It was snowing softly, and Kevin wished he
brought his coat instead.

The bus stopped, and the wolf got on it,
tapping his public transport card. He gave a deep sigh after sitting down.
Apparently, the position in the fast-food restaurant Shaun was working in was
already filled. The manager said there were available positions at another
store, though, so Kevin thanked him and went there instead to apply. It was
near the restaurant he used to work at, apparently, so he also went there. The
owner was still the same, so he really hoped he could be accepted.

He didn't know whether he would be accepted
or not, but at least he tried. Being more familiar with Ausalt-on-Haye compared
to Barrowisle, he also asked his old acquaintances for any job openings, even
those he used to brawl with. Wolves together strong, he chuckled when he
remembered the line from a popular film he watched. Besides, he was still going
to apply through some apps later.

For now, he crossed his arms and looked out
the windows as the bus drove away. Moving here was a sudden decision, but it
had to be done. Vilkas and the other guys were surprised to see him quit so
abruptly. His boss offered him a raise, but he had to decline as he also wanted
to take care of his mother. They wished him the best and let him go.

Vilkas went to his flat later in the evening,
interrogating him whether he really wanted to go or not. He said yes and made
sure he still remembered that he owed the husky some money. Like a dumb sod,
Vilkas hugged him and pretty much cried. That pained him, even more when the
blue husky cried. They spent the night cuddled up on his bed, and for once
Kevin didn't protest that. He would miss the husky.

Now, he wanted to stop being a fuckboy and
become a good boy. He was tired. Life was telling him to start being
responsible. Sex no longer felt as good as it was. Hoping for a miracle to come
was merely a dream. He wanted to start again, the same way he started anew when
he moved to Barrowisle almost five years ago. He wanted to take care of his
mother in her condition and reconnect with his brother.

He was tired, and he wanted to be a better
wolf.

Unlikely, he knew. If he told himself that a
few years ago, he would probably laugh. Hell, if he told Vilkas that, the husky
would also probably laugh.

The bus neared his stop and he pressed the
bell button. Thankfully the snow had already stopped. Kevin stood up, then went
down the bus and walked home, stomping on small white patches of the first snow
of the season as he walked. Ausalt-on-Haye was on average colder than
Barrowisle, and it usually snowed a lot in winter. He looked up at the
twilight, then checked his phone. It was a quarter past 16, and there were
still no notifications yet.

As usual, Jonathan, his neighbour, snickered
as he saw him walking home. “Joh, nat is
þes mín lév wolf. Hwa gás þú, e? Nåh an fag?"

He gave the rat the middle finger without
looking at him. He was tired of fighting him all the way back since elementary
school.

“Åw, nan låv
fer smål Jonatan hér?"

“Sníþ þín
blöðij stert av." He simply said when he walked into his house, taking his jacket off.

Apparently, Shaun was already home. The
lighter-red wolf was reclining on the sofa, eating some amaranth crackers as he
watched the telly. Usually, Kevin would just ignore him, but those crumbs were…
ugh…

He walked into his room, took his clothes
off, changed into a pair of more comfortable pants, and shouted to his brother.
“Oi, move your tail to the bedroom! Imma clean the sofa!"

Shaun shouted back. “The fuck did you say?!"

After putting a headband on to keep his hair
from going down, Kevin walked to the living room. “You heard me. Get to your
bedroom."

“What the fuck did you just say, fag?!"

“Shaun, please." Kevin sighed and pinched the
base of his muzzle, too tired to fight him. “You know I'm in a bad mood right
now, just move so I can clean the—hell, I'll clean the whole living room."

The lighter-red wolf huffed and stared at him
angrily. After a while, he stood up and moved to his bedroom, shoving his
younger brother as he walked there.

“Yep, that's him alright." Kevin said to
himself, then proceeded to effortlessly pull the sofas. He took the
almost-broken vacuum cleaner and turned it on. He vacuumed the sofas first,
followed by the floor. The sofas could probably use some cleaning, but maybe
later next year in spring or summer.

As he started with the second sofa, he
couldn't help but smile. This was actually pretty enjoyable.

When he was vacuuming the sofa, he caught
sight of Shaun dumbfoundedly staring at him from his bedroom. The lighter-red
wolf stared at him confusedly, as if saying “was he really cleaning the living
room?"

Done with the sofas, Kevin put his hands on
his hips and said to Shaun. “Oi, straight, do you wanna stare at this hot
shirtless fag cleaning the living room all day or are you gonna help me?"

Shaun jerked up when he noticed that he was
known, his ears perking up to attention before flattening again. Then, he
rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen to take something, then back to his
room.

That just made Kevin chuckle fondly.

After an hour or so, he pulled a chair from
the kitchen to the living room and sat down on it. Finished with the cleaning
job, he breathed heavily with his tongue lolling out. Fuck, this should be a
workout on its own! He said he would clean the living room, but he ended up
also cleaning the kitchen, his mother's room, and his own room as well.

He put his legs on the table and wiped his
face. His mother was still in the hospital, so he had to fight his brother for
the dominance of the house. The winner could watch the telly in peace.
Although, right now taking a quick nap didn't seem like that bad of an idea. It
was almost dusk anyway.

Kevin's ear swivelled when he heard Shaun
come out of his room. There was a bit of silence, then there were some sounds
from the kitchen cabinet, then something was put on the table next to his feet.

Opening his eyes, Kevin was a bit surprised
to see a glass of watermelon juice there with Shaun standing beside him. “Put
your tongue back in."

He just rolled his eyes. “You tell me to put
my tongue back in after I cleaned the entire house." he said, then put his
tongue back out.

Shaun crossed his arms and walked away,
muttering something under his breath. He took his coat from the hanger and
walked outside. “I'll go get us some food."

Beaming in happiness, Kevin gave him a
thumbs-up and his tail started wagging. “Yup. Get me some dove!"

Shaun threw the detachable hood of his coat
at Kevin's muzzle, but Kevin was too happy to care. This was something his
brother rarely did; usually they bought their own food separately. Hell, they
only do so few things together if not for their mother.

Speaking of mother,

The wolf glanced at the clock. It was almost
17.15. Last night was his turn to watch over his mother, so tonight was Shaun's
turn.

He let out a sigh and put his tongue back in.
For now, he turned the telly on and watched some cartoons to pass the time.
However, the cartoon quickly fell on deaf ears. His mind instead wandered to
Octo and Tom and Vilkas and all his friends in Barrowisle.

He missed them already.

He chuckled dryly, his good mood short-lived.
He had been here for only four days, but that was more than enough to
reacquaint him with life as a wolf here. He missed Barrowisle already. He…
missed Octo already.

Kevin groaned. So much for a good mood. He
turned the television off, closed the front door, and walked into his room.

Inside, he instantly threw himself into the
bed. He sniffed his armpits; he was smelly and his musk was all over, but he
didn't care. His fur was messy and unkempt, but he didn't care. Why did it have
to go back to Octo? He knew he fucked up and now he wanted to just let it go
already!

Defeated, he closed his eyes. Who was he to
think that he had a chance with someone like Octo anyway?

For now, the wolf just pushed that hot, sexy,
nice, handsome panther whom he betrayed out of his mind and sat up, taking the
headband off. He should probably shower, but he didn't really feel like it. He
took a comb from the drawer and combed his fur; at least he should not look
like a walking rainforest. He was still shedding, and his fluff and hair were
getting longer now.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to go to a
barber now. Also, he might be better off just trimming his hair and making it
head fur instead. That way he wouldn't have to thoroughly make sure it looked
good.

“Fag, here's your food." Shaun shouted from
the kitchen area.

Kevin stood up, then groggily walked outside.
“Coming."

His smile returned when he saw the package.
His brother really did buy him some doves. He opened it and snickered. “Nice of
you to get me some dove."

“Get knotted. Go eat it or something." Shaun
said as he was taking a plate. “And go shower or something! You fuckin' reek,
and your fur is all over!"

Chuckling a little, he took a plate and put his
piece of dove there. “I just cleaned pretty much the whole house, y'know."

His brother shoved him in the direction of
the bathroom, then walked to the living room. “All the more reason."

Shaun sat down on the chair that he brought
and turned the television on. Kevin just leant on the counter as he ate his
food. They ate in silence, just watching the television lazily. Kevin noticed
Shaun's tail wagging softly, which in turn made his own tail wag softly. The
news on the television was showing an incident in the city, but that wasn't
really important.

Kevin never really liked Ausalt-on-Haye.
Despite his brashness and loudness, he preferred somewhere else to live. He
never lingered in the city centre for long except when he had something to do.
Contrary to Ausalt-on-Haye, Barrowisle was smaller, less populous, and more…
peaceful, which was why he felt more comfortable there.

Maybe that was typical wolf, he noticed.
Wolves generally disliked being put in a tight area. Maybe that was why the
wolf population in Ausalt-on-Haye city centre was negligible; wolves simply
didn't find the city proper very comfortable to live in. Besides, speciesism
was also more prevalent there. Perhaps that was also the reason Barrowisle was
one of the cities with the largest population of wolves. It was pretty much
founded by wolves for the most part, so it conformed to wolven culture. The
streets were wide and the buildings had more space between them without
sacrificing walkability and greenery.

“You got accepted in that store?" Shaun
suddenly said, waking him up from his thoughts. He didn't realise that Shaun
was done eating and he was putting his plate in the washtable.

Kevin shrugged. “I just sent the application
today, you know."

“Good point." Shaun sat back down on the
chair, pulling his fluff together. “I'm gonna head to the hospital at 18."

“Sure."

“Lock the door when you sleep. And don't
bring people here! If you wanna fuck, do it somewhere else."

He rolled his eyes as he put his plate down
and washed his hands. “Tell me that when you stop bringing people here to
fuck." He wiped his hands dry.

“I fucking mean it! I don't want you fucking
a guy here!"

“So what?! You fuck girls here too! What's so
different about that?!"

Shaun looked straight at him. “Because you fuck dudes!"

“So what?! It's not like I'm
inviting you to join!" Kevin crossed his arms, not impressed.

They stared at each other, growling softly.
Kevin then had to be the responsible one and looked away. “Tch, why are you so
homophobic anyway? You tryna prove something?"

“You shut your
fucki—"

“Yep. Mouth shut. See?" Kevin walked to his
room. “I'm gonna go jerk off to gay porn or something. Don't go to my room or
that might turn you even gayer than me."

“What the fuck
is your problem?! You wa—ugh!"

Inside his room, Kevin grinned a little.
Hitting Shaun's muzzle with the door felt pretty nice.

“Fuck you!" His brother shouted, but he
didn't come inside.

Oh, right. He opened the door and saw Shaun
starting to wash the dishes, tail still waving angrily. “Oh yeah, move the
sofas back to their place when you leave."

Shaun dropped the plate he was cleaning and
growled, slowly turning his head at him. “You do that."

“Looks like the straight is too weak to lift
two sofas. Too bad." He said carefreely and closed the door as his brother
bared his fangs.

Well, that was admittedly fun. He didn't care
if Shaun was his older brother. Feeling a bit better, he sat on his bed and
took his phone, opening OurTube. He had time to kill, anyway, and he didn't
want to think about Shaun or Barrowisle for now.

At least some moment in a familiar place.

Somehow, Tom felt like he was being watched.

He looked around the busy station. There were
too many people; he couldn't make out the one who was watching him at all. Lain
could not, either. He could just ignore this and think that a toddler was
watching him but he'd been having this feeling for the past few days or more.

“…so I told him, 'heh, you can't even talk to
a customer without making them run away'. His face was priceless." Lucas
laughed next to him.

Tom shoved him softly. “Eh, be careful. Don't
talk to him too much or he can make you run away."

The black coyote laughed again. “Not even Mr.
Spielberg wants to have something to do with him."

The wolf laughed along.

“But seriously though, how can he still work
there? Pretty much everyone disliked him." He added.

“Yeah. I heard no one really wants to partner
with him in the Marketing department."

“That's 100% true. Stephanie told me that."

“Hey, you
noticed that lizard is watching us?" Lain said inside his mind.

He looked at said lizard's general direction
just behind Lucas and found him staring, but not at him. “Doesn't really look like it."

“Hmm."

“Anyway, how long does it take for the metro
to get here again?" The black coyote stood up and stretched a bit, earning some
looks from other people. Tom smiled amusedly; really, the coyote was too
clueless sometimes. Despite his mature and scary look, he was a big good boy
inside. Maybe he was leaning to a himbo, but Lucas was actually a lot smarter
than he looked. “You think we could get some bread first?"

Tom looked at the food stalls inside the
station, then stood up and walked there. “Why not? Let's go get some."

As they ordered some bread, the wolf couldn't
shake the feeling that they were being watched even more intensely than before.
The booth was empty, which was maybe why he felt like he was out in the open.
People were waiting for the metro on the platforms.

Lucas gave the order and Tom turned around
and gazed over the platforms. There were too many people there as it was the
rush hour, he couldn't really tell if one of them was watching them.

But he did notice someone was walking towards
them. His ears perked up and he smiled as that someone walked closer.

“Ay, ¿qué pasa,
amigo?"
Alejandro laughed and extended his arm. “¿Yendo
a casa después del trabajo?"

Tom gave him a fist bump. “Sí, estamos 'sperando el metro. Eh, ¿cómo
has 'stado? Sorry for really coming to the pub lately." He sheepishly
scratched his nape.

Lex laughed. “Yeah, mate, I'm starting to
miss your tail. All's been great. How have you been, by the way?"

“I'm fine, I'm fine." The wolf smiled. “Bit
tired from work but yah, you know how
it is."

“Sorry, Tom, here's your bread." Lucas
suddenly said, making him turn around. He took the bread and saw the coyote
smile at the bull. “Hey there."

“Hey." Alejandro gave the coyote another fist
bump, then leant closer to the wolf. “Ay,
lobo, ¿este es tu novio también? ¿Cuántos novios tienes?"

That made Tom instantly turn red. He gave the
bull a weak punch. “¡No es mi novio!"

Lex laughed while Lucas could only watch them
confusedly.

Tom grunted. “Anyway, here's Lucas, a
workmate. Lucas, here's Alejandro, an old friend of mine from a pub I
frequented. As you can see, he's Spanish."

“Placer
conocerte."
said the bull to the coyote. “Alejandro, but if that's too mouthful just call
me Lex."

Lucas smiled. “Lucas here."

They shook hands, just as Lain told him, “Hey, looks like our ride's here." He
put the bread into his jacket pocket and walked closer to the platform sign to
check if that was their metro. When he found that it was, he called out to
Lucas. “Luc, the metro's here! Line 6!"

“Line 6? That's my line too!"

Lucas and Lex immediately ran towards the
wolf. They managed to get in before it drove away. However, inside was already
packed. They couldn't find any place to sit. Tom was pushed against Lucas' back
as the door closed. At least this was a lot better than being stuck standing in
a tram or waiting for the bus.

“You're taking this line too? Usually you
take line 7 like me." He asked the bull as the metro began taking off.

“Yeah, I got some stuff to do. You and your novio?"

“He's not my novio! But yeah, we also got something to do. Wanna visit a
friend."

“Ah, got it."

For now, the wolf just stayed close to Lucas.
The coyote was checking his phone, probably chatting since he chuckled now and
then. Tom gave a sigh as he shifted on his legs. Those meetings earlier were
really tiresome. Alejandro was pushed a bit away from them, giving them some
kind of privacy.

Besides, it was a lot better to be pressed to
the coyote rather than to someone he didn't know. It was a tight fit here. The
joy of public transportation, he guessed. He wasn't going to protest, though;
it's cheap and effective, not to mention accessible. He never had any vehicles,
yet he could still go everywhere in the city and the suburban areas without
difficulty.

Also, the coyote's scent was nice, but that
was another thing entirely.

“Hey, you
noticed that hyena's watching us?"

“Wait, where?"

“There, in the
seat in the corner."

He looked at the direction through the gaps
but didn't find anyone watching him. There was a hyena there, but he was
talking through his phone.

“You sure about
that, Lain?"

“Ehh… not
really. You haven't really been looking around, you know. I couldn't tell."

Well, Lain had reason. “Take over for now. I'm still tired from those meetings."

“Sure thing,
boss." He
stepped back and allowed Lain to take over. “Also,
gotta admit yote's pretty cute."

Tom chuckled. “Talk to him, he's very nice, actually… wait, on the other hand, maybe
not."

“Heh, let's
see."

Lucas then turned around, making him wobble a
bit. “Eh, Tom, you sent that email from Christine earlier? I should've sent it
but I forgot."

Lain shrugged. “How should I kn—"

“Be nice!"

“Er, you should what again?"

Lain growled at Tom, then said to the coyote.
“Yeah. Was gonna scrap the draft but Christine asked me about it. Thought you
sent it."

The coyote scratched his cheek sheepishly.
“Uh, thanks, bud. I was kinda busy, sorry."

“You think I wasn't?"

Tom rolled his eyes.

“Eh, sorry, sorry!" Lucas said
apologetically. “I'm sorry, I was overwhelmed earlier! I coul—"

“Yeah, yeah, yote. At least you bought me
some bread." Lain cut him off, dismissing him.

The coyote looked apologetic. The air turned
awkward after that. Tom sighed and pushed Lain away. “Get back. You still suck."

“Hey! You
fuckin' told me to take over!"

“I told you to
take over, not to be snarky!" He spoke again to Lucas, pinching the base of his nuzzle. “Sorry, I
think the tiredness got the better of me. Really, though, it was hectic, plus
that guy from IT kept bloody pestering me, but at least we got some snacks from
Jonah."

Nervously chuckling, the coyote put his phone
into his pocket. “Yeah. That was amazing pizza, really."

Tom chuckled. His phone then buzzed with a
new message from Max. Max Kleinschmidt:
“Hey sorry looks like I'm not cooking dinner. I'm so beat rn. Just got home but
I don't think I'll be moving from the sofa till you got here"

The wolf chuckled fondly. “Yeah it's okay, I'll go eat out before
going home then. You want me to buy something?"

Max
Kleinschmidt: “Nah I ordered an Over for us already"

Max
Kleinschmidt: “But if you wanna get me some more food, sure :3"

Max
Kleinschmidt: “Eh also I'm putting your part of the food in the fridge, kay"

“Hey, Luc, you want to eat something first?
Or wait, can we eat dinner at Vilkas instead. I don't have anything at home."
He asked Lucas.

“Lies. Blatant
ruthless lies."

The coyote perked up. “Sure. My treat."

“Eh, no need…"

“Nah, you sent that email. Christine would be
really angry at me tomorrow if you didn't."

Tom laughed. “Well, if you say so. Free food,
I'm coming!"

“Yup, keep
leeching off him. Who knows he'll suck you~"

“Shut up. Piss
off."

After saying goodbye to Lex, they descended
the train in Legerville station. As he stepped onto the platform, he felt…
relieved. He no longer felt being watched. Looking around, there were still a
lot of people here, but the consistent feeling was gone. Was there really
anyone watching before?

“Tom? Come on before it gets even more
crowded."

He narrowed his eyes, then turned around and
followed Lucas outside. “Yeah."

Notes:

“Joh, nat is
þes mín lév wolf. Hwa gás þú, e? Nåh an fag?" = “Yo, if this isn't my favourite
wolf. How's it going, eh? Still a fag?"

“Åw, nan låv
fer smål Jonatan hér?" = “Aw, no love fer li'l Jonathan here?"

“Sníþ þín
blöðij stert av." = “Cut your fucking tail off."

“Ay, ¿qué pasa,
amigo? ¿Yendo a casa después del trabajo?" = “Yo, what's up, amigo? Going home
after work?"

“Sí, estamos
'sperando el metro. Eh, ¿cómo has 'stado?" = “Yeah, we're waiting for the
metro. Eh, how have you been?"