When Dreams Become Reality: In a Perfect Alternate Universe (BONUS CHAPTER) Part 2
#23 of When dreams become reality
This is the 2nd part of the bonus chapter of the first arc of my story series. :)
DISCLAIMER: Here's the 2nd part of my bonus chapter, where things build up to the point of where you know what happens. ;)
Remember, this is an alternate universe setting, developing the relationship between Mike and Tony much more slowly.
Also, you'll see a cameo by a certain Gator on here that is featured later in the story ;)
Again, here's some of the pics from this bonus chapter:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6905127/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6932032/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7019976/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6989799/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7205737/
This is part 2 of 3. 18 and under please leave again. Enjoy! :D
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Before I could even realize it, an entire week passed. It was now Saturday, and it had been about a week in a half since I moved into my apartment. Over the span of the week since Tony had stopped by my place, the two of us finally went bowling together, and also went out to eat again a couple of times. We both seemed to get to know each other much more over the course of the week that had passed, and we also seemed to be really close as friends. I myself was VERY happy over everything that I did with the big Tiger, but I also felt that I wanted to possibly go one step further with him. Unfortunately, I had no idea if he felt the same way back, but at least I was still good friends with him regardless. I also didn't tell my parents about Tony when I talked to them on the phone, mainly because I felt like they wouldn't believe me, nor did I want them to know how I felt about the big guy in general.
I woke up in my bed and saw the clock display "10:56 A.M." on it. The email that I got from Judy at the Daily News the week before eventually lead to her telling me in person that she was very happy with the work I did, and she told me that my article was still going to be published on time, due for the last Friday near the end of the month, which happened to be only 6 days from today.
I got out of my bed, took a shower, and got my stuff ready again to head out for the day. Luckily, Saturday and Sunday were my two days off, and I didn't have to do anything for the paper.
After getting my belongings together, I looked down at my phone and debated on whether I should call Tony or not since I had talked to him a few times over the week, though I figured he was probably working at the Supermarket again promoting his cereal.
I put my phone in my pocket, and headed out of the building with my bag attached to me, though I left my laptop behind this time. It was a bright & sunny day, much more beautiful outside compared to most of the weather that had been occurring over the last week in general.
I decided to walk to the supermarket, and even though it wasn't exactly close, it was nice enough outside for me to enjoy walking on a typical sidewalk in the big city.
I took out my Ipod, turned on some Japanese music, and started walking past the tall buildings. There were some buildings that I failed to notice near me, one actually being the Empire State Building. It looked like it was roughly a few miles away, though it didn't really look like a building I could get to without walking quite the distance. As I kept looking at the building though, I accidentally bumped into a person that was walking in the other direction on the sidewalk.
"Oh sorry! I'm so sorry about that...." I exclaimed. However, the Gator I bumped into only smiled very faintly, walking by me and just continuing on.
"What was that about?" I thought to myself. However, I then realized right there that my body felt....different, almost as if I just wanted to just start running on the sidewalk. It was the oddest feeling, but I simply kept walking near the busy street, feeling energized and also very happy.
Eventually, I made it to the main street that the supermarket was on as well as the newspaper company. I kept walking down the busy sidewalk, and roughly 10 minutes later, found myself near the newspaper company.
"I should probably pick up my first check!" I mentioned to myself, walking to the building and up the steps. After quickly heading inside, I asked the receptionist where I could pick up my check. She quickly pointed out the personal mailbox section near the main offices, in which I quickly walked over to.
"Let's see....M.....M.....there!" I exclaimed, seeing my name on my own personal box, along with a check inside it.
"I made sure you got something extra for your hard work Mike." A voice then said behind me. I turned around to see the red fox looking at me with a smile.
"Really? Thank you so much Judy.....it means a lot. I can't wait to get my column published next week heh."
"How has that been coming along?" She curiously asked, sipping her coffee in her hand.
"It's good! I've got something special set up that I think will get people into it hehe." I replied with a bit of laughter.
"Good! Good! I hope the best for you Mike, just remember, all you have to do is submit it to us and we'll take care of the rest."
"Thanks Judy!" I happily replied, taking my check and heading near the entrance of the building.
"Oh Mike! I forgot, before you go, I have something to let you know!" Judy then exclaimed, which caused me to turn around and listen.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Our editor Sarah said she'll be coming back on Tuesday, so your final editing day will be on Monday. Is that alright with you?"
"YES!! FINALLY!" I thought in my mind, almost wanting to let out a sigh of relief that my editing job would be over with and that I could finally write freely.
"Yep that's fine! And I promise I won't disappoint you guys with my column."
"Sounds good then! I gotta get back to filing some paperwork, talk to you later Mike!" the fox told me, heading back to her office as I waved back to her and gave my own goodbye.
I quickly headed out of the building, feeling like I just wanted to jump for joy right there. My actual job was going to start, and I got a bonus for the hard work I did with the temporary editing job. When I then realized that the Big Apple Mart was having LOADS of people walk in and out of it as I looked to my left, I figured I should head there next.
As I proceeded to walk towards the supermarket, people were EVERYWHERE around the area. Humans and anthros of all ages were walking into the supermarket, and also on the sidewalk too.
After nearly having to squeeze in-between some people to get to the supermarket, I finally made it to the entrance of the Big Apple Mart. When I walked inside though, I felt like I was inside the busiest store in New York City. There were THOUSANDS of people shopping inside the huge supermarket, crowding each aisle from end to end. I couldn't even grab a grocery basket to use since they were all out, and I literally had to go to the other end of the store where the parking lot entrance was to grab one of the few shopping carts remaining.
"God damn there's a lot of people here!" I said to myself, though I almost couldn't even hear myself speak right there. "I bet Tony's probably thinking the same thing." I then thought, taking my cart and heading over to the certain aisles, wanting to grab the various things I needed for my apartment. It seemed like it was a maze in the supermarket itself, as I had to make my way through TONS of people just to find the items I was specifically looking for. I finally did end up grabbing some bread, Tuna Fish, cookies, and also a few frozen dinners for myself. As I walked out of the frozen food aisle, I then noticed there was a HUGE gathering of people near one of the aisles.
I took my cart and headed over to where everyone else seemed to be crowded at, and sure enough, everyone was crowding up the cereal aisle, but they mainly seemed to be there to see the big Tiger talking to everyone.
Just seeing the big guy smile brought a smile to my face, but also made me blush a bit as I got closer to the aisle. Tony was literally circled by at least 25 people, all of which were also eating small bowls of the new Frosted Flakes cereal that Kelloggs had recently released over the last week. I guess I ended up coming at the right time though, cause I overheard Tony mention "Well I'm gonna take a break everyone, but thank you all for coming and I hope you enjoy this new orange striped flavor of Frosted Flakes, cause we all know that they're GRRRRRREAT!"
Lots of people smiled and laughed along with the Tiger as he quickly made his way through the crowd and out into the open area not far from where I was. A few people followed him, though they stopped when Tony made his way through the back doors which lead into the stock room as well as the bathrooms and employee lounge. I decided to head the same way as Tony, figuring I still needed to use the bathroom anyway.
****
"Man! I can't get over how many people are out there!!" Tony exclaimed.
"It's crazy!" another Kellogg's associate agreed, sitting down at one of the tables of one of the employee lounges, drinking some soda and eating a sandwich.
"What time did Janice want us to stay till today Greg? It's been so busy today that I don't think she ever gave a timeframe to us...." Tony then asked the human worker.
"I think she said 5 for us, but I'm pretty sure she said you only had to stay till 4, you lucky guy. Heh."
"And...it's only 12:30 right now. I don't mind doing everything out there, but today there's just been SOOOO many people."
"Yeah I hear ya Tony, sometimes having too many people around isn't really a good thing. Are you...claustrophobic?"
"I don't think I am, but then again like you said, there's just SOOO many people around today."
*****
As I walked out of the bathroom, I was about to head back out to the main part of the supermarket, but I then heard Tony's voice emitting from around the corner. I poked my head around and noticed a stairway that seemed to lead to an employee lounge. I then heard the words "Alrighty, see you back out there Tony!" followed by a chubby Kellogg's employee coming out of the lounge and down the stairs. I quickly went back into the bathroom, avoiding any contact with the employee, figuring that maybe I could quickly drop by and say hi to Tony while at it. Again, I poked my head around the corner, noticing that no one was near the area, and I started heading up the stairs to the lounge.
"Hey! That's only for employees!" A voice then emitted from behind me. My heart raced as I looked behind me to see one of the store workers looking at me from the bottom of the stairway. I was trying to think of a response, but my mouth wasn't emitting any words. I felt really embarrassed, though I was then thrown off a bit when I heard another voice behind me saying "Oh it's ok, he's with me."
"Oh ok Tony.....sorry about that!" The worker said, heading back out to the main area of the store. I slowly turned around and found my heart racing even faster as the big Tiger was standing in front of me.
"Hey Mike! Glad to see you here!" Tony happily said to me, walking back into the lounge with me following closely. "H-hey Tony! Sorry to barge in like this heh."
"Oh it's nothing! I'm just glad that you're here, cause I've had the wind knocked out of me out there with all those people!" The tiger then explained, sitting back down at the table while I put my stuff down near him.
"Yeah I still can't believe how many people are out there! I had to almost wait to get a shopping cart heh." I replied. The two of us laughed, and then I quickly mentioned "Oh by the way Tony, I'm pretty much finished with my editing work, and my column is still starting next Friday!"
"Nice!! I know it'll look great Mike." Tony replied, drinking some water and just sitting back and relaxing.
The two of us seemed to be silent for a few moments right there, but my heart was still pounding against my chest. I also couldn't help but notice that my member was perking up a bit, but the table was there to cover anything from showing.
After a few more moments of nothing but silence, Tony finally asked me "Hey Mike.....what are you doing tonight?"
"Uhhhh......" My mind once again had so many thoughts racing through it, though I knew I wasn't planning on actually doing anything at the end of today.
"N-nothing that I know of...." I sort of slurred back."
"Well, I was thinking of going to the movies tonight after work to see that Tron: Legacy movie, but I was wondering....do you wanna come with me?"
"R-r-r-really??" I murmured, being baffled that he would actually ask me to go to the movies with him.
"Yeah! It'll be my treat again since you've been working so hard lately. You deserve it Mike."
My eyes lit up, and I simply smiled at Tony, but I then wondered.....was this going to be like....a date?
I could literally hear my heart beating from my chest now, and my member was fully erect in my pants. I quickly slid it to the side of my pants to cover anything though and got up.
"T-thank you so much again Tony....I know I'll do something nice for you in return." I said back, though I pretty much couldn't even hear myself talk with all the ideas my brain was trying to process.
"Hey, that's what friends are for Mike." Tony replied, getting up himself and putting his large hand on my shoulder. "Want me to pick you up around 6?" He then asked.
"Yeah that's fine! I can't wait to go see Tron, I've been wanting to for awhile." I happily assured. Tony grinned and gave me a thumbs up, and I then said "Well I guess I should get going, This is technically the "EMPLOYEE" lounge heh."
"I'm right behind you anyway, I gotta head back out and continue working here. If anything comes up I'll make sure I call you, ok?" Tony then told me, following me down the stairway and back out to the main part of the supermarket as I simply nodded back at the Tiger happily.
It certainly didn't take long for people to start gathering around Tony again, since he barely made it 10 feet out of the back door before having people come up to him for autographs and pictures. He did say to me though "See ya later Mike!" with me waving back to him as more people crowded near him. I took my cart and headed away from the cereal aisle, grabbing some drinks for myself and also some fruit, and eventually made my way back to the front of the store.
After checking out and paying for my groceries, I finally made my way out of the busy supermarket, which was an adventure in its own right. I walked outside again, still being in the middle of an INSANELY busy intersection, though I started to make my way back towards the beginning of the street which connected to the street my apartment was on.
I thought it was a bit funny knowing that I had spent the last week in a half in New York City, and yet I had barely traveled around the city at all. I figured to myself that I would spend the next couple of days doing so, even though I did kinda hope that Tony would be down to go with me.
It took roughly 20 minutes to get back to my street and eventually back to my apartment, and when I walked up the stairs and eventually into my place, my clock said it was now 1:20.
"Only 4 hours and 40 minutes to go before my special....night...out..." I said to myself, though I nearly lost myself in the moment just thinking about it. I put my grocery bags on my kitchen table and put away all my food & drinks, though I did make myself a sandwich as I was pretty hungry right then and there.
I figured I had a lot of time to kill, so I decided to actually watch some TV for once. I kept flipping through channels one by one, not really seeing anything pop out at me. When I got to channel 56 though, I immediately stopped.
"Holy shit, the Bruins are playing today?!?!" I asked myself, as they were just about to face the New York Rangers from Madison Square Garden. The puck dropped before I knew it, and next thing you know, I was killing time off by watching the whole game between the two teams.
"YEAH PATRICE!!!" I shouted, clapping along as Patrice Bergeron scored a goal 12 minutes into the 3rd period, with the Bruins now being up 2-1. This was probably the first time in quite awhile that I had watched a Bruins game from beginning to end, and as the seconds ticked down, my heart started pumping more and more. I even forgot that I had my supposed "date" with Tony while I watched the final minutes of the game.
"5....DUMP IT! 4.....3.....2....1......YES!!!" I shouted, as the clock finally reached 0. The Bruins squeaked through with the win, and I was relieved that the game was over. My heart was still pumping as I watched the final powerplay of the game which the Bruins were able to outlast, and eventually conquer as they got the win.
"Whew! Thank god that game is over! Heh. Oh wow!" I then said to myself, noticing that it was now 4:30. "Only an hour in a half to go!" I thought to myself, now with my heart pumping as my mind shifted from the hockey game to my supposed date.
Between checking my laptop and watching the TV, time seemed to pass slowly as I kept watching the clock. I got more and more nervous as each number on the wall was touched by the hand of the clock.
It was now 5:45 P.M. I was pacing back and forth in my small living room between the couch and the TV, thinking so many different things at once.
"What do I say to him?"
"Should I wear these clothes?"
"Should I bring these things with me?"
"Is this.....a date??"
As my brain tried to process everything though, I was completely thrown off guard when I hear a certain sound.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
My eyes widened again, and I felt like my chest was about to explode. I slowly made my way over to the door, and looked through the eye hole. Sure enough, I saw a large, furry tiger in front of my door. I slowly opened the door, and I could barely muster any words as Tony stood in front of me.
"Hey Mike! I should've called to let you know I got out early, but you still wanna go to the movies?"
"Y-y-yeah Tony!" I barely murmured.
Tony looked at me a bit unusually, then adding "You okay mike?"
I had to quickly clear my thoughts to avoid embarrassing myself any further.
"Y-yeah. Sorry, I just watched the Bruins game, and they j-just BARELY won." I explained.
"Ah nice! I gotta get back into Hockey myself, haven't really paid much attention to it lately heh."
"Me neither, but I saw it on and just couldn't stop watching." I said.
"Wanna get going then?" Tony asked me.
"S-sure!" I happily replied, as my heart kept beating very fast as I walked out of the door with Tony, locking up my place and with the two of us heading down the stairs to his car. We both eventually made it to the Tiger's impala parked outside the building, got inside, and before I knew it, I was off to the movies with Tony.
As we were driving, we started passing by buildings I wasn't familiar with, especially since we were on a road that I hadn't been on before.
"So where is this movie theatre?" I asked, then adding "Oh and by the way, was it still insane at the supermarket after I left?"
"It's only a few miles from here, and it was absolutely INSANE there until I got out. I'm actually kind of tired, but I wouldn't want to cancel going out to the movies with a good friend like you Mike." he replied, which made me blush VERY heavily.
"R-really? Wow Tony....thank you...you didn't have to do that..." I replied, acting a bit stunned.
The two of us exchanged a bit of small talk as we kept driving, but I still found it a bit hard to say anything to the Tiger, mainly because I didn't want to do ANYTHING stupid while I was out with him.
"Oh, is this it?" I asked as Tony pulled into a parking lot.
"Yep! And I guess there's not many people here tonight surprisingly heh." Tony replied, pulling his car into a parking spot of the movie theatre that was in a pretty busy part of the area we were in in the city.
"What's your favorite movie anyway?" I asked as both of us got out of the car and started walking towards the theatre entrance.
"That's tough to say. I have so many heh." Tony replied. "Me too, but I think my favorite is Jurassic Park." I replied back.
"Ah yes that's a good one, definitely one of my favorites."
Both of us walked inside, noticing there weren't too many people buying tickets & snacks, so we didn't have to wait long to get what we needed.
"Two for the 6:40 Tron Legacy" Tony asked the guy behind the ticket counter.
The guy seemed pretty stunned as to whom he was selling the tickets to, but he quickly printed them out and gave them to the big Tiger.
"Here you go Mike. What do you want for snacks?" He then asked me, which once again took me by surprise. I was about to say that I'd buy my own popcorn, but I quickly caught myself before I could say it, since that would be rude of me to reject Tony's offer.
"I'll just get popcorn and a Pepsi I guess." I casually mentioned. Tony happily nodded and we both went over to buy our snacks at the counter before eventually heading in to see the movie.
"Wow, there's like no one in here!" I mentioned while we both sat down next to each other, as I only saw one other person in the same auditorium as us.
"Lucky us I guess hehe. It's still early though, we've got about 20 minutes before it starts." Tony laughed back. I quickly blushed again, but started eating my popcorn while we waited.
I tried to think of something to say to Tony while we were waiting for the movie to start, but I really couldn't think of anything. As each minute passed, I found myself already eating a good portion of my popcorn. Something did cross my mind, but I wasn't sure if I should ask Tony the question I had. Much to my surprise though, he actually asked me the question I was going to ask him.
"say Mike, I wanted to ask you... sorry if this seems awkward, but have you ever had a relationship before?"
"......"
I couldn't say anything back to the big guy, cause I felt my heart was melting.
"......."
"Oh here we go! Sorry about that Mike." Tony then told me as the lights dimmed, and the big screen turned on to show the previews.
My mind was still blank right there though, and I really wasn't even paying attention to the movie screen. I was just thinking about what Tony had asked me, and it really made me wonder.....could I possibly be developing something with him....?"
My mind went from being blank to having a thousand thoughts crossing through it left and right, but the movie finally started to calm me down and pay attention to what I wanted to see.
As the movie passed along, we both didn't say much to each other, but we were both REALLY enjoying the film. It was finally near the end of the movie though, and I had my hand on the arm rests on both sides of my seat while the final battle scene between Flynn and Clu was going down. I went down to grab my bucket of popcorn on the ground, but I accidentally ended up kicking it over and having it go on Tony's side, causing it to spill a bit (though luckily there wasn't much left)
"Ahhh...crap" I mentioned, though Tony said "I got it Mike, hang on."
He leaned over and grabbed it for me, though I then realized.....that he put his hand on top of mine on my arm rest while doing so. His hand felt amazingly...warm, and for that one moment, I lost myself just thinking about the Tiger while the song "Arrival" started playing in one of the final scenes.
"Here you go Mike, only a little bit spilled out, no worries." Tony mentioned, happily giving the popcorn back to me but also taking his hand off of mine.
"T-thanks Tony." I blushed again, but the two of us continued to watch the movie, and before we knew it, the credits were rolling.
"HHNNNNGGGHHH..." I softly blurted out as I yawned & stretched while getting out of my seat as the auditorium lights came back on.
"That was a great movie! What did you think of it?" Tony asked me.
I nodded back and simply mentioned "That was DEFINITELY a GRRRREAT movie" though again, I felt a little embarrassed after I said that, but Tony casually laughed and the two of us headed out.
We really didn't say much to each other besides talking about the movie as we headed back to my place. It seemed like the part of the night I had been waiting for so impatiently had breezed by quicker than the blink of an eye.
"Alright, we're back." Tony pointed out as he parked in my apartment lot again.
"W-wanna come in Tony?" I muttered, mainly because I really didn't want this night to end with the big guy so soon.
"Sure Mike!" The Tiger replied as we both got out of the Impala and headed into the building, eventually making it back to my apartment.
"I really need to get the soundtrack for that movie heh." I mentioned as I walked into my apartment.
"Yeah, all the music in it was REALLY good." Tony told me as he went over and sat on my couch while I started taking off my jacket and putting my things away. I then realized at that moment...that I never answered Tony's question from earlier. I wanted to answer him, but I decided to ask if he wanted anything first.
"Do you want anything to eat or drink Tony? I've got some soda, juice, sandwiches, and other things here...." I asked as I looked through the refrigerator.
"Sure! I'll just have some Soda I guess."
"Pepsi good?" I asked, getting a couple cans out.
"Yeah that's fine mike." Tony replied as I walked over to him. What followed next just seemed to be a blur to me after it happened.
"By the way Mike, I'm.... sorry about asking you that question at the movie theatre..." Tony told me as I handed him the drink.
"......it's nothing Tony. I was...... kinda rude to not reply to you. Basically, I've had a few relationships, but they've only been short term and really haven't lasted very long."
My heart started pounding again after I said that to Tony, but I also put my head down feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Hey, no need to feel bad Mike. You're going to find that special someone soon. Trust me." Tony mentioned, getting up and putting his hand on my shoulder.
I completely lost it right then and there, and simply replied without even thinking "You're.....the best friend I've ever had Tony...." And literally threw myself into the Tiger, wrapping my arms around him without even wondering how he felt back. His body felt so warm and strong, but I really had no idea what he was thinking. As soon as I felt his arms wrapping mine though with the big guy replying "Thanks Mike...." I knew that we had something more than just a friendship. We seemed to be bonded together right then and there.
We quickly broke our hug and smiled at each other, and we both knew that tonight was a special night between us.
"Thanks again for everything tonight Tony....I had a really great time with you." I mentioned as he started heading for the front door.
"You're welcome Mike. What are you doing over the next few days?" Tony asked back smiling.
"F-funny you should mention it, cause I was thinking to myself that I wanted to go explore the city a bit, though I still have to do some last minute editing on Monday.
"Well if I get any of the next few days off, I'll let you know and we could spend the day together exploring the city. How does that sound?" Tony asked, putting his hand on my shoulder again.
"S-sure!" I replied, though I blushed yet again.
"Alrighty, well I'm gonna head out, you take care Mike and don't hesitate to come visit the supermarket, I'll be there most likely."
"I'll be sure to stop by. Thanks again so much for tonight Tony."
"No problem Mike. See ya later!"
"See ya!" I finally replied, closing the door of my apartment, and turning my back to the door, only to slide down it into a sitting position with my face grinning the whole time.
"He....likes me! He really likes me!" I said to myself as my member once again became hard, to the point where I just couldn't help myself and had to go into my bedroom to have my fun. It was definitely one of the best nights of my life, and I happily fell asleep after it was all said and done.