Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was a whirlwind, getting into the classroom on his first day of class. Suguru was a clear outlier by the time he found the right room, observing as groups of anthros chatted around the place, cheering about who they were once again sharing a class with or gossiping about who else was in other classes. Instinctively, Suguru tugged the collar of his school uniform, a navy blue shirt over his neck, pinning his dark ears against the gray fur of his neck, resisting the urge to bare his teeth at everyone around him. This would perhaps be more difficult than he thought. He was starting new in a place where it was clear that most anthros here were amongst familiar peers. Only a few eyes peered at him curiously, including their homeroom teacher, who had clearly noticed the distance between himself and others. He was fine with things being this way, really, it was nothing new. A bobcat anthro near the front of the room laughed, loud. The mouse standing beside her shrunk back, just a little, before joining in, thin tail held high still.

The bells would ring soon enough, Suguru noted, watching the seconds tick by on the clock impatiently. When, at the last moment, a snow leopard slipped in the room, lithe form not at all hidden by the school shirt or pants, he found himself sitting up, just slightly. The bell ringing suddenly mattered a lot less to him, as he watched the snow leopard glance at the list at the front of the room. That was there assigned seating was listed. The large, fluffy tail swayed with each paw step. It was big. Even those paws were large, a unique trait to snow leopards compared to other panthera. The back of the round, fluffy ears were mostly black, with a ring of lighter fur around the top, suggesting the lighter color filled the inner side.

Suguru had never seen a snow leopard anthro in real life. They were rare in Japan, rare everywhere. But Kyoto was large, so he supposed that maybe it wasn't that unusual.

Besides, everyone seemingly ignored the new arrival, seeking out their assigned seats as the bell's final chime landed on their ears. Suguru had already sat down, instead of socializing with anyone else. When the snow leopard walked down the rows, Suguru's eyes widened as he realized that the seat they were heading to was the one directly to his right, placing them both in the middle-back of the classroom. When the leopard sat, Suguru moved his tail to the other side of his seat, away. That long, fluffy tail was on the side closer to Suguru. It looked soft, after then it had any business being, in Suguru's mind.

At the front of the room, their teacher had introduced herself, giving a small fact about herself, something about gardening. Suguru should've paid more attention but he couldn't stop his gaze from wandering to the snow leopard who sat next to him, leaning back in the seat with the sort of demeanor you'd expect from a petulant child, arms crossed, ears pinned back and eyes narrowed. Occasionally, those white (white, like clouds) whiskers twitched. The introductions continued through the class, working through each row of seats. The anthro to the snow leopard's left had just gone, which meant it was the snow leopard's turn this time. Suguru stared, anticipation tingling through him, but there was no move to stand, or speak.

"Gojo Hikari, it is your turn," the teacher said, a little exasperated. Gojo sighed, eyes rolling with an exaggerated move to stand. Fluffy ears still lowered, a display of distaste.

The icy stare, cold blue eyes narrowing at the teacher, Gojo's voice shocked Suguru. "It's not Hikari. My name is Gojo Satoru. That can be my fact, too."

Whispers broke out across the classroom. Suguru picked up on a mix of shock, laughter, and confusion. He could only blink, staring at Gojo's face as a sharp grin covered it while the panthera sat down. The language was brazen. Rude, and incorrect, it was also informal. Gojo had used the incorrect pronoun, opting for a crude, masculine option. Sure, most masculine anthros used it when amongst friends, but Gojo didn't seem to fit into that category, not to Suguru. Gojo was barreling through social blunders that nearly made Suguru wince with sympathy. Nearly.

Their teacher, a feline with softer features, appeared irritated about the display, her fur actively flattening, resisting bristling at a student. Her tail swayed with the irritation, but she sighed. It would be Suguru's turn next, he realized, dread coiling in his stomach as he swallowed, staring at the front of the room as the teacher simply scribbling a note on a page, probably writing down Gojo's preference. Then she called his name.

His heart flipped in his chest, as he stood, holding a paw over his chest. Suguru wanted to dig his claws into the fabric and squeeze until it was over, but he resisted, keeping his gaze planted at the front of the room, at the teacher, ignoring the eyes of the whole class on him. He hated this, it was always his least favorite part of moving somewhere new.

"Nice to meet you all," he said with a tiny bow. "My name is Geto Suguru and my fun fact is that I can do a pawstand for a whole minute."

With relief, he received none of the jeering that Gojo had gotten, just a few noises of awe or surprise as he sat down.

Unlike everyone else, Suguru did not jump to his paws as class was dismissed for lunch. Slowly, he packed away his pen and notebooks, taking his time, hoping the halls would be slightly less congested while he hunted for a place to eat his lunch. A small part of him wished that they'd never moved to the city, ignoring this school. But that would've limited his opportunities, and he was already here. Nerves chipped away at his hunger, and Suguru wasn't too sure he'd end up eating it at all.

As he went to stand, white and black flooded his view, a large fluffy paw with dark spots landed on the notebook Suguru didn't pack. He was going to write in it during lunch. Suguru jumped slightly, forced to meet the bluest eyes he'd ever seen, with a toothy grin and twitching whiskers.

"A pawstand for a minute? You should show me," Gojo said, tail swaying. It looked soft.

"Uh—what? You want to see my pawstand?" The tug he gave the notebook did nothing. Gojo's weight bore down on it more, sharp claws flexing out of their sheath. Was Gojo really going to force him into showing off his pawstand?

"Yeah, that's what I said. We can go outside for lunch."

"You're being kinda rude, don't you think?" Suguru said on instinct. Gojo scoffed, avoiding Suguru's eyes as those round ears drooped. Clenching his teeth, Suguru finally managed to pull his notebook away. Maybe he shouldn't just brush this off? There was a new pit forming in his stomach, something about how dejected Gojo was looking. "Okay. Fine. I'll show you, but you'll find where we're gonna sit."

"Deal!" Gojo chirped, confidence blooming with small leaps away, dipping out of the door. Lost, Suguru scrambled to catch up, huffing before calling after Gojo as he entered the hallway.

"Don't go so fast, you can't run indoors!"

Gojo turned, looking at Suguru with a quizzical expression. "I'm not running though?"

Suguru's mouth dropped open, eyes narrowing.

"You kind of are? You're just jumping instead?" Gojo was grinning again, it made Suguru want to bite. "Whatever, just walk normally, please."

"Fiiiine, just for you, Suguru," Gojo purred, shoving his paws into the pockets of his blue sweater as he began to walk at an agonizingly slow pace instead. That sweater had to break the uniform rules, Suguru thought. But their teacher hadn't made any comment. "This means I can ask you questions, right?"

Wait, Suguru? Why was Gojo skipping to a first name basis? Suguru pinned back his ears.

"Why are you calling me Suguru?"

"Because I want to."

He sighed, withering beneath the insistence that Gojo's shining eyes carried. Suguru wouldn't win this one. "What questions do you have?"

"You're new to the city, aren't you?" Gojo pushed open the door and Suguru relished in the breeze before the stench of the city hit his nose. His mother said he'd get used to it eventually, but they'd been here a month and it still made him want to hide his nose in the sleeve of his uniform. "See! You hate the smell!" Gojo tacked on.

"Yeah, not from here. What else gave it away?"

They both walked away from the other students who were excitedly sharing who they were sharing a class with this year; friends and rivals from prior years alike.

"Hmm, I don't know. Just..." Gojo paused, scratching at his chin in thought. "Your aura? Is that weird?"

"This whole conversation has felt weird," Suguru said. Gojo snickered as he collapsed on the grass, staring up.

"Alright, show me that pawstand of yours!"

Suguru willed the way his heartbeat was going wild in his chest to stop. Closing his eyes, Suguru dropped to his front paws, shifting all his weight to the front and lifting his back legs into the air. Then, he held still, ears pinned back, legs in the air, body quivering from how tightly wound it was, holding all of his weight. Suguru could feel his shirt slowly falling down, catching on his fur. He hoped Gojo didn't mind, it was something he couldn't control while standing on his front paws.

Gojo whistled, then giggled. "Wow! That was two minutes! You were selling yourself short!" Suguru dropped back onto his back paws, sitting in the grass beside Gojo. "That was awesome!"

Suguru let himself smile a little as he opened up his lunchbox. He picked through it, noting what his mother had packed this morning. Usually he did it himself, but she had insisted this morning. Much like someone he was currently learning about. Gojo leaned over, ignoring his own lunchbox to peer into Suguru's.

"Wow, this all looks amazing," he said. "Wanna trade?"

"What? No, I like this food."

"Damn," Gojo said leaning back and opening his box in defeat. "Fine, be that way! I won't share then!"

Suguru wasn't sure he was interested in anything that Gojo had packed regardless, so that was fine. They ate in silence, the noise of other kids running about and playing hitting Suguru's ears as he chewed slowly. The puzzle pieces weren't fitting together. There was a mystery floating about Gojo. The snow leopard was enigmatic. After being denied a trade for lunches, Gojo began to ignore Suguru in favor of devouring his own lunch which looked like half of it was straight junk food? It was ridiculous. That wasn't a complete meal.

"Why are you eating candy for lunch?" Suguru asked, unable to stifle his curiosity.

"Because I like candy. I'm able to convince Kuroi to give it to me if I act extra good."

Suguru narrowed his eyes, glancing towards Gojo. Did he not have parents or something?

That train of thought was interrupted by an anthro approaching them. His fur was a reddish brown, with some white tufts around the ends of his limbs, and his black hooves held an unopened can of soda. The school uniform he wore was worn and messily repaired in a few locations. It looked secondhand, perhaps older. The ram anthro ignored Suguru entirely, all of his focus trained onto Gojo with a nervous demeanor. When Gojo acknowledged his presence, the ram's face lit up, twinkling with hope.

"Hikari, uh, I thought you might like—"

"I know you weren't there, but it's Satoru now. And if you're giving that to me cus you think I'm interested, then you better scram. Or else I'll show claws." Gojo maintained a facade of boredom, examining the piece of gummy candy on his claw. The ram looked put out, but pressed onwards.

"O-okay, Satoru! This soda is for you, if you want it, um, I hope you like this flavor." He started shuffling the can between his hooves. Suguru almost felt guilt at his silence. Would the update in name be enough to satisfy Gojo? No, it seemed, as Gojo sneered at the soda can, all teeth.

"What did I just say?" he growled, ears slowly dropping back. Suguru was glad that none of this ire was aimed at himself. The ram stumbled over a half-formed apology, jumping into the air slightly when Gojo released a real growl, then he bolted. Gojo sighed, all the tension dropping from his body, overwritten with a deep exhaustion that surprised Suguru. "Sorry, I didn't want you to see something like that."

"Who... who was that? An old classmate?" Suguru asked. That was probably the best place to start.

"Kid who doesn't really care about me," Gojo said. "He's just interested in legacy. Most of them are. None of them get it."

Gojo was making himself smaller, pulling his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them. The candy had been abandoned to the side. If it wasn't closed, the ants would find it. Spring was a busy time for them.

"Oh..." Suguru leaned forward, placing the lid of Gojo's lunchbox on. Gojo gave him a puzzled look, so he smiled and shrugged. "You probably don't want to eat ants."

"I don't know, I hear bugs are good protein. Maybe I'm low on my protein, Suguru," Gojo answered. His ears perked up and the end of that soft, spotted tail raised. "I know what else you're gonna ask. If you don't ask it now, you will later. I changed my name because I'm not a leopardess."

If Gojo wasn't a leopardess, then he was just a leopard? How did that even work? Suguru blinked, tilting his head. Gojo laughed before releasing a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, you're probably wondering how that even works, right? I haven't figured that part out either. All I know is that if another anthro refers to me with 'she' or 'her' or tries to ask me out on a date with a can of soda, I'm going to use claws."

"Is that... why you use such rude language?"

Gojo grinned now, releasing his legs and leaning towards Suguru. That tail was thumping against the grass, erratic and without rhythm. "Yeah! It is! If I speak politely no one will ever get the idea! If I use the wrong word people get cheeky." One paw was holding up Gojo's weight on it and the other moved in the air as he spoke. It was... cute.

"You know that everyone uses the same pronouns in polite language, right?" Suguru said. "You don't have to be rude to get them to see you as a leopard."

Gojo shook his head. "No, you do. They don't take me seriously. At least when I speak like I do, they at least get pissed off, rather than trampling anything I tell them."

"You'd rather have them pissed off at you?" Suguru would prefer to be ignored then to be irritating towards others. It was easier, that way.

"Yup," Gojo said. "Attention will be on me either way, cus that's what happens when you're born with the Gojo name. If they want to look at me they can see a rude brat who doesn't know his place." Picking at the grass, Gojo grew quieter as he continued. "I'd rather be seen like that then someone who can be used for power."

"Uh, why does the Gojo name mean attention...?"

Gojo's eyes snapped up from the grass, meeting Suguru's with startling speed. He felt pinned down, those thin, sharp claws digging into his skin, holding him still. Of course, that wasn't true. Instead, Gojo's claws held only grass.

"You don't know?" he says, face torn between awe and shock.

"Should I? I'm not even from Kyoto,"

"Oh! That's right, you're not." Gojo's smirk made Suguru feel like that was the wrong answer somehow. "You can look it up later, but it's a pretty long and boring history. Basically the name comes with money and traditions."

"Does your family disapprove of you changing your first name?"

"They don't really care, but I think they believe I'll grow out of it. Once I'm an adult I'll change course and follow the money to whatever path they want from me."

Suguru didn't bother to rationalize the amount of money. It was probably far more than his family could even dream of. Even doubling their current wealth would increase the quality of their life tenfold. But Gojo didn't seem swayed by wealth.

"Should I call you Satoru?"

He asked because Suguru wasn't crazy. While speaking about his family, Gojo's face was perfectly neutral, but his displeasure was still on display. Small things, like the twitch of his whiskers and the flexing of his claws. Smaller behaviors that Gojo could likely mask as well, in the right audience. But as the question reached Gojo, his whole demeanor changed. Gone was that neutral expression, replacing with one that radiated light, both of his front paws were on the dirt now and the snow leopard leaned even closer, so close that Suguru could smell traces of citrus. It would only take a small lean to have Gojo's head placed on Suguru's shoulder. He didn't know if he liked that or hated it.

"Will you?" he asked, excitement oozing from his words. "Call me Satoru, that is?"

Suguru felt a little warm beneath his fur. It wasn't the sun, that was hiding behind the clouds today. His mouth felt a little dry too. Instead of answering with words, Suguru gave a nod.

"Yes!" Gojo cheered, though it was mostly an excited chirp. And before Suguru could react, Gojo's arms were wrapped around him, chest to Suguru's shoulder and muzzle tucked into Suguru's throat. If he felt warm before, Suguru felt that he could explode now, with Gojo's cheek rubbing against his neck. "Thank you thank you thank you!" Gojo chanted, speaking the words straight into the fabric of Suguru's uniform before pulling away. A ridiculous smile was covering his face and Suguru felt only a little dizzy over it.

That was a lot. Suguru could smell citrus still, even as Satoru sat back down at his original place, opening up his lunchbox again. Touch wasn't something Suguru was used to outside of his family, let alone touch that was near scenting like that. Did Satoru know that he'd left a trace of his scent on Suguru's fur and clothes? In... and out. In... and out, Suguru chanted in his mind, repeating steps he had heard over and over. Satoru was shoving massive bites of candy into his mouth, chewing them up with loud crunching. It helped Suguru bring himself back to earth, the noise was almost annoying.

"Could you be any noisier with that?" Suguru teased.

Instead of answering with words, Satoru shoved more candy into his mouth, crunching on it even louder. As Suguru started laughing, Satoru nearly choked on it all.

"I've always wanted to pierce my ears," Suguru admitted one long summer day.

School was on break. Not for long, though. Apparently overseas, summer breaks could be as long as three months. The idea of that made Suguru grimace. What would he even do with all of that time off? Satoru laid on Suguru's bed, his back paws swaying through the air as he glared at the TV screen, using more force then Suguru would on the controller. It had taken some time, but Satoru was able to convince his family that spending the weekend at the Geto home was fine. It only took the world's most intense dinner with the Gojo family two weeks ago.

"What?" Satoru said. His ears were pinned low as his tail betrayed the swirling frustration at the game. The thing that Suguru had learned in the past couple of hours was that Satoru sucked at Tetris.

"I think it'd be cool, don't you?"

"Uh," Satoru paused the game, looking at Suguru's ears intently. "I guess it would be cool. What color earrings?"

"I wouldn't wear earrings," Suguru explained, pinching the low, outer side of his ear. "I want gauges."

"Isn't that the thing where anthros stretch these really massive holes into their ears? That's so weird! Why're you interested in that?"

"You don't think that's cool?" Suguru pressed. Closer, he leaned into Satoru's shoulder, grinning into the thick, cool fur of his neck. "I think it's cool. How big should I go? Just a few centimeters?"

The controller was abandoned to the sheets quickly and Satoru whirled around to face Suguru. He looked more distressed than Suguru expected. Suguru snorted, his tail wagging.

"Suguru! It just is weird!"

"Hmm, is that your parents making you feel that way, I wonder," Suguru said, looking away. He couldn't stop his tail, never could when it was about Satoru.

"No!" Satoru squeaked. Thin claws dug into Suguru’s comforter. Satoru huffed. "Okay. Maybe a little. They said that anyone who does that is a bad person to be around."

Suguru hummed, looking down at Satoru's large paws. They looked so soft. They'd engulf his own paws entirely and Satoru definitely wasn't done growing yet, not at their age.

"Makes sense," he said, drawing out the empty space. "But you know me."

Satoru gave a show of his canines, groaning. "Yeah, I do. Are you seriously gonna do it?"

"Yeah, why shouldn't I?" Suguru asked, grinning. Satoru's claws were picking apart his bedding now. Hopefully mom wouldn't be too upset at showing Suguru how to sew again. He was having too much fun to stop now.

"It's just—" Satoru looked up at him, ears relaxing slightly, then he growled, low. "I don't want my mother to get snippety about it if we hang out and she sees them, that's all!"

Suguru giggled, hiding it behind a paw. "Okay, okay, what if I just pierced them, no gauges?" For now. Satoru wouldn't have to worry, he was good at dazzling people and forcing their perspective to adapt. After all, that was how Suguru convinced Mrs. Gojo that her cub would be just fine in the care of the Geto family for three days and two nights.

Satoru made a pouting expression, giving Suguru the full brunt of his sparkling blue eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise!" The pout was shed immediately in favor of that shining grin. Suguru smiled back, tilting his head. "Wanna help me pierce them today?"

"Wait, today?"

The wary glances that Satoru kept giving the lone needle resting on the plate had Suguru almost reconsidering. He'd never asked how Satoru was around blood, hadn't had a reason to.

Piercings were something Suguru had never considered. Not until he saw pictures online of a black wolf with shining white gauges in her ears. They sparkled like diamonds in the lighting, or perhaps that was a side effect of the low fidelity of the camera. After that, something in his brain clicked, and he spent numerous hours researching the process. It was simple, deceptively so. A sharp needle, a lighter, rubbing alcohol, and some earrings. Mom wouldn't notice this pair was gone, at least not before noticing Suguru wearing them. They were a simple sterling silver rod with a five-point star in the same material on each side. The clip was supposed to sit on the inner, skin side of the ear. If you did it the other way, the fur risked getting caught in the earring.

"Is this really all we need?" Satoru asked. His voice was tight.

"Yeah, I think so. I double checked a few places and this is all they said."

Oh, there was also the marker and the handheld mirror, since Suguru wasn't certain that Satoru was going to be able to actually help. Uncapping the marker, Suguru grabbed the mirror, holding up so he could pick out the spot he wanted to pierce. He tried a few times to align the marker while holding the mirror still. It wasn't working. Satoru huffed, snatching the mirror from his paws and held it up, staying still as a stone. He'd never seen Satoru stay this still, in the few months they'd known each other so far. Suguru kept struggling to line the marker up where he wanted, gritting his teeth together.

"You want to mark the spot where your claw is?" Satoru asked suddenly. Suguru startled, looking up to see the way Satoru's eyes were trained on his ear with overwhelming intensity.

"Yeah, it's..."

"Left. No, your other left, down a little, too much... there!" Satoru gave a nod as Suguru poked the spot with the marker, leaving a small green dot in its place.

"Thanks," Suguru said while he felt around the skin of his other ear, trying to pick out the symmetrical spot. The mirror wasn't as helpful as he hoped, to see into his ear at the right angle, his other ear was out of view.

"Okay, stop, just look straight at me," Satoru said, his paw was batting at Suguru's. The one with the marker in it. Silently, Suguru placed the marker in Satoru's paw, biting his tongue as he let the touch linger. The shorter fur that surrounded Satoru's paw pads was fuzzy, warmer than the rest of his coat. The thing about a snow leopard's fur was that it didn't hold warmth, the coat was meant to insulate as much heat as possible in the bitter cold. But the paw pads were a place where that heat escaped, the skin plush and soft. So soft. "I said look straight at me, keep your ears pointed forward," Satoru scolded. The mirror was tucked under his arm as he grabbed Suguru's jaw, pinning him to the spot. Satoru's other paw grabbed the unmarked ear, his focused gaze flickering back and forth as the soft paw pad moved against Suguru's lower ear.

"Do not move your head," Satoru stated as he let go of Suguru's jaw. Before Suguru could say anything at all, Satoru had already pressed the tiny dot into place and was holding up the mirror. "Look good? It's symmetrical, that's what you wanted right?"

Suguru didn't look at his reflection in the mirror. He just stared up at Satoru, who was still looking at the dot, or perhaps just Suguru's ear in general. It was hard to know.

"Yeah, it is, thank you."

Satoru's paws shuffled around the mirror, holding it steady. "Are you... Going to stab yourself now?"

Ah, shit. Right. Deep breaths. Suguru grabbed the needle and lighter. Flicking it on, he watched as the cool gray morphed into a hot red.

"Why are you burning the needle?"

"To sterilize it, a really important step."

"The alcohol isn't enough for that?"

"No, not since I don't have medical grade needles. I doubt I'd be able to find any of those," Suguru said. He dropped the lighter and waited for the needle to cool. Once the needled lost its glow, he uncapped the rubbing alcohol, dipping it in. Satoru's nose wrinkled and he turned his head away until the cap was returned. The scent of it hadn't even touched Suguru's nose. "You can smell that?"

"Yeah, it stings," he hissed.

Suguru chuckled, raising the needle. Inhale, exhale. The hardest part would be poking his ear with his non dominant paw, but he decided to start with the side he could use his dominant paw on first. Just like he read, he grasped the top of his ear, holding it tight. Just align the needle, keep breathing, and poke. That was all he had to do. The sound was worse than he thought it would be, and Suguru flinched as the needle broke through the other side. Thankfully only the tip of it was sharp, so the sudden movement didn't snag, but Satoru hissed out of sympathy.

"Dude, are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine, where's the earring?"

"Hold out your paw." He did, surprised at the feel of warmed metal dropping onto it. "I'll give you the clip after you get it in," Satoru said.

Delicately, Suguru pulled the needle out, dropping it onto the plate before slipping the earring in. he held out his paw to Satoru again, who dropped the star shaped cap into it, just like he said he would. It wasn't until he clipped it in, meaning the earring was there to stay, that he released all the air in his lungs. Only after a few heavy heaves did Satoru speak up again.

"That was fucking gnarly."

Touching the piercing was a huge mistake. Suguru winced and pinned his ears back by instinct, which also hurt. "Fuck," he spat. In... and out. In... and out. Slow. It didn't hurt too bad, thankfully. Touching it had been the reason it'd flared with pain that way.

"Okay."

Turning around, he wiped off the needle with the cloth he'd brought out, and started to reheat it. Through the entire process, Satoru stood as still and silent as a statue. Suguru spared a glance in his direction, nearly laughing at the tight expression the leopard's face.

"Are you okay?" Suguru asked, pulling the needle out of the heat of the lighter. He tossed the lighter side, glancing back to Satoru while he waited for it to cool.

"Um," Satoru blinked, shooting a nervous grin in his direction as he shuffled his back paws on the earth. "Yeah, sorry. Why?"

"I've never seen you this still or quiet. Do you not like blood?"

"Does anyone like blood!?" Suguru chuckled and Satoru frowned. "You're the one stopping to take deep breaths and shit!"

"I'm also the one who is being stabbed," Suguru said. That didn't remove the frown from Satoru's face at all. His tail was twitching against the grass. He probably didn't even realize that it was. "Just one more, and we'll be done!" For both their sakes, hopefully it went cleanly. Suguru wasn't exactly afraid of blood but his body was not enjoying the pain that he was inflicting on himself.

"Okay, then hurry up."

Deep breaths, he reminded himself as he lined up in the mirror, finding the green dot with the tip of the needle. The process went exactly the same as last time, with Satoru handing him the warmed earring and the clasp to the earring after the stab. Once it was clipped, he collapsed into the grass, sighing heavily. Satoru dropped the mirror (safely) onto the ground and laid down beside Suguru. He was on his stomach, while Suguru lay on his back, staring up at the blue sky. The sun was covered by buildings, but it was bright, regardless.

"You're parents found a nice place. It's rare to have an actual yard in Kyoto." Suguru looked in Satoru’s direction, raising a brow. Satoru was staring directly at him, chin resting on his stacked paws. "Yeah, okay, don't look at me like that! I may live in 'a mansion' according to you but that doesn't mean I'm clueless! I know there's rarely a yard around here. You're not even in the older streets," Satoru said. "Have you ever seen the old streets? You haven't lived here for that long."

"I haven't. Are they cool?"

"Yeah, really cool." Satoru's eyes flicked to the side, towards Suguru's ears. He swiveled them forward so the star faced Satoru. "The earrings are cool too. Where'd you get them?"

"Mmm, they were in my mother's jewelry box."

"So you stole them?" Satoru teased, leaning closer. Suguru could smell citrus again. They were young, so scents hadn't developed fully. And yet. He could smell Satoru. Could Satoru smell him? He hoped not. Not until he knew how to control the way his heart would beat out of his chest or how hot he felt beneath his fur, especially around the brand new piercings in his skin.

"Yeah, I did. Maybe I am the thieving kitsune your parents warned you about," Suguru said, leaning in closer, close enough that their noses were nearly touching.

"What? That means you lied to my mom! You told her you were no kitsune, just a regular fox pup!" Satoru backed up, pushing himself up with his front paws. He laughed, looking down at Suguru. "It's okay. Even if you were a sneaky kitsune, I'd learn to handle you."

"Hmm, you better be right about that," Suguru replied as he also sat up, feeling far better than before.

When they went back inside, Suguru threw out the needle after carefully wrapping it with an old shirt. It was a possible hazard otherwise, and they went back upstairs to hang out in his room until his mother got home and made dinner. Satoru was constantly looking at his ears. It was embarrassing. Even when he was failing at more video games, hissing at the screen, Suguru could still feel Satoru's eyes drifting back over to them.

"How are you going to explain it to your mom, by the way?" he finally asked, shaking the weirdness off of Suguru's fur.

"Um, I won't be. I'm not even sure she'll notice. If you keep looking at them... she might notice though! So stop it!" Satoru looked up at his ears again in an overly exaggerated manner, before bursting into giggles. "Hey! You know I'm right! If you give her reason to think that something is up she will sniff it out! So act normal!"

"Suguru,"

"What?"

"Have I ever been good at normal?" he asked, looking far too serious.

"What—why are you asking me that now? I guess so, when your parents were around at your house you acted normal. Anywhere else? Nah."

"And... You don't mind? That I don't act normal?"

It felt like a leading question. Suguru's face scrunched up with thought as he looked more carefully at Satoru.

"No, I don't mind. Why would I care?"

Satoru grinned in that unrestrained sort of way, the one that could be mistaken as a threat with the way his eyes narrowed to make up for the size of his smile. But Suguru knew better.

"Some people do, so I'm glad you don't." The glee that radiated off of the snow leopard was overwhelming, it was in the way he looked at Suguru to the way his tail was almost wagging like a canine's. Not all panthera did that, but to see Satoru exuding the behavior had Suguru wagging his own tail in tune with Satoru.

Satoru was sat across from Suguru at their small table, far less luxurious than the table they had just dined at a week ago. It was a well-made wooden table, but its age showed through the stains, scratches, and gouges that scarred the surface of the beautiful oak wood. Some had been repaired, but the last time Suguru could remember someone sitting down and sanding it to refinish had been at least a decade ago. Mom and Dad sat on the short ends of the table, which meant Satoru and Suguru were passing things between them as requested. And every time Satoru passed anything he looked up at Suguru's ears, for some reason.

Suguru had not missed the way his mother's green eyes had followed Satoru's gaze once or twice. That especially didn't help when he could almost smell her amusement. They were mostly eating in silence, until Mom released a rather random snort, and began to hide a smile behind her paw as she looked straight at Suguru.

"When did you kits pierce Suguru's ears?" she asked. Her shoulders were shaking and Suguru could see the white tip of her tail flickering into view. Suguru pinned his ears back, quickly returning his gaze to his food, spinning the noodles about in the bowl. Dad, on the other side of the table, released a huff as he leaned forward. A paw reached out and poked the end of Suguru's ear, startling him.

"Oh, it is pierced."

Satoru snickered, leaning forward as he gave Mom a frown. "Yeah, he decided we would do it today while you were both gone."

"Oh, honey, did he make you help?"

"He tried not too, but I did because I didn't want to see him struggle since he had already stabbed himself by then," Satoru lied, giggling a little. "Once he'd done that, I had to help out by giving him the earring so he didn't flounder about for too long."

Suguru was alright with Satoru leaving out the part where he had grabbed Suguru's face to hold him still while he marked the dot, feeling warm. Satoru's paw tapped him beneath the table, and the leopard was shooting him another one of those massive grins. This idiot... Suguru frowned, kicking at the paw as quietly as he could.

"Aww, it's sweet that you helped!" Then Mom's gaze slid to Suguru, and she smiled, more gentle than he'd seen in a long time. "What made you choose that pair of earrings?"

"Uh... when I was looking at your collection about a month ago, none of the other ones really called to me, I guess. The gemstones and stuff I just didn't like, and I don't remember you ever wearing these so... I thought they'd be okay to use," Suguru said, stabbing at his food a bit more. His ears felt hot but he forced them to stand up so that the earrings could be seen, for right now. "Is... it it okay?"

"Do you know where this pair came from?" Dad asked, but he wasn't even looking at Suguru. He was looking at Mom. Suguru blinked, shrugging.

"Those were the first gift your dad gave me when he started courting me," Mom explained before giggling to herself, like it was an inside joke. Suguru frowned.

"So it's not okay?" he asked.

"I have no issue with it! I haven't worn them in years, despite loving them. It's nice to see these twin stars sparkle somewhere again."

Satoru poked his leg again and Suguru huffed.

Summer melted away into sweltering Autumn, before cooling into the chilled winter. Throughout all of it, Suguru and Satoru kept close. It was fascinating, to grow so close to another anthro like this. Never had he missed the presence of someone the way he had begun to with Satoru. Despite being one to never particularly care for photos, he found himself taking plenty when he got his first phone. Mom had bought it for him, gifting it to Suguru on that very birthday.

"What? That's such a cool present!" Satoru gasped as Suguru held it up, examining the sleek metal and flipped it open, tapping around the buttons and navigating through the menus. It had already been set up, he noticed. The battery was low, and would need a charge. "Man, how did you get a phone before I did?" Satoru whined, a paw reaching in Suguru's direction as he tried to swipe it away.

"I don't know. You should ask, if you get one then we can talk to each other," Suguru answered, leaning backwards as he opened up the camera, and grinned. Satoru's big fluffy paw was taking up the entire bottom half of the screen, a frowning face blurred out behind it. He snapped the photo, giggling. "Satoru, this is gonna be a bad photo, you should stay still," Suguru said.

"Huh?" But it worked, and Satoru stilled, ears perking up, paw still outstretched as he gave Suguru a quizzical expression. Suguru moved the phone slightly higher, getting a better picture of Satoru's confused face. The clicks of the camera had his whiskers twitched, it only made Suguru giggle more. "Oh, you're taking pictures of me, now huh? What am I? A model?" Satoru said, pulling back as he placed a paw beneath his chin, like he was holding it while his other hand reached up, the paw pads spreading as he flexed his claws out. "What about this?"

Suguru took a couple more shots, before dropping his phone, laughing. "Perfect. You should go into modeling. You'd fit right in." Satoru rolled his eyes at Suguru's teasing tone.

"You're not taking this seriously! If I wanna to get into modeling, I'll have to apply to a different high school then you!"

"Uh oh, not sure we can have that," Mom piped up with, giggling. She looked delighted, her tail wagging. Dad wasn't here today and Suguru wasn't sure yet if that was a good or bad thing. Satoru and Mom got along too well. "It's a bit too late to be applying, and you two already agreed on the same place, didn't you?"

Satoru nodded, his large fluffy tail waking to flicker with his excitement. He was far more excited to go into high school then Suguru was. "Yeah! Exactly! So it's too late for my modeling career. Can't change now, since you wanted to go to a stuffy school for civil engineering!"

"What? You told me you were applying to this place first," Suguru snapped with fake heat. After flipping his phone shut, he slipped it into his pocket, giving Mom a smile. "Thank you, Mom, I really appreciate this."

She huffed, ears pinning back with exaggerated emotion. "Well, you know, I didn't do this just for you, or for Satoru," she added on with a wink in Satoru's direction. Suguru held back a sigh at Satoru's snickering. "I'll miss you! You're going so faraway for school! I'm glad there's dorms there, but that makes it even easier for you to forget all about us here at home!"

"Of course I won't forget about you, you're the only reason I get to go to Tokyo for high school," Suguru reassured her.

"I won't forget either, I'll be forcing Suguru onto the trains any chance we get so I can enjoy more of your homemade cookies!"

"Oh, I should make some really special ones for the week you boys leave." Mom looked up at the ceiling in a conspiratorial manner. "That'll make sure you come visit, I don't wanna not hear from you too, Satoru."

Satoru's tail was waving high up in the air, his front paws holding all his weight as he leaned forward, towards her. If this were a cartoon, there would be literal stars in his eye, much like the earrings that Suguru still wore now. "Really? Oh, hell yeah!" he chirped out. Suguru's tail wagged at the pure excitement rolling off of him now.

It was time. They were about to board the train to head off to leave for high school. Suguru's claws dug into the handle of his suitcase, holding all that would leave for Tokyo with him. The second time he was leaving home for somewhere entirely new. This time, on his own. Anxiety roiled in his gut, especially as Dad walked up to him, ruffling the fur between his ears. Suguru missed the first words out of his mouth, the noise of the station roaring as a different train exited.

"What?" he asked, leaning closer.

"I'm proud of you," Dad repeated, smiling as he held out both arms. "Come here, give your dad a hug before you leave." Suguru gladly let go of his suitcase to wrap his paws around his dad's stomach, pressing his face into the textured flannel. It smelled like home, a mix of paper and wax, with touches of berries. Suguru took a steadying breath. A smile grew as Dad rubbed at his shoulders before squeezing him tight. As he was released, Dad spoke up again. "I know you'll be able to call us, but if anything goes too wrong, you know you can come home, right?"

"Yeah, thanks, Dad. Love you." Suguru felt surprise as he noticed a few graying strands of fur peppered along his Dad's chin, sticking out against the red. He blinked, inhaling deeply.

"Where's that little runt, Satoru, at?" The nickname stirred up a laugh. Satoru was anything but a runt. "I suppose he's late again, isn't he? Did you give him an earlier leave time like Mom suggested?"

"Yeah, but he still manages to be late for that, you know how he is." Suguru grabbed the handle of his suitcase again. Running the textured part of the handle across his paw pads steadied Suguru more. He sniffed at the air, humming. "I think he'll be here soon, though."

"Oh yeah?" Dad answered with, smirking. Suguru frowned, tilting his head at the tone.

"Yeah, the train allows people to get on at 2:30 and I gave him a departing time of 2:15 so..." Suguru glanced at the large clock on the wall. "He should be here in about two minutes, meaning he'd have missed the train by three minutes. And that's two minutes away from right now."

Dad chuckled, ruffling his whole head up again. "Alright, alright, you got this kid's schedule down, don't you? It's amazing that he can be so chronically late, being from that family and all. I'm surprised that they don't just handle it all for him."

Suguru was about to answer, but stopped as he saw a streak of white and bright yellow burst into view. Satoru was wearing that ridiculous floral shirt. It looked so ridiculously foreign that Suguru had told him to get rid of it, but that only spurred Satoru on, making him wear it more often. He snorted, pointing with a paw. Dad turned, looking in the direction that Suguru had pointed.

"Ah! He was almost early!" Dad said, standing up to the tips of his paws as he waved, trying to catch Satoru's eyes. He was frantically scanning the crowd. Suguru sighed, rolling his eyes as Satoru seemingly spotted his dad. Everything about him lifted, like a flower drinking in the sun, and he skittered through the crowd, panting as he leaned over the one of two suitcases he was bringing. Suguru frowned, tilting his head as he watched Satoru nearly trip over the secondary suitcase twice before he reached them, chest heaving. "Welcome, my honorary kit!" Dad said, chuckling. "You were nearly late."

A confused noise had Suguru softening as Satoru sought out a clock desperately. "Weren't we supposed to be departing five minutes ago?"

"Yeah, according to the schedule I gave you," Suguru said, stepping forward to grab Satoru's second suitcase by the handle. "There's no way you need this much stuff."

Satoru snorted, waving him off with a flick of a paw. "Not everyone can fit their whole lives into a single suitcase, Suguru. I've never lived somewhere else! I needed all of this!"

"I hope you're paying for the storage for that."

"Oh, Suguru, I upgraded us. We won't need to worry about that." Satoru grinned as Suguru tried to ask what the hell that meant, sending a conspiratorial glance towards Dad. "Come on! We better get in there, or the train will leave without us!"

For some reason, they got pulled into a higher class car then Suguru remembered on his ticket. Satoru must've had something to do with that. But they had two rows of seats facing each other to themselves, which included a nice pull out table and even a curtain to draw on either side. In case you wanted to sleep, Suguru guessed. He wasn't sure that he'd be sleeping, especially with how his stomach buzzed with apprehension. The seats were nice, he noticed, grimacing as Satoru pulled both of his suitcases onto the seat on one side of their space, looking smug at his efforts.

"Suguru do you want yours up here too?"

"No, you'll get the seats dirty, the wheels were running over who knows what outside—"

"Aww, don't worry Suguru! It's fineee! They weren't that clean to begin with!"

"It's fine, it can sit on the floor."

Satoru laughed, rolling his eyes as he jumped onto the empty seat, by the window. Suguru searched the train station for Dad, but it was too busy, and he couldn't find him. One last wave would've been nice. It'd be his first time living away from his parents. Sure, he could call, but he'd tried that a couple of times and it was just different. Not being able to see their faces, ears, or tails. Being away from their scent. He sighed, sliding back in the seat, fiddling with the string of his sweatshirt. Satoru was entirely absorbed by his handheld system, playing a game that Suguru couldn't recall the name of.

The train rumbled to life, speeding up to pull them away to their new lives.

Suguru didn't turn away from the windows, watching as the train shot through forests, hills, mountains, and cities. It was sort of cool, to see so much land that he'd never set eyes on before. The cities were mostly the same but with some strange quirks here and there that he could almost smile over. A weird poster advertising a local celebrity or a striking advertisement for a restaurant. The pit in his stomach had upgraded from "possibly a concern" to "worrisome" however. It gnawed at him, gashing the edges of his mind and tearing a larger hole into his stomach.

What if it doesn't go well? What happens if I can't pass my classes?

The only reason he'd been accepted into the school was because of his excellent grades, outstanding enough to grant Suguru a scholarship to get in, since his parents wouldn't be able to pay his way through this particular place. Satoru would've been fine, but somehow he always did well when it mattered, despite his flagrant disregard for studying.

Suguru shook his head, a bleak attempt to dislodge the dust settling on his fur. Just stop thinking about it, and his stomachache would go away. Right?

Satoru stirred, a small high pitched sound caught Suguru's attention. He turned, nearly jumping out of his seat when Satoru's head landed on his shoulder. Instead, he just winced, not wanting to wake him. Those dark ears twitched as he sighed deeply, relaxing into Suguru more. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Satoru often ended up touching Suguru if they were ever sleeping somewhere close like at a sleepover. Suguru had once teased him about it, but Satoru instead insisted that Suguru was the one cuddling him. Not really the truth at all, but Suguru learned to not argue about the small details like that with Satoru, who would return with evidence, no matter how poorly put together.

The slow rhythmic breathing from Satoru combined with the slight motion to the train, and Suguru found himself resting his head against Satoru's, his eyes fighting to close despite his best efforts. But before sleep could overtake him, Suguru's mind provided him with an idea, nothing big, just a simple 'maybe a photo will prove Satoru wrong' and they could end their debate about who was the one cuddling with who. Careful to not jostle Satoru, he dug into his pocket, pulling out his phone. Flipping it open and turning on the camera, he held his breath, angling it with his free paw to face towards them in an approximate manner before snapping the photo. It took a couple of tries before he got a decent shot, not blurry, not missing half of Satoru's face. It was a sweet image, Satoru's whole face relaxed, whiskers drooping and ear (the other was tucked into Suguru's neck) loose. Entirely relaxed, with Suguru's cheek rested against his forehead. The sunlight drifting in from the window meant that Suguru's shadow was coating Satoru's form. If he were a different sort of anthro, it'd almost seem as though his shadow was possessively wrapping itself around Satoru, warding off any other claims. He swallowed. That couldn't be the case.

After deleting the worst of his shots, Suguru slipped his phone away before resting against Satoru fully, finally allowing himself to slip into sleep.

They made friends quickly at school. Well, more accurately, Satoru made friends, and dragged Suguru along with him. That was fine. Suguru liked that Satoru never allowed him to sit alone, even if it meant their other friends would roll their eyes over his insistence. The first person Satoru roped into their group was a whitetail deer anthro. She was feisty and didn't allow anyone to pretend she couldn't handle a confrontation, almost too eager to scuffle.

That was how they'd met her, actually. On the second or third day of school, Suguru couldn't recall anymore, there'd been a gathering crowd of students with murmurs and gasps, with some loud, voice taunting another.

"Hah! You can't even catch me, but you thought you'd be able to beat me?" the voice laughed, and as Suguru found a gap between the taller he noted two anthros in the center of the group, a white tailed deer, wearing the skirt uniform that was offered to students. Her legs, neck, and arms had some spots, but that was typical for their age. The other anthro was a dark canine that Suguru didn't know the name of. But he had a canine mouth, though a bit short, and scarred, round ears and a menacing snarl. "Where's that smack you were talking earlier?" the doe teased, her oval ears flicking down to accent her voice.

Satoru's head rested on top of Suguru's as he nosed his way into the crack that Suguru had found. The only reason he knew it was Satoru, was his tail brushing against Suguru's in that familiar manner. It was so that Suguru didn't jump and bite. He normally hated to be touched, especially in this sort of heavy manner. "What's going on?" Satoru asked, leaning forward farther.

"I think the canine had started something with the deer," Suguru answered, frowning as he pulled back, pushing Satoru backwards as well. "We shouldn't get involved, we could get in trouble."

"Aww, Suguru, but she looks fun!"

"Sure, if fun means suspension so early on," Suguru grumbled, preparing to turn away and head to their next class (somehow, they shared several).

But he didn't feel Satoru follow him. Suguru turned, opening his mouth with a quip ready to toss out but saw that Satoru wasn't there, just the tip of his tail disappeared between the other anthros watching the fight with rapt attention. He sighed, nosing his way back through, just to see Satoru standing in the middle, grinning down at the canine, who's back faced Suguru. He looked alert, but not ready to leap like he had before.

Before Satoru could create more issues, a voice at the edge of the group cried out. "Sensei! I didn't see you there!"

The whole crowd moved, shifting inward to conceal the hole where everyone had watched eagerly and then began to disperse as they all smartened up and started to head in the direction of their classes. Suguru clutched at Satoru's tail, forcing him to turn back.

"See, I told you it was a bad idea," he growled, low. Satoru laughed, throwing his head back with delight.

"Nah, it was good! She's in our class, you know." Satoru pointed a paw in the deer's direction, who looked frustrated that her makeshift wrestling ring had scattered. At least no one would get in trouble for it. As Suguru met her eyes, she sighed, rolling them. "Ahhh, but I can't remember your name, the introduction you gave was just... so lackluster."

She snorted, ready to respond but Suguru was faster. "Ieiri? Right? You want to become a doctor?"

Surprise grew in her stance, from the way she slowed down her little skips and how her round ears perked up, but not in an alert way. "Yeah, surprised anyone could remember. I feel like half the class said something easy like that."

Suguru gave an easy shrug, slipping his paws into his pockets as he matched her pace. "I like to remember who's who." He gave Satoru a withering look before grinning as he turned back to Ieiri.

"Wait, Suguru, but I thought you didn't care about making friends?" Satoru whined, forced to walk behind them, the hallway was still rather congested. His paws were grabbing at Suguru's tail, the pads of them digging deep into his fur. Suguru's heart soared, but he managed to hide it, mostly. His ears were twitching back but that was fine, as Satoru continued to complain.

"Satoru, when did I ever say that?" Suguru chided, clicking his tongue. Ieiri didn't even look at the two of them. When Satoru released his tail, dropping it to rub at his cheeks in frustration, Suguru chuckled. "If you wanted to make friends you should've started by remembering everyone's names. Maybe you aren't used to people doing anything but doing their absolute best to be remembered by you?"

Satoru sighed, pausing at the entrance to their classroom. Suguru and Ieiri had both walked in. Then followed them in, frowning as he held out a paw to Ieiri. "Gojo Satoru, nice to meet you."

"Ieiri Shoko, but you guys should just call me Shoko," she responded, shaking his paw with her hooves.

So maybe it was more accurate to say that Suguru had brought Shoko into their group, since Satoru hadn't bothered remembering her name and Suguru had. She quickly turned into a frequent part of their group, eating lunches with them and somehow dealing with all of Satoru's boisterous energy. They'd claimed the shade beneath an old ginkgo tree in the courtyard as their spot. There were few who wanted to compete against Satoru in a card game just to be able to sit in the shade. Why bother when the indoors had conditioning? Shoko and Satoru would play some days, but Suguru had little interest in it, so he'd read his books.

Satoru was frowning, rubbing his chin with a paw as he contemplated the cards he had available. His face was scrunched up with thought, his tail a full display of the thought processes he was running through. Shoko looked far more relaxed, leaning back on one hoof as she smiled easily. Was Satoru losing? Suguru peeked over his book to peer down at the cards laying across the mat—there so they didn't sit on the grass. No, not yet. As far as Suguru could see. He didn't know what Satoru had in hand. But that wasn't why he found himself really examining Satoru's reaction. More and more, lately, Suguru found himself with the urge to take small snapshots of Satoru, burning little moments into both his memory and phone's storage. If he kept up his current rate, he'd have to start offloading pictures or delete lots of them. Holding the book open in front of his lap, Suguru carefully pulled out his phone to sneak a picture of the moment, capturing Satoru's sudden yowl of frustration and Shoko's smug laugh. His chest fluttered, the phone dropping into his lap as he closed the book.

"What are you doing, Shoko?" Satoru hissed, tossing his cards carelessly across the board. "That could not have been a legit move!"

"Oh, it is legit, I just think you're not familiar with the rules," she said. "I thought you read them when I gave you that list?"

Satoru scoffed, rolling his eyes as his ears sank. "Reading the rules is boring though!"

"If boring means winning, I suppose I'll take it."

Suguru smiled, giggling softly over their argument. This was typical and it was also... nice.

As their friend group grew, they added in the eccentric additions of Haibara Yu, who was a soft brown capybara, and Nanami Kento, a ram with deep golden fur. Haibara was the shortest in the group by far. Satoru towered over Suguru by a whole head. Shoko and Nanami were both slightly taller than Suguru. Haibara was beneath Suguru's typical field of vision. That didn't stop Haibara from becoming the group's defacto photographer. Somehow he managed to pull off the wildest angles, printing the photos up when he got the chance to leave school grounds.

Satoru held one of the newest pictures towards Suguru. He couldn't help but frown, because Satoru was just going to use this to gloat. "Suguruuu, do you remember?"

Of course Suguru would remember. This had only been taken about a week and half ago, on a weekend when the torrential rains meant that wandering the streets of Tokyo wasn't viable to waste time. So the crew went to an arcade that Shoko had seen a few weeks ago. The lighting was low and the place was slow, only a few kids buzzing around, some followed by weary parents, others alone. Most of the arcade machines were available. Suguru eyed them all, considering what he could spent his limited coins on. He didn't have a ton of extra cash, didn't like to carry it, or even spend it. His parents worked hard to give him enough to have a bit of fun, but secretly, Suguru stashed most of it away, feeling too guilty to waste their money on frivolous entertainment.

His eyes landed on the dazzling colors of some version of a fighting game. There were two machines, back to back, set up in a way that would allow two players to play against each other. Suguru hummed, his claws reaching for Satoru's tail, tugging at it.

When Satoru turned to look at him, he pointed in the fighting games' direction, grinning. "Wanna play?"

"Ohh, good idea Suguru, but what are we playing for?" Despite his implication that he wasn't quite ready to jump into a brawl, he started to drift in the direction Suguru had pointed him.

"Playing for? Uh, to have fun?" Satoru stopped, clutching the coins he'd pulled out of his pocket while he huffed, rolling his eyes behind the dark sunglasses he wore despite the darkness of the arcade. It wasn't even sunny outside.

"Loser has to buy the winner tonight's food," Satoru said, placing his bet with an open grin, ears forward and tail high.

Pretty low stakes, in the grand scheme of things. Satoru often bought unhealthy food to eat and he wasn't afraid to share. But Suguru had never seen Satoru play a fighting game before. Their go to games in arcades was usually those dancing games. Well, that was Satoru's go-to and Suguru was more than happy to follow.

"Alright, bet." But before he could dig into his own pockets, Satoru's paw was grabbing his, dropping a few coins into it with a wink.

"Since you're gonna lose so bad, I figured I could pay for this."

"Oh-ho? What are you guys betting?" Shoko asked, striding up close as Satoru sat down, inserting his coin. Suguru did the same, stretching his arms out to prepare.

"Tonight's dinner," Satoru said. "I think I'll eat good tonight, how about you, Shoko?"

"That sounds nice, where will we go, do you think?" She was sliding over to Satoru's side, chewing on the sucker she'd opened shortly after they entered the arcade.

"I think we should get something real fancy, like wagyu beef," Suguru mused, sliding through the menu to load up the brawl against Satoru's machine. Nanami and Haibara gravitated towards Suguru's side, watching curiously.

The picture, which Suguru wasn't even certain how it had been shot, had Satoru and Shoko high-fiving, a spectacular smile that showed all of Satoru's teeth, his tail lifted high with a curl at the very top. The screen of his machine had the letters "WIN" in all caps, where Suguru's machine couldn't be seen, only his despaired look, paws tugging his ears downward as his noise pointed straight up towards the ceiling, tail low and puffed out with frustration. Nanami stood behind Suguru with a stern of look as ever and Haibara appeared distraught, his small paws curled in front of his chest and ears low.

"You know, that sushi was almost the best I've ever had," Satoru bragged, referring to the meal that Suguru had to buy for him later that night.

Ignoring Satoru's comment, because Suguru also knew that the best sushi Satoru had actually been served was something Suguru's mom had made one weekend, signified by the almost in his sentence, he turned towards Haibara, who was laying out more photos.

"How did you even get this shot? You're in the frame?" Suguru asked, a brow raising as his ears twitched. Haibara stood up, leaning over to see what photo they had, before a smile rounded his cheeks out, those round, short ears twitching as he giggled. Suguru could smell spring flowers in full bloom, the waking air twitching at his nostrils.

"Oh, well, a real photographer never gives away all of his tricks!"

Shoko and Nanami peered over at the photo that Satoru still held. The whole group, aside from Haibara, all agreed that it was strange that Haibara had been able to take the photo somehow.

Satoru, playing the guitar. Warmth, soft lighting, the scent of citrus and the sea. Warm, so warm. Satoru's voice sucked at singing, but Suguru sung for him. The photo had captured Satoru watching Suguru with something that could almost be described as fond in his eyes. Suguru's own eyes were closed, mouth open, in the middle of singing.

He'd forced himself to assume that it wasn't fondness, but the photo always made his heart flutter all the same.

One night, during a festival, Haibara managed to snap photos of them with sparklers, even capturing their colors and the way they lit up everyone's faces. It was rather grainy though, but did well to capture the grin on Satoru's face. It turned into one of Suguru's favorite photos of him.

The festival photos were Suguru's favorite until he took a particular photo, near the end of the school year. The news that the tree their pack had grown attached to, hanging out beneath it each school day when the weather allowed for it, was going to be cut down due to safety concerns had everyone buzzing about it. Satoru had even protested it. That hadn't gotten them anywhere, so the group decided to instead enjoy their remaining time with it before the year ended and they all graduated. Class was over for the day, so the whole pack gathered beneath the tree. Shoko frowned at it, her ears low and tail twitching with thought as Suguru approached, dropping off his bag and sighing.

"It's weird, that we'll be done with high school soon, and the tree is going to be gone right after us," she said, glancing in his direction.

"Yeah, so many memories that are gone with it." Suguru stopped, humming as he looked up at it. The truth was that the staff was right, in their decision to cut it down. Half of it didn't even grow leaves anymore, the branches remaining bare year round. The leaves that did grow on the other side were sparse, regardless of the summer sun feeding it. It was likely that the dead branches were growing weak inside, ready to collapse. "When are Haibara and Nanami going to be here?"

Shoko's hoof dug into the dirt as she kicked at it, deep in thought for a moment. "Uh, soon I believe. They had to say bye to their club-mates," Shoko said, shrugging. "What about Satoru?"

Suguru pulled out his phone, sheltering the screen with his paw so he could see with the bright sun. As he read the latest message, just a simple 'nearly there,' he turned, squinting at the school. Satoru was approaching in the distance horizon, giving a small wave as he saw Suguru looking before running rather than walking. Suguru turned back to Shoko, pointing a thumb in Satoru's direction. "He's nearly here," he said.

Shoko made a noise of acknowledgment, raising a hoof to wave to Satoru, who waved back quickly. Suguru felt warm, fuzzy, when Satoru arrived, chest heaving and tongue hanging out. He wanted to touch, more than usual, but he didn't.

"I tried to give her my number, just so we could talk after graduating, but she didn't want it!" Haibara exclaimed, his small round face smeared with a frown that felt entirely out of place. Suguru hated seeing the capybara in a low mood. "I think she thought I was looking for something else."

Nanami snorted, shaking his head. His horns had grown out nicely, much larger than in prior years, the color had even changed, from the darker browns to a light tan, nearly gold. If you polished them, they would look like polished gold. "You didn't exactly act in the clearest manner," Nanami said.

Satoru wasn't listening. Suguru knew that because he could see his long tail twitching, and his feet shuffled around in the dirt. His ears were pinned back and his eyes were low, watching as he sliced blades of grass with his claws. Shoko was speaking now, teasing Haibara after Nanami explained what had actually happened. The sun was growing low in the sky, covering Satoru's fur in a soft, warm glow. Suguru poked at Satoru's thigh with his hind paw, smiling as Satoru glanced in his direction, a half-split green blade caught on a claw. Satoru offered a conspiratorial smile in return, his tail thumping on the grass once, louder.

"I want to climb it," Satoru said, one ear twitching back towards the tree. "If it's gonna be gone, I think I should."

Suguru blinked, looking back at it, taking in the shape of it for perhaps the last time. "Yeah, sure, just don't go onto any of the dead branches," he said.

The smile Satoru gave him in return was beaming, and the snow leopard jumped to his feet, as swift as the wind as he also started unbuttoning the school uniform's shirt. It took a swallow and bite on his tongue to stop Satoru from taking it off. It was fine, it was just their friends, anyway. And it wasn't like there were any defining features beneath a shirt that would give away Satoru's long buried past to them. Unless he had already told them, Suguru wasn't sure. Satoru dropped his shirt into Suguru's paws, which he clutched tight, his blunt claws unable to sink into the fabric in the ways Satoru's could. As Satoru looked up the tree, he spoke, bringing Suguru closer.

"You're gonna watch right? In case I fall?" It was teasing. Both of them knew Satoru wouldn't fall from a climb as small as this.

Even if he did, cats always land on their feet. Suguru gave a small affirmative answer, still clutching at Satoru's still-warm shirt as Satoru's front claws dug into the bark, the noise drawing the attention of the others. Nanami roughly asked Satoru what he was doing, Shoko laughed and Haibara simply gasped loudly. Suguru watched, eyes roaming across Satoru's bare back, memorizing each rosette and dark marks that dotted his back. He'd seen it before, Satoru had little sense of modesty, but it was different, it had Suguru's heart set into flight mode, battering at the edges of his rib cage.

He doesn't really remember taking the photo. But he was the one who did and that had to be true, because it had been taken on his phone. Satoru, with three paws on the tree while one of his arms reached upward, still climbing higher. Well defined muscles, despite being hidden beneath that insulating fur showed well as he moved, coated with beautiful rosettes and spots, making the span of his fur well defined despite the grainy photo. His tail, sweeping across the bottom of the image, framing it in a sense as the gentle sun morphed his white fur into something soft like butter.

Suguru didn't share the photo with anyone, he wasn't even sure that anyone noticed he had taken it. Nanami was trying to convince Satoru to come down, growing louder as he reached one of the larger, lower hanging branches. Shoko was smoking a cigarette, snickering. If anyone got mad at her for smoking on school grounds now, it wouldn't matter, since they weren't going to be back. Haibara was nervous, siding with Nanami about how dangerous this was. But Satoru ignored them, only meeting Suguru's gave with a brilliant smile and that sparkling laugh. Suguru's tail was wagging, he knew it, even as Satoru placed all of his weight on the branch, carefully stepping across it, before jumping to the ground. He landed on all four paws with more grace then he needed, scampering over to Suguru, giggling.

"Cmon, guys, see? That wasn't so hard was it?"

"You did made it look easy," Shoko remarked, smirking. Satoru was grabbing his shirt from Suguru, slipping his arms back into it. Suguru traced every movement, a net furiously swiping through his chest to re-cage his fleeing heart. "You're lucky it didn't break though."

"Yes, very lucky," Nanami added, dry. Haibara had changed camps, praising Satoru's balance, which Satoru used to stand taller, grinning and joking about how he should join the circus.

He never did catch it, the net grew too worn, holes growing in it that were big enough for the fluttering escapee to slip between. Suguru didn't know how to catch it, but made peace with it. As long as Satoru never lost that lightness, Suguru was okay with it running free. He'd love Satoru no matter what, and he wouldn't drag down any of his spirit. No matter how far Satoru would roam, he always returned to Suguru, complaining about how no one else could understand him, and how he gave up an opulent future to just exist with Suguru. That always made Suguru feel so warm, and he loved that.