted.

His rector even congratulated him on the stage, and possibly stole his bad-mood bone so he was so bloody happy right now.

When they reached outside, the booths were finishing up and packed in for the night. It was still going on until tomorrow, though, so Tom wasn't in a hurry to buy anything he wanted. Not that he wanted much, anyway.

“Mart, what time is it?"

The fox looked at his watch and said. “Almost 22."

“Well, sorry mates. It's late in the night and looks like it would be best for us t—ugh."

He staggered backwards as someone ran into him. Martin and Ellie helped him up and he looked up.

It was that red wolf from earlier in the day.

Now, though, he didn't seem annoyed. In fact, he helped Tom stand back up.

Tom just nodded and let it go. “Sorry." Were he not the winner, maybe the red wolf wouldn't even care to look at him. He shrugged and straightened up.

“I see that you're the winner, hot stuff." The red wolf said, and upon hearing that, something inside Tom jumped in giddiness. He glanced up and saw the red wolf grinning wolfishly at him.

He nearly blushed.

Bad pun aside, was the red wolf chatting him up?

Okay brain, where did you even get that idea? “Um, thanks?"

“You look even cuter up close." The stranger gave his shoulder a pat. “Sorry though, I gotta go." Then he walked away.

Tom stared at the large form of the red wolf, then turned his head as it became red. If that weren't one of the finest backsides in campus…

“Loup, why do the strangest things on campus always happen to you?" Martin asked him as they walked.

Ellie said. “Seriously Tom, was he just hitting on you?"

“I have no idea, mates." Tom stared at the road. The stranger was hot, damn hot. As hot as Max, but waaay hotter because he actually returned the compliment. Maybe the stranger was just using pick-up lines but really, what the heck?! “I have no idea."

Notes:

Mon pote, écoute-moi = My bud, listen to me
Gua bisa = I can do it