The Fox and The Hound.
The Fox and The Hound
By Roofles
Even as the sun began to set, he would just look up into the darkening sky. And watch the clouds, as they drifted by...
"Come on, come on!" Johnnie insisted, tugging on Ian's arm. Gripping it with both hands, the red fox just beamed at the larger hound. "It's going to start without us." He whined though that smile never slipped from his face.
"Alright," Ian grumbled gruffly folding his ears back in embarrassment. His eyes kept looking over at the others around them. How they looked at the two as if they were some strange oddities in a museum. He never liked the attention Johnnie coveted. "Alright," he said once more with a deep sigh and a chuckling shake of his head.
Shrugging his large brown fur shoulders, the fox hound looked down at his smaller companion. And got a tail swishing wag in return from the bright eyed fox. They were but teenagers then with little care or concern for the future, just living in the moment.
It was a cold night and the two stood in that line for almost an hour. Ten minutes in Johnnie was hugging himself, trying to fight against the shivers crawling up his arms and making his knees bang painfully together.
"It's what you get for wearing shorts." Ian grumbled as if in annoyance. The hound rolled off his brown leather coat and put it over the fox's shoulders, looking the other way afterward. He was unconsciously flexing for the friend at his side. The hound had always felt the need to show off for him, and then he wasn't ever sure as to why.
Johnnie's large white tip ears splayed and he looked away, abashed, as he held the coat tighter around himself. It was warm and smelled strongly of the hounds musk. The fox leaned against the larger male and the two waited in silence. Ian placed an arm around him, resting a hand on his shoulder, and left it at that. A bro hug nothing more even if his fingers held the fox so tightly both knew he wouldn't be able to get away unless the hound let him.
"Two." Ian said giving the clerk the peace sign. The raccoon behind the bars popped his gum, chewed a few times as his eyes lazily looked between the two.
"Fifteen bucks." The raccoon said as he continued to chew unashamed.
Ian pulled his wallet out and handed a twenty over and waved off the change, though he doubted that he'd actually get in return. "It's on me." The wolf said as he moved passed the bars and open the Ferris wheel's door for the fox.
"I'll find a way to return the favor." Johnnie winked, letting his tail drag along Ian's thigh before zipping inside after the fox. Ian rolled his eyes but smiled and he got in, slamming the door shut behind him.
The foxhound kicked his boots up on the other side, tipped his cowboy hat back and looked out the window as the machine began to roll. This was a nice night. Cloudless sky with stars twinkling above, a warm summer breeze blowing and the smell of the fair grounds filling his nose. Along with that of the fox sitting inside this box cart with him. It was a night he'd never forget.
Lights had lit up over the fair grounds and along the Ferris wheel itself giving the two a spectacular view over looking their small town. Johnnie was standing up, wide eyed as he pressed his snout against the window and looked out over the world far below as the ferris wheel rocked into motion. His breath fogged up the glass.
He always did like heights.
"Enjoying yourself?" Ian chuckled watching the fox more so than the outside world. It didn't really matter after all. Johnnie just smiled open maw as his tail swished back and forth. "I wish every day could be like this." Ian muttered softly as he finally turned his head, eyes lazily following shortly after and looked out towards the world outside. It became blurring along with his memories as he could only truly recall the feel of the seat under him and that swaying motion of the rickety cart they were in. The hound was afraid it'd fall off.
"Can't it?" Johnnie asked having turned towards him. The hound smiled softly but his eyes alone told the truth. A warm sadness filled those cloudy grays like storm clouds.
"Why not?" Johnnie laughed, smiled as he placed his hands behind his back. The fox bent over, smiling with closed eyes and a tail swishing back and forth nosing at the dog. "We had before. Just the two of us and the world on a silver platter for our delight."
"You know we can't." Ian said slowly sitting up properly and tipping his hat down over his watering eyes.
The Ferris wheel stopped abruptly though the two didn't even move.
"This was a good night." Johnnie murmurred softly facing out the window and into the white screen of light that was the only thing that could be seen. "It was the first night I was able to sneak away from my folks. When dad caught me," he chuckled softly, weakly with a dry sound to it. "He beat my tail good for that one."
Ian didn't say anything on the matter and just looked down at the floor.
"Well," Johnnie moved past him and opened the door, warmth rolled out of it and into the shrinking space around them. Light poured inside and a golden wooden floor allowed for the fox to simply walk out. "Let's go somewhere else then, this one has grown rather regretful. You never did kiss me this night."
"Johnnie." Ian pressed standing up. The fox slipped out and the fox hound could only follow after him with a quick jog. From the corner of his eye Ian could see the door shut behind them. He spun in a slow circle, still heading after the fox, and looked around them. "I never liked this place." He grumbled as he spun back around and walked over to the fox who had stopped with his hands behind his back, as he so often did.
Johnnie hwas rocking back and forth on the heels of his paws looking up at the giant skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex. His muzzle dipped down as he read over the sign. The museum was warm even though Ian remembered it was the middle of winter. It wasn't crowded and they were practically the only two inside. Still the cold cement underneath them made everything in this large open space seem desolate and dead; the sound of his steps echoing around the dome like room.
"Did you know." Johnnie said in an upbeat tone. "The most completed T-rex is currently in Chicago named Sue. Eighty five percent complete." The fox frowned at this and looked at the model in front of them. "So this is just a fake?"
"I did know that." Ian said but shrugged. "Not that I cared." He looked at the giant in front of them before looking around at the paintings. "It's just a model. Can't just find full T-rex's all over the place."
"Why not?" Johnnie protested looking over his shoulder at him. He smiled though at the hound and Ian returned it before bowing his head a bit. "Aren't you having fun?" The fox asked a bit concerned, his voice lowering a bit. His head soon followed. "I thought it'd be nice. You know?" He shrugged a shoulder and looked away. "It was snowing and this place was so warm and cozy. A good place to duck into and hide away from it..." And Ian knew he wasn't just talking about the snow.
"Yeah." Ian nodded once and looked up before avoiding the fox's eyes. "I wanted to go camping."
"And fishing." Johnnie stuck his tongue out at him. "In the middle of winter, no less! Who does that?"
Ian shrugged a smile. "Come on," he motioned and the fox gladly joined him and they began heading around the place. Looking at the abstract art, the statues and puzzle boxes. There was a tiny Egyptian style section, next to an older World War II one. They spent most their time here looking over various old guns and vehicles that filled the warehouse sized room. It was after all in the neighboring city to their small town, a place for them to go to to hang out without a soul knowing who they were.
As they headed out the way they entered from a long hallway with paintings covering both walls awaited them. It stretched as far as the eye could be seen and with every step the world behind them seem to shrink away and vanish. From cold cement floor to a welcoming carpet.
"You know." Johnnie began skipped ahead and turning around with folded arms once more behind his back. "I never liked taking the straight 'n narrow path. It's so boring and predictable." And with that plucked a painting off the wall. He gave it the once over and nodded to himself.
"H-hey!" Ian said in a hushed tone looking around but couldn't help the smile on his face. Without the fox the hound could be a real boyscout, someone that only followed the rules and never had any fun.
Johnnie set the picture of a forest path on the ground, tilted it a bit and pressed a foot against it. The painting stretched before his leg went through and stepped onto the dirt path within. The rest of him soon followed. "Coming?" He asked looking over before walking fully inside.
And with a roll of his eyes Ian did.
The air was fresh, clean and that of the forest. Spring was rolling in. Flowers were blooming on their sides and the trees above, in the morning light, were still glistening with dew drops. A creek ran on their side, hidden amongst the tangled forest floor. They could hear it, smell it but couldn't see it. Birds sung above and other than the crunch of twigs under foot it was the silence and noise of nature.
"This wasn't that bad of a hike." Ian chuckled seeing the fox already beginning to lag behind. "If you didn't chug energy drinks and actually slept during the night you wouldn't be so tired."
"Used too!" Johnnie pointed out growling a bit but shook his head. "Old days catching up to me." He coughed like an old man and bent his back, hobbling along as if he had to use a cane. "The outdoors, nature, takes it all out of me. Need artificial light and chemicals."
"Caught up to you, right." Ian pointed out and got a pink tongue sticking out at him in return. "Party boy to nature man." The hound gave a toothy grin and got a twig thrown at him.
"Sorry we can't all be the beer drinking, belly belching, bed farting-,"
"I apologized for that one!" Ian cut in with a frown.
"And wild nature man that you are, cowboy." Johnnie gave a wink and eyed the canines boots. Ian looked down and shifted his feet.
"Old habit." He shrugged and the two just dismissed it as they continued walking.
"I rather go to a park than hike in some god forsaken place as this." Johnnie murmurred looking around but still his eyes drifted up towards the cloudy sky and gave a soft smile in turn. "Hm... I wonder though about it all."
Ian folded his ears at the G word.
"In fact." Johnnie said jumping off the beaten path and began pushing through the thickets of the tangled forest. "I think I rather go this way."
The fox forced two branches apart and hopped out onto the neatly trimmed lawn behind them. Ian rolled his eyes and followed after.
It was a golf course at a local country club near town. Flags stuck up here and there, some on mounds and some past sand traps and water holes. There were white lawn chairs and tables set up off to the side next to the country club building the two began to stroll towards.
"I wonder if your brother is working today." Ian said.
"I hope not." Johnnie frowned as they pushed the door open. A banquet awaited them and the fox gladly jogged over to help himself. "They had the best breakfast bunch here. French toast as if it came directly FROM France!"
"Yes, I'm sure they shipped it here directly from France." Ian laughed along as he helped himself filling his plate up with bacon, eggs and covering everything in warm syrup.
"They say it's free and that you can take as much like. But they always did get angry when we did come around." The fox said shooing off the faceless goon that had come over to nag them about how much they were allowed to take. "Dude needs to lighten up, pull the stick out of his ass and chill-lax."
"Says the party boy." Ian frowned as he set the plate aside and followed after the fox who was heading towards the back room leading into the kitchen. "And look where you ended up." There was a soft beeping sound but Johnnie waved it off.
"Yeah, well at least I had fun." The fox stuck his tongue out and vanished into the back room. "Bro worked here often, never really had home. Leaving me to deal with our dad." It was the first time the fox seemed to be bothered by something. He had stopped in the sterilized kitchen amongst the pots and pans and was looking as a faceless fox who was cutting up fresh vegetables.
"Can't blame him can you?" Ian said as he looked from the fox to the other.
"No, your right." Johnnie shook his head and moved past the hound. He patted his chest once. "And you should too, forgive him. No one could've seen what happened."
"I know. I should've though. I should've seen it coming, there were signs and I just-," Ian said getting louder as he spoke a bit distraught as he spoke.
"Relax." Johnnie just smiled and opened the freezer door. "No one blames you for it. Everyone was happier after all." And the door began to shut as the fox walked into the cold darkness.
"Not everyone." Ian said softly and once more found himself following after the fox. Without him around he was rather stagnant and had no place to go.
It was a nice change of scenery, away from town after high school and the two had become adults planning on heading to college. It was raining that day when Johnnie finally told his folks. Ian waited outside getting drenched in the downpour.
Johnnie emerged from the house with blood shot eyes and bloody lip. "Seen better days," he laughed wiping his muzzle off. His eyes were still blood shut and his cheeks tear stained.
"I told you not too."
"And it wasn't exactly like I couldn't just run away without telling them." Johnnie said back defensively.
"You could have. You should have. And now look at you." Ian growled motioning at the blood on his shirt, the fact he hadn't even grabbed his coat and he had only one shoe on. "You look like a mess. And all because you had to tell your family about it."
"Well...it's family." Johnnie just shrugged one shoulder and looked away. He could be stupidely stubborn Ian recalled.
"Yes, I recall..." Ian nearly spat as his face darkened. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes trying to shake off these memories. "You never really got over it though."
"Like your parents were cream and sugar." Johnnie was the one to roll his eyes this time around.
"No. At least they didn't smack me around when they got bored." Ian said back and bit his lip after regretting it.
The rain had stopped but everything had grown cold as the world around them once more faded away into nothing. And empty blackness sunk in leaving only the patch of grass they stood on.
"It wasn't all bad." Johnnie said softly looking over to see the family picnic.
"Yeah, I know." Ian said just as softly and placed a hand on the fox's shoulder. "And I wanted to show you such a world." The sun began to shine above but it's warm rays never fell on them. Just the faceless family of foxes with kits running around.
"Yeah..." Johnnie nodded along. There was a techno beat that began to echo towards them before everything changed and a floor slid underneath them, dim lights flicked on an bodies appeared around them beginning to dance in the night club Ian had found the fox in.
Johnnie was drunk and hopped up on countless things drooling over some leather bound lion that had kept slipping him something under the table. Ian ended up tossing the fox over his shoulder and carrying him out trying to ignore the puking that followed and the clean up that took rest of the night.
The sobbing, crying and ugliness that always came after it all.
"Took me late into the morning to get you all cleaned up, showered and changed before getting you into bed." Ian wiped his shoulder off with a grimace.
"Yeah, not my best moment." The fox nodded looking at the scene with a frown. "I still don't recall any of this," he half chuckled.
"I don't doubt it," Ian sighed with a shake of his head. "You could've come to me. Talked to me about it. Rather than...than this!" He nearly shouted waving at the scene.
"We stopped talking for like a year and a half." Johnnie muttered looking away.
"You distanced yourself, not me." Ian growled now. "You were the one that didn't like our stale life. Needed the excitement. Needed to go out and...and...this!" He just finished spitting the word out at the scene. "If your brother hadn't called who knows what would've happened."
"Well it didn't." Johnnie growled back.
"Do you remember what you said to me after?" The fox hound asked with a frown.
The fox fumbled with his words. "Thank you?" He offered weakly with a half smile.
"Party N' Play boys never says sorry." Ian said coldly. He just shook his head. "You just couldn't handle the fact we were happy. It all was too safe! Too good! You had to go off and ruin it somehow, again I might add!"
"Just shut up." The fox turned his back.
"We had our own place! We had friends and we were making a life for ourselves. And you? Hah, you just had to go and do whatever the hell you wanted!"
"I said shut up!" The fox just growled back darkly.
"And for what? Cause being happy was too good? That you didn't deserve that?"
"Yes!" The fox said turning around and jabbing a finger at him. His fur had lost its luster and his face was a bit sunken in and deep bags hung under his eyes. "We didn't deserve anything! We're freaks of nature. Going straight to hell! We don't deserve anything more than that. Hated, ridiculed, mocked, spat on, beat up, thrown out... My own father broke my leg." He half chuckled now looking up with those blood shot, tear stained eyes. "And for what? 'Cause a fag doesn't deserve to be alive. Just a mistake..." He finished looking away.
"Johnnie..." Ian said reaching out but the fox seemed to be slipping away from his, once more.
"It was too much for me. Everything. Forsaken by my God, my parents hated me, my own siblings abandoned and ignored me... Rejected from the military, beat up for...for nothing at all!" He gave a dry laugh. "So yeah, I escaped. Escaped from it all! And drinking wasn't enough. Smoking a joint, popping a few pills, mixing things up, shooting... It just..." Johnnie looked away rubbing his arm. "And then it happened. All because I cheated on you, once again, heh..."
"We agreed we'd have an open relationship." Ian said taking a step forward.
"Yeah, I did. You never did. You always just waited for me and that was that. You just...you deserved better, Ian." Johnnie muttered under his breath. "You ever got tested after...it happened?"
"Yeah. I'm clean." Ian said looking at the fox.
Who just chuckled. "You were smart to use protection. I wish I could've been so. Everyone would be happier if I wasn't around. If I hadn't just been born..."
"That's not true." Ian growled now, furious about that. "That's what every says when they try to do it. Things will be better, it's too hard, trying to take the fucking easy way out!" He snarled at the fox who only splayed his ears and looked away. "Those who commit suicide only hurt everyone else. Taking the easy way out and leaving everyone else to have to deal with it, to have to live with it. Always questioning if they could've done something. Said something different to change it all. That they should've seen the signs and...just..." The hound shook his head. "Damnit, Johnnie. Why did you..."
The grass underneath their feet was damp and the rain was still falling from above. Ian was dressed in a black suit and an umbrella was above his head as he looked down at the stone slab sticking out of the ground.
"So many people came here." Ian muttered looking around at the faceless crowd. Some stood, some remained seated and all were here for the same reason.
"Yeah. Your friends, not mine." Johnnie said standing next to him, once more just as he had been before. Clean cut, glossy fur and a large smile on his face. "Life just wasn't kind, and I was just too weak... You made it through it all." And the fox looked up at the clouds once more.
"Yeah and it wasn't easy. It only gets harder from here on, you know. Even with it all in the end days, I still had you... And now? Now what Johnnie? Now what?" Ian asked turning around and his face dropped as the only one standing next to him was his friend Aaron. The raccoon lifted an eyebrow at him.
"Now what, what?" Aaron asked and Ian just looked away, down at the grave and held his tongue wishing he could just remain in the memories that were beginning to fade away with it all. It was easier to live in the past than face the future and as he looked up towards the clouds, he wondered how he'd manage.