FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Next Day

Once again, the snow-capped mountains and blissful weather meant that the morning was absolutely immaculate. There was already a massive line of vacationers and winter-enthusiasts outside the main ski resort, which left a sizable blob of attendees wearing the brightest colors amongst all the powdery snow. The slopes were already getting a steady amount of riders, littering each hillside with numerous black dots like ants trailing down a big scoop of ice cream. Fortunately, despite how packed the main resort may have been, there were plenty of areas for someone to unwind and have a more tranquil morning amongst friends.

Just away from the main section of the resort, a small cafe was set up right at the corner of the road leading to the entrance. The structure itself was fairly old, with half of it being held atop tall wooden poles while it was overlooking a steep cliff. The vintage tables and decor made it clear that this place was built long before the resort came around; and due to its unvarnished small-town charm, it was thankfully unclaimed by the swarms of skiers congregating nearby. Instead, aside from a few locals hunched inside of the cafe for a quick breakfast or a cheap cup of coffee, the back patio was completely vacant while two couples were lounging comfortably.

Marzo and Eirjan had their winter gear back at the cabin, and were wearing more casual attire while taking their friends out for breakfast. Marzo was wearing an old hoodie to cover up his tattoo sleeves, while Eirjan borrowed his boyfriend’s denim jacket for comfort. Lost Way and Crash decided to wear the sweaters they were gifted the previous year, which were both made with dark green wool with intricate knitted patterns; even though the matching sweaters was a bit dorky for either of their tastes, neither of them seemed to mind while seated with their chairs pushed in close. Heck, the pegasus and zebra practically looked joined to the hip, not even pulling away when the waitress arrived with their food.

“Ooh, now that’s what I’m talking about!” Marzo grinned wide when his large plate was presented, with nearly a pound of potatoes smothered in cheese and white gravy on top. Eirjan got himself a more sensible meal of granola and yogurt with mixed fruit, but he made sure to steal some of Marzo’s food as a side. Crash and Lost Way both took advantage of the restaurant’s waffle special, and were given two identical plates of their golden-brown fluffiness. However, just as Crash was about to reach for the small container of maple syrup, Marzo picked it up first to add to the side of his plate.

“Ugh!” Lost reeled back a little with a grossed-out look on his face. “Seriously, dude? Syrup on potatoes?!”

“Well, obviously not just with syrup…” Marzo proved his point after putting down the syrup, and he got out of his seat to grab a bottle of hot sauce left on one of the other vacant tables. It was just a basic vinegar-based “sauce” without too much heat, but it was good enough for the zebra to add to his meal. He gave a generous dollop across his pile of potatoes, as well as in the little pool of syrup. He got back in his chair before using his fork to stir the syrup and hot sauce together.

“Ooohhh…” Crash went wide-eyed with intrigue, and his sights turned back to his own plate. He was inspired enough to try something similar, and made sure to smother his waffles in syrup before grabbing the red bottle. Lost Way gawked at him for a moment, but stayed silent as he watched Crash add a little hot sauce to the first piece on his fork. As soon as he popped it into his muzzle, his face lit up in delighted surprise. “MMMM!!~”

The pegasus immediately added more hot sauce to the whole waffle, while Marzo just chuckled in approval. “See? I told you it’s a good combo~” He began to enjoy his own meal in satisfaction, while Lost Way just shot a light scoff towards Eirjan. The red zebra shrugged while smirking innocently.

“What, are you really that surprised? Remember when Marzo drank that whole bottle of tabasco for that bet?”

Marzo grinned a little wider, and swallowed before speaking up. “Oh yeah! That was the easiest forty bucks I ever won.”

“Wait, really?” Crash stopped eating so he could tilt his head with a puzzled look. “Didn’t you say you once got that much cash after sending someone a picture of your feet?”

“Well, that was a FinDom thing, so that’s a little different. Fair point though…” After shrugging his shoulders, Marzo looked over at Lost and added, “Still though, the spicy and sweet make a great combination. It wouldn’t hurt to try some…”

Lost Way sighed and rolled his eyes, clearly bemused by the idea. However, Crash was quick to point out, “Hey, it wouldn’t be the wildest thing you tried this weekend~”

Marzo and Eirjan chuckled with knowing smirks, which was enough to make Lost squirm a little in his seat. But even with his cheeks blushing heavily, he couldn't hide the flustered smile that emerged beneath his crimson glow. Crash had to cover his muzzle to hide his snickering, but his brief chortle was audible enough to make Lost sigh in relent. “Okay, okay! You made a very valid point, honey…”

Lost Way reluctantly tried the same process as his boyfriend, and tried a bite of his waffles with hot sauce as well. While he couldn’t say it was the best flavor combination, he had to pause briefly enough for his brows to flag up in surprise. He ended up shrugging his head before swallowing. “Hmmm… Alright, that is pretty good…”

“Ha!” Marzo let a cockier grin show as he pointed at him with his fork. “Told you~”

Eirjan quickly covered his face while giggling to himself. The other three looked back at the zebra, which made him breathe out in a huff before saying, “Sorry, I just… I was imagining if Marzo acted like that after the cage stuff~”

It took Marzo a moment to think that mental image over, which was enough time to leave both of the couple’s friends blushing hard. Marzo eventually snickered to himself, and he had to shake his head with a scoff. “Oh, jeeze… That’d probably be the opposite of aftercare.”

“It’d also be kinda rude,” added Crash after taking another bite of his spicy waffles. “At least, depending on how he said it, y’know?”

Lost Way averted his eyes from the three with a light shrug. “Eh… I probably would’ve deserved that.”

“Now, now. C’mon, don’t act like that.” Marzo reached out and gave the zebra a firm, but supportive nudge to the shoulder to catch his focus. When Lost looked back at him, Marzo carried a warmer smile to help ease his guilt. “Everything is settled now, right? There’s no use dwelling on past mistakes like that. It’s like that old saying: ‘Forgive yourself once, then move on.’”

Lost Way and Crash blinked a couple times, clearly surprised by how wise that line actually sounded in context. Meanwhile, Eirjan just huffed and rolled his eyes with a knowing smirk. He leaned in close to Marzo and whispered in his ear, “You stole that from a cartoon~”

Marzo tried to silently nudge his boyfriend with a shush. Meanwhile, Crash turned his head and said to Lost, “Honestly, I have to agree with Marzo here. I mean, both of us did overcome a lot of stuff this weekend.”

“Yeah, I know…” Lost Way tried not to look at Crash’s comforting smile, but his blush remained present to show he wasn’t too uncomfortable to continue speaking. “A-And I agree with you guys too. I do, I just…” He needed a few seconds to think of the right words, which he eventually found after a brief exhale. “Heh… I guess it’s just… I didn’t expect to be on the receiving end of all that…”

He may have been a bit flustered to clarify his words, but that probably wasn’t needed in a public venue like this. Eirjan and Marzo still nodded in understanding, with the former speaking up first.

“Well, as long as you had a good experience overall, that should be all that matters, right?”

“And I gotta say,” added Marzo as he shot the zebra a more confident smirk, “I was very impressed by how well you handled everything! Trust me, I’ve had clients twice your size who crumpled after a minute in one of those cages~”

Marzo took a sip from his glass of orange juice, but he quickly put it down to add, “And when I say ‘twice your size’, I mean overall size. Not like, anatomy-wise or anything.”

Lost Way tried not to look offended as he scoffed with a natural smirk. “Hmph~ Dude, I’m not that insecure about my dick.”

“I wasn’t saying you were,” assured Marzo sincerely. “Besides, I can say with experience that there are very… VERY few guys who would actually be twice your size down there~”

“Yeah, totally,” added Eirjan with a nod. “And by that point, it’d likely be too big to even do anything with.”

“Well, perhaps if you’re creative enough~” That little quip got Marzo a sharp nudge from Eirjan’s elbow, but he still chuckled to himself. It was still enough to get Lost Way smiling more naturally, which Crash was happy to notice.

“Well, what matters is that we both had fun, right?” He pulled out one of his wings to drape around Lost’s back. “And considering how well things went for both of us, I can’t say I have any regrets about coming out here with you~”

Lost Way sighed with a look of relief, and smiled back at him graciously. “Aww… Thanks, dude~”

The two leaned in and shared a light kiss, both of their cheeks blushing quite visibly. Marzo and Eirjan took that moment to stop eating, and they shared a look with one another. Neither of them said a word, and just kept a pair of knowing smirks on their muzzles. By the time Crash and Lost’s lips broke apart, the other couple resumed with their plates without their friends noticing anything.

“So…” Lost didn’t add more hot sauce to his plate, but he stuffed another forkful of waffle in his muzzle before asking, “Tho, whaf fe planf for la’er?”

Crash glanced over at him and answered, “Well, swallowing your food might be a good first step.”

Lost just huffed through his nostrils, and then swallowed his mouthful. “Hey, come on now. You know very well I know how to swallow~”

“All of us do,” noted Marzo without any hesitation. “That’s not really anything special~”

Lost rolled his eyes with a shrug. “Ehh, fair point.”

“Anyways…” Eirjan cleared his throat to catch their attention, before motioning back to Lost to answer his question. “Marzo and I weren’t planning anything specific for the rest of this trip. We could easily just do what we’ve been doing already, unless either of you have any special ideas worth sharing…”

He raised a brow towards the other couple, which made them pause long enough for their blushes to deepen the tiniest bit. Crash and Lost shared a brief lok, but the two ended up shrugging without much to say. “Well, uhhh…” Crash turned back to Eirjan and said, “We didn’t have much to suggest in regards to plans or whatever…”

After a couple seconds of silence, Eirjan and Marzo looked at each other before the latter tilted his head towards Crash. “... but?”

That question was fairly an assumption, since the pegasus’ words seemed to have trailed off without much of a confirmed end. It turned out that Marzo’s guess was correct, as it led to the stallion sighing with a reluctant nod. “... but, ummm… the two of us have, uhhh… we ended up talking a lot last night…”

Marzo and Eirjan raised their brows in surprise, having remembered sharing the night with both of them in separate rooms. But at the same time, they understood that a lot could happen in one night, and there was plenty of time for them to have had a moment together. Lost Way took that opportunity to hold onto Crash’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. That seemed to do a lot for Crash’s confidence, as he was able to smile a bit wider after breathing out through his snout.

“Thanks, hun… But, uhhh… Yeah, after you two fell asleep, I kinda snuck out to get myself something from the kitchen, and… well, he was already there.”

“Mmhmm. I was making myself a grilled cheese, and he ended up joining me.”

“Wait, when did this happen?” asked Marzo, who had to look back at Eirjan confusingly. “I was sleeping in the living room with Lost! How did I not smell or hear them?”

“Oh, this was around, like…” Crash tapped his chin with a finger in thought. “Uhhh… three, I think?”

“Ehh, more like three-thirty,” added Lost. “Although it was nearly five by the time we got out of the hot tub.”

“Oh?” Now it was Eirjan’s turn to look surprised. “Wait, how did you get it working without us?”

Crash responded, “There was an instruction manual in one of the kitchen drawers. Really helpful!”

“Yeah, we were only in there for a half-hour or so. Still a lot of time to talk things out in private.” Lost Way blinked a couple times, and then added with a shrug, “You know, as ‘private’ as could be while outdoors.”

“It was still really nice,” added Crash, who tightened his wing around Lost’s back. “Lost and I got to talk a lot about what happened, and I can safely say we’re doing a lot better.”

“Well, that's great!” Marzo leaned in closer to Eirjan’s side, and mimicked Crash by wrapping an arm around the zebra’s back. “So, what did you guys talk about?”

“If that’s not too personal or anything,” Eirjan quickly noted, with Marzo nodding his head beside him.

“Don’t worry, it was mostly me opening up…” Lost Way sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, but he was still sitting comfortably within Crash’s embrace. He was still blushing while averting his eyes from the two. “I… I admitted that I was a bit self-conscious about myself, and… when Crash was placed in a more submissive role with you guys, I think I just… I felt like I had to one-up things and feel more superior, y’know?”

“That makes sense,” said Marzo with an understanding nod. “I think we all get a little carried away sometimes.”

“And I made it absolutely clear that I’d never actually do something like that!”

“Yes, we know, honey…” Crash was quick to say that himself, his smile remaining as sincere as his words. “And I know myself well enough to know you couldn’t even try that anyway~”

Lost Way chuckled with a reluctant nod of his own. “You know what? That’s absolutely true. And I’ll even add that he could very easily kick my ass.”

The other three all laughed, with even Crash needing to cover his mouth to hide his giggling. But at the same time, Crash and Lost were still sitting happily beside one another. The pegasus was the first to stop laughing, and he spoke up on Lost’s behalf.

“We also may have uhhhh… Reacquainted ourselves a little while in the tub together~” He turned his smirk towards Lost. “And I must say, he did a wonderful job redeeming himself the second time around.”

“Heh~ So did you, stud…” Lost Way planted a deeper kiss on Crash’s muzzle, and the two shared a more heated kiss for a couple seconds. Marzo and Eirjan smiled warmly at each other, feeling a mixture of happiness and pride for their close friends.

“I am really… REALLY glad to hear that, guys.” Marzo and Eirjan held hands while the tattooed zebra smiled back at the other two. “If anyone deserves that kind of happiness, it’s you two~”

“Awww, thanks.” Crash tried to hide how hard he was blushing through his bashful smile. Meanwhile, Lost Way took a moment to think over Marzo’s statement with a skewed muzzle. He then shrugged his shoulders a little, remaining close to Crash’s side while looking back at their friends.

“Well, about that…” When Marzo and Eirjan looked back at him, Lost tightened his squeeze on Crash’s hand. “... We were talking a lot last night, and… Well, we’re certainly not denying that statement one bit. We certainly do deserve that kind of happiness together…”

Once again, that telling pause was enough to catch the zebras’ attention. Marzo narrowed his eyes on the two, and waited a couple seconds to ask once more: “... But?”

Much to their surprise, both Lost and Crash smiled a little more genuinely while the former nodded.

“But…” Lost Way looked back at Crash one last time, with the stallion nodding without apprehension. That was when the zebra turned back to their friends to state, “When it comes to happiness we share, we both realized that… We don’t want to be the only ones~”

Eirjan and Marzo stared back at the two, silent enough for their friends to practically hear the gears turning in their heads. Eirjan blinked a couple times, but he tried not to let his optimism show when he widened his eyes. “Wait… Wh… What do you mean by that?”

“What we mean is…” Crash took a deep breath, speaking up for himself and Lost while smiling at the zebras across from them. “... we would really like it if… maybe you two would uhhh… j-join us…”

As soon as those last two words came out of his muzzle, he had to close his eyes with a preparatory wince. Lost Way kept his sights on their friends, keeping a tight grip on Crash’s hand for support. Marzo and Eirjan didn’t need any clarification on what the stallion said, as they were left speechless for a few seconds with their eyes wide-open. The two looked at each other in bewilderment, which was enough to make Lost turn his head away nervously. Fortunately, neither of the zebras seemed to be reacting negatively, with Marzo being the first to turn his head back towards them.

“... Guys, are you…” After a moment, Marzo and Eirjan brought their hands onto the table, still holding them for Crash and Lost to see. “Are you asking for us to be… together?”

“Like…” Eirjan gulped a little, but kept a faint smile as he asked through a weaker tone of voice, “... a-all four of us?”

Crash and Lost both glanced back at the two, seeing how the zebras were staring back at them with… hope? Nervousness, perhaps? It wasn’t abundantly clear while the zebras had their expressions frozen in semi-neutrality. But after hearing their words, Lost Way took a breath when he bit his lip. Crash slowly pulled his arm up, still holding onto Lost’s hand when he brought them to the table as well. Knowing it was now or never, Crash and Lost reached out at the same time, resting their hands on top of Eirjan and Marzo’s.

“... Yes.” Crash breathed out with a strong shudder, stunning himself with how naturally that answer came out of his mouth. Regardless, he and Lost were still smiling while looking back at their closest friends. “We… We know this is a lot to ask, but… Yes we do.”

Lost Way nodded while trying not to tear up. He clutched onto Eirjan’s hand, while his boyfriend did the same with Marzo’s. “... You two are the nicest… most caring and generous friends we could’ve ever hoped to know. And you’ve done so much for us that we… w-we uhhh…”

Lost closed his eyes once again, his face tightening up with a brief look of nervousness. That was when Crash took the reins, despite blushing way heavier than his boyfriend. After another shaky exhale, the stallion tried not to make his lips quiver.

“... We love you both… I-In that way, yes…”

Eirjan placed a free hand over his chest with a silent gasp. His eyes widened even more, unblinking while staring back at both of them. Marzo looked just as stunned, with nothing coming out of his slightly agape muzzle. Nothing was said for a few seconds, but that wasn’t what caught Crash and Lost Way’s attention. What they noticed was how the corners of both zebras’ muzzles started to contort, before growing a pair of shaky smiles.

“... G-Guys, we…” Marzo tried to look back at Eirjan for support, just in time to see the red zebra’s eyes welling up.

“... We love you too~”

Those words came out of Eirjan’s muzzle before he even registered them in his head. But at the same time, the zebra’s smile widened as soon as he heard them outloud, causing him to nod his head in confirmation. As for Marzo, all that could come out of his mouth was a flustered huff before scratching the back of his neck.

“W-Wow, uhhh… This… This is kinda weird… Uhh, n-not like that!” He quickly blurted that out after realizing how the first part sounded. After breathing out, he kept a weak smile of his own whale shrugging his head. “Sorry, uhhh… It’s just… W-We may have been discussing that topic ourselves too…”

Lost Way and Crashing Thunder gasped at the same time. “What?!”

“J-Just as a hypothetical or anything. Mostly…” After letting out a nervous chuckle, he glanced over to see Eirjan smiling back at him affirmatively. “I mean, we were planning to wait until returning home to discuss anything like that, but… Well, the topic did come up a few times…”

Eirjan took hold of Crash’s hand, and Marzo did the same with Lost’s. The red zebra wiped his eyes with his free hand before stating, “Actually, ummm… I-If it wasn’t for what happened in the hot tub, there was a good chance we would’ve hinted at something later that day. But uhhh… I guess that helped all of us out in the end, huh?~”

Now it was Crash’s turn to try and keep himself from tearing up. He used a napkin to wipe the corners of his eyes, while Lost Way stared at the two with a hopeful smile. “Really? You mean… You two wanted to…”

Marzo could only shrug with Eirjan by his side. “I mean… It’s kind of a tricky topic to bring up, y’know? But uhhhh… We have discussed the idea of you two… joining us, yes…”

With the way both of their smiles trembled, it seemed like the couple was just about to start crying in joy. But after sucking in a heavy breath, Lost Way spoke up with that big question. “S-So… Does this mean that… You’re saying Yes?”

Marzo and Eirjan looked over at each other for one final moment, knowing the answer as soon as they looked into each other’s welling eyes. But instead of just saying it outright, the two decided to make their actions show more than words. The zebras turned back towards Crash and Lost Way, not giving them a chance to do anything before they got up from their seats.

Marzo and Eirjan leaned over the table at the same time, grabbing their friends by the collars to pull them in by surprise. Marzo planted his lips on Crash’s for a deep kiss, while Eirjan did the same for Lost Way. Despite both of their eyes bulging out in surprise, they quickly closed before their voices came out in a couple of unified hums. Both of them kissed the zebras back, which lasted for only a moment before their lips broke apart.

“Yes,” said Marzo first, nodding with the corners of his eyes tearing up already. “... Yes, we want that, guys~”

“Mmhmm…” Eirjan wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, but kept an emotional smile pointed at his and Marzo’s new boyfriends. “... We really want you guys with us.”

At that moment, even before any of them could finish their breakfast, it became clear that things had changed drastically for all four of them. Instead of being two pairs of loving couples, the group had become a genuine quad. Four souls, all linked to one another like a Daisy-Chain of pure love and devotion. By the time they all sat down once more, nothing could be said amongst the group to break that moment of clarity. But at the same time, all of them knew that things couldn’t end there…

[hr]

Two Hours Later

“Oh my gosh… Are you serious, guys?”

Back at their shared cabin, Marzo and Eirjan found themselves in quite the proposition. The two were standing in the middle of the living room, with Crash and Lost Way before them side-by-side. Lost had to hold his hands behind his back nervously, obviously looking towards Crash for moral support. Fortunately, the stallion seemed a bit more confident than his boyfriend, and was able to keep a reassuring smile while nodding back at the other two.

“Well, ummm… There’s a lot I think I should explain…” Crash bit his lip before looking down at his hands. Clutched in each of them were a pair of identical gray feathers, with a distinct transition from white to black toward the flared tips. His own wings pulled back a bit, but remained healthy after his most recent preening. He still needed to take a breath before continuing with his words. “You see… In pegasus culture, it’s tradition to gift someone you love with something important. And… One of the most common expressions is through a primary feather from the wings.”

Lost Way nodded his head, and used that moment to reach up and pull back a strand of his hair behind his right ear. Tucked right into his mohawk was a smaller gray feather, which Marzo and Eirjan almost hadn’t noticed. “He… He gifted this to me years ago… And I’ve always had it on me since~”

“Wait, is that safe?” Eirjan looked over at Crashing Thunder and held out his hand reassuringly. “I-I mean, I’m really touched! Both of us are. I just don’t want you to hurt yourself or anything.”

“Hey, relax,” said Crash with a huff and a roll of his eyes. “It’s not like yanking out teeth. Feathers usually grow back anyway. It just takes months, or even years sometimes.”

“And since he already regrew his feathers after my gift,” added Lost Way after tucking his own into his mane, “I don’t see any issue with either of you having feathers of your own~”

“Oh my gosh…” Marzo was the first to take one of the feathers from Crash’s hand. He took a moment to inspect the gift, his lips trembling from how touched he was. “Wow… So… This is real, huh?”

“As real as it gets…” Crash stepped forward, and took the feather so he could help adding it to Marzo’s mohawk. He took his time carefully applying it to a free strand, wrapping it around the feather’s stem and tying it tightly. While Crash worked on Marzo’s feather, Lost Way got the other and went up to Eirjan.

“Would you like me to do it?” He asked that with an optimistic smile, clearly hoping to be part of such a special process. “I mean, if you’re comfortable with it, I mes--”

“Yes, please.” Eirjan nodded with a touched smile, and even lowered his head so Lost could get better access. “Just uhhh… try not to pull my hair too hard, okay?”

“Why not?” asked Marzo with a smirk back at him. “I thought you liked that~”

“Shhh!” Eirjan blushed with a tightening grimace, but it also left him silent while Lost Way went to work. Much like Crash, the zebra seemed to know how to securely latch the feather around one of Eirjan’s red strands without issue. It took less than a minute, with Eirjan clenching his eyes shut and hoping for the best. Luckily, he didn’t feel a single harsh tug before Lost spoke up. “Alight, guys! I think you’re both good…”

Eirjan reopened his eyes, and turned to see how Marzo looked first. His brows raised when he noticed the gray feather hanging off the side of Marzo’s mane, looking like a beautiful accessory that matched his aesthetic perfectly. When he turned to see how Eirjan looked, he gave a warm smile and nodding in approval. “Ooh, that looks great on you~”

“It does?” Eirjan turned over to a mirror hanging on the wall, with Marzo coming up beside him to inspect himself too. Both of them were left speechless when they saw the identical feathers hanging from their mohawks, standing out beautifully like pieces of sterling silver. They were also positioned quite perfectly, with enough of the remaining strand present to easily allow them to tuck the feathers out of sight if needed. Marzo leaned in and tried a couple looks with his feather, finding out how easily it could be taken in and out of his hair.

“Ooh, that’s really convenient!” Seeing how well it worked as an accessory, Marzo was all smiles by the time he left it back in its free-hanging state. “Damn, no wonder you wear this, Lost…”

“Yeah, I… I really like it too~” Eirjan admired the feather in his own mane, before turning back to Crash with a thankful smile. “This really means a lot to both of us… Thank you so much~”

Lost Way nudged Crash from the side, motioning towards the other two like a supportive partner. “Go ahead, dude. It’s alright now…”

Crash nodded back at him with a blushed smile, before walking right up to Eirjan and giving him a loving kiss. Eirjan didn’t hesitate to kiss the stallion back, even with Marzo standing right there beside him. Instead, while the red zebra took his time to show his love to one of his newest partners, Marzo looked over at Lost with a hopeful smirk of his own. Lost Way walked up to the tatted zebra, and stood on his tippy-toes to lean up and give him the same treatment.

As soon as Eirjan stopped kissing Crash, and Marzo stopped kissing Lost Way, they all swapped places like Square Dancers to even things out. Marzo gave Crash a loving kiss that lasted quite a bit, while Eirjan wrapped his arms around Lost’s back and kissed him as well. After that, the two zebras made sure to kiss one another just as naturally, while Crash and Lost did the same.

“Whoo!” Crash was the first to speak up after that big moment as a group, and was blushing hard while scratching the back of his head. “Wow, uhhhh… T-That’s so weird to actually do for real~”

“Hmph~” Marzo smirked when he turned to him with a raised brow. “Hopefully not a bad kind of weird.”

“N-No, of course not! Just uhhh… New, that’s all.”

“Well, we all have plenty of time to normalize things.” Lost Way took hold of Crash’s hand, while his other arm reached out to hold onto Marzo’s. Marzo used a free hand to take Eirjan’s hand, and the red zebra completed the chain by holding Crash’s. With all four of them connected, Marzo blushed even heavier with his smile widening in excitement. Meanwhile, Lost looked back at the other two zebras to say, “And I have a feeling that all of us have a lot to explore~”

“Hmph~ I couldn’t have said that better myself…” Marzo took a moment while everyone was holding hands, and he looked around with a serene smile on his muzzle. After everything he and Eirjan had done with their closest friends, he couldn’t have thought of anyone better to share lives with. He may have had no idea how things would work from then on, especially on details like living situations or scheduling. But at the same time, he couldn’t have cared less about technical stuff like that; all he knew was that he still loved Eirjan just as much as before, and now he had two more souls to share that same love towards as well.

“Well… I guess it’s official now, huh?” Marzo huffed a little to hide his flustered smile, but he still looked around at all three of them before saying, “We’re… We’re all boyfriends, I guess~”

“Hehehehe~” Lost Way tightened his grip on both Marzo and Crash’s hands. “Looks like it! We can all say we have three boyfriends now~”

Crashing Thunder couldn’t help chuckling to himself with a shrug. “Boy, that’s going to be weird to explain to straight couples.”

All four of them laughed hard from that remark, their smiles remaining without any shame or hesitancy from any of them. Eirjan squeezed Crash’s other hand, and cleared his throat before giving a response.

“Well, no matter what happens, we’ll always be together. As a group~”

The other three all smiled back at him, nodding their heads as confidently as could be.

“Right!”

“Totally!”

“Absolutely~”

The four all pulled each other in for a group hug, further solidifying their bonds and guaranteeing that no matter what… The four boyfriends would always have each others’ backs.

The End