For most furs, their earliest memory was one of their parents. Mum or Dad, cuddling or saying they loved you, warm associated memories mixed in with the muddied visions. The idea usually came from somewhere in their house, or at least close to it; after all, pups didn't go to a whole lot of places at the end of the day. For Brady it was a little bit different. His first memory was probably that because it was so strong, so much raw emotion, it was crystallised in his brain, solid and unchanging. His first memory was from when he was five years old. He was wandering around, quiet pup as usual, making little growling noises at toys and playing. He waddled over to a window, putting his paws on it and looking out. Mummy and Daddy were out there, along with a whole bunch of other grown-ups. There was a big truck parked in the street too, a tanker of some kind. Brady's first memory was one of looking out to see six-year-old Lester Bryan's unmoving body, having just been dragged from underneath the truck. That was the beginning, the real beginning. Parents were shouting, arguing and waving their paws around, while Lester's sobbing mother and father knelt by his tiny corpse, ignoring the growing drama. That was the first thing Brady ever remembered long-term. A young pup, just like him, being killed by a truck.

Brady pulled his car into his old street, fondly smiling at the familiar row of houses. It had been a while since he'd been home, and it felt like forever. His studying had a way of consuming every conceivable thought, taking over his conscious brain and sucking the life out of it. There wasn't any room during the University term for reminiscing about the good 'ol days back home. But as he pulled into his parent's driveway, his younger brother Jake waving from the front step, he couldn't stop himself from chuckling. He climbed out of his pre-owned, dusty white hatchback, stretching from the five-hour drive to the remote town his parents lived in. Jake ran over, unable to contain his fourteen-year-old joy. The younger wolf was six years his junior, but the two had always gotten on extremely well and were glad to see one another again. Brady couldn't help but embrace the pup, squeezing him in a hug, much to the teen's dismay.

“Ugh, get off me!" Squealed Jake, not unkindly laughing as he wriggled out of his older brothers grip.

“How are you dude?" Asked the elder, grinning from ear to ear. The two had kept in contact via instant messaging of course, despite Jake's terrible Internet service out here in the middle of nowhere. But it was never the same as actually seeing your kin face-to-face.

“I'm…good. How are you? How was the drive?" He asked, normal questions that were to be expected. Brady answered them jovially as the two walked inside. They'd worry about Brady's bags later. As they stepped through the front door, the older wolf called out into the house.

“Mum! Dad? I'm here!" He shouted, his deep voice echoing through the building.

“In here!" His fathers voice boomed from the kitchen. Brady followed it to see his Dad making some kind of…cake, maybe? An Ipad was propped up on a nearby stand, showing off the recipe that was being followed.

“How are you going Dad?" He asked, earning a nod from the father of the Carter family. Shrugging, Brady followed his brother into his old bedroom. The family didn't have a use for the space, so it had stayed relatively the same. A desk, a bed, some embarrassingly dated band posters. He sat down on the single bed, eyeing off all the dust in the room.

“So how's city life?" Asked Jake, hopping up onto the desk. Brady shrugged.

“I dunno, good. I like it. You guys are miles out here. I kinda forgot how remote it is." Jake just nodded, as if to say tell me about it.

“You got a boyfriend yet?" Asked the younger brother without blinking. Brady's sexuality was pretty common knowledge, he'd come out at fifteen and nobody had really been too interested. It was too hot to be homophobic most of the time anyway.

“Hmm, few dates, here and there. Nothing steady though." He explained, frowning a little. “What about you? Everything going as normal? Girlfriend? How're things going with Aaron?" As far as Brady knew, Aaron was Jake's main friend at school. Things seemed to change so quickly at that age though, it was worth an ask.

“Yeah." Said Jake, somewhat hesitantly. He fidgeted a little on the desk, looking around awkwardly. “I think, anyway. I dunno, Aaron's been acting weird for a long time now. I did hear that Max is glad you're in town again." He said, quickly changing the subject. Brady cocked his head in surprise. Max was a cheetah that had been a year below him in school.

“Really? Why?" He asked. He knew of Max, everyone in this town knew of everyone else, but he'd never hung out with the guy. They'd never been close.

“You didn't hear? Max's gay, came out a little while ago. I think he's been moping since there's like…nobody else here that he could go out with." Explained the younger wolf, snorting in amusement. “Got his hopes pinned on you maybe."  

“I didn't know that, how would I know that? You idiot." Laughed Brady, climbing up from his old bed to go to the kitchen. “Although that's…interesting."

“Yeah." Said Jake, trailing behind his elder brother. Evidently their mother was at work, serving up milkshakes or something at the café where she worked. His dad, Sam, continued working hard on his food project, chatting a little to his prodigal son. It was amazing to the older wolf how easily he slipped into the home life routine. He'd spent the last semester working and studying, occasionally dating. Economics Degrees were time consuming though, and he'd only really had time for quick flings. He dated one cute owl for a while, but the guy had had commitment issues and eventually bolted. It had been kind of sad, but the relationship was never that serious to begin with, so Brady recovered relatively quickly. But now that he was home, everything seemed exactly like it had last year, before he left. He grabbed a drink from the fridge, sat down at the television and flicked onto some kind of extreme cycling event. It wasn't anything Brady normally watched, but anything would be good he guessed. Jake just hung around, chattering away about all kinds of things, what games he'd been playing, how bad the Internet was, that sort of thing. The two joked and jostled, shot the shit and brought Brady's things in. Eventually, the house was deemed far too boring for such interesting young people, and the two ventured out into the hot summer town to go supply hunting. Armed with Brady's debit card the two entered the air-conditioned supermarket, peering around aisles and selecting various treats. They bought oven-cooked pizzas, chips, soft drink, and more nutritiously rich food. By the end, they were walking out beaming, each with an ice cream in one paw, and several shopping bags in the other.

It was here, at the front door that they literally bumped into Max. The cheetah had headphones in and didn't see the wolf brothers, colliding head on with them. Each of the parties took a step back, and as Jake noticed who it was he couldn't help but smile a little. The cheetah stared at the older wolf, obviously looking him up and down, before removing each of the ear buds. He was dressed in red shorts and a tight-fitting shirt. Brady couldn't help but feel a mite uncomfortable with how attractive the cheetah was.

“Brady. You're here." Said the feline, still somewhat in shock. The wolf grinned.

“Max, I am indeed. Just got here today. Left home at like seven this morning, fucking killer drive." The cheetah nodded, agreeing clearly. Brady rubbed the back of his neck, a little anxious. It had been a while since he chatted with furs from this town, furs from high school. There was a whole new code of conduct to be had.

“I'm glad to see you dude, I mean, it's just been ages." It was the kind of thing friends who once regularly hung out would say, but so far as Brady could remember, he had never hung out with Max. But whatever, the cat was clearly trying to hit on him, failing miserably but whatever.

“It's good to see you too. You look great, how've you been?" He asked, smiling. The cheetah blushed a little, trying to hide it poorly. Brady had to laugh a little at the cheetah's awkwardness. It was cute.

“I've been great. Doing an electrician apprenticeship with Jerry, awesome so far." The cheetah went quiet, looked at his feet for a minute. “So, how long you in town for then Brady?" He asked nervously. The wolf was experienced enough to know where this was going, but he let the kid have his turn in the sun.

“Oh, y'know…couple weeks. Maybe longer." He said, gaze wandering away into the distance mysteriously. It was a little cheesy, but who cares?

“Ah, cool. We should uh…" Here it comes. “Get like, a coffee sometime, or something. You know, catch up?" The wolf laughed, beaming his cutest, gayest smile.

“That'd be fantastic. Look, I gotta run, but you know where I live mate. Gimme a call someday." And with that he slapped the cheetah on his shoulder and strode off deliberately. Not looking back. His brother kept pace, laughing hysterically.

The two got home and hung out in the lounge room, lying around lazily until seven o'clock rolled around. Brady was exhausted, and had been napping, but a call from his high school best friend shook away his torpor. With apologies to his parents and brother, he met Oliver out the front, hopping into the black labrador's car. Slamming the ute door shut, they took off with gusto, loud music blaring out of the speakers.

“How the fucking hell have you been Brady!?" Shouted Oliver over the music, slapping his old friend in the head. Brady laughed, letting his arm hang out of the window into the (finally) cool night air. The ute sped along the country streets, probably exceeding the speed limit, nobody cared though. The local cop would be at home eating sausages by now. All Brady had been told was that the destination was a surprise, but it would be awesome.

“Great! You?" Shouted back the wolf, trying to resist his natural urge to howl into the night with excitement.

“Great! Better than great, excellent my friend!" Cried back the dog. Laughing, the ute sped up, pushing out of the town limits and into the darkness of the wild. They drove for about fifteen minutes, joking around and gossiping about who-was-doing-who now. Usual catch up stuff. Eventually Brady was able to glimpse some light in the distance, car headlights, beaming out against trees and the thumping sound of dance music pulsing outwards, so loud the speakers were clipping and broadcasting crackly noise. Refusing to divulge any information, Oliver pulled up to a huge lake, the row of cars shining their lamplight into it. Giggling as he exited the vehicle, the wolf saw that piles of clothing were stacked onto the hoods of vehicles, and when he turned to ask his Labrador friend about it, the dog had already stripped down past his underwear.

“Holy shit, what are you doing?" Asked Brady, unable to avert his gaze from the almost hypnotic maleness of the dog.

“This is the rule, c'mon." And with that, Oliver sprinted forwards, leaping wildly into the lake, splashing water everywhere and earning cheers and claps from the naked furs already in the water. After a moment checking out the crowd, which turned out to mostly be classmates from their old school days, Brady began to strip down to the fur. The wolf got Woo's and clapping, and eventually ran forwards himself and dived into the pleasantly warm lake water. The group of young adults all splashed around, joking and playing almost like pups. What wasn't like pups was the way Oliver was groping his girlfriend Marley, another Labrador, this one gold. Definitely not something you see every day. Everyone just cheered the two on as they made out in the water in front of everyone, the act having a slightly weird voyeuristic feel to the outsider wolf.

Eventually they all climbed out of the water, standing around naked and dripping wet at the cars. Laughing in the pleasant warm air.

“So, city hound." Said Marley. “How's it going, anything interesting we're missing?" She asked, still wrapped around Oliver.

“HD video maybe." Answered Brady, earning a few laughs from the group.

“Any cute guys down there then? Am I missing out, staying up here with poor Oliver?" She asked next, sticking her tongue out at the lab. Oliver laughed, kissing the girls neck.

“Hmm, tons of them. Seriously, you can't throw a stick without it landing in someone hot and willing." He said, kind of instantly surprised by the words coming out of his mouth. It wasn't the kind of thing he normally said. That wasn't how he talked. So why did I say that? He wondered internally. Before Brady was able to dwell too much on the thought, Oliver leaned over and tapped a dark stallion named Paul in the shoulder.

“Hey, grab the thingos. Brady's gonna lose his fuckin' mind." He said, rocking back and forth with Marley in his arms. “Dude, this is awesome. Paul's mum gets these, and he's able to pick it up every now and then." Paul's mum was the local doctor, and their house was just above the clinic, leading Brady to guess the nature of Paul's surprise. The horse returned after a moment with a small leather case, holding it up proudly. Brady couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

“Here we fucking go guys." Said the stallion proudly, placing it carefully on the car's bonnet near Brady. Marley and Oliver climbed to their feet, pushing off and walking closer as the stallion prepared several short lines of white powder on the hood. He helped divide them neatly using a credit card, neatening up the borders.

“Um…coke, okay." Said Brady, earning a collective laugh from the group.

“Get fucked, you think this is the eighties or something man?" Asked Oliver. He stepped forward and grabbed the wolf by the shoulder, turning him around to face him. In the past, the lab would have been far too self-conscious, since they were both naked and everyone knew Brady was gay. Apparently it was a non-issue now, things had changed. “This is K." He explained, as if it were obvious, gesturing with his free paw to the lines.

“K?" Asked Brady, knowing what the dog meant but not exactly comprehending. Oliver nodded as Marley bent down and pushed her nose to the tiny crystals, snorting the material up into her snout.

“Yeah. Ketamine. Shit's incredible, trust me." Said the lab, before turning and mimicking his girlfriend. Rubbing his nose, he turned and gestured to the wolf. Everyone was watching, and Brady wasn't exactly a stranger to drugs. Try everything once. After a brief shrug, he leant down and copied the others, ingesting the powder violently.

At two am, Jake climbed up out of bed and snuck across to his window. Trying his best to be silent he lifted the frame up. It was always important to be really sneaky in a house with wolf parents, since they had excellent hearing. After climbing out, the teenaged wolf let his windowpane slide down slowly, hearing the satisfying click of wood touching wood. Smiling to himself, the kid crept to the front yard, where he'd left his bike lying strategically. He picked the cycle up, wheeling it silently to the path and pushing it several houses from where his parents slept. Feeling incredibly rebellious and tough, the wolf teen climbed onto the bike and began pedalling. He felt the wind whip through his fur, holding his mouth open and sucking in crisp night air. It was fresh, and he could smell the scent of water on the air. A cool night was always refreshing after a hot day. Coasting through the streets, Jake eventually came to the edge of town, slowing his bike as he approached the destination. He stopped in front of the quiet house, wheeling the cycle around to the back of the building. He laid it down softly in the grass, despite the fact there was nobody around to hear. Everything felt suspicious; it was as if everyone was looking over his shoulder, knowing exactly what he was doing. He hesitated at the back door, holding his paw nervously over the wood. After a moment, he swallowed his anxiety and knocked three times, waiting patiently as footsteps could be heard coming from inside. Eventually the lock slid open, and the door was opened by a mid-fifties looking deer. The woman smiled upon seeing the boy.

“Jake, you're here." She said quietly. The young wolf nodded, still shaking a little from nerves. “I have to admit, I am kind of surprised." Jake peered into the house behind her, checking for guests.

“Is…" He started.

“Oh, nobody else is here. Don't worry. Here, come in I guess." She said, stepping back and letting the fourteen-year-old pass. He walked into the kitchen, leaning against the closest bench.

“I'm glad you came, really." She said quietly, moving closer to the boy.

“Me too." Replied Jake, in a tiny little voice. Wendy smiled again, before leaning closer and engaging the boy's mouth with a tender kiss.