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"Chinese?"

"No, we just did that on Tuesday."

"Hmm..." Sara looked up from their phone and tilted their head slightly. "Maybe we should make something together."

"Sure, what did you have in mind?" Honestly, I was tired, which is why I'd wanted to order something, but the past few days had been... a lot. I really needed something nice with Sara. Besides, we were supposed to be tighter with our money now.

Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump

"That must be our friend banging on the door like that." Sara spat.

"Yeah, I'll get it," I sighed.

I stood up and intentionally took my time getting to the door. I opened it and was greeted by a large grizzly who promptly squeezed his way through the door as the old, rusty hinges he refused to allow us to replace crunched and groaned.

"Oh, wow, just come on in Tomas!" I said, just... dripping with happiness at his intrusion.

Our landlord feigned a sympathetic smile.

"Well, look, friends. I'll cut to the chase. Uh... well, you know how things have been recently... and I just... I'm gonna have to increase your rent early. I've gotta make ends meet. I'm sorry, I know this is difficult for you. I understand our current agreement doesn't allow for rent to be raised until the end of the year, so if you could kindly sign these, I'd really, really appreciate it. Again, I'm terribly sorry."

The bear handed us a bundle of paper and forces a sympathetic smile as I snatched them from his hand.

Sara began muttering under their breath. "Rat bastard mother fucking waste of space son of a fucking......." The fox trailed off and looked at the bear, who thankfully didn't seem to have heard their subdued tirade.

"SO! Tomas! I heard your daughter just got engaged! I'm soooo happy for her!" Sara beamed comically wide.

"Yes! Her fiance is a wonderful young man. I'd love to stay and talk about him, but I-"

"Go ahead, we've got time. We aren't paying for her wedding," Sara interrupted.

"Babe, I don't-"

"Eetu, trust me. Please."

The gray fox stood up and walked next to me, wrapping their tail gently around my leg as they looked at the stack of papers to read them alongside me.

"What are you accusing me of?" The bear narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at Sara.

"Exactly what you think I am," Sara replied as she stayed fixated on the stack of papers.

"Eetu, tell him-"

"Them," I interrupted Tomas. "We've been over this, and if you continue to intentionally disrespect them then we definitely aren't signing this shit."

"If you don't sign 'that shit' then I'm not fixing your sink," Tomas growled.

"So nothing changes, then? And I beliiiiieve our current lease states that we'd have someone scheduled to come out to repair any issues within a week of the request. It's been three months, Tomas, and you think you deserve a raise? How about you hold up your end of the deal first."

The bear's false smile contorted as his nose crinkled and he revealed his teeth again. He stepped towards my fox threateningly, and I instinctively stepped in front of them. He towered over us, and he'd used that to his advantage before.

"You think you're fucking tough?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

I lifted the stack of papers and tore it in half in front of Tomas's face

"We aren't going to be intimidated into giving you money you haven't earned. Leave. Now."

The bear stood with his eyes squinted and mouth agape, moving his jaw like he wanted to form words but couldn't find them.

"Well? You heard him." Sara motioned towards the door with their paw. "Go."

The bear lowered his shoulders in defeat and shook his head before lowering it. He brought it back up with an unwarranted darkness in his eyes.

"You fucked up. Bad. Never in all my years have I seen someone so blatantly disrespectful. You ought to start looking for another place to live. I have been nothing but good to you and this is how you repay me?"

"You've been nothing but a deluded leech. Get the fuck out before we call the cops."

"Ha! For?" The bear's confidence returned, laced with newfound contempt.

"Trespassing, dumbass. You didn't provide us written notice of your entry, let alone 24 hours prior. We said you can't be here, so you can't fucking be here. Get the fuck out of our house, before we remove you."

"Alright. Have it your way." The bear exhaled through his nose and shook his head before turning around and heading out the door, making sure to close it slowly to maximize the squeaking of the hinges.

"Yeah, that went well. Great." Sara sighed as they flopped back down onto the couch, making a show of going limp.

"You told me I needed to be more assertive!" I complained, turning my palms up at what I thought was an accusation.

"It isn't your fault he's a fucking tool. Hey." The gray fox stood up from the couch and sidled up next to me, draping their arm over my shoulders and turning their head to meet my eyes. "You did good. He only got upset because we wouldn't let him walk all over us. The only way we could've avoided conflict there was to be his doormat."

"He's right, we do need to find a new place to live. I can't deal with this idiot anymore, he's literally insane, acting like he's gonna fucking hit you if we don't sign the new lease or something. But where else are we gonna find... Fuck, I just... I dunno."

Sara walks the rest of the way around in front of me and wraps their free arm around my torso. I wrap my arms around them and draw them in.

"I was serious when I said I'd be willing to go somewhere rough to get you out of your job. We'll see where things go, and we'll go with them."

I placed my head on the gray's shoulder and they gently nuzzled my neck in response. Their tail thumping against the beat up old coffee table reminded me that we still hadn't ordered dinner.

"What are we doing for dinner babe?" I mumbled just loud enough for Sara to hear me.

"I could go for you." Sara pulled their head back and met my gaze with a coy smile.

"That is... kitschy? But alright." I walked backwards towards the couch and Sara followed, keeping me in their embrace.