FSE

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*

Hello y'all!

Here is a special Friday chapter for everyone. This incorporates the short chapter from Monday in considerably extended form, adding two thousand words to the preexisting narrative and then carrying on with the plot - so you've got over four thousand words of new Hockey Hunk here, to more than make up for the unfortunately short chapter on Monday. It's great to be back to full writing form, and I hope that it shows. So don't get scared if the beginning seems familiar, because it is, beefed up to the full Gruffy standard, and then we carry on into the new, mysterious plot twists in the tale of Rory!

Comments are most welcome as always, they are the best measure of my work, and I appreciate each and every one of them to the fullest.

** Don't forget to check some Hockey Hunk fan art, too, drawn by the most kind omegalupus! Cheers to you for bringing the story alive in ink too!**

http://www.sofurry.com/view/327643

Have a good read, everyone, cheers for that!

*

A strange vibration passed through my body, even as a sudden noise caused my ears to drop and flatten, and the full reality of the moment reached my consciousness.

WE'RE NOOOO STRANGERS TO LOOOOOOVE

_ _

The hunky Haakon and the perky wolf girl slowly made their way across the mildly crowded room and over to the bar counter that was offering its refreshments for all the thirsty in attendance. She was carefully matching the hunky frat boy's steps, and he, gentleman as ever, had his arm around her narrow waist. She wagged her tail with delight, and even as I watched, she stood up on her tiptoes, delicately, to whisper a sweet something into his attentive ear.

YOU KNOW THE RULES AND SOOOOO DO I

_ _

Haakon laughed.

His chuckle was a piercing vocalization that managed to reach my own half-flat ears even through the continued din of 1980's nightmares that blared from the oversized loudspeakers around the karaoke stage, upon which a slightly nasal-voiced fox kept on singing along, much to our...pleasure.

The girl laughed back and I saw their shoulders brush together. Haakon's own thick, feline tail waved leisurely behind his tan-covered ass, filling out his pants in a most likeable manner. That special feature of his definitely made for an eye catcher, even at this moment of strange...stillness that filled me.

A FULL COMMITMENT'S WHAT I'M THINKING OF

_ _

I forced my eyes to stop humping Haakon's rump and flicked them over to the suspiciously empty seat in front of me on the other side of the small table. I searched for any stray signs of a grey-furred ear or tail that might belong to the newly nose-dived frat wolf of a coworker of mine. I had no such luck. He was still out of sight and obviously not wanting to be seen by the lynx...whether in general, or with me, remaining a mystery.

Fuck.

I chuffed to myself and felt my lips tug away from my teeth, minutely exposing them.

What the hell was going on here?

This was supposed to be good, simple, and pain free, not complicated at all, and NOT supposed to turn into X-Files all sudden. This was meant to be just a night out between two friends, with drinks, refreshments, some safe food, and even safer topics of discussion that'd hopefully offer Mason some tips on how to impress someone he liked. All so innocent.

Shit.

YOU WOULDN'T GET THIS FROM AAAAAANY OTHER GUY

_ _

I planted my paws on the surface of the table and put my weight on then as I leaned over the table, my tail stiff between my legs for balance. I squinted a little, trying to see anything familiar in the unfamiliar pawspace, my ears flicked curiously and I sniffed the air as if I was trying to detect the scent of a newly invisible wolf. All I received was the general mingle of the scent-filled air from the crowded room, with no extra Mason contribution to speak of.

_ _

"Mason?" I whispered, and I ended up sounding almost breathless, my voice was that low. "Hey...Mason..."

I finally noticed a hint of movement and that had to be the bushy tail, tucked between legs that protruded out from under the table, visible as they ended into the shoe-covered footpaws that stuck out. The wolf had indeed crawled under the table, to hide from the inbound lynx and the wolf...but WHY?

"Mason?" I repeated, slightly louder this time.

I was determined not to let this descend into another round of weirdness in the Life and Times of Rory Gliese. Whatever Mason was going after with this bizarre behavior, I was not going to tolerate any more oddness in my small comfortable life. It had been all too prone for making soap-operatic turns as of recent, and that was not a trend I wanted to follow.

"Mason?" I whispered, tension rolling down my spine.

IIIIIIIIIIII JUST WANNA TELL YOU HOW I'M FEELIIIIIIING

_ _

"Ma -"

I was cut short by the voice, the voice that I had heard done this very same thing before, stopping me in my goddamned tracks and freezing me into place.

"RORY, YO! HEY!"

That vibrant, loud voice that was the aural equivalent to a bowlful of full fat vanilla ice cream laced with hot, stringy cream fudge sauce and roasted nuts and almonds.

Ohhhhhh fffffffff.....

"YO!"

The words I had tried to direct at Mason caught in my throat just as my head snapped to the direction of the voice. It was as clear and dangerous as it had been the last time I had to endure it, back in the skating rink where I'd only wanted to burrow myself into my sweaty, handsome Dobie and not just have idle and nerve-wracking small talk with the off-limits Scandinavian cat. It was all too audible despite the noisy atmosphere of the karaoke bar. He was also no longer stationary, not by any means, but on the move. Haakon was walking towards me with that leisurely "look-at-me-I'm-sexy" guy gait that was only accentuated by the presence of the attractive girl by his side.

My eyes must've widened a little in a natural reaction when the masculine cat scent belonging to the hockey lynx filled my nose. It came over with a hint of the girl's presumably perfumed scent in the mix, but it was heavily overshadowed by the musky male. Under any other circumstances I would have gladly allowed myself to be immersed in it and appreciate any whiff I could get to the fullest, but now it simply spelled doom and social destruction. Whether that was true for me, Mason, or both, I didn't know.

Then he was all too close, his presence upon my skin and his free paw patting my shoulder.

"Hi, Rory!" the broadly smiling cat rumbled, flicking his single pierced ear in greeting at me.

I just stared; the earlier patting had made it feel like I had lost my breath. My tail tucked itself firmly between my legs and I willed it to keep still and not betray my growing unease with the situation. I was hiding a Mason under the table, unwillingly, perhaps, but I was not a partner in crime, whatever the crime was, and I just had to...keep cool. Not let this go bad or let something happen that I'd end up regretting for a long time. And there was Mason to consider, and Haakon, and the girl, who kept glancing at me with moderate curiosity.

"Uhmm...hi," she spoke to me with an unmistakably canine voice that lacked the purring edges that Haakon's voice naturally carried.

NEVER GONNA LET YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU DOOOOOOOOOOWN

_ _

I was at the loss of even the most simple polite words.

Haakon gave me an excited look, his ears speaking as much as his muzzle was doing.

"Wow, Rory, it really is a small world!" Haakon grinned shouted.

Fucking too small!

My treacherous jaw and lips refused to smile, no matter how much I tried to force them into action while the lynx continued to look at me eagerly.

"Yeah!" I muttered between my teeth.

Haakon patted my shoulder again, leaving an itching sensation I wasn't sure was for the better or the worse.

"It's almost like back home in Stavanger!" Haakon chuckled. "You can't go out without bumping into someone you want to or don't want to see!"

I still tried to fashion a smile over my lips, and I suppose I managed, to a degree, because the wolf girl was speaking again, maybe encouraged by me.

"Is he your friend, Hank?" the wolf girl's immaculate teeth flashed in a pearly white show of her dental standards, between subtly made up lips.

Haakon purred so loudly that his whiskers shook.

"Sure!" Haakon grinned in that boyish way that was almost annoyingly carefree and attractive. "It's Rory, Mason's lion buddy from work!"

My head made an almost jerking nod of agreement. She didn't seem all too impressed.

"Heh, so, Rory, this is Jessica!" the lynx gave the wolf a broad smile. "Jessica, meet Rory, a big buddy of Mason's."

She did not make a move to shake my paw, and to be honest, I did not feel too inclined to try that either, what with the knowledge of the fact that Mason, the poor Mason, Haakon's best friend, was hiding for an unknown reason only three feet away from me.

I could only stare, kinda.

NEVER GONNA MAAAAAAKE YOU CRY

_ _

" Nice to meet you..Rory," she spoke, and I was not so sure whether she sounded so enthusiastic either. She probably would've preferred Haakon's undivided attention rather than having the lynx socialize with me. I wasn't even sure whether to be flattered that I could compete with her in that, but...yeah.

"Evening," I managed to rumble after a pause that seemed to be in danger of growing into an unpleasant silence. "How do you do, you guys?"

What a fail.

The lynx kept on smiling like he'd just swallowed a whole juicy herring. His ears kept on flicking along to the off-key singing, doing their own thing, while his arm remained casually around the girl's waist, as if it belonged there. She didn't seem to mind his studly presence by any means.

"It's pretty nice place yeah?" Haakon still grinned, looking down at me from his high ground vantage point.

My heart kept hammering in my throat. The cider in my belly felt all too warm all sudden as well, keeping my belly in a churning state of indecision. My head almost swam. I was on the spot, there was no sign of Mason, and I wanted to do nothing more but to stick my tail under the table and drive the wolf out from his hidey hole and out into the open so that I would not have to face this pair all on my own. I still couldn't think of why Mason would've bail out like that and leave me to gather the pieces...or so it seemed.

"Yeah...uh...heheh, yeah, sure," I tried to smile again and rapped the tabletop flippantly with my idle paw, trying to make light of the situation, just the way the two were seeing it, I was sure, just having a bit of fun and being polite and all that crap. They'd probably disappear in a moment and I could drag Mason out of this table and...

" NEVER GONNA TELL A LIE AND HURT YOU"

Haakon's ears just kept on flicking as he gave a quick glance at the stage and the foxy performance still going on.

"Have you sang yet, Rory?" the lynx asked me.

I gulped and tried to wave my paw in a gesture that would be similarly carefree as my earlier neurotic thrum.

"I don't have much of a voice," I chuckled and flicked my ears cutely, hoping to draw the attention back to my gestures and maybe the ongoing song and not my own potential skills in the art of karaoke.

Haakon brushed knuckles against my chest, quickly, a dude gesture if any, leaving another dose of that strange itching there. My tail twitched.

"Hahah."

The wolf girl smiled again, her tail wagging as she looked up to Haakon who towered a head taller than she was.

"You wanna sing, Hank?"

Haakon simply radiated.

_ _

"Weeeell...," he licked his lip in a thoughtful gesture as he drew out his answer, "if they've got some Bruno Mars, then sure!"

My tail still kept trying to strangle itself, and the chair I was sitting on no longer felt solid, but wobbly under my weight. I considered getting up, just to relief the tension growing in my body, but the girl...the wolf...she was too quick.

"So, Rory, you got a friend with you?" she was looking down at me again, her eyes staring at me, and past me, and..

Oh crap...

I instantly knew what she was looking at, never mind that I had to glance at it myself from the corner of my eye. I saw the tall glass, filled two thirds up with the Tail Twister, Mason's drink of choice. The glass now stood alone and untouched on the other side of the table, emanating the faint minty scent I had sampled before. There was no mistaking it to be my drink, not when it was that far away from me, and what's with the glass of cider in front of me as well.

There was no explanation to that. I was busted? What could I say? That my...date...was at the bathroom and would never come out? That my date had to suddenly leave? Maybe I had ordered that drink to wait for my friend but then my friend didn't even show up at all? How could any of those excuses ever get past these two, especially with the knowledge that by all probability, the wolf was still hiding under the table!

I looked up to her with my harrowed eyes and wondered what the gaze in those bright eyes, both hers, and the lynx's, expected from me. Maybe the wolf just wanted to an excuse to excuse me and my "friend" so that she could go back to having some real fun with Haakon. Maybe she really was genuinely curious about why I was sitting here all alone while obviously I earlier had someone with me...or maybe...

Oh shit...

I wanted to crawl under that table. I really didn't need this kind of drama in my life at the moment, not with Colin and Victor and Peter and...everything.

WE KNOW THE GAME AND WE'RE GONNA PLAAAAYYYY IIIIIIT

"Uhhh...well..."

My ears picked up the sudden, screeching sound of something metallic scraping against the floor, coming from somewhere behind me. Even before I had the time to turn my head towards the direction of the noise, I could see the eyes of the two furs standing in front of me widen.

"MASON!" the wolf girl screamed.

A loud thump told me that a chair had just fallen over behind me.

"DUDE!" Haakon's muzzle opened, his ears halfway there, to a surprise flat.

A flash of grey and blue filled the very edge of my field of vision. As in slow motion, I was starting to turn my butt on the chair to see what was coming. The blur was too fast for me, however, because the next thing I knew, the whole mass of grey and comfortable blue collided with the tan, towering hunk that stood two feet away from me.

Jessica screamed.

My instincts kicked in and I was up from the chair and on my paws in a blink. It happened at the same time as the two frat boys became a single pile of writhing males on the bar floor. Mason's momentum had been more than enough to throw them both clear down. Haakon had landed hard on his back, with the wolf, flat-eared and flailing-tailed smashing down on him at the very same instant.

AAAND IF YOU ASK ME HOW I'M FEEEEEEELING

_ _

My furs bristled. My mane puffed out and even my tail roughed itself up and lashed out to the side, going into full defense mode. Natural hunter chemicals rushed through my system and put my comfortable urban self into a very uncomfortable savannah mode, all in the space of the couple of seconds it took me to stand up from my neat little chair and get up standing and with my paws clenched into fists by my sides.

"Mason!" I called the wolf's name.

"Mason, what the fuck?" Jessica yelled, rebuffed to the side by the sudden impact upon Haakon. She looked like she was at the verge of panic.

My eyes tracked the sharp, aggressive angle of Mason's arm as it was pulled back.

_ _

DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE TOO BLIND TO SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Mason's paw caught Haakon's fine muzzle with a resounding, audible thump that set my ears into a passionate flick. He let out a muffled snarl when his head twisted to the side from the force of the sudden impact. I could see how Haakon's tail flailed like a whip and I saw his paws clenched, likely out of the pain caused by the punch. His paws were trying to clutch on Mason's back, and I could already see marks there, where Haakon's exposed claws had torn the shirt.

All of it seemed to be moving in slow motion still, even when Mason's knee slammed down onto Haakon's stomach, causing the lynx to make a noise that vaguely sounded like "uuuuhhuuuummmphmph!" It dissolved into a sound that was almost like a bark, falling from Haakon's slack lips.

"Mason!" I couldn't move, even if I did want to, to interfere. I could not let him do this to Haakon, not to anyone, but not...I just HAD to move...

Haakon's paws fell from Mason's back and that seemed to be his cue, for the wolf was already scurrying up from on top of the fallen lynx, already on the move towards the exit. He went past Jessica and disappeared into the mingle of furs, many of whom had turned away from their amusements and were looking over into the direction of my table and what had happened right there in the very front of my eyes.

Then someone cracked up, and the flood washed over us all.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"HEY! HEY!"

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"OOOOOOH MY GOD!"

"SOMEONE CALL NINE ONE ONE!"

"WOOOOOT BAR FIGHT!"

"LOLWHAT THE FUCK!"

NEVER GONNA GIVE NEVER GONNA GIVE

_ _

Jessica scrambled down onto her knees and clung onto Haakon's arm, her tail in a passionate swipe.

"Oh my God Haakon, you alright?" she was practically screaming at him by now.

Haakon lay sprawled on the floor, his tail smacking wildly while he coughed and spluttered, his free paw clutching at his heaving belly. He seemed to be conscious and I couldn't see any blood on his muzzle, so perhaps he wasn't badly hurt...but that punch had looked horrible.

"SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE!" someone screamed.

NEVER GONNA GIVE NEVER GONNA GIVE

A wave of furs approached us, leaving a strange circle of emptiness to surround me, Jessica and Haakon, still on the floor. Curious eyes, many furs with their paws still holding glasses and bottles, built a wall of voyeurism around us, putting me on the very center of their attention. I was practically panting by now with my nerves, as I stood there, wide-eyed, trying to put myself into action, to help Haakon, to find out what the hell had just happened.

"STAND BACK!" someone yelled.

It was the coyote bouncer in his black tank top, approaching us, pushing through the throng of furs blocking his way. His tail swished from side to side in a jerky motion and his paws were clutched into familiar firsts, ready for action. He eyed the fallen lynx briefly before his glare turned at me, full power. My belly churned.

"You mind telling me what's going on here, man?" the coyote's teeth were bare.

NEVER GONNA GIVE NEVER GONNA GIVE

"Hank, I'll call the ambulance, just hang on," Jessica spoke rapidly, leaning close to the shaking head of the lynx. He was trying to say something, I think, but I couldn't hear what it was.

"So?" the coyote snapped, bringing my eyes into focus and fixed at him.

My tail wouldn't stay still.

"You mind telling a bit about what happened, sir?"

NEVER GO-

_ _

The backing track came into an abrupt halt and caused a strange silence to fall over the whole bar. It made my ears flick up, briefly, before the gathered furs remembered that they had been speaking before, and in a flash, the noises exploded back up again, drowning my own agitated breathing and heartbeat away from my ears. I was practically shaking.

"Sir, I will have to call the police if you don't talk right away," the coyote demanded again, giving me an ugly look.

"Well, I think..." I opened my muzzle to speak.

"And let's all...uh...have a round of applause for Ricky for taking onto an 80's classic," it was the vixen on the karaoke stage again, holding onto the mic with a clear air of uncertainty, her big eyes scanning the bar floor.

Nobody clapped their paws.

The coyote turned to look at the vixen and made a vicious gesture over his throat and I saw the vixen give a quick, shaky smile.

"We'll be going on a break now, thank you, everyone," the vixen said very quickly and turned off the mic before she left the stage, dragging the earlier singing fox down with her.

The coyote turned to glare at me once more.

"Haakon!" Jessica was speaking at the lynx again, trying to rouse him up from being literally punch drunk.

Haakon blinked, his ears flat and his muzzle open, and then he hissed something.

"Fitte..."

The coyote looked down at the decked lynx, apparently forgetting me for the moment, now that the victim of the assault was speaking.

"Sir, can you hear me?" the coyote spoke in a loud voice.

"We need to call an ambulance!" Jessica repeated.

"No..." Haakon breathed.

"Sir, you might have a concussion, you need to be checked out," the coyote spoke firmly.

Haakon's eyes opened fully now, looking up to us with the same, familiar intelligence I expected to see in them. They looked almost feverish to me, jumping from me to Jessica to the coyote to the various furs surrounding us still.

"No!"

The lynx coughed once and began to try to get up to his paws, winching a little, so that his eyes almost fell closed, and his ears flattened. Jessica's gaze turned into an even more concerned one.

"Hank, are you alright?" the wolf's eyes looked massive as she stared at the lynx.

The lynx let out a small snarl as he continued his attempt to get back up, grabbing onto Jessica's shoulder. I saw the coyote almost move to stop him, but then it was too late and Haakon was already back up to his paws, bristling, but alright, it seemed to me, although his paw held onto Jessica's arm.

He turned to look at me, still breathing harshly.

"Rory?"

I had no idea what to say, mostly because I had no idea what was going on. I decided to say as much, after a moment of desperate deliberation.

"I don't know, Haakon, he just freaked out, I don't...I don't know, Haakon!"

The coyote eyed me suspiciously.

"You all know each other?" he grunted.

"Why did Mason hit you, Hank?" Jessica spoke again, giving the lynx a passionate look. "What's happening?"

Haakon shrugged.

"Dunno," the lynx shook his head.

The coyote waved his paw to shut us all up.

"I'm going to call the police and the ambulance and we're going to go to the back and we'll look through all this and see that everyone's alright and try to figure out what happened, alright?"

"No need, man," Haakon spoke resolutely, giving the coyote a look. "I'm alright."

Jessica opened her maw to say something, but she was cut short by the coyote, speaking up again.

"You might be in shock and not able to decide on this by yourself, we have to call the police to sort this out, and so that you can press charges against the assaulter."

Haakon shook his head again.

"I've no charges," the lynx rumbled, his eyes moving between the three of us. "Just a...a misunderstanding."

The karaoke vixen pushed herself through the slowly dispersing crowd and into our special space, her face still a mask of intense worry.

"All alright here, Mark?" she spoke tensely, eyeing us all.

"We're sorting this out," the coyote rumbled at her. "You could help me by making sure everyone's there's no unnecessary attention."

"I'm really alright," Haakon continued to speak, "It's just a misunderstanding, he's my friend, it wasn't like he was trying to hurt me."

He sounded convincing enough, but on the back of my mind, I wasn't sure whether the vicious-looking attack had been for real or not. Haakon seemed to think it to be a joke, but I wasn't so sure.

"Maybe you really should go to the hospital, Haakon," I interfered, thinking that it still sounded the most logical thing to do. He had fallen down, after all, maybe he even hit his head when Mason crashed down on him, he might have a concussion or even worse, something that wasn't visible yet.

My thoughts on worst-case scenarios were interrupted by the fact that coursed through my mind, the reality of the knowledge that Mason, the perpetuator in this drama, was still nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared into the crowd and presumably ran out of the bar, past the bouncer -how he'd managed that, I wasn't sure, but there were no Masons in presence.

The coyote cleared his throat.

"And what's your part in all this, sir?" the coyote turned to look at me, intently, putting me onto the unfortunate spot once more, just as I had expected.

I opted for the truth.

"I was having a drink with my friend here and then...Haakon and Jessica arrived, and my friend..." shit this was embarrassing, "my friend hid under the table, and then..."

"He hit Haakon just like that!" Jessica added. "I can't believe it, he's usually so calm..."

She snuffled and I wondered whether she might burst into tears.

"You know the guy who hit him?" the coyote demanded.

"Yeah," she replied, "Mason Stephens, a wolf."

The coyote's eyes turned at me.

"And you were with this wolf, Mason?" the coyote grunted.

"Yeah," I breathed.

Haakon rumbled deeply.

"Hey, really, it's not a big deal," the lynx said, "we had a bit of an argument yesterday, maybe he just kinda snapped when he saw me here and did something he wasn't thinking to do. I'm alright, he didn't do any damage."

Haakon rubbed his muzzle as if to show that it was all safe and sound. Jessica didn't seem so impressed.

"Haakon, he attacked you out of nowhere, he's no right to do that even if you're friends!" the wolf yelled.

Haakon shook his head.

"It's fine, Jessica, don't worry," he tried to smile, but it didn't look so convincing, making me wonder whether he was in some pain that he was trying to hide.

"I really don't know what happened," I muttered lamely, not really knowing what else to say. I didn't know what was going on between Mason and Haakon and Jessica for that matter, but the lynx seemed to imply that they had been arguing before. About what, I didn't know, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to know. I was already too much involved in this mess, whatever was the driving factor behind it, and I didn't want to have my tail singed by getting into yet another relationship tangle, if that'd be the cause.

The coyote folded his arms over his buff chest and gave us all a harsh look.

"Well I can't make anything out of this because you all keep talking over each other and saying one thing and then another," the male grumbled. "I still think we should call the police to sort this out."

Haakon shook his head.

"I think we should just leave in peace, ok?" the frat boy said firmly. "Let everyone continue having fun here in peace and we'll be out."

"I'm really not very comfortable with that," the coyote said roughly. "We don't like this kind of trouble here."

"So we'll be off and will stay away, okay?" Haakon huffed, obviously annoyed by the whole situation and the coyote especially. "Is that good enough?"

"There's still the matter of the assault," the coyote noted, sharp eyes still moving over Haakon, as if assessing any injuries he might have received from the sudden attack upon his person.

"I know he didn't mean anything by it," Haakon spoke firmly. "I'm okay. He didn't mean to hurt me."

It seemed to me that this wasn't going anywhere, and with a deep breath, I cleared my throat and my senses, and decided that it was time for action from me, too.

"I'll go with them, "I spoke, trying to project an aura of maturity around me," I know them, I'll take care of these two and make sure the wolf won't be doing anything else tonight, I promise you that."

The coyote looked dubious.

"What's your relation to these two?" he asked.

"I'm a friend," I spoke simply. "I can take care of them, I'm not drunk or anything, and we all just want things to be fine, okay?"

The coyote rubbed his chin, giving us a dark look, as if sizing me up.

"I don't really like this, but I want this sorted out," the coyote said. "If you promise to go home and not come back here any time soon, I think you should could."

"I can promise that there will be no further trouble," I said with a nod. "I guarantee that personally."

The coyote still seemed quite dubious of my assurances, but then he finally nodded, his tail flicking sharply behind him.

"Just don't show your faces here any time soon, okay?"

"We won't," I repeated firmly. "We'll be right on our way."

The coyote harrumphed.

"I'm really sorry about this all, "I added feebly.

"Just get out of here now, please, move along," the coyote's words sounded final.

"We're on our way," I said, turning to gesture at Haakon and Jessica with my paw.

"Let's go," the lynx spoke to the wolf, quietly, hoarsely.

I trailed the two as we made our way through the bar, inviting even further looks and whispered words from the patrons, always curious for something fun to happen, I was sure. I failed to see the amusement, being on this side of things.

I was still shaking, physically so, when we filed out to Marsh Avenue and into the slightly cool night air. It swallowed me and made me realize how clammy my skin was, under my still bristling furs. My head felt like it was reeling, and the rush of fresh air didn't seem to be helping much.

We only walked a few steps away from the shop before Haakon turned around and looked at me, tall, impressive, imposing, and obviously distraught. The easygoing face was gone and he seemed stark now, looking at me sharply, with intent, and clear unease, his eyes boring down on me. His tail flicked rapidly behind him, no longer that easy loop that was so nice to look at.

"What the fuck's going on, Rory?" the younger male spoke harshly, his tongue flashing between his white teeth as he spoke, grumbling edges to his voice. "What the hell's happening?"

Jessica glared at me, too, making me feel even more self-conscious.

"I don't know," I replied truthfully, "I went out here to get a drink with Mason after work, and the moment you walk in, he goes hiding under the table and then hits you. I've no idea what that was."

Jessica's tall ears flicked sharply.

"Dude's messed up," she shrugged. "Oh Jesus..."

Haakon put his arm around her and gave her a firm squeeze.

"Come on," he rumbled, "it's fine."

"No it's not," she snorted. "Mason hit you, and you're his best friend! That's messed up!"

"I dunno why he did it but I know he didn't mean it," the lynx spoke to her quickly.

I frowned a little and decided to voice something that was nagging at the back of my mind.

"You...well, Haakon, you did say you had an argument with Mason, did you?"

Haakon shook his head.

"I lied to get that bouncer off my back," he replied.

My eyes widened a little.

"You didn't argue?"

"Nope," Haakon said, "thought that'd make more sense than just a random punch. Otherwise he'd just called the cops thinking that he was some random crazy fur doing that to me."

"This is all messed up," Jessica growled, sounding surprisingly gruff for being so much of a girl and of such small stature in comparison to the big and buff cat.

"Dude's got issues," Haakon shrugged, "dunno why he did it, seriously, I'm worried about him, man!"

I saw him start to dig out his phone from his pocket, and realized what he had in mind.

"No," I said quickly, causing him to stop with his paw stuffed in his pocket.

"Whut?" Haakon snapped.

"I should call him, or send him a text," I continued. "He might not want to answer anything coming from you, thinking that you're angry with him."

"Of course I'm angry," Haakon huffed, "but I'm more worried about him than that, man, I don't want anything bad to happen to him!"

I frowned even further.

"Do you have any idea where he might've gone?" I asked, my eyes rolling along the Marsh Avenue as if trying to catch a glimpse of the disappeared wolf.

"Back home to Rawlings dorms maybe," Haakon replied, "I dunno, even that sounds like a long shot."

"Well maybe we really should call the police," Jessica offered, "if he's gone running away and maybe in danger to himself or something, if he's drunk and all that."

"He's not drunk," I said, "he only had a couple of sips from a...a..Tail Twister."

"It's still not like him to be violent," Haakon continued, "Rory, could you please...do it, then?"

"Sure," I pulled my phone out of my pocket, and after a moment's deliberation, opted for a text instead, starting to type quickly.

---

Mason we're all

worried about you

Haakon is fine

and worried

we want you to

call as soon as possible

so that we know

you're alright

please

Rory

_ _

I read it through quickly and then sent out the message into cyberspace, hoping that it would reach the wolf, wherever he was.

"There we go, "I spoke awkwardly, looking at the two worried furs in front of me.

Haakon was rubbing his belly again, frowning with obvious discomfort.

"Shit, man..." he shook his head.

"Poor Hank," Jessica kept rubbing his arm with her paw, looking at him with concerned eyes.

"I don't care, I just want to know Mason's alright," the lynx replied. "I'm fine."

I wasn't so sure.

*

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