Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Now

Nikolai walked slowly through the school's quad. The voice in his ear bud from the school’s audio tour app described the majority of the buildings having been built in nineteen-sixty seven. And honestly…they looked it. The buildings around him were the main administration building to the front, which held the main offices, the library and a few sets of specialized classroom and lecture areas. Not lecture halls. Areas. The school was particular that way.

The Campus Activities Building, or CAB that housed the cafeteria, underground car park and numerous rooms for clubs and other…well, activities, stood to the right just past the odd Frank Lloyd Wright-eque clock tower.

To the left was what the tour app explained was the ‘Long House’. It was built by the local indigenous people in conjunction with the school with local woods and in a traditional style. With added modern conveniences such as air conditioning and fiber internet, of course. The building was an open meeting place and was used for lectures, small concerts or just general gatherings since it was built in ninety-five.

It was all so…ugly, really, apart from the long house. The main buildings, including the main dorm buildings he had just come from, were unattractive bare, squat concrete structures. They looked like they were designed to withstand a siege. Which, apparently, they were. Being built in the late sixties, at the height of the Cold War, the school was apparently a fall back point for the State capitol. In fact, a rumor he had heard NOT on the tour app was that there were supposedly underground tunnels from the State capitol building to the main school building.

Yeah…for such a liberal school, Deciduous State University looked different than one would expect. Though, oddly, for Nikolai, the military-eque nature of the school’s main layout gave him a little piece of mind. At 24 and fresh out of the military himself, he was having a little bit of an issue relaxing back into civilian life. Though, to be fair, it had been just over a week since his discharge.

And now, here he was. A vet in a school known for its extreme liberalism. Why? Because he made a promise. Even if he was six years late and alone, he was finally able to keep his word.

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Then

“You're…leaving?” Helena’s voice quivered only a little as she looked out over the lake with him. They sat on a thick blanket as the stars twinkled off the lake. The picnic dinner they had finished and pushed to the side, and all but forgotten in this moment.

“For a while, yeah,” Nikolai nodded, not looking at his best friend. “I’ll probably come back when I’m done. And Hel, you know we will always be friends.”

“Heh,” Hel sniffed slightly and he noticed her black and gray tail was in her hands. The racoon only did that when she was nervous or upset. Like now. “You asking me to wait for you? I might want to run off to college and find some highbrow premed boyfriend.”

Nikolai was silent for a long moment before snorting a short laugh, “Pff, you? With a pre med student? You wear boy underoos. Set your bar a little lower. Maybe…an art major or something more like that?”

“WHAT?!” Hel threw her tail down and turned to face him and jabbed at him with a finger “Look, boys' underwear just happens to be the easiest to find, that's all cotton. Women’s all have some form of spandex in them! And I can land a premed student, easy! I’m a charming lady when I want to be and you well know it!” Then her finger dropped as a look of sadness rolled over her face. “I’ll do it, you know. I’d wait. Then we can go to college together, like we planned.”

Nikolai’s smile went tight as he turned to look out over that lake again. “Don’t be silly Hel. You’re really smart and got all those scholarships. I remember how excited you were when you found out you got in into Deciduous State. You’re going to be the first one in your family to got to college. You don’t put that on hold because your best friend has to find some other way to pay for school. Mom and Dad keep telling me they can take care of it, but with Sibohan, that’s five of us. If I can take even a little of the burden off them, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I know,” Hel blinked back tears as she looked back over the lake as well. “I…love you. You know that…don’t you?”

He was silent a long moment before his gaze dropped to the blanket in front of him. Then, he nodded slightly. “I know.”

“Then-”

“I know Hel, that’s why I’m leaving tomorrow. It’s why I didn’t tell you until now,” the words flooded out of him as he fought back tears. “I knew that if I said anything earlier you would talk me out of it. Or I’d find some other reason to stay. I…I love you, too Hel. I always have. But you’re better than me. You need to get out and make the world better, I’d only slow you down. And I…I need to find out where I belong.”

*Smack*

Hel slapped him. Hard. He couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it, but it still surprised him. “You son of a bitch! Don’t you tell me who I am or am not better than! I won’t hear you belittle yourself like that! You don’t get to make my choices! If I say I’m willing to wait it’s because I choose to. Fuck you for doing this to me!” She leaned in then, her lips catching his. She kissed him hard. She kissed him with the love built in years but never said. Then she was gone in the dark. She didn’t come to see him off. She never wrote. He never saw her again.

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Now

Aaaand…he was lost. Someplace between the main quad and the science buildings, ironically having been built in the eighties, didn't look like little fortresses, the battery in his phone died. But hey, how big could the campus be? Surely he’d be able to find his way back to the main quad. He didn’t need to ask directions. Not that there were many people to ask, being the spring break and all. The numbers of students he had seen all day could be counted on two hands.

He had come to a large athletics field, which about all he knew was on the ‘back left corner’ of the main campus. It was interesting considering the school didn’t have teams for the major sports one would expect from a college. Like, there wasn’t any football, or basketball teams, for example. There was, however, a women’s lacrosse team currently at war with itself on the field. Warring to the point Nikolai didn’t quite want to risk his life crossing open terrain to ask for directions.

But there was a rather pretty doe crossing his path right that moment. Her cream capri pants and light blue shirt set off her darker brown fur rather nicely. The bounce she gained from hitching up her black backpack wasn’t exactly painful on the eye either.

“Excuse me, miss?” Nikolai called out, a slight speeding of his step to intercept her where their two paths crossed. The doe, however, seemed to ignore him. Not that he would blame her. Random guy calling out to her in a near deserted school campus. Or…it could be the earbuds she was wearing. Adding in a small wave he tried again. “Miss? Could you help me?”

The doe glanced up at his movement and blinked for a moment, clearly surprised to see another person on the paths while on break. She stopped and pulled out one of her earbuds and looked at him inquisitively. “Yes?” she ventured, a little wary, almost like she expected him to try to sell her something.

“Sorry to bother you, but my phone died,” Nikolai held up the offending device with a small pained smile. “I was in the middle of the audio tour and now have no idea where I am or how to get back to the main quad.”

The doe’s stance relaxed some as she gave Nikolai a sympathetic smile. “Ouch, yeah, you are almost on the complete opposite side of the campus…"

“Figures,” Nikolai rolled his eyes and glanced around before pointing out the path he was about to take. “Don’t suppose that was the proper way back?”

A small musical giggle and the doe gave a small shake of her head. “Sorry, but I’m afraid not. Going that way would take you down toward the beach trail. Here, why don’t you go this way.” she pointed down the path she was already going. “This goes to the dorm buildings. From there I can point you the right direction.”

“Thank you miss, you’re a lifesaver,” Nikoli sighed with relief, deflating the tension he built up in his back slightly.

“Oh, you don't have to be so dramatic,” the doe giggled again, it was a pleasant musical little laugh. “My nake is Maralee, by the way,” she said, sticking out her hand.

“Nikolai,” he answered, giving her hand a short shake.

“Well, this way, Nikolai,” Maralee said with a small gesture, starting back on her path. She pulled the other earbud from her ear and put the pair into their case and slipped it into her pocket. Her large brown eye glanced at him as he stepped up beside her as they began winding their way back to civilization. “What brings a man such as yourself to this fair school during break?”

“Oh, I’m looking to start classes here in the spring quarter actually,” Nikolai grinned. “I was accepted for the next year but I ended up getting out of my previous job early, so I petitioned to start classes early.”

“Is that so?” Maralee kicked her feet a little as she walked and nodded. “What was it you were doing, if I may ask?”

“You certainly may,” Nikolai nodded sagely.

Maralee waited a few moments before letting out her musical giggle again. “Okay, Nikolai, what was your previous job?”

“Not gonna judge me for it?”

“Well, can’t promise that,” Maralee smirked. “What if you were a drug smuggler?”

Nikolai’s eyes went wide for a moment and he took a half step back. “How did you know?! Are you a fed?” he narrowed his eyes comically.

*pff* Maralee strangled back a laugh and slapped a hand over her muzzle. “Afraid so, Nikolai. You are under arrest!” The doe held up her fingers like a gun and waved them at him.

“Heh, but seriously, I was in the military,” Nikolai winced slightly as he spoke, giving her a sideways look. Hopefully his first experience on campus wouldn’t go the way he feared. The school had a bit of a reputation after all.

“Oh really?” Maralee just nodded, giving no signs of hostility. Maybe the stories were exaggerations or just the extreme cases. “My dad was in the marines. We moved around a lot. What did you do?”

“Well, I can see moving around a lot. I was in for eight years and had my fair share of duty stations. As for my job, I was a helicopter pilot,” Nikolai smiled as Marlee gave him an impressed expression. “Actually, I was lucky. I managed to muster out literally a month before they changed the minimum service term for pilots from six to ten years.”

“Well, well, dodged a bullet, figuratively,” Maralee laughed quietly as they exited a small cluster of trees to stand before the tallest building in the school, the A Dorm Tower. “And here we are. Now, over there is Alphabet Soup, the apartment dorms, mostly for upperclassmen. If you follow this path between the dorm sets, it’ll take you right to the main quad. We call it Red Square, by the way, because on the ground are the red bricks.”

“Awesome, hey, thanks for the help and the conversation, it was nice to chat with somebody after the day of silent ghost school,” Nikolai held out his hand again and smiled.

“It was my pleasure, maybe I’ll see you around campus. And remember, I’ll be your upperclassmen, so you better show me the proper respect,” Maralee gave him a mock serious frown as she took his hand and squeezed it, acting tough. “Anyway, it really was nice talking to you.”

Releasing her hand, Nickoli turned and headed down the path the doe pointed him down and thought about what was.

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Then

“Are you sure you wanna do this, darlin’?” Nikolai’s mother placed a concerned hand on his arm as she hiked the little black and white panda cub in her other arm a little higher. She, like his other sisters and brother, were adorable. Okay, maybe not Jacob. He was a five year old little terror. But Meta, Fran and little Siobhan, eleven, ten and one, respectively were the best sisters a guy could have, standard sibling incidents aside. And Lisa-Mae was probably the best step-mother on the planet. She did more for him than his birth oven ever did. She did all the proper mother things even though she didn’t have to.

Nikolai was nine when his father remarried, bringing along two kids of her own. It was a bit of a shock, going from a small one bedroom apartment in the city with his dad, to a four bedroom two story house in the suburbs of a completely different city, in a completely different state. They had their bumps, but Lisa-Mae was amazingly patient with the sullen boy she had inherited and seeing his father, a big quiet man that worked his fingers to the bone in two different jobs to provide for the two of them, come alive whenever Lisa-Mae came into a room…that affected him greatly.

“I’m sure mom,” Nikoli smiled, patting her hand with his. “I get to go out, spend a few years serving the country and then I get the GI Bill to get me into college. And having a service record would look pretty good on college entrance applications. Besides, you’ll be able to give Siobhan her own room. She’s getting a bit big to keep her in the room with you and dad. It must make alone time difficult.”

“Nikolai!” his mom gasped leaning back and giving him a swat on the arm as a blush crept into her ears. After a moment of mock glaring she cleared her throat and sighed dramatically. “All right. If this is what ya really want, I give you my blessing. Gettin’ your daddy to agree, that’s gonna be a challenge.”

Blowing the air from his lungs in a big sigh, Nikolai dropped his head. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell him.”

“Well, maybe you leave this to your mama, okay?” Lisa-Mae smiled, patting his hand. “I can get him warmed up before we drop it on him.”

“Warmed up, huh?”

“Nikolai!”

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Now

“And where do you plan to stay tonight?” Nikoli’s mother asked in an arched tone. “You get out a week early and instead of coming home and spending it with your poor grieving mother and the siblings that barely see you, you run off to the big city to have an illicit affair with your stepsisters, who were cast out because of their rowdy ways.”

Nikolai was quiet for a moment before speaking. “You done mom?”

“Yes, dear, thank you very much”, the panda said cheerfully. “I do so love my stories, I appreciate you letting this old woman play around.”

“Old woman,” Nikolai snorted. “You’re forty-two.”

*Gasp!* “Not content with defileing your stepsisters, you turn to your stepmother as well?!” His mother countered, dramatically.

“Okay mom, you need to stop watching your stories some, they’re rotting your brain,” Nikolai sighed now, giving serious thought to just ending the call.

“Alright, alright,” his mother laughed. “Don’t hang up, I’ll be good. But seriously, where do you plan to sleep? And why haven't you contacted the girls?”

“Honestly?” Nikolai chuckled as he leaned back on the red brick steps of the school’s so-called ‘Red Square’ “I didn’t think this through. I got off the week early and the drop off at the McWire air force was too convenient. Thought I’d come and check things out on my own to get an unbiased look at the place. I know the girls would put everything in the best light possible.”

“Well, they just want to look out for their Big Brother,” Lisa-mae chuckled. “You know how much they look up to you.”

“I do and that’s part of the problem,” Nikolai laughed. “Besides, they don’t have room for me in their dorm, I’m sure. I’ll just find a cheap hotel and hole up there. I’ll find them tomorrow and surprise them.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure they’ll like that. Your father…may have let it slip that you got there early and they may have been displeased…” His mother almost whistles in poorly disguised innocence.

“Dad did, huh?”

“Ah…yup.”

“My father.”

“That's him.”

“You aren't good at this, mother,” Nikoli said, trying to keep the smirk out of his voice.”

“Oh, no, don’t you ‘mother’ me!” the woman in question sniffed indignantly. “It’s mama, mom, or mommy. Never ‘mother’!”

“Yes, mama,” Nikolai laughed now. His mother had always been there for him. Always had his back, even when he was a dumb shit kid. Yes, she was easily the best mother a boy could ask for.

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Then

“WHO TOUCHED MY BABY BOY?!” The door to the school principle’s slammed open to reveal a monster written in black and white. Pandas were normally seen as a placid, calm people, this particular specimen gave lie to those words. At least when it came to her children. This particular panda was on the softer side, as pandas tend to be, and was dressed in orange board shorts, a black tank top under a white crop top that had what appeared to be a sleepy panda with the phrase ‘I’m barely awake!’, and for her feet, green flip flops, just to complete and bring the look together. And, not to forget, a look of absolute fury.

The office itself was not particularly large, but it did hold a fair sized wooden desk across from two decent rolling chairs. On either side of the door were a pair of plastic chairs of the same type used by students in the classrooms, one of which was now half smashed behind the heavy wood door to the office. Luckily, the young bobcat that sat on that side of the room had decided to put as much distance from himself and the human in the room. And judging by the size of his eyes, he was currently aware of it.

“Mrs Lautner. So good of you to join us,” the old bloodhound behind the desk with the nameplate of ‘Mr. Micheal Abernathy’, said, dryly. It was fairly obvious that this pair had gone to head before and that Mr Abernathy was not particularly looking forward to another go around. “If you would mind taking a seat we can discuss the incident.”

“Incident?!” the bobcat’s mother with what was colloquially known as a ‘Karen’ haircut screeched. “This…thing, attacked my son! I want him expelled immediately and I will be filing charges with the police and I’ll be suing you!” She spun round to glare hatefully at Lisa-Mae Lautner.

“Mrs Johnson! There will be no tolerating racism in my office, do you understand?” Mr Abernathy barked, a dark frown on his face.

“Hmph,” was all the response he received.

“Sue my ass,” Lisa-Mae grunted as she turned to look at her human son. “Boy, you are in for a world of hurt when your daddy gets home.”

“I expect your helion to be in prison!" Martha Johnson made to stand, only to freeze when the panda turned her gaze on her. “I-I mean, he assaulted my little Ned for no reason! He’s been stealing his allowance for months!”

“Not hardly,’ Nikoli muttered under his breath.

“Boy, you keep your mouth shut and let momma take care of this,” it was impressive how well Lisa-Mae could both sound soothing but also sound like an executioner at the same time.

“Yes, mom,” Nikolai hung his head, trying to hide his blush. His mother was normally a jolly soft woman with a slow southern drawl who loved to cook and garden. She was calm and cool headed in nearly every circumstance be it as mundane as a splinter of as dramatic as going into labor, Lisa-Mae was the one you relied on. Unless something happened to her children. Then she would become a blazing whirlwind of thought and physicality as seemingly unstoppable as an avalanche.

Reaching into her bag Lisa-Mae pulled out a small stack of papers and dropped them dramatically of Mr Abernathy’s desk. “What I have here is a log of, both written and audio, of our attempts to contact the school, as well as Mrs Johnson about her son, Ned’s behavior in this school. Specifically his verbal and physical harassment of my son, as well as other students. I have a list of property stolen and/or vandalized. I also have signed statements from the parents of other students whom have had similar issues both with this school as well as Mrs Johnson personally. Mrs Johnson is known for verbally and physically harassing parents and even students in efforts to make them drop charges and/or allegations toward both of her children in this school.” Lisa-Mae’s tone and voice changed to a passionate yet controlled tone of the seasoned lawyer she was. “And, lastly, I have the paperwork for a subpoena of the schools surveillance footage for the purposes of discovery of evidence of what I have described having transpired and possibly ignored by the teaching staff.”

There was a long pause as both Mr Abernathy and Mrs Johnson stated at the stack of papers on the desk. Mr Abernthy, looking bemused, while Mrs Johnson looked as if she couldn’t decide if she should scream or cry.

“Boys,” Mr Abernathy said, his voice a little tight. “How about you step outside into the main office and have a seat. I expect this may take some time.”

“Yes sir.” “Yessir”

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Now

“Why isn’t he messaging,” Meta groaned as she stared at her phone on it’s little stand on her dorm room’s desk. It was a fancy new one that folded open in the middle into a small tablet. It was a bit thicker than most phones now and had an awkwardly small front screen when folded up in its phone form, but still, not having to have a separate tablet and phone was more than worth it.

Meta was a pretty panda girl. She was short and took more after her mother than her sister, Fran, did. She was short, maybe five foot-two, on a good day, and had her mother’s softer padding and generous bust. Her hair was long and so black it was almost blue to contrast with her sparkling blue eyes.

In contrast, her sister Fran stood taller at five foot-seven and had more athletic build. Fran was still on the softer side, but her curves hid a martial artist body. Long years of competitions and training had made her a little powerhouse. And even as an eighteen year old freshman, the karate team had been eager to get their hands on her. She wore her dark brown hair in a short pixie cut to keep out of her own crystal blue eyes during practices and competitions.

“Probably because you keep staring at your phone like that,” Fran snorted from her place atop her bed. She was laying in a long military tan t-shirt she had stolen from her brother years ago and it had quickly become her favorite sleep shirt. Her bed, like her sister’s, could be flipped so that it stood high, like a top bunk bed, leaving room underneath for their desks, mini fridge and various tools of their classes or clubs. “He can probably feel your creepy sister vibe through the airwaves.”

“Oh yes, ha ha,” Meta shot back. “It is to laugh. At least I still don't call him ‘Niki’ like a five year old.”

“Hey,” Fran peaked over the edge of her bed indignantly. “He likes when I call him that.”

“That’s probably why he isn’t messaging or calling us, you still act like you’re a kid,” Meta sighed again and leaned back in her chair, looking at her sister upside down.

“Ugh, why did I agree to room with you?” Fran dropped back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling in frustration. It wasn’t like she didn’t want her brother to contact them. In fact she was a little hurt that he got there early but didn’t tell either of them.

*Brring* *Ding*

Both girl’s phones chimed at the same time, sparking a double made scramble for their phones, Fran nearly dumping her’s off the bed where it surely would have shattered on the concrete floor. The thin carpeting bolstered by the many rugs the pair had gotten doubtlessly doing little to save the fragile device.

>Hey guys, it’s your second favorite older brother. I got here early, as mom seems to have already spilled. I was going to surprise you tomorrow, but if the cat’s out of the bag, I might as well just message you now.

>Besides, I realized I didn’t know how to find you guys randomly on an entire college campus like that.

“Well, there’s that,” Fran chuckled as she looked over her phone. “What does he mean second favorite? He’s the only one.”

“You know him,” Meta smiled with a rueful shake of her head. “He has dad’s sense of humor.”

“Okay, fair point,” Fran shrugged. “Lemme get back to him…”

F>What R U doin? DO U have a room or somethin? Come see us dipshit!

“Fran!” Meta looked up her phone and frowned at her sister.

M>Sorry about that Niki, I have not house trained her yet. But seriously. Come see us tonight and we can talk!

N>It’s late for me and I am exhausted. I got a hotel room for the night and about to crash out. I’ll message you girls first thing when I get up

F>Grr UR lucky I like U, but I;ll let it go this time

M>I’m sad, but i understand, I hope you sleep well

N>Thanks much! I’ll catch you two tomorrow, Love you guys!

M>Love you too, good night

F>Nighty Nite!

“Well, now we know what’s up,” Fran smirked as she leaned over her bed to look down at her older sister. “Should we order a pizza or something?”

“What is it with you and your obsession with pizza recently? It's all you’ve been eating for the last week it feels like,” Meta gave her younger sister an exasperated look.

“I dunno, isn’t it what college kids are supposed to eat? That or ramen. Maybe pancakes and apples for a month?” Fran gave a shrug. “Either way, you in?”

“Of course I’m in, don’t be silly.

Chapter Text

Then

"Niki!" "Nikolai!" two little girl voices yelled as small bodies flew through the air, laughing and giggling the whole way to impact on their unassuming target. Never let it be said panda's weren't ambush predators.

"Hulgh!" Nikolai cried out as little missiles landed on him and began squirming up his body.

"Wake up! Wake up!" they chanted as they then began to shake him.

"Niki, wake up! We wanna watch cartoons!" Fran half squealed and half giggled, while worming her way between Nikolai and his wall. She planted her back against Nikolai’s side and her feet against the wall and heaved with all her five year old body’s strength.

“C’mon Nikolai! Mom and dad don’t let us watch cartoons unless somebody else is up after what happened with the last tv!” Meta almost whined as she took Nikolai’s arm in an attempt to drag him off the bed. Which didn’t get far as she was six.

“Rrrrr…” Nikolai rumbled quietly as he let his body go limp.

Meta paused and leaned in slightly. “What’d you say Nikolai?”

“I said. ‘Rrrmblglmm….” He mumbled unintelligible as he allowed Fran to push him slightly closer toward the edge of the bed.

“Fran! Fran…wait…he said something!” Meta leaned in closer.

“Huh?” Fran stopped shoving and instead, lifted her head back to look at the others.

“I said I’m gonna eat you!” Nikolai’s arms snatched out and scooped Meta up, dragging her into the bed and plopping her right on top of her younger sister. He then threw the light sheet over the giggling pair of squirming children and began to tickle whichever body part stuck out the most, bringing out squeals and kicks.

Suddenly, however, the door to Nikolai’s room burst open to reveal a very pregnant mother panda. Lisa-Mae’s hair was frazzled and she had dark circles under her eyes and she stared darkly at her children. “Sweetlings,” she said in a quiet, even tone that froze the girls still and sent a shiver down Nikolai’s spine. “If you don’t let momma get more sleep, momma is going to duct tape all three of you together, put a stamp on all your foreheads and mail you all to Timbuktu.”

“””Yes, Momma!””” all three children said, stifling various giggles.

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Now

Light from the despicable daystar streamed in through the crack in the curtains, landing squarely on Nikolai’s face, raising a deep groan.

Why? Why did it have to be morning? Why couldn’t it still be nighttime so he could sleep longer? Why couldn’t he have booked an extra day, thereby not having to be out by a certain time this morning, allowing him to sleep longer? Why didn’t he close the curtains better? Why?

Knowing her was only delaying the inevitable. Nikolai rolled to his feet and stretched before stumbling into the bathroom. He stared at himself for a long moment. He looked like warm crap. His black hair was all over the place and his green eyes were cloudy with sleep. And he needed a shave. This last week he had relished not having to shave every day, as he wasn’t on duty, but now he was looking scraggly. And he didn’t want his sisters to see him scraggly.

A shave and shower later and he was a cup of hot coffee away from feeling like a real human being. And honestly, it was the thought of coffee and some sort of breakfast was all that kept him moving long enough to get dressed and repack his duffle bag.

One short drop off of keys later and he was walking onto the sidewalk of the cheap hotel, a paper cup of blazing hot, extra sweet, extra creamed coffee in one hand and another full of steaming brown sugar laden oatmeal in the other.

Pausing to sip the coffee he glanced back at the hotel. I had the look of being built in the seventies, right down to the faux rock base and ugly pale lemon yellow paint. Being so close to the state capitol building and the downtown area it honestly looked like a cheap hook up hotel that state politicians would use by the hour.

A quiet chuckle, a mouthful of oatmeal and a glance at his phone that told him he had several hours before he had to meet his sisters. A perfect amount of time to get a good look at the downtown area of this college town/ state capitol. Hefting his bag up onto his shoulder, taking another sip of coffee, and he was off to explore.

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Then

“WAKEY, WAKY!” Nikolai shouted as he rushed into the room his sisters shared. Without waiting for any response he scooped the eight year old Fran from the top bunk and dumped her onto her nine year old sister, gaining a scratch of surprise and a startled ‘oof’ from the two of them. Nicolai then grabbed the blankets from the lower bunk and rolled the girls together like a black and white burrito.

“Niki? No! Stop!” Fran cried laughing in confusion.

“Nikolai?” Meta blinked and groaned as she was rolled around, trying to put together what was happening “What are you doing?”

“Time to get up!” Nikolai said, tucking the now tightened blankets under the two, a true blanket burrito. A genuine masterpiece, at least in his sixteen years old mind. “Don’t want to miss breakfast!”

“Breakfast?” Meta looked up, finally gathering thoughts. She struggled for a moment before her eyes went wide “Nikolai! We can’t move!”

“Yeah!” Fran added, struggling. “Let us out!”

“Welp, my work here is done,” Nikolai nodded sagely, wiping his hands together. “I’m gonna go down, have some breakfast with mom, dad, and grandma and grandpop. Maybe open presents. See you when you get down stairs.”

“Niki! No” Fran doubled her struggles. “Don’t leave us!”

Nikolai narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin for a moment before leaning out the door. “Mom! They said they don’t want breakfast and to open presents without them!”

“Niki! No!” Meta started tears forming in her eyes.

“Oh shit!” Nikolai cursed, rushing to the bed. “Don’t cry! I’m sorry! I wasn’t gonna leave you I promise!”

“Really?” Meta sniffed, nuzzling Nikolai’s hand as he stroked her head.

“I promise, cross my heart,” Nikolai smiled, miming the action. “ In fact…” He then shoved his arms under the sister burrito and lifted them up and throwing them over his shoulder, gaining a pair of giggle/ squeals for his efforts. “In fact, I’ll give you the special Nikolai ride! First thought check this out!”

Carrying the girls he turned so they could look out the window at and see the layer of fresh snow outside the house, more coming down as they watched.

“Ooo…” Meta gasped.

“So pretty,” Fran nodded her feet, the only part able to move fully, kicking slightly.

“Now! Off to Food and prezzies!”

“”Yay!””

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Now

*Whump*

The pillow crashed into Fran’s face as she lay dreaming of other times, a thin line of drool running down the corner of her mouth.

“Hwua-ha!” she cried out, thrashing back in her bunk and cracking her head against the concrete wall behind her. “Ow! Son-of-a-fuck!” she cursed, hands going to the back of her head as she blinked hatefully in the general direction of the only person who could have attacked her with such vicious abandon.

“Oh…good. You’re awake,” Meta glanced over her shoulder, nonchalantly. She stood by her dresser, digging through drawers. “Have you seen my pink shorts? The cute ones with the bedazzled tail hole?”

“Yes, I’m awake, bitch,” Fran tossed the pillow back at Meta who just side stepped it. “I think they are in the dirty pile.” Fran gestured at the pile of dirty laundry the pair had built up. It nearly went to their hips.

“Fuck,” Meta sighed and began an excavation seeking the lost, fabled shorts. “We got about an hour to get ready and get to red square to meet Nikolai, so you should get up and showered.”

“Ugh, yeah, yeah,” Fran slid down from her bunk, scratching at her fur. She snatched up her towel and small bag of toiletries before heading for the door.

“Fran.”

“What now?” Fran paused to glance over her shoulder.

“You’re naked.”

“Oh…right…” Fran shrugged and wrapped the towel around herself. “Hope the fur dryer is free….”

------------------------------------------

Then

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Nikolai,” his Dad’s new girlfriend said pleasantly. Though ‘new’ might be a misnomer. They had, apparently, been dating for close to a year before his Dad had the guts to introduce them. At least she was pleasant. Or seemed so. She had a bright smile, dressed nice, jeans, flowy blouse and sandals. Nikolai kinda liked her accent. It was almost like a stereotypical southern drawl you heard in movies or tv shows, just less pronounced, more…organic? Was that the right word?

Then…she was an anthro. Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course, he just didn't really know any. Sure there were some in his school, a couple in his class even, but they never really crossed through his social circles.

Lisa-mae, as his dad introduced her, was not a tall woman, maybe a foot taller than his nine year old self. She had the standard panda black and white colorings with blue/black hair that hung in two thick braids over her shoulders and…larger than average bust. She was curvaceous but not fat and when she shook his hand he felt strength under the gentle touch and soft fur. Nikolai noted her claws were filed and painted the same jade green that matched her toe claws. Her smile was wide and infectious, going all the way to sparkle in her bright green eyes.

Nikolai wasn’t sure how he felt. He found himself smiling back at the woman as he shook her hand and gave the standard pleasantries. This woman was a lot. She had a strong presence about her, an energy. She made him feel good and welcome and calm even in the lobby of this weird family breakfast all day twenty-four hour dining place. He just wasn’t sure how he felt.

Then he saw them. The pair of cubs clung to their mother’s legs, using them as shields to hide behind as they peeked around at Nikolai and his Dad. They almost looked to be made of pure fluff with a pair of shiny eyes staring at him instead of living children. The taller one looked to be maybe two and had bright blue eyes while the smaller one stood, or more used her mother’s leg to keep herself up as she seemed to be new to this whole standing thing, but she leaned around her mother’s leg and stared with eyes matching her mother’s as she sucked her thumb.

Lisa-mae followed his gaze and smiled even more warmly than before. Nikolai realized how much of her earlier attitude was to hide her own nervousness. For some reason that made him feel better about this meeting. But looking at her own children her nerves seemed to relax as she put a hand on the taller girl’s head. “This is my oldest, her name is Meta, she’s two.”

“He..hello,” the child whispered before burying her face in mother’s pant leg, peeking out a single eye.

Lisa-mae’s other arm scooped up the smaller child, eliciting a small giggle. “And this one is Francis. We all call her Fran. It’s a family name,” Lisa-mae smiled with a wink, cutting off the question in Nikolai’s mind before it even fully formed. After a moment of looking into the child’s green eyes she took her thumb out of her mouth and held out her arms, making small grunt sounds. Lisa-mae’s eyes went wide as she looked from her daughter to Nikolai. “Wow…I think she wants you to hold her! She’s never done that to a stranger before. Heck, she doesn’t even do it to her grandma. You…want to hold her?”

“I…umm…sure?” Nikolai really didn’t know what to do or say in this situation. “Uh…I don’t know…how?”

“Aww, it’s easy!” Lisa-mae nodded with understanding as she leaned down. “It’s way easier than if she was a baby, just put an arm under her butt and support her-”

Lisa-mae was cut off as Fran nearly threw herself on to Nikolai, forcing him to learn quickly or risk dropping the girl. “Oh geez!” slipped out as he stumbled slightly while the girl wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging to his shirt and neck. Nikolai noticed that this child's claws were not as blunted as her mother’s, and he was probably going to have a couple welts. However the fuzzy warmth of the cub combined with the shining green eyes staring back into his own made it worth it.

Not a second later an impact on his leg announced the older girl, Meta. Looking down, the girl frowned slightly up at him while her arms wrapped around his leg. “I c’n do it,” she grumbled.

--------------------------------

Now

“NIKI!” “NIKOLAI!”

Nikolai barely had time to register the sounds of his name before a pair of women slammed into him, staggering him a few steps.

Fran hit him high with a jump. Her arms wrapped around his neck scratching him lightly before squeezing into a near choke hold. Her legs wrapped around his hips forcing him to hook an arm under her butt so she didn’t crush him as she clung to him. He could feel her little tail wagging in excitement, bringing a small chuckle from him.

He didn’t even have to look to know the shorter girl was Meta as she wrapped her arms around his midsection. She was a full foot shorter than him after all. Her grip wasn’t as bone creaking as her sister’s but still tight and warm around him.

“Well, nice to see you as well,” Nikolai laughed, hugging the girls back. “Don’t think this is a bit much? You guys saw me at Fran’s graduation.”

“”NO!”” they said in unison. For being a year apart they often felt like twins the way they synchronized like this.

“We’ve been excited to see you and had the whole next week planned out,” Meta pouted. “Then you are here and don’t come to see us and stay at a hotel.”

“Heh,” Nikolai chuckled as he attempted to shake the black and white barnacles from his sides. “Did you have a place for me to sleep in your dorm? I feel like a random guy showing up in a girl’s dorm would be frowned upon.”

“Oh, didn’t you know?” Fran leaned back to look him in the face before dropping down and straightening a white tank top that had a graphic of a sleeping bear with the words “Bear-ly Awake’ on it. The shirt was tucked into red lycra running shorts and she had lost one of her rainbow sandals someplace when she had jumped on him. “Yeah, the dorms are co-ed. I mean the room clusters are generally grouped in gender blocks.”

Releasing him, Meta nodded. “Yeah, we got a small side hall with four rooms we are part of and we are all girls, but we checked with them and none of them had any problems with you staying there. Most of them weren’t going to be there anyway.” She was wearing a cream colored crop top that you could just see her black upper body strip through and pink shorts that seemed to have bedazzling around the pockets. On her feet was a pair of matching pink chucks.

“And where do you plan on sleeping?” Nikolai smirked with his brows raised. So far he was fairly impressed with their planning.

“Pff, that’s the easy part,” Fran waved a hand dismissively. “First off, if we pushed the beds together we could probably all fit. And even if not, if we borrowed one from one of the empty rooms it would be fine.”

“Umm…what?” Nikolai blinked. That certainly took him by surprise.

“She’s kidding,” Meta shot her sister a dark look only for Fran to lace her fingers behind her herald and grim mischievously. “We actually have a really nice air mattress we got in case people needed to stay over, like they drank too much or it got too late, whatever.”

Fran actually nodded at that. “It is really comfy, I used it a couple times when my club stayed out during away matches. Never liked sleeping in hotel beds, ugh,” Fran shivered slightly.

“Anyway, let’s drop off your- JESUS, what do you have in this thing?” Meta heaved Nikolai’s duffle off the ground a few inches before dropping it back down. “Everything you own?”

Nikolai smirked and made a noncommittal gesture. “Pretty close to it, actually,” he grinned now. “That’s just about everything except a couple boxes that I shipped to mom and dad’s place until I figured out my long term living situation.”

“I’m sorry, I…that makes me feel bad for some reason,” Meta hung her head, her hand tightening around the strap of Nikolai’s duffle.

“Hey, don’t make it weird,” Fran rolled her eyes as she swept up the bag, her eyes going a little wide as she did so, but didn’t seem to have any real trouble with the bag. “Wow, this is kinda heavy. Anyway, c’mon, let’s go to our dorm and drop this off. If nothing else you can try out the air mattress and see what you think. It’s only for a week…well…two weeks now, I guess. Plenty of time to have some fun and figure out what you want to do long term.”

“Oh!” Meta paused and dropped a fist into her open palm. “That reminds me, Grammy and Grammpy want the three of us to come by sometime during the week. Wanna do that after we drop off the bag and do the thing with the mattress?”

“Sounds good to me,” Fran said looking over to Nikolai, who shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

------------------------------------

Then

“And these are my parents, David and Janene,” Lisa-mae smiled as she introduced the older panda couple. Nikolai’s…grandparents. Or soon to be, anyway. Lisa-mae and his Dad were getting married in less than a week now.

“Um…pleased to meet you Mr. Kent, Mrs. Kent,” Nikolai fidgeted a little unsure of what to do. The couple looked nice enough. They wore nice clothes they had the same bright smile Lisa-mae had. Mr. Kent was a large panda, probably at least six feet tall. He was softer in the middle but that somehow gave him a look of solid strength. Not as much as his Dad, but still. He wore round glasses that, combined with the tweed sweater and brown slacks, gave him a distinguished appearance. Mrs. Kent looked like an almost perfect picture of what Lisa-Mae would probably look like at the same age. She held her figure well and only the slightly wrinkling around the eyes and the generous sprinkling of salt in her black hair gave an indication she wasn’t ten years younger than she was.

“Pleased to meet you as well, lad,” Mr. Kent held out his hand and shook Nikolai’s with a firm grip. “Please, though, just call me David. I know we just met and I’m sure it would be difficult for you to call us your grandparents just yet, but I hope in time we can get to know each other well.”

“Don’t mind him, darling,” Mrs. Kent swept Nikolai up in a big hug, almost lifting the boy off the ground. “You can call me Jan, though I intend to spoil you rotten until you call me grandma!” Mrs… Jan, said with mock seriousness. At least Nikolai hoped it wasn’t as serious as it sounded. The woman’s multi pastel colored shirt and khaki capris gave her a real soccer-mom vibe. “And don’t you worry about David. He’s excited to have a boy grandchild to spoil. I already caught him going through catalogs for boys your age!”

“I…I did…not!” David huffed indignantly as his ears flattened to his head. If Lisa-mae and his soon to be sisters were anything to go by, that was a sign of extreme embarrassment. “Anyway…how about we get you settled in, hmm? Then maybe you and the girls can change and take a swim in the lake.”

Now THAT got Nikolai’s attention. He had been side eyeing the lake Lisa-mae parent’s house overlooked. He was a ten year old boy, after all. While the house was a nice two story house with a wrap-around deck, it also had a second lot next to it with a rolling green hill that flattened out into a grass terrace and stone paved patio before continuing down to the lakeshore itself. There was what looked to be an L shaped dock with a boat moored to it. At least Nikolai was pretty sure moored was the right word. He was just getting into knots in his boy scout troop.

“Yay! Swimming!” Meta cried, running into the house to, in theory, get changed. The three year old not realizing her swimsuit was still packed.

“We’d better get inside and find her suit and floaties before she tires to run down to the lake bare assed again,” Lisa-mae chuckled.

“Wouldn’t that be ‘bear’ assed?” Nikolai’s father spoke softly in a deep powerful voice. He didn’t speak often, but when he did it was usually worth listening to. Unless it was a terrible dad joke.

Lisa-mae rolled her eyes and swatted her soon to be husband on the arm. “I’m not even going to dignify that. Either way, we need to lay claim to a room before the other gets here. I have a large family and we are trying to cram as many people as we can fit into this house. I just hope it isn’t too overwhelming for Nikolai…”

------------------------------------------

Now

“Grandma! Grandpa!” Nikolai grinned as he opened his arms and took them both in a single large hug, eliciting a small giggle from his grandmother and a deep chuckle from his grandfather. The pair of elder pandas still looked fit and strong. A bit softer, a bit grayer maybe, but easily ten years younger than they were.

“Nikolai! Girls!” Nikolai’s grandparents hugged him back before moving to his sisters. “So happy you could make it!” his grandmother said ushering them into the house. “Come in, come in! I’ll fix you a plate! You all look so thin! Especially you, Kolya!” That nickname he almost never heard and never failed to bring a smile to his face.

Entering the house they were led to a well appointed dining area next to an equally well appointed kitchen. And Grandma wasn’t kidding about plates. She never did. With the speed and accuracy that would lead a truckstop waitress to envy, three plates seemingly sprouted potato salad, mac and cheese, greens, fried chicken and a pair of her famous buttery biscuits. In even less time the pates sat beside large glasses of sweet tea in front of the grandkids. “There we are,” Grandma beamed. “Much better.”

“Oh Jan, let Nikolai be, he just got back home from his last duty station,” Grandpa gave Nikolai a wide smile. He had been in the military himself, back in his day. In fact, a good portion of Nikolai’s drive to join the army was because of the stories his Grandpa told him growing up. He had been an officer in two major conflicts before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. After Nikolai’s first deployment it had become a ritual when he visited to sit on the patio under the stars together and have a few beers. Sometimes they would talk about their times. Sometimes they would simply silently watch the sky.

“Whuh hiuh hoo heant uff ta cmm ovve?” Fran…channeled an ancient language around a mouthful of food.

“Oh my god, Fran! Don’t talk with your mouthful!” Meta berated her sister.

“Mmm,” Fran frowned before downing her mouthful with a swig of her tea. “I said why did you want us to come over for Grammy?” she managed to get the words out before shoveling more food in her face. “Vhat? Ahm a Stahving college kid,” she glared back at her sister.

“Well,” Grandma started before giving Grandpa a concerned look.

“We are going to be moving,” Grandpa said succinctly, only to hear the clatter of three forks hitting the table.

“What?”
“No Way!”
“You can’t sell the house!”

“Told you,” Grandma sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have left it to you….”

“What?” Grandpa frowned looking from his wife to his aghast grandchildren. “We aren’t selling the place, we are just going to downsize. Keeping the place up has been getting harder and harder these days. We found a nice little place in a fifty and over community not too far from here.”

“Then…what about the house?” Meta ventured glancing at her siblings in confusion, only to see it mirrored back at her.

“Well, we thought about renting it, but didn’t like the idea of strangers in the place,” Grandma wrinkled her nose. “Then we thought of one of those places on the phone app that lets people stay for a short while, kinda like a hotel, but that sounded worse.”

“On the phone app,” Fran giggled quietly before going silent at the look her Grammy shot her.

“So, since a lot of our things won’t fit in the smaller place we figured we’d leave a lot of them here so it’s mostly furnished,” Grandpa said, taking a small keyring out of his pocket and tossing it to Nikolai, who caught it deftly. “You’ll have to get things like beds and your own TV and such.”

“You’re….you’re giving the house to Nikolai?!” Fran stood up, her eyes as wide as her plate.

“What? No, don’t be silly,” Grandma laughed, waving the middle child down with a napkin. “We figured the three of you could stay here while you went to school! The drive isn’t that long, right?”

“Uh…” Meta spoke up, raising a hand. “None of us have cars? I had to borrow a dorm-mate’s car to get here today.”

“Well, that isn’t totally true,” Grandpa opened the door and hit the button to open the garage.

As the door slid up a car was slowly exposed. But not just any car. A candy apple red nineteen-seventy Cadillac Coupe DeVille convertible. The very same car Nikolai had rebuilt with his dad when he was sixteen. The same car he had taken Helena to prom in. The same car they had their first time together in.

“How…” Nikolai started before looking back over his shoulder. “How did it get here? I left it with mom and dad.”

“That would be your dad,” Grandma smiled, pressing the keys into Nikolai’s hands. “He brought it up on a trailer about a week ago, after we told your parents our plans. He wanted to surprise you.”

“Well he certainly did that!” Nikolai laughed tensely, doing his best to hold back tears.

“Oh, Nikolai,” Meta smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he sniffed, one arm around Mtea, hugging her back. :Thanks munchkin.”

“I hate when you can me that” Meta growled and punched him lightly in the stomach, though most of the sting was taken out of it by her grin.

“Well…I guess we figured out where you’ll be staying, Niki,” Fran chortled. “You’re staying with us anyway!”

Chapter Text

Now

"I can't believe you spent that much on a bed," Fran exclaimed, walking backward through the local mall, facing her siblings. "I mean, it's just going to be like sleeping on a giant air mattress."

"It is not," Meta rolled her eyes. "It's got that memory foam stuff on top, and it's adjustable on the fly. Besides, you're the one who fell asleep on the thing during the demonstration." Meta frowned for a moment before looking up at her brother. "You did spend a lot of money on it, though. That part was true."

Nikolai shrugged. "I've got a nice savings. Most of it is tied up in stocks and bonds with Uncle Dan, but I have a small nest egg to play with, and I get an allowance. Tell you what, girls—I’ll buy you any one thing today… within reason!" He cut off Fran as she opened her mouth before she could speak.

tsk She clicked her teeth and looked away, still clearly excited under her 'angry sister' facade.

Later

"So, I was thinking, Nikolai should get the master bedroom downstairs… " Meta began as the trio took a shopping break to recharge in the food court. Meta had gotten a meatball sub from a mediocre-at-best sandwich shop. Nikolai glanced up from his noodles and orange chicken, and Fran's cheeks bulged from a mouthful of cheesy bacon fries with ranch dressing. Honestly, it was a miracle the girl wasn’t fat. Or covered in cheese sauce.

"A-anyway," Meta stammered under the intent looks of her siblings. "I was saying Nikolai should get the master downstairs, and Fran and I should take the upstairs bedroom."

"Why is that, oh honorable sister?" Fran asked, or at least that’s what Meta decided she was saying around her overstuffed mouthful of food.

"The downstairs one is a bigger room and has a connected bathroom, even if it’s just a tub/sink/toilet unit with no shower." Meta nodded to herself; she clearly needed to plan this for a while. "The upstairs room Granny and Gramps used is a good-sized room, and the two of us can fit in it fine."

"I suppose," Fran finally managed after swallowing her fries and washing it down with her drink. "But the upstairs room doesn’t connect to the bathroom; it’s around the corner. And there’s the second bedroom upstairs. I don’t see why we can’t all just have a room to ourselves, even if the one with the smaller room has the connection to the only full shower. Which, I may add, I am perfectly willing to take the bullet and have the smaller room."

"You remember there’s only a sliding door between that bathroom and the entrance to the garage and laundry area, right?" Nikolai chuckled, deciding it was time to weigh in. "All in all, it sounds fine to me. You guys get the kitchen area, dining room, and living room upstairs to yourselves, and I get the family room area and barroom to do with what I want. Seems fair."

"Ah!" Fran froze dead in her tracks, forcing Nikolai and Meta to go around her. "I forgot about the bar! Nikolai…" Fran’s voice changed to a whine as she gripped the back of his shirt, pulling back, following along slowly with heavy steps. "Niki… You’d trade with your sweet, loving little sister, wouldn’t you?" Fran punctuated the last with a great, big smile.

"'Fraid not, lovely little sister. I’m looking forward to the secret compartment," Nikolai grinned as he rubbed his hands together like an evil supervillain.

"Wait… What? What secret compartment?" Meta stopped for a moment this time before jogging a couple of steps to catch up. "I didn’t know about a secret compartment!"

"That’s because it’s a secret, duh!" Nikolai looked at her like she was a little slow. "Seriously, though, it’s really more like a large closet. It’s where Gramps hid valuables, like the real jewelry, cash, a couple of guns. Stuff like that. I only found it by accident, and he made me promise not to tell anybody."

"Then why tell us now?" Fran asked, a little peeved.

"Probably because we’re responsible adults and could use a place to store that kinda stuff," Meta reasoned. "And if we found it on our own, we’d probably blab about it."

"OH! SPEAKING OF BAD DECISIONS!" Fran suddenly exclaimed, grabbing both siblings and throwing an arm over each shoulder. "We need a party!"

Then

"Oh. My. God. We are soooo dead." Meta slowly looked around the living room.

There were kids everywhere. On the couch, on the chairs. Beer pong on the dining room table. The cupboards had long since been ransacked for edibles and liquor. Some enterprising kid had gotten the stereo up and running and was blasting a random shuffle of songs along with the music videos on the big flat-screen TV. The couch, mentioned previously, had been pushed back to make room for the drunken teen dancers. If one could generously call it dancing. More like vertical grinding and make-out sessions. Much like the couch.

Sounds came from down the hall, from her and her sister’s room. The bathroom. Probably her brother’s room, which made her feel horrible because he trusted them to look after his stuff while he was on deployment. It was just a prayer nobody made it to their parents’ room at this point.

The sliding glass door was open as the party spilled out of the house itself, becoming an impromptu pool party. Maybe half of those in the pool wore clothes.

This was not what was planned. It was supposed to be a small group. Friends coming over, pizza, maybe sneak some beers, that kind of thing. Somehow friends of friends showed up. Then friends of friends of friends. Now the girls were pretty sure total strangers had shown up. Somehow a DJ got set up when they weren’t looking.

As Meta stood petrified, a human girl, not much older than her, staggered up with a grin only a drunk person could have. The kind where their eyes blinked one at a time. "Heeey… You’re those panda girls! I know you! I’m in algebra with… one of you. You’re really cute. I’m not really into anthro girls, but you wanna make out?"

The girl was not unattractive, but more boyish handsome than feminine cute. She was tall, taller than Meta anyway, but that didn’t say much. Her hair was cut short with a kinda faux hawk style. She wore jeans tucked into some hiking boots and a white t-shirt. Meta had been to parties before and had run into people like this girl. Totally not into it, but get a few drinks and they become party furries.

Luckily, or rather unluckily, Meta didn’t have a chance to answer as blue and red lights flashed in the front yard and a brief whoop of a siren caused the entire party to freeze for a full second.

“COPS!” somebody yelled, setting off a stampede. Kids hopped fences, jumped through windows, and even just blindly charged out the door. Most got away, but not all of them. A lot of the drunker ones didn’t get far and were easily cuffed and sat on a curb. Some kids got caught and cried, some just dropped their heads in surrender. A couple of dipshits actually fought back and got tased or maced for their trouble. One, a lion, even got himself a muzzle.

Meta and Fran, however, had no place to run to. They just sat on the couch waiting for their doom to arrive. At least it wasn’t their parents. Or worse, their brother. They probably wouldn’t be able to look at themselves if he had caught them.

At least during their last two years of high school, they were considered party legends. Even if they weren’t allowed to learn to drive until they were 18.

Now

Nikolai had to admit, this wasn’t too bad. The music had a deep bass rhythm, perfect for dancing, and while there were more people than he was comfortable with, it wasn’t too overwhelming. He had been assured it would just be their teams, friends, and a few friends of friends. Though he was pretty sure it had grown beyond that, it wasn’t enough to concern him. And the neighbors hadn’t said anything yet. Yet .

The neighbors on the right were a retired human aerospace engineer and his wife. He had worked for the famous Lockheed Martin Skunkworks. Apparently, he had been declassified enough to admit that he worked on the fastest aircraft in the world. Nikolai remembered, as a kid, being shown papers he didn’t really understand, other than they were cool drawings. Now, though, he knew he had been shown blueprints he shouldn’t have been able to see even now.

On the other side was a human male and his wife, a leopard he had met in Korea. According to Gramps, they had been living there since well before he and Grandma moved in. They were a lovely couple, very friendly and welcoming to overly curious children who wanted to know and poke at everything. It was kinda too bad they didn’t have their own kids.

Currently, Nikolai wandered. He didn’t really know what to do, as he felt incredibly out of place. He was probably older than anybody else here. He just carried his red cup around and watched. Every now and again, he would get pulled into a short conversation, but they rarely lasted more than the basic pleasantries or directions to a bathroom.

His sisters, however, were like dancing butterflies. They slipped through the groups of people, chatting here, dancing a little there, participating in a round of a drinking game, and then they would be off to carouse. They seemed to fit in well with all the social groups, from the frat boys—who may have been a little more handsy than Nikolai liked—and they mixed with the small goth group smoking clove cigarettes and talking about pretending to be vampires. At least, that’s what he overheard at one point. They played a lot of rock, paper, scissors as well. Ah well, he thought. It takes all kinds.

That was when Nikolai found himself dropping off the last steps that ran from the main patio, down the hill, and to the dock. He was a little surprised his feet had led him there, away from all the people, but then, they probably knew what they were doing. He was also surprised that there wasn’t already a group down here. It was nice, though. A little alone time was just what he needed.

Except Nikolai wasn’t alone.

On the dock, on the far side of the ‘L’ shape, was a figure. It was shrouded in darkness, making it all but impossible to get details of the person, other than that they sat alone, looking out over the lake lit only by the ruckus up the hill and the houses across the dark water.

Nikolai shrugged mentally and stepped onto the dock, taking care not to startle the person into falling into the water or something. He stopped a good ten feet away and slowly sat down cross-legged. His eyes traced the far shore before looking up and taking in the full moon. After a few minutes of silence, he said, "Nice night. Wouldn’t recommend swimming, though. Water’s still pretty cold for another month or so."

There was a short pause, just long enough for Nikolai to start to wonder if he’d overstepped. Then the person barked a short laugh. "Oh, you don’t have to worry about me." The person’s voice was feminine and familiar. Her feet kicked slowly through the water. Nikolai hadn’t noticed the shoes and socks on the deck next to the woman, nor that the legs of her jeans had been rolled up to mid-calf so she could drag her feet in the water.

Nikolai blinked for a moment and looked over at the woman, taking in her profile. She was wearing a white t-shirt and slashed jeans, revealing patches of her grey fur. Her hair was a light blue color, cut short along the back and sides, with the bangs long, framing her face. A long fluffy tail was held in her lap.

“Hey.”

He watched her for a moment before answering eloquently, “Hey.” Then, clearing his throat, he made actual words come out of his brain and into his mouth. “Why are you down here? There’s a whole party up the hill.”

This time she chuckled and shook her head. "Well, I looked for a pet I could hold in a corner until I could find a good opportunity to make a break for it, but I couldn’t find one. Figured hanging out with my feet in the water was a decent second place."

Nikolai nodded with a smile. "Yeah, not sure I’d trust those two with anything beyond a goldfish—no offense to them, of course."

Now she actually laughed. "Yeah. Your sisters haven’t changed much."

"Feels like everybody I talk to at the school knows them," Nikolai laughed along.

"Well, Fran is popular for sweeping the karate tournaments this fall and winter, and Meta is active on the student radio station and has a podcast."

"Oh yeah?" Nikolai’s brows raised in surprise. "I had no idea! You’d think they’d tell their brother!"

She sighed and looked out over the water for a bit. “I would have expected them to have a brother who would’ve been the life of the party.”

"Nah," Nikolai waved a hand dismissively. "Meta and Fran got all that stuff. I was never into that."

“True,” she said with a nod.

The pair lapsed into a comfortable silence as they looked out across the lake for a moment before, with a click, the dock light came on.

"Niki?" Fran’s voice pulled Nikolai to look back. "There you are! Meta and I have been looking everywhere for you! I… see you met a friend."

“Hey, Fran,” Hel made a small wave and an even smaller smile.

"Fran?" Nikolai held his hand up over his eyes and glanced at Helena, seeing her fully for the first time. He knew it was her. There was no way he could ever not recognize her instantly, but actually seeing her clearly, in the light, made his mouth go dry and his heart race. His mind almost shut down with all the things he wanted to say—to apologize for—to do anything but sit there.

"Sorry, the light caught me by surprise," Hel said, holding up a hand to shield her eyes from the light.

"Same," Nikolai gave a small, tight smile. "What can I do for you, Fran?"

"Oh, nothing," Fran shrugged, backing up a step. "We just realized we hadn’t seen you and came looking. So, uh, I’ll leave you two be!” She twirled around and jogged up the steps to the house, and her party.

Nikolai watched Fran leave before turning back to look at the lake. He couldn’t bear to look at Hel. He was afraid of what he might see in her eyes. “She didn’t seem surprised to see you,” he said at last.

“Mmm, yeah,” Hel let out a small laugh. “I kept in touch with your family. And when they got here, I made sure they settled properly. They invited me to this party, but they probably thought I wouldn’t actually come.”

“Huh,” Nikolai grunted quietly. “I have to say I’m impressed they didn’t spill that.”

Hel giggled—a musical laugh that cut straight through him. “Yeah. I’m quite impressed, myself.”

He felt a smile tug at his lips. “Mom and Dad didn’t say anything either. Which I assume was your doing. And I expect you're the one that drove my car up here.”

“Guilty on both charges, sir.” She saluted before letting out a small sigh and looking at her hand. “I waited, anyway.”

Nikolai stared down at the water. “Why?”

“Look at me.” It wasn’t a demand. It was a request. Quiet and yet emotional. “Please?”

It was hard. He wasn’t too proud to admit it. He took a deep breath and slowly looked over at her.

Her eyes drew him in, paralyzed him in place. Her beautiful brown eyes.

“I waited because I loved you,” her voice was still quiet, yet stronger underneath. “I loved you so very much. Every time I saw something about the war online, or in the news, I called your mother, just to reassure myself. When they told me you were out, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off of me. I… I wanted to call you right then. I wanted to be there when you got off your plane. I… I wanted… I don’t know what I want anymore.”

Nikolai just looked into her eyes and watched the emotions flow through her. Anger, caring, worry, relief… desperation. He fought back the hiccup of a sob that threatened his composure.

“When you didn’t come to see me off, I knew I made the wrong choice. I wanted to blow the whole thing off and go to your house and beg for you to forgive me,” Nikolai’s eyes welled up, but the tears didn’t fall. “When you didn’t write… I knew I’d destroyed everything.”

Hel’s face was a mask of sympathy and her own misery. She lifted her hand to reach out to him but let it drop into her lap as her tail curled around her. “I was so angry. For so long,” she sniffed. “So long. But when your mom told me you were actually going to a war? It… it was like a candle being blown out. My anger evaporated in an instant. I wanted to write to you then, but I was afraid. Afraid you had come to hate me. Afraid you moved on. Afraid that if I loved you again, what if something happened? All that time wasted on my petty grudge.”

Nikolai gave a small chuckle as he put his hand on the deck between them. “I never moved on. Never, ever. I tried a couple times. But in the end, it all came back to how I felt about you. I would always find the faults. I always compared them to you, and found them lacking. Which wasn’t fair to them or to you. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped and just accepted I lost the greatest thing to ever happen in my life because I was a stubborn fool.”

Another musical giggle as Hel shook her head. “No. We were both stubborn fools.” Her hand slowly slid over on the decking so their fingers touched.

“What do we do now?” His hand took hers.

Her fingers intertwined with his as she turned to face him fully. “I have an idea.”

He turned to face her and marveled at how she’d changed, yet stayed the same. “What’s your idea?”

“Nikolai?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

“More than anything.”