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The next morning, Arden saw Mark at the track again.

The soccer team was just finishing practice when he entered the stadium. He thought about coming over to talk to Mark, but the more he thought about it, the more nervous he got. Mark's teammates might not have been as intimidating as some of the guys on the football team, but they were still pretty scary. That, and he wasn't even sure if Mark would want to talk to him in front of his friends.

Mark, it seemed, had other thoughts. "Hey, Arden!" He waved his paw cheerily and jogged over to the otter. "How's your head?"

"Oh, it's fine." He'd actually forgotten all about the injury until Mark reminded him. "Nothing that an icepack and some sleep couldn't cure. Besides, I've had worse. Like I said, backstroke is pretty dangerous if you don't stop in time."

Mark giggled and sat down next to Arden. He did a couple stretches and looked over. "Mind if I join you today?"

"Uhh...Sure." Arden hesitated, again feeling extremely self-conscious about his running ability. "I thought you'd be dead from practice." He added the last bit when he saw Mark's ears fold back.

"Nah, Coach is taking it easy on us." Mark got up and started jogging in place. "There's only two weeks left 'til the season starts, and he doesn't want us to be too wiped by that point."

"Ah, gotcha!" Arden stood up as well; he felt a little silly about jogging in place, so he settled for doing a couple more stretches. "Well, you're more than welcome to join me. Though for you, it'll be more like walking."

"That's cool." Mark flashed him another one of those adorable canine smiles.

That was all it took. Just like that, Arden stopped caring about how good a runner he was. His... friend wanted to spend more time with him, and that was pretty awesome.

They started jogging quietly. Arden didn't want to get tired too fast, and Mark didn't seem to mind.

"So, what do you plan to do with your last two weeks of summer?" The wolf wasn't the slightest bit out of breath.

"Not sure." Arden felt like collapsing already and tried his best not to pant too much. "Books. Running. Something like that."

His clipped responses discouraged further conversation.

After finishing their first lap, Mark did something Arden both wished he did and didn't do. The wolf jogged over to the side for a brief moment, slipped off his shirt and threw it on the bleachers.

With just one glance, Arden felt his shorts tighten. The wolf's body was just as perfect as he'd imagined the night before - creamy white, not overly muscular, but very athletic. He didn't have much more than an ounce of fat on his entire body. His shorts were low enough for Arden to see the V shape formed by the wolf's hips. The tingling sensation was almost too much to contain. Arden did his best to think of something, anything else. It took him several minutes of focusing and looking away before he felt it safe to run without keeping his paws down at groin level. He was sweating profusely, more from the nervousness than the fact that it was another ninety-degree day outside.

Mark may have noticed this, but he didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't notice at all. Maybe he didn't want to embarrass Arden... maybe he hoped he didn't see it because he wasn't gay to begin with and hoped Arden wasn't either.

They jogged the rest of the five laps in silence.

'That's like a mile, right?' Arden furrowed his eyebrows, trying to mentally calculate the distance. He wanted to ask Mark but decided against it. He stopped at the gate and plopped down on the ground to regain his breath.

Mark sat down next to him. "Not bad! Not bad at all." He smiled at Arden and patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh please!" Arden rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling back. "You're not even winded."

"I'm a wolf." Mark reminded him. "Tell me to do two laps in the water and I guarantee you, I'll be like ten times worse than you are now."

"Swimming's not that hard." Arden lay back with his paws behind his head.

"Not for you, maybe." Mark lay down next to him and looked up at the sky. "My mom tried to take me to the pool as a cub, but that was a miserable failure. I learned to swim just well enough not to drown. That's about it."

"We should go sometime." Remembering the reaction that the wolf had garnered just by taking his shirt off, Arden began to reconsider his proposition.

"That could be fun." The wolf's attention seemed focused mainly on a small cloud that was drifting by overhead. "Will I have to wear a Speedo?"

Arden sat up as quickly as he could, trying not to look like he'd just been stung by a bee.

His member was growing already, just from the occasional glances at Mark and smelling the wolf's intoxicating musk... the thought of him in a Speedo brought the shaft to its full stiffness.

"Err... no, you don't have to." He tried to cross his legs in a way that would hide his erection. "You can... uhh... just wear trunks if you want."

"'Kay." Mark continued watching the hovering cloud.

The boys lay (or sat) there for a few minutes, each thinking their own thing until Arden began to stand up (his member safely back in its sheath). "So, how about those smoothies?" He did his best to keep both his thoughts and eyes as far from the wolf's body as possible.

"Lead on." Mark hopped nimbly to his feet and ran to grab his shirt.

Arden managed to sneak one more look at the wolf's beautiful, muscular back before the shirt covered it. He sighed.

The two made their way off school grounds and over to Rabbit's. The place was packed. People were sitting in chairs, standing at the counter and one bat was even hanging upside-down off a ceiling beam. The boys waited in line and grabbed their smoothies. Mark got his usual but Arden decided to go for the Arctic Fox Rush. It tasted something like blueberries mixed with vanilla yogurt. He loved it.

Unable to find a place in the shop, the two decided to drink the smoothies on their way home. It proved to be an amazing idea because between the smoothies and being engaged in a conversation about the newest Redwall book - which, as it turned out, both boys had preordered - Arden forgot all about the blazing heat. In fact, he forgot all about where his house was, too, because they were about half a block down the street before he realized he had passed it.

"Whoops, backing up." Arden giggled making beeping noises and walking backwards.

Mark laughed and did the same.

"Oh, umm... Do you wanna come over for dinner tomorrow?" Arden asked the question quickly. He felt like if he didn't get the words out fast enough that he would clam up and rethink his decision.

"Sure!" Mark pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Let me just call my mom to double check. Hey Mom... Yes, I'm on my way. No, I stayed after to do a couple of laps with a friend. His n... no, Ma, I'm not on drugs. His name's Arden. He just invited me to dinner tomorrow night, actually. Can I go? He lives right down the street, Mom. Yes, the Halinens. Okay Mom... Love you too." He hung up the phone and grinned sheepishly. "Mothers. Oh, and yeah, my mom said I can go... But I have to be home by ten."

"Sounds great!" Arden smiled. "I'll see you after practice tomorrow, then. We could go for a run again and then head to dinner."

"I'd like that."

Hearing the wolf's response made Arden's fur tingle. "Awesome!" He began to think that perhaps he was showing a little too much excitement for someone who just got his friend to come to dinner, but Mark grinned too and it was all right.

"I'll see ya tomorrow, then." Arden stood around, shifting from paw to paw. He didn't want to leave, but he knew he had to.

Mark shook paws with him. "Count on it." With another grin toward Arden, he set off down the street.

The next day, the boys met at the track, as planned. They jogged together and Arden was happy to find that his time was improving steadily.

Mark encouraged him every step of the way. "Just push it a little more and you'll wreck that fitness test."

After the run, the boys headed straight to Arden's house.

They chatted about books and music they liked, and like the day before, almost went straight by Arden's house.

Arden's mom greeted them at the door. "Ah, so you must be Mark." She smiled broadly. "Always good to place a name to a face. Arden's told us so much about you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Halinen." Mark bowed his head slightly, smiling back.

"Make yourselves at home, guys." Mrs. Halinen was already heading back to the kitchen. "Just don't wander off anywhere or go swimming; dinner will be in about ten minutes."

"We've got enough time, Ma." Arden dropped his backpack off in its usual place and started walking up the stairs.

"Not if you want Mark to be dry, you don't." His mom shouted from the kitchen. "I'm sure wolves don't dry quite as quickly as otters do."

"Yeah." Mark looked at Arden almost apologetically. "We better wait till after dinner."

They settled for playing some video games instead.

Mikey joined them at some point later. They managed to play one round of Jaw Breaker (Mikey's newest mindless button-masher) each before Mrs. Halinen called them to dinner.

Arden was used to his mother's cooking, but Mark seemed blown away by it. He sat and stared at the Atlantic trout roasted with garlic and herbs, baked potatoes and a vegetable dish called Kaalikaaryleet - something he tried to pronounce several times without much success. After his fifth try, he drooped his ears comically and went in for a second helping.

Mr. Halinen came in a few minutes later. He pecked Mrs. Halinen on the cheek and looked over at Mark. "Ah, and who have we here?" He smiled at the wolf and extended his paw.

Arden stood up and walked over to embrace his father. "Dad, this is Mark."

Mark shook paws with him. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

After the exchange of pleasantries, dinner continued as usual.

Mr. Halinen spent some time talking about his day at work. As it turned out, both he and Mark's father worked at the Orwell National Bank downtown, only in different departments. This lead to even more conversation about jobs and ended with Mr. Halinen promising to invite Mark's entire family to dinner sometime in the next few weeks.

Arden was enjoying himself immensely. Not only was his... friend at the dinner table with him, but he also seemed to be getting along with his family. He didn't talk much, preferring instead to peck at his food and watch Mark.

The wolf was chatting away with Mr. Halinen, and seemed completely at ease. His beautiful blue eyes moved from Mr. to Mrs. Halinen as he told them about school and his time on the soccer team. His melodic voice was soft and gentle...

"Isn't that right, Arr?"

"Huh?" Arden realized that his dad just asked him something, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was.

"Your dad was just telling me about your coach." Mark stifled a smile at the otter's confusion. "Says the guy wouldn't know talent if it came by and bit him on the nose."

"Oh, he's okay." Arden recovered quickly. He didn't want to be caught ogling Mark; much less get caught ogling him in front of his parents.

"Well, you're the fastest one on the team and he still hasn't promoted you to captain."

"Dad..." Arden sighed. Not this argument again. They've had it a million times before. Arden was perfectly happy just swimming and winning medals, but his parents wanted him to talk to Barken. Talk... to Barken - as if that was even possible - and convince him to make Arden the captain of the swim team.

Mr. Halinen shrugged as he always did. "Just saying. Barken needs to recognize his swimmers' talents, that's all."

"Yeah, yeah." Arden took the momentary silence to change the subject. "So, I'm almost down to nine minutes on my mile!"

"That's fantastic, sweetie!" Mrs. Halinen patted his paw. "We're so proud of you!"

Dessert was served right after dinner. Arden's mom had baked a fresh quice pie and served it with ice cream and chocolate sprinkles. Although he refused seconds at first, Mark ended up having thirds as well.

The boys helped clean up the table despite Mrs. Halinen's protests and went to the living room to play a few more rounds of Jawbreaker and wait for their food to digest. Arden didn't believe in the whole 'wait a half hour after you eat' thing, but his mother insisted that they wait.

It was fun despite Mikey having a clear advantage over the other two. Having played that game almost nonstop since he got it, the otter knew every combo and special move. After the other two protested that it was unfair, he spent a couple of minutes practicing with each of them, giving them a crash course in being a "Jawbreaker Warrior" (a term that caused Mark and Arden to share a look and burst out laughing).

After the half-hour was up, the boys changed into their bathing suits (in separate rooms, of course) and headed out to the pool, with Mikey promising to join them later. In the process of teaching Mark, he discovered some sort of new secret character he didn't know about and he insisted on unlocking it before doing anything else.

The Halinens' pool was large. Not only because they were otters, but because Mr. Halinen believed in going big or not going at all. Its irregular shape made it look more like an artificial lake than a swimming pool. The lights mounted inside the floor and the waterfall that flowed down into it form the hot-tub gave the whole pool a surreal, tropical feel.

Within a few feet of the edge, Arden broke into a sprint and dove in without the slightest splash. "Come on!" He came back up to the surface. "The water is great!"

"Are you sure it's not too cold?" Mark stood on the edge, carefully probing the water with his footpaw.

"Positive." Arden swam over to the side. "We keep it heated to eighty-two."

Looking at Mark in nothing but a skimpy bathing-suit made Arden very hard. He was grateful for the fact that the water was hiding his erection because it allowed him to admire Mark as long as he wanted to without worrying about the wolf seeing the tent he was pitching.

"Alright, then." Mark took a deep breath and did a running jump into the pool. He attempted to dive, but it came out as more of an awkward belly flop. After several seconds, the wolf's head broke the surface of the water. "I'm not very good at diving either." He carried a note of embarrassment in his voice.

"Don't worry, I've seen worse. I work summers as a lifeguard, so I see all kinds of swimmers." He kept his hardness pressed against the pool wall to better conceal it.

"So now that we're in here..." Mark pushed off the wall and kicked on his back. "What do we do?"

"Well, my brother and I usually play-fight..." Arden stopped, remembering his erection. "But we can just relax and float around. It's been a hot day; nothing like a nice swim to cool off."

They swam around for a little while, paddling lazily back and forth, enjoying the cooling sensation provided by the water.

Mikey came in about ten minutes later and joined them. With three of them in the pool, they decided on a game of Marco-Polo. The otters would have won easily, but they agreed to stick to wading rather than swimming and to keep to the shallow end of the pool.

After a number of rounds, they realized that perhaps the odds weren't as in their favor as they'd thought. Mark may not have been a very good swimmer, but his keen sense of smell allowed him to find the otters quickly and even identify which one he'd grabbed.

Marco-Polo segued smoothly into a round of underwater wrestling. Once again, the brothers, who were much more adept at staying under and swimming than Mark was, took it easy on him. Arden was very careful not to let his shorts brush up against any of his opponents, fearing embarrassment in front of both Mark and Mikey. One time, he thought he felt Mark's stiffness brush up against his leg; but the contact was so momentary that he wasn't sure if it actually happened or if he just really, really wanted it to.

The wrestling went on for a good hour or so. By the end of it, Mark had improved quite a bit and was actually able to hold his own against the otters.

"Holy cow, it's nine already!" Mikey rubbed the water droplets off his watch. "I better go finish my project or Mr. Roberts will be on me first thing tomorrow morning. And Mr. Roberts is the last person I want on me."

After Mikey left, Arden and Mark paddled over to the pool side.

"Thanks for having me over." Mark took a step towards the otter.

"You're welcome." Arden did the same. "I had a ton of fun!"

Their muzzles drew closer.

"We should do it again, then." Mark's voice was just a whisper - soft and smooth. "Maybe you can come over my house next time."

"I'd like that." Arden felt the wolf's paw brush his. He could smell Mark's musk clearly now. A pleasant warmth that started in his chest just moments ago was spreading lower and lower.

Their muzzles were just a few inches apart, slowly drawing closer. Arden found himself lost in those beautiful blue eyes...