The sun had set. The group traversed the crowd as they walked down the stairs towards the second level. There were more booths there, some food, others merchandise and games. All around him, there were colourful booths, twinkling lamps, and lots and lots of selfie sticks. Yeah. Selfie sticks. Uh…

The second level was bright with lamps. And as the group decided to split up and enjoy the night, Tom found himself walking down to one booth serving traditional beverages. It wasn't very crowded, but there was a queue, nonetheless. The wolf ordered a regular warm matcha latte to accompany him through the cool night.

“Tea again?"

Tom glanced over his shoulder. Max was walking towards him with a smile on his face, hands in his jeans. The wolf gave a smile and nodded. “Yeah." He accepted the tea from the waiter.

“Never gets old, does it?" the dog chuckled. “You got coffee here?"

“There is! Do you want cappuccino or macchiato?"

“Give me one shot of espresso, please. No sugar, give it a pinch of cinnamon."

The waiter chirped happily and gave the order to the barista.

“Uh, Tom? Thanks for before, you know, the haunted house and stuff." Max started, scratching his nape. “Really, thanks a lot."

The wolf put his paws around the paper cup, feeding on its warmth as well as on his own beating heart. Max's words really made him feel warmer. “You're welcome."

“It's just that…" Max faltered as he looked for the right word, his ears going down a little. Tom saw him fidgeting a bit as if debating whether to tell him or not. The wolf just put his hand on the dog's arm, making him turn around and look at him.

Tom gave him his most understanding smile. “It's okay. People have their fears." He then added, “I have mine too."

The shepherd stared at Tom, then cracked his own smile.

“Here's your coffee!"

Max gave Tom a pat on the back, then turned to the waiter. “How much?"

“That's 2,1 euros."

“With the tea here?"

Tom turned to Max. “Eh…"

“That's 1,8 euro, makes 3,9 euros all."

“Make it 8 euros with this." He took two chocolate doughnuts and handed the money.

“Thank you! Enjoy your beverage!"

Smiling happily, Max offered the wolf the doughnut as they walked away from the booth. “Doughnut?"

Tom took a bite from the offered food. “Thanks."

They walk in companionable silence for a while, the night breeze sweeping past them. It was a cool night, but it felt warm as Max was beside him. Tom sipped his tea, fighting the urge to look at the dog and enjoy the view like he usually did. “Where're the others?" he instead asked.

“Enjoying the fest." Max took a sip from his cup. “Martin, Ellie, and Andy are going to the first level. Octo and Spencer are checking the spot to watch the fireworks later. If I remember correctly Kevin is hunting with Vilkas as his sidekick."

“Hunting?"

“You know, looking for someone he can bring over to his place, or a hotel. The clear thing is I don't want to be anywhere near them doing that." Max gave a shudder.

Tom chuckled a bit. “If, say, Andy was doing that and he asked you to stay and watch, what would you say?"

“He can go to hell for asking that." The large shepherd said without a pause and hugged himself tight, shuddering slightly. “I mean, I don't like to watch, and certainly not interested in watching my friend doing that, especially with another dude."

The wolf laughed. He had been cautious and trying to keep his distance from Max throughout the year, now it seemed he couldn't do that anymore. The line dividing him being hopeful and him trying to get closer to the shepherd was quickly diminishing, and he could only watch hopelessly. Especially since he witnessed what happened if he crossed over the line.

He knew all too well that Max disliked gays, especially those who chatted him up. Yet he found himself growing another seed of hope whenever Max was being friendly with him, with Kevin. Maybe those were useless, though, as he knew that Max was nice to everyone.

Wait, Max never said anything about if someone wanted to court him properly, instead of treating him as another one-night stand. Lucas then came into his mind. He glanced over the dog who was sipping from his cup. Should he ask him that?

Looking away, he sipped from his own cup. It was warm, probably as warm as his flat ears right now. Max had a bad tendency to pose at the most unfortunate of moments. Especially with his shirt unbuttoned and his white t-shirt on display like that, showing the contour of his defined torso.

“Hey, wolf," he heard Max calling him.

Tom didn't turn around and just uttered “Mrf?"

“You wanna do some fishing?"

That made him turn his head and stare at the dog with a questioning look. Max just pointed his muzzle towards one of the booths. It had a fishing game.

“Sure."

Max grinned, then took his hand and walked towards the booth, not caring about the hot beverages they were carrying. The action brought an embarrassed blush to Tom's face. While he understood that it was crowded and they needed to hold hands as they walked in order to not lose each other, they really… shouldn't. It made him think that they were on a date.

Now that he thought about it, they had been in plenty of dates before.

Heck, Max was too casual for his poor heart! He was not prepared for today! Touches were fine, embraces were okay, but holding hands was on another level of intimacy he wasn't really prepared for. What next? Max feeding him? Max snuggling with him?! Max kissing him?!

Wait.

Hell, they did those! And he complied without even a gram of shame!

Memories from that day in Octo's and Max's dorm came crashing down on him. He quickly cut them and dismissed them away before he could remember how nice was kissing Max and how sturdy did Max's body feel like.

He looked at their joined hands and flustered. Max's hand looked… big.

His face reddened even more. He liked big things. Especially a very hot and captivating and handsome and hot big thing like Max.

The dog let his hand go when they reached the booth. There were several people and some children there, all trying to catch the plastic balls in a small pool with a small spoon-sized paper scoop. Oh, it was this game. He honestly was pants at this. He put his cup next to Max's on the counter as he went inside the booth.

A kid next to him then happily jumped in the air with her half-full bowl. The small goat then ran towards her mother who was waiting for her, still happily jumping in the air. Her mother smiled and guided him to the prize section. Tom couldn't resist a smile as the attendant gave her a fluffy wolf plush that suspiciously looked similar to Kevin.

“Here." Max nudged him, then crouched down over the water. He gave him his bowl and scoop.

“How much do we need for a pr—"

“Shhh! I'm concentrating." Max looked over the water that was dotted with colourful plastic balls. He then lunged forward to catch one, then put it in his bowl.

“Njay, that 'es great."

The dog grinned at him, then went ahead to catch another. “Fifteen balls for the top prizes. Think ya can beat me?"

Tom grinned back, “You're bloody on, jing."

Several minutes later, their paper scoops were nearly torn. They both had their tongues lolled out as they concentrated on getting as many more balls as they could into their bowl. Tom glanced a bit at Max's bowl and cursed under his breath. He had to get more.

A ball inched closer to him. He quickly put his scoop next to it and flicked it, then put it into his bowl. He grinned; he was getting better at this.

Suddenly, the water washed over them. A kid had just fallen into the water and cried, making the surrounding kids jump. his mother quickly took him away and apologised to all the remaining players.

Tom looked down, his paper scoop was destroyed, but other than that, he was mostly dry. His right sleeve was the only thing that was wet. Letting out a relieved sigh, he turned towards Max. “Hey, I think I got fifteen. Yo—"

The dog looked back at him with a scowl on his face, his entire front body soaking wet and his ears flat in annoyance. His scoop was on top of his muzzle. His shirt was dripping water as he stood up and wiped his face.

“Oops." Tom said, holding back a laugh.

Max looked down and growled. “Great, now I'm soaking wet." He took his shirt off and twisted it, then turned to Tom and sighed. “What am I supposed to do now?"

Tom took his jacket off and gave it to the dog. “Wear my jacket first, at least it's not going to let the water drip. Let's count our balls first."

Max shook his body a little, then put the wolf's jacket over his t-shirt.

They walked to the counter and gave the attendant their bowls to count the balls. Tom chuckled a bit when he saw her smiling apologetically at the sight of Max wet with a too-small jacket over his clothes.

“Alright, dear, you get 15 balls." She said to Tom with a smile, then turned to Max. “I'm really sorry about that. You get extra 3 balls as compensation, so you have 18 balls."

Tom paused his victory dance to a grinning Max.

“Which prize in the back shelf do you want?"

The wolf scanned the shelf. There was nothing good for him, really. There were plush toys, necklaces, and some hats. He then shrugged. “The white bunny, please."

“The black necklace, please."

She took the items and gave them. “Here you go, dears."

They both thanked the gazelle for the prize and walked away, carrying their cups. Tom squeezed the bunny once and allowed himself to look at Max. His t-shirt was soaking wet and the muscles were there for the world to see.

They moved to an empty booth away from people. Tom put his plush toy and the cups down and stared as Max took his clothes off, revealing his wet body with matted fur. It was now even more defined since his fur wasn't up to hide it.

Tom gulped but refused to look away and blush. He had seen Max topless before at the gym, but never wet, and certainly never when his fur wasn't hiding his muscles underneath.

Max put his hand up at him, signalling him to cover himself. Tom turned around and let Max shake his body to get rid of the water. Good thing his fur was somewhat short, so it was rather easy to dry. Bad thing his fur was somewhat short, so it meant it did a poor job at hiding what was under it.

“Uh, Tom, help me here?" the dog said, making Tom shake his head to let go of the thought.

“Ya? What can I do?"

“Grope me to let the water go."

Tom was instantly red. “Do you really need to use the word 'grope'?"

“Eh, sorry." Max chuckled and twisted his shirt. “You know what I mean, press on my back fur to let the water go, then wipe it with this." He threw Tom his shirt. “Eh, am I wet back there?"

The wolf was still red, and with every step he took, he was even redder. The shepherd turned his back to Tom, giving him a perfect view of that rock-hard deep-brown-furred back. His muscles rippled as he moved his hands, captivating the wolf.

Um, okay, he just needed to wipe him. Don't think of anything else. “N-no, not really. J-just your left side."

Max was occupied with his front. He didn't seem to mind Tom touching him, groping him as he'd like to call it.

“Uh, I'm going to touch you."

The dog grunted an affirmation.

Tom swung the damp shirt over his shoulder and put his hands on the other's upper back. It was hard. He gave it a firm press and moved his hands down, the water coming out of his fur.

Shit, he was getting hard.

Before the water could reach Max's jeans, he quickly wiped it with the shirt and did it again. This time, he put his hands a bit farther apart, closer to the dog's narrow waist.

Shit, he was hard.

Okay, this wasn't helping.

Instead, he just wiped Max's back using the shirt as quickly as he could, then twisted the shirt to let the water go, and did it again before he could get even harder.

“Ouch, Tom, go easy."

“Sorry."

Tom did it again with the big dog's side, not wanting to touch it in fear of having the urge to hug him from behind and just throw him somewhere he could completely be his.

“What should I do now?" Max asked as he continued wiping his front with his t-shirt. His scent came out more strongly now since the water was no longer there. “I can't just walk around the festival naked like this."

The wolf took several steps back when the dog signalled him to do so. “You brought no spare clothes?"

Max shook his body again to get rid of the remaining water. He wasn't completely dry, but at least he wasn't soaking anymore. “Why would I bring spare clothes?"

Tom shrugged. He sat on the available chair as Max turned around and wiped his arms. “You can use my jacket." He said, pointing at his jacket. “It's going to be a tight fit, but at least you won't be naked."

His jacket was so going to reek of Max. He wasn't sure if he wanted to wash it later or not.

“Really, Tom? Aren't you like, gonna go cold?"

“It's not that cold anyway." Tom took his jacket from the table.

Max took it from his hand and smiled widely, his tail wiggled behind him. “Thanks, wolf. I owe you lots for this."

The wolf just let out a small chuckle.

He was right; the jacket was loose for him but it was a tight fit for Max. The dog had difficulties pulling his arm in the sleeve and when he did, he couldn't close the zip.

“Uh, little help?"

Tom stood and walked towards the dog, hands vibrating. He was going to touch Max's abs, god. He pulled himself together and put the zip together, gave the abs a firm push—god they were hard as rocks—then pulled the zip until it was closed.

That was seriously a test to his innocence.

“There." He said, masking his nervousness. “I'm sure it's going to be loose but whatever."

Max pulled him into a hug instead, which nearly caused the wolf's tail to knock their cups from the small table. The dog's tail wagged happily. “Thanks a lot, dude! You're absolutely my best bro." He ruffled the wolf's head fur with a wide smile. “Maybe I'm borrowing Andy's jacket later, though. This one's real tight."

Tom smiled and playfully protested, ignoring the screams for relief from his southern parts.

“The stars are bright."

The wolf lazily waved his tail as he lay on the grass, watching the sky. Next to him, Max let out a sigh. Tom didn't turn his head, but he could tell Max cracking a smile. “Yeah." he replied.

“They're never this bright in the dorms."

“That's because of the light pollution."

The fireworks wouldn't start until later, but they wanted to secure their place before anyone could get it. The highest level was already full, but fortunately there was a wide open space on the mountainside just a short walk from the third level. The group decided to choose the place as their spot; the fireworks would still look amazing from here.

Several people also came and lay there, but no one disturbed the duo as they were on the lowest part of the open space.

“Hey you two, want some popcorn?" Vilkas said above them.

“Nah, thanks." Max replied to him, then turned to Tom. “Hey, look, there's Orion!"

The wolf glanced to where Max was pointing to. Sure enough, the Orion constellation was bright on the sky above the forest. Despite the lights from the city below, it was easily visible.

Letting out a sigh, Tom traced the constellation with his finger. The Great Hunter was one of the most visible constellations in the sky, and it remained the most recognisable one throughout his life. It was like a celestial reminder that he was still alive and survived another night.

“Hey, Tom." He heard Max say. He turned his ear to listen. “What're you going to do after you graduate from college?"

Tom raised his eyebrows while still looking at the sky. “What's with the sudden question?"

“I mean, we only have 2 semesters left." said Max, still looking at the sky. “I'm 23 now. Sometimes I'm thinking about my future."

“Quarter-life crisis?" The wolf chuckled.

Max chuckled along. “Quarter-life crisis."

Something inside Tom clicked too.

“The thing is… really, I never imagined myself besides high school, college, and football." He closed his eyes. “I could go on to become a pro football player, but it's gonna be hell to go through. Aside from that… nothing."

The wolf didn't answer but he turned to Max.

“Really, I'm not even sure I could find a place for my internship next semester since I don't really have any experience in organization outside of football. After that, I'm gonna write my thesis, which I don't know what I'm gonna write about. And then after graduation…" Max let out a sigh.

“Looks like you don't have to think about it much, Tom. I mean, you're the class captain, you have lots of experience in organization, you're basically a star in your batch, and you speak seven languages, too! That's like, seven times the possibility."

Max was true, but with the wrong reasons. Tom didn't have to think much about his life after graduation because he had no plans about what to do. He had always been planning stuff until graduation, but after that, he hadn't planned anything. He could work in a company, or increase his freelancing projects, or continue working in the library. There was a lot he could do, and considering his upbringing, doing everything by himself was a familiar thing.

And then what? What to do after he had the money? Getting a place to live was one, but there was nothing more. A car, maybe, but what to do with a car when he could just use the metro or bus or tram? He basically had zero probability of getting married, so he would have no one to fund.

He had always been alone, and he was going to be alone.

Even if somehow, magically, after all wheat fields turned into chocolates, after pigs acquired the ability to fly, Max agreed to be his boyfriend and they were to live together, he still couldn't imagine himself not being alone. His fantasies were that, fantasies.

He had had a long way to here, and he still had a long way to go. He had raised himself from the depths of society, now it was his time to help it run.

Tom sighed. The stars were bright. Would one day he be amongst them?

“Truthfully," he started, his insecurity creeping into his voice. “I don't know what to do, too. I know I'll have somewhere to work, but where exactly is that, I don't know."

“Whoa, that's… I wasn't expecting that to come from you. You're like the perfect guy, you know. Not very bright in some places, but super bright in others, including life." said the shepherd.

“I'm just someone." Tom chuckled, blushing a bit from being called perfect. That was unexpected, coming from Max, who he thought was the most perfect guy ever. “Perfection cannot exist without imperfection. I'm not perfect, like you, like everyone else. I'm just great at some things, like you, like everyone else." He said, looking at the stars with a smile as the rush of his past came into his mind. The struggles, the cold nights, the fights, they felt so close yet so far.

Max laughed and patted his head, waking him up from his musings. “I expect nothing less from a philosophical sage like you." said Max. Then he raised his voice on purpose. “That's as deep as Andy's will to do his homework, Tom. Oh wait, that's not."

They both laughed when Andy said, “I heard that!"

“Well, I think I ate too many textbooks for breakfast, which is still better anyway compared to Kevin who ate too much protein which doesn't go to his brain." The wolf followed, holding back a laugh.

“Tom, what the fuck!" Kevin yelled, and they both laughed again.

“Bites and philosophical stuff aside," Tom continued, making Max turn to look at him. “you know, I always took you as the perfect one, Max. You're super popular, everyone likes you. Heck, just one smile and everyone's all over you. You have the perfect body and the perfect personality. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to be with you?" Even I want to be with you.

The dog beside him laughed a little. “Well, that's true. But I want more, Tom. I mean, I'm tired of my exes; really, most of them were only with me because of my status and good looks. I never really had a stable and healthy relationship, but at least I had some." He turned to the wolf. “You, Tom? I've never seen you with anyone."

“I've always been alone, you know, and I think I'll continue being alone." Tom let out a sigh. Orion was covered with a cloud in the sky. Good thing Orion couldn't see a drop of tear going down his eye. “The thing is, considering my past, I don't reckon I can handle relationships very well like most guys. That's why I realised I'm going to be alone, and that's not something I'm not familiar with anyway."

“You're not alone, Tom." Max said, sounding almost angry with his words. He sounded like he couldn't accept that Tom was going to be alone. Then his voice softened. “I don't know about your past, but no one deserves to be alone. Really, no one does. You'll find someone."

Max then shifted and put his arm around Tom's neck, pulling the wolf closer. Startled, he could only let himself be manipulated into the embrace. Max let out a sigh, and when Tom looked at him, he was looking at the sky.

Without knowing, Tom flustered. He didn't move, not wanting to risk Max letting him go. Did it mean something? Was Max showing him some more-than-friendly affection? Had Max been secretly in love with him all this time?!

Did Max even bloody realise what was he doing?!

Tom's heart was beating rapidly in his chest. He trembled a bit but managed to calm himself. Then, Max squeezed his shoulder, and all his worries were suddenly gone.

“Thanks, Max." he said, almost whispering. But in his mind, he whimpered, “It hurts. Loving you hurts."

The firework show began. Colourful bursts of light illuminated the sky, their booming sound masking his beating heart. It was truly a beautiful sight; the fireworks made flowers and other amazing formations upon their explosion. The roars that accompanied them made his heart beat faster in excitement.

However, amongst the explosions, he could make out something spoken from next to him.

“You're welcome."

The fireworks were beautiful.

“Perfection cannot exist without imperfection." bah did I eat too much ice cream or have I gone for too long without cuddles to be sprouting bollocks like that x'D

But srsly even though that sounds contradictive it's actually true when you think about it