Bruce and Danny Ch. 9: Coming Over

By: Ash Cinder

 “Come on, Josh!” I begged. “I’ve come over to your house all the time! Why can’t you ever come to mine?”

            “I just keep forgetting to ask my mom and dad.” He said.

            “…It’s because of my parents isn’t it?” I asked.

            “No.” He said, unconvincingly.

            “Yeah it is…” I said, hurt.

            “Danny, it’s not that.” He tried to convince me.

            “Do kids just think my parents are going to eat them, or something?” I asked, my fists clenched.

            “No… that’s stupid.”

            “Well, if it’s so stupid, why won’t you come over to my house?” I asked. “You’ll get to meet my other friends; Angie, Tyson, and Owen. You’ll like them!”

            “Well…” He looked like he was thinking about it. “It’s just that I’ve never been around Anthros much.”

            “I just got Crash Team Racing, you know…” I tempted him. “We could all play together.”

            His face lit up slightly when I said that.

            “Well, okay, I’ll ask my dad if I can come on Friday, for real this time.” He said.

            “Thanks, Josh.”

            I really hoped he’d meant it this time.

            When I picked him up from school, Danny told me about Josh possibly coming over on Friday, I tried to act excited for him, but I remembered him complaining a few times about Josh never coming over and got worried that Josh would end up flaking on him. But Danny seemed insistent that Josh meant what he said.

            “Can we invite Angie, Owen, and Tyson too dad?” He asked me.

            “I don’t see why not.” I said. Could also be nice for them to be there in case Josh can’t make it, I thought to myself.

            When Danny and I made it home I immediately called his friends’ parents to invite them over on Friday. All three of them were on board. Danny was really excited to finally have Josh over, I hoped Josh would follow through with his promise. He was a good kid, but pretty skittish around Anthros, like a lot of human kids that didn’t grow up around them.

            Danny had been doing much better in school, he told me that he was still getting bullied occasionally, but he wasn’t letting it get to him after the conversation he and I had that one night. He’d also been making more friends in his 4 months in kindergarten.

            Eventually Friday rolled around and while Danny told his mom about how excited he was for Josh and the others to get dropped off, I went up to my office to work on an editorial piece I’d been working on. It was about that bill that was in the works, the one that Howard had told me about a while back. It was starting to get a little more media attention. It was still too early to see what the details were, but the media seemed to agree that the main thing it would be deciding was a legal ruling on interspecies adoption.

            I decided to write something about it, seeing as it would affect families like mine in a way. I knew it would only affect those that wanted to adopt in the future, but I still thought it was important to weigh in on this.

            A little while later I heard a car door shut outside and knew that must have been Josh’s dad dropping him and Danny off at the house. His friends Angie, Tyson and Owen were already upstairs in Danny’s room waiting for them to show up. Heh, I think I was hoping more than Danny that this would go well. I wanted Danny to be able to have friends over when he wanted, like a normal kid.

I heard Emma open the door and let them in.

“Hi Josh!” I heard Danny say when his mom opened the door.

“Hey.” I heard him say.

“Hey there, I remember you,” Emma said to Josh as I walked over to the door. “Haven’t seen you since parent teacher night all those months ago. Glad to have you over, Josh.” Emma said cheerfully.

“Thanks…” Josh said, timidly walking in.

“Danny’s other friends are already upstairs waiting for you.” I said, walking over and giving Danny a pat on the back.

“Yeah!” Danny cheered.

“Nice to see you again Josh.” I said, looking down at him, extending my paw, hoping he’d shake it.

He looked up at me nervously and slowly reached out for my paw, I could see his arm shaking a little, before his hand rested against my paw and I gently shook it. He smiled a little, seeing that his fears really were unfounded.

“C’mon Josh, let’s go upstairs now.” Danny said, taking Josh by the arm and leading him up to his room.

“Nice meeting you.” I called back, chuckling a little then looking back at Emma.

“Well, that seemed to go well.” She said.

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Did you see how nervous he was?”

“I think meeting us finally put him at ease.”

“Now he just has to meet the other three upstairs.”

I walked Josh upstairs, excited that I could finally introduce him to Angie, Tyson, and Owen.

“Told you there was nothing to be afraid of!” I told him.

He let out a nervous laugh.

“Your dad has big paws… it’s kinda cool.” He said.

“What does that mean?” I asked, laughing.

“I… I donno…” He laughed back.

“Whatever.” I said, opening the door to my bedroom so he could meet my other three friends.

“Hi Danny!” Owen said.

“Hey guys! Here’s Josh.” I pulled him into the room with me.

“Um… hi?” Josh said, waving his hand nervously.

“Hi Josh.” Angie said.

“So, are we gonna play Crash or what?” Tyson asked.

“You bet!” I said, pulling out the game.

After a few games Josh got progressively less nervous, really hitting it off with my other four friends, and they all really seemed to like him too.

“I told you you’d like coming over.” I told him. “And I’ve been trying to get you to come for weeks!”

“I know, I’m sorry for saying no all the time.” He said.

“Why’d you say no before?” Owen asked, his tail wagging in the air slowly while he laid on his belly.

“I just… I was kind of…”

“He was scared.” I finished for him, somewhat teasingly.

“I was not!” He protested.

“Then why was your arm shaking so much when you shook my dad’s paw?” I gave him a playful push.

“Okay fine,” he admitted, “I was a little.”

“How come?” Tyson asked.

“There just aren’t really any Anthros in my neighborhood…” He said. “You guys are the only ones I’ve ever played with.”

“Oh.” Angie said. “Well, until you, Danny was the only human friend we had.”

“Really?” Josh asked.

“Yeah, just like with you, there aren’t that many humans in our neighborhood.” Owen pointed out.

“I wonder why?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s kinda weird that we can’t go to school together when we get along so well.” Owen said.

“At least we can play on the weekends.” Tyson said.

“Yeah, I really want to play with you guys more.” Josh said.

“You have a bike?” Tyson asked.

“Sure.” Josh said.

“We should go ride them through the neighborhood sometime!” I said.

“Or the park!” Angie suggested.

“That sounds fun!” Josh said, before looking at my bedroom clock. “I think my dad’s going to be here soon, it’s already 7:40.”

“Man, I wish we could play longer.” I said.

While we waited for Josh’s dad to pick him up, I finished up my column about the adoption bill that was being talked about.

“Hey, Em!” I called over to her in the room next door. “I just finished my column, tell me what you think.”

She walked in and started reading over my shoulder.

“It’s about that adoption bill that’s been starting to gain some coverage recently.” I said.

“Ugh, that bill is awful. We’re a perfect example of why there’s nothing wrong with adopting outside one’s species.” She said.

“I know, that’s what I decided to make the basis of my column on.” I said. “I know it’s not really a bill that’s going to affect us, but I still think it’s important to be an advocate against this.”

“Yeah, remember how much you were dead set against us getting Danny?” She teased and patted my shoulder.”

“Exactly!” I said. “And you were able to change my mind.”

“Well, the column looks good so far, honey.” She said.

“Thanks. I’ll probably go through it a bit more tonight after Danny’s asleep. Is Josh’s dad going to get here soon?”

“Josh said he’d be going home at eight, and it’s ten till, so he’ll probably be here any minute now.”

“I’m glad this visit went well.” I said. “Wouldn’t mind having Josh over more.” I said.

“Yeah, Danny’s other friends really liked him too.” Emma said.

“Hope this means Danny will have some other friends from school over sometime.”

“Yeah.”

We both then heard the doorbell rang.

“Welp, that’s probably Josh’s dad.” Emma said. “I’ll go let him in.”

I said goodbye to Josh when his dad picked him up, and then by to Angie, Tyson and Owen when their parents came too. I was so happy with how that day went. Josh and my other friends had hit it off better than I was expecting. And I finally showed Josh that there was nothing to be nervous about coming over to my house. I just hoped he’d be able to convince some of the other kids at school, so that they’d stop spreading rumors behind my back like my parents were a couple of wild animals or something.

After they left my dad came in to check on me as I was getting ready for bed.

“Hey, buddy.” He said, walking over and sitting on my bed. “You have a good evening with your friends?”

“Yeah!” I said.

“I’m glad Josh finally came over to play.” He said, rubbing the top of my head.

“Me too.”

“Sorry he took so long to finally come over.” He scratched the back of his head. “I know it’s partly because of… well, what me and your mom are.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, probably because I knew it was true.

“But I’m just glad you haven’t gotten too… frustrated with us for that.” He said.

“Frustrated?” I asked.

“Just… like, mad that we’re your parents or something, is what I’m getting at.”

“I’m not mad you’re my mom and dad.” I said, a little shook that he’d say that, getting up and hugging him. “I love you and mom.”

“We love you too, son.” He said, rubbing the back of my head and then getting up, letting me lay back down under the covers. “Well, goodnight buddy.” He said, turning off the lights.

My Patreon Editors

   Michael E. Dunlop