Chapter Text
An exacerbated sigh escaped Noah’s lips as he tapped his foot against the floor. The vulpine found himself scrolling on his phone under the boardroom table, struggling to pay attention to the meeting. A light headache tapped on the front of his skull as he found himself clicking on the women’s section of the website. Vivid, colorful dresses displayed on the screen; his dead eyes sparkled with joy. A peppy, feminine voice in the back of his mind began to tease him as he glanced over the options listed. ‘Ooooh! Oh my gosh that one is sooo cute! Or that one, mmph gosh we’d look sooo goooood in that! C’mon you know we should fill out that wardrobe more and-’
“Captain.”
‘-this could just be what we’re looking for! C’mon you’ve been soo scared to wear dresses-’
“Captain Reynard.”
‘-and I know you’re scared to embrace my side of things, but we both know you enjoy it even if you’re all pouty about it and-’
“SON!”
Noah recoiled in surprise as he was knocked out of his trance. He bumbled his phone in his hands, a streak of embarrassment crossing his face. A growing guilt washed over him as he struggled to look his father in the eyes. He clicked off his phone, slipped it into his pocket, and sunk into his chair. Noah tried to hide his face behind his hair as the beady glare from his father felt like a thousand daggers jabbing into his soul.
“What did we say about paying attention? What is it with your generation and attention span? If it happens again, I will require you to leave it at home.” The fox at the front of the room spoke sternly.
Noah exhaled, an annoyed tone to his voice. “Alright, alright… I get it.”
Cassius crossed his arms and scoffed. “Really, Son? That’s the tone you’re choosing to speak to me with. Need I remind you that you are the captain of this team, it is YOUR responsibility to know the details of this mission, and if anything goes wrong it’s in YOUR hands. Do I make myself clear?”
‘Not like we wanted to be a leader anyways, dad.’ The voice in the back of Noah’s head mumbled before going quiet. The headache still lingered, causing the vulpine to rub his temples as he replied. “I… I understand, I am sorry Father. I just… we have been on a lot of missions lately… I have not had much… time to relax. It gets a bit hard to pay attention.”
Cassius’s eyes narrowed, unappreciative of the backtalk. “Welcome to being an adult, son.”
Noah clenched his jaw, looking up directly at his father. “What the hell does that have to do with anything? Most adults only work forty hours a week, you have had us working sixty or more each week for the past month. This is not about being an adult, this is about being overworked. On top of that, do you know how hard it gets to listen to the same speech repeatedly every fucking week? You drone on for hours. It is monotonous. Yeah, I get it, some powerful artifact we have to get for your trinket collection. And ooooh it is in the hands of an alleged enemy of the state. This is every damn mission. Deal with the magic user, capture them if possible, contain the object of power, get back and hand it over, and get praised like good girls and boys. Rinse and repeat. So, I am sorry if I am struggling to pay attention, I am tired.”
Cassius’s eye twitched, the comment striking a nerve. He knew he was pushing them hard, but these were relatively easy missions. “I understand you feel that way, but you do not need to act like such a spoiled brat about it. I will see about getting you some time off, but I need you to work with me here.”
“You promised that last week, so when is it going to actually happen? Or do I need to go have a chat with the board myself to get things done around here.” Noah fired back, a smirk stretching across his lips.
“Do you really think it’s that easy? You act as if I have nothing on my plate. Yes, I understand I’m working at my desk while you are in the field, but I’m managing more tasks and files then you could wrap your brain around. If you think accomplishing something like time off is so easy, why don’t you just take my job for a day then? Why not try being the commander; the manager of adults who act like children. But you won’t, because you can barely handle managing your own team. So do not yell at me for trying to move mountains for you when you couldn’t handle a fraction of my job.”
Slamming his fist on the table, Noah stood up, glaring eye to eye with his father. The table began to hiss as the wood sizzled beneath Noah’s hands. “Oh really, you think I couldn’t handle it. Do I need to remind you, father, that you raised me to one day take your place. I have spent my entire life following your teachings and training so I could do your job. If you do not believe I can, that is a failure of your tutelage. So maybe you should retract your statement, because maybe I can be the commander, maybe I shou-” Noah’s speech was cut abruptly by the buzzing of his Over-Magic Protector. A wince escaped his lips as electric shock began to slam against his neck. The fox’s body began to convulse. Despite this, he continued to glare into the eyes of his father.
A meek but deep voice interrupted, cutting through the conversation. A red panda placed himself between the two bickering foxes before picking Noah out of his chair. “I think that’s enough meeting today! Thank you, Mr. Reynard, just… hand over the documents please and we’ll review it for drop tomorrow!”
Quinten’s heart raced as he began to help Noah out the door. Cassius watched on, as he crossed his arms. His icy colored eyes stared directly at his son as he tossed a flash drive across the room. “Don’t. Disappoint. Me.”
As the red panda caught it, the door to the boardroom closed with an assertive thud. Quinten pocketed it before continued to swiftly drag the vulpine away. Rounding the corner and tucking into an empty room, he quickly closed the door. Quinten shoved the fox against it, staring Noah in the eyes. “Hey! Hey, please, please calm down…” he softly spoke. “We’re safe now, it’s just us. The sooner you can relax the sooner it’ll stop hurting.”
He watched Noah’s eyes slowly begin to soften. “There you go, deep breaths… deep breaths sweetie.” Quinten placed a kiss on the vulpine’s lips; Noah pressed back into him. The red panda felt a hand slide up through his hair, pressing him harder against his boyfriend’s lips. The heat from Noah’s hand slowly cooled as his internal fire began to dim. The ferocity began to pick up as the two fought back and forth for control until finally pulling apart. Quinten panted and chuckled, brushing the hair from his face. “Are you okay, Foxxy?”
Noah looked up at his boyfriend tenderly, “I am doing better now, thanks… just, he makes me so fucking angry sometimes.”
“I know… but, well that went better than usual, at least he seemed… somewhat caring about how much we’ve been working, though I don’t understand why you pick fights with him so often.” The red panda softly chuckled, stroking Noah’s cheek.
“Because, my beautiful Quin, nobody else is going to fight for our team. He has put us through hell lately and now I can fight back. He needs me too much and it is frankly hilarious to watch him have to deal with the power I hold over him.”
“Yes… but at the cost of your own suffering? Are we really worth you getting worked up and shocked over? Plus, he’s still our commander, we have to follow his orders. He looked pretty serious, more than usual… this mission looks important.”
“And I am your captain, and you have to follow my orders as well!” The smirk on Noah’s face grew wider as he booped his nose against Quinten’s. “And I order you to not worry about it, and let me take temporary pain to better Rozanne, Lily, and your lives. Plus, it is fiiiine, when has a mission ever not worked out? We know what we are doing.”
“I… I hope you’re right. I just don’t like seeing you get hurt for my sake.”
“When am I ever not dear?” Noah said slyly, his hand fiddling with a small box in his trenchcoat pocket. He was lying about the main reason he was asking for time off. He wanted to take his boyfriend on a small vacation and propose.
Quinten shrugged in response, a warmth in his chest building as he leaned into his boyfriend. “Well, you were wrong about those tacos we had the other day...”
“Oh, come on, low fucking blow!” Noah shook his head and chuckled, twisting the door handle positioned behind him. He watched as a streak of disappointment stretch across Quinten’s face. Noah rubbed his cheek, “Come on now, we cannot be messing around too much in one of these rooms, let us regroup with the team and go from there, alright?”
Quinten sighed, nodding in agreement as the two exited the room and out into the main hallway. Marble floors and quartz pillars enameled with glittering gold carvings of leaves encircled the department lobby. It was ornate, grandiose, and yet the usual for Noah. These are the halls he grew up in.
For as long as he could remember this department was his life. His mother was never physically in his life, and his father worked long shifts, too long to leave a child alone during. So, Cassius got permission to bring him to work. Noah still had a core memory of the entire department having to empty the building when he first discovered his magic. Picture a child getting mad at a vending machine for eating his money, only for the child to start punching and kicking it. As he continued, the machine suddenly became engulfed in flames. Little to say that was the last time he was allowed to walk around without his Over-Magic Protector on.
Noah continued through the security gates, waving goodbye to the security guards before stepping out of the building. Noah took a deep breath of the warm early fall air before turning his attention to the lingering headache. He quickly traced a healing rune before pressing it into his skull with authority. The headache didn’t fade. His eyes narrowed. ‘What do you want, Nat? ‘
‘C’mon man you haven’t let me out in a while! We've been so busy, being in work mode! You can take a break for today, I promise I can handle things.’
Noah sighed, knowing she was right. He needed a break if he was going to perform well tomorrow. He took a deep breath as an overwhelming sensation of dizziness overtook him. His head jolted to the right.
Natalia attempted to regain her composure. She pulled off to the side, crouching against a concrete pillar. Her vision was spotted, like having an iron deficiency and standing up too fast. Patches of black and white dots finally formed into shapes; the color of life returned to her.
Quinten looked down in concern as he offered her a hand. “Hey… you okay Noah?”
Hearing that name made Natalia’s eye twitch. She grimaced, biting her tongue. She hated that name yet couldn’t do anything about it. It would be too revealing to the nature of what she was. Looking up at Quinten, her eyes appeared less dull. A fog had lifted from them. A slightly higher pitched, more flamboyant voice escaped her lips. “Yep… Yeah I’m fine Quin, don’t worry I just… got a little dizzy.” She stood up, regaining her balance. “Let’s just get home and read over the docs with Rozzy and Lily. Hopefully we can rest soon.”
Quinten continued to stare at the fox in confusion. How could he be “fine”? The red panda let out a sigh; he was used to it at this point. Noah just felt so inconsistent sometimes. It went beyond masking, but Quinten couldn’t lay his finger on what. Every time he asked his partner, the response was always “nothing’s wrong.” It bothered him; it made him think Noah wasn’t being honest with him. The headaches made his boyfriend so dizzy he would nearly black out, and yet Noah kept pushing on.
Quinten understood the pressure the fox was under was immense. He was simultaneously the captain and son of the commander. But this felt more than just stress. It was like there was a dichotomy of modes between work and home and switching between them physically took energy. Quinten felt like he was in the dark about something, and it ate at him. Even Noah’s posture changed to be less tall and broad. His hands were behind his back, intentionally trying to make himself smaller. He would sway his hips as he walked. Five years of this relationship and it still left the red panda confused. He wondered if he would ever get an answer.
The couple continued to walk down the street at a brisk pace, arriving at a moderately sized downtown house. The door was marked with the Department of Magic’s seal. Natalia began to trace a rune into the air, before pushing it in and turning the lock. A pop filled the air as she opened the door. Stepping inside she flipped on the light, looking up the stairs. Standing there was a cougar with her arms crossed, chewing on a toothpick. The star outlining her eye made her unmistakable.
“Well, it took y’alls long enough, ‘ey Lily, Cap’n’s back, you fix up that projector finally?” Rozanne spoke with a deep southern drawl as she leaned against the wall. A tan tanktop and loose-fitting cargo pants hugged her frame. Upon her hip was a holster, housing her prized pistol. Rozanne was an exceptional marksman, able to hit a shot 200 yards out with the weapon on a good day. Natalia couldn’t count how many hands Rozanne had taken out with pinpoint accuracy. Rozanne never missed her target.
A higher pitched, valley girl accent yelled back from further in the house as Quinten and Natalia reached the top of the stairs. “Like, yep yep! Juuust got it working, perfect timing!”
Loud, thudding footsteps could be heard marching quickly across the house. A small, minty green sharkgirl emerged: Lily. The tech specialist, she was the team’s eyes in the sky. The only non-magic user on the team, but there was nobody better at driving and piloting than her. “It’s sooo good to see you two! Sooo like how’d it go with the commander, didya like, hear anything new about our break time?”
“My father is unfortunately trying to get it cleared still, but hopefully soon. Buuut it’s nice to see you too Lily, been a long day but I hope you two have been keeping busy?” Natalia walked over to the kitchen and wiggled out of her trenchcoat. She placed it over one of the chairs before flopping onto the couch. A soft moan as her lips as she stretched, feeling her joints pop.
“Oh… well, I hope like, soon! And just like the usual yaknow? Did some reading up on the archives, Rozzy did some target practice, triiied to make some lunch but I like, burnt it, oops. But the projector is fixed at least so somewhat productive yeah!” Lily chirped happily.
“Business as usual on my end Cap’n, though havin’ to stop them smoke alarms was a pain ‘n the ass, damn things are hardwired I swear by it, can’t just wave a pillow in front of ‘em. Gotta use them fancy magic runes to put em out. Lucky I ‘member how to do ‘em still, always forget how rusty I am. Usually all my magic is ‘ere in the girl!” The cougar laughed while patting the holstered pistol at her side.
Lily tilted her head, confused. “Rozzy… that’s like… not what hardwired means…”
“Well, my mighty minty friend, Imma be dead ‘onest I ain’t really care what it means, it felt right to say.” Rozanne protested, taking the toothpick out of her mouth.
Natalia giggled, sitting up on the couch. “Well sounds like a good day to me then! When do we wanna do our own mission briefing? I need to get changed, do we wanna just order a pizza and go over everything once it arrives? Father gave us the flash drive before we left.” She smiled as she saw three heads nodding in agreement. Despite what Cassius thought, this team was a family. They were her family. She never had to “lead” them like how her father envisioned. They might bicker here and there but usually end up on the same page. When it mattered most, they were working together as a unit with no need for discipline or control. They were good, no, damn near perfect at their job.
Natalia popped up on her feet, making her way towards the stairs. “Then it’s settled, order what y’all want, I’m gonna shower and freshen up.”
She quickly made her way up the stairs, closing the door behind her. A mild giddiness danced in her mind as she turned her attention to the dresser. She gently pulled open a drawer, digging through it like a dog looking for a buried bone. She finally found her prize: a ripped pair of jean shorts. Grabbing a tanktop out of the closet, she slinked into the bathroom and locked the door.
A gentle sigh escaped her lips as her joyful demeanor began to melt away. Showers were the only way she had time to be herself; time to think. Flipping on a Bluetooth speaker, music began to fill the quietness of the room as she undressed. The incredible pace of her life made it hard to focus inwards despite how frequently she took control of this body. She always felt lost; a stranger in a body that wasn’t her own. Natalia only had one desire in this life, and it was one she was told was unachievable. She had no care for success or training. She just wanted to make her and her headmate happy.
Her thoughts caused her to drift to the mirror hanging above the sink. The vixen clenched her jaw, closed her eyes, and looked away. This body felt decrepit, empty. This isn’t what she wanted; this isn’t what either of them wanted. But they had to bear the discomfort, at least that’s what Noah told her.
“It is too dangerous! We are the captain of a team, and we work for the government who will not even let us date Quinten publicly. Even our own father was iffy about the idea of us dating a guy and only became cool with it because he likes Quinten too much.” Was always one of the main excuses.
‘It is not possible for us; we do not have the features and body for it.” Noah would claim, despite the curves and general shape this body already had. Natalia cursed herself as she stepped into the shower.
Yet this situation drove her up a wall. At the same time, she understood where her headmate was coming from. Noah was scared to lose everything and feared getting hurt. He worked tirelessly to achieve everything he had now. Most people thought it was gifted to him, but Cassius didn’t play those games. Noah trained every day, for hours and was terrified of making it all feel wasted. Despite the fears, Natalia could also sense something else happening over the years: the old man was getting tired.
Not too long after he turned thirteen, Natalia formed within his mind as a way to express once suppressed desires. She represented a manifestation of everything Noah had wished to be. He was scared to embrace it, beginning to treat her like a protective older brother would rather than two sides of the same system. He wanted to protect her from how cruel the world could be, fearing if he let her take over they would be thrown into ‘rehabilitation’ for mind-control or worse. He learned how to work with her to alleviate their dysphoria. Natalia would motivate him to buy more feminine clothing and experiment within the confines of his current gender.
They both wanted to be happy, but as the years dragged on, they took its toll on Noah. He had no justification for staying this way other than a paralyzing fear and began to feel guilty for not letting Natalia express herself. He wanted to lay down arms and sink into her but would come up with every excuse in the book to deny it. A confliction; a perfect contradiction.
Natalia finished washing herself as she sighed, shutting off the water. She stepped out and dried off, slipped on the shorts and tanktop. She took a deep breath, trying to drown her demons once more. These thought sessions wore her down, and yet it was the ongoing state of their lives for the past 8 years. No wonder they felt tired all the time.
Natalia hung up her towel and turned off the speaker before scratching her neck. The Over-Magic Protector always felt tight after a shower. She hated it, but it was the price to pay for her abilities. Fire was… unpredictable, emotional. Her flames reacted to her emotions and therein lied her issue. The more unstable her emotions became, the more unstable her flames grew.
The department demanded she wear the Over-Magic Protector. They claimed it wasn’t for the safety of others, but for her’s own. There was a worry that if her emotional state became too unstable the fire would burn her alive from the inside. The collar shocked her whenever her magic began to burn hotter than a certain threshold. It worked by siphoning off her magic, using it to power the device like an amplifier. The hotter she burned, the stronger it shocked. They spent years learning to use magic without setting it off, but even then it was hard to avoid. Natalia knew it was for her own safety, but she wished it was less painful.
Opening the bathroom door, the vixen recoiled in surprise as a clueless red panda was changing in the middle of the room. “Eep! I- helloooo.” A streak of red flashed across the vixen’s face.
“Oh, I… hah!” Quinten rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Hey Hun! Sorry I just thought some pajama pants would be more comfortable.” he chuckled, sliding on the aforementioned pants.
Natalia collected herself as she began to stride over, swaying her hips. She softly ran her hand along his chest, “I hope you know you’d be in trouble right now if we didn’t have a meeting to get to.” She cooed, kissing his cheek. A shiver shot down the vixen’s spine as Quinten began to nuzzle against her neck.
“You smell like peaches…” The red panda whispered, kissing her neck.
Natalia took a deep breath, attempting to suppress the thoughts dancing around her head. She pushed Quinten onto his back before winking. As she strode out of the room, confused squeaks left her boyfriend’s lips. The vixen giggled, hopping down the stairs as she made her way towards the conference room. The smell of grease and cheese ruminated around the first floor. As Natalia stepped into the room, a teasing whistle echoed through the air.
“Aight hot stuff I see ya! Y’know, if I was into guys ‘n yer ass wasn’t in a relationship, I’d tap it.”
The vulpine winced at the comment; a painful reminder of her physical form. Natalia felt her ears droop as she took a seat at the head of the table.
“Aw c’mon! I know that’s a lotta restrictions ‘n stuff but lemme tellya, that there’s one of the best compliments I could give ya!” A hearty laugh escaped the cougar’s lips, unaware of the effects of her comment before ripping into a slice of pizza.
“Yeah… I know, th… thanks Rozzy.” Natalia sighed, internally spewing profanities.
‘Hey kid, do not overuse those words now.’
‘Yeah yeah, I know.’ Natalia sighed, grabbing a slice of pizza. She began to eat as Quinten arrived not long after.
As everyone got settled, Natalia grabbed the flash drive and nibbled on a slice of pizza. She plugged it into the projector and began to speak. “Alright, our mission tomorrow starts bright and early, so please make sure to be awake. The idea will be to get a drop on the target and catch her by surprise. This,” the vulpine clicked the remote, gesturing to a photo of a dark-haired snow leopard. “Is who is in possession of our target.”
Audible gasps escaped the lips of Rozanne and Lily as they noticed the helix shaped logo next to the target.
“Are you like, telling us we have to hunt an actual Korps agent?” The sharkgirl spoke, nerves in her voice. “I- a…are we sure we’re prepared for this? We’ve never taken down someone like, actively affiliated before; all our stuff are small fries this is like… I think we should ask for more time, like, now.”
“While I would agree with you, they’ve already decided tomorrow is the date. Our intel says she goes by the name ‘M’, we believe based on her features, eyes, and association she may be related to the supervillain known as Flux.” Another photo of a similar looking snow leopard popped up, a figure clad in a black jumpsuit bearing twin cybernetic arms. Side by side, the two could pass for sisters, if not twins. “Granted, this is an older photo of Flux, the only one the DoM had in the archives, but you get the point.”
Rozanne piped up, a twinge of concern in her tone. “Listen I’m with Lily ‘ere on this. Yer tellin’ me Flux is involved with all this? Do y’all not remember all that stuff down south with Bradley and that whole mess in Toronto? This ain’t gonna be a cakewalk, how do they expect us to handle this with under a day’s prep?”
Quinten retorted, coming to the defense of the DoM, “Because our goal isn’t to fight any agents, the goal is a book she’s in possession of. This isn’t a takedown mission; this is a retrieval mission. The DoM doesn’t want this OOP anywhere near the Korps. Plus, we don’t even know if Flux will be there, this M character has only ever been seen alone.”
“Uh huh, a fuckin’ book? Just what ‘n the hells does this thing do that’s so darn important ‘n scary?”
Natalia spoke sternly, staring directly at Rozanne. “It can rewrite reality.”
A sudden hush fell across the room, the realization sinking in without any more needing to be said.
“I see…” Rozanne trailed off, realizing the severity of the operation.
“The book was originally in the possession of the writer known as Reed Kane. I’m sure you’ve seen his novels on the shelves of bookstores here and there… but the department never really attempted to retrieve it sooner; Reed himself was never a threat. However, the book had gone missing and now is in the hands of someone most likely affiliated with the Korps. So, they want us to retrieve it. If we continue to let it be in the hands of our enemies, we have no idea how much of everything we hold dear could be threatened.”
Lily sheepishly spoke up, “Sounds a lot easier said than done… this is like… more important than anything we’ve been given before…”
“I know it is, but we don’t really have a choice. The department is putting their faith in us to get it back. Our intel has tracked M north of Tucson, here.” The vulpine gestured to the map. “We believe this is where she’s been hiding out at.”
As the location appeared on the board, hushed whispers echoed from the three sitting at the table. Natalia raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. “What?”
Quinten softly spoke, seemingly taken by surprise as their briefing with Cassius didn’t make it this far. “Hun… look at the map again…”
As Natalia turned her head she took a step back, her eyes going wide. “Is… is that…”
“That’s fuckin’ Ajax’s house, Partner.” Rozanne mumbled, chewing on another toothpick.
Natalia scrunched her face, trying to make sense of it. Ajax had vanished months ago; he was one of the top capes in the southwest. There were rumblings he was still alive, but why would a Korps agent be… The room suddenly went silent as everyone considered the same possibility.
“Now listen’ I ain’t sayin’ Ajax is there, but if he is… y’all I dunno if we’re makin’ it out alive. ‘Specially if he defected. Between ‘em and Flux, we ain’t got the firepower to keep up.”
“Oh like, c’mon Rozzy, Ajax would like, never do that… right…? Not after everything with his daughter…” The sharkgirl tapped her fingers together nervously.
Natalia shook her head, her confidence in the mission slowly waning. Everything about this was bad news. “I… understand the worry, but I want to believe Ajax wouldn’t betray everything he worked and lived by. We need to focus on one thing, getting this damn book away from M, Ajax, Flux, or anyone who may be guarding it. If we start panicking about things that might not happen, we’re not going to get anywhere, alright? Lily, you’re going to have to drive and survey. If you see anyone, any other Korps agents or heavens forbid Ajax, you tell us and we evacuate immediately. I’m sure the department will understand if we need to retreat in a situation like that as that would warrant an escalation far above our team’s capabilities. Rozanne, we need you to cover for us and Quin, you already should have what you need to track the book. I’ll go in to back you up in case we need to hold anyone off, I’m not letting anyone get hurt on me, got it? I want a clean mission here so we can get our vacations after.”
“I’m still just worried about it being a trap, Hun. Even if it’s just M… why is she being so… obvious? This is abnormal for a Korps agent to be so out in the open like this. And if we don’t succeed, we might not get a second chance at this… you said the book can rewrite reality… can’t she just… vanish with the book?” Quinten sat back in his chair, scratching his chin before letting out a sigh. “I guess that means we’ll just have to get it right the first time. Plus, if we could find her once, she can’t stay gone forever, we’ll find her again, however long it takes.”
Natalia clicked the remote, turning off the projector as she nodded in agreement. “We’ll get the book, no matter how long it takes. But let’s try to do it right this first time. Remember to set out your uniform and set a couple of alarms. We should sleep early. Gotta get going at 3:30 am sharp.”
“‘Ounds good!”
“Yep yep!”
“Copy that Hun.”
‘And you, old man? You good to go for the mission? I know you’ve been working a lot lately.’
’I am fine, just one more mission. Mind if I take over now to make things easier?’
With a quick jolt to the left, Noah shook his head and reorientated himself as his vision came into focus. ‘Thank you, Nat.’
‘Of course, silly!’
A dull headache continued to faintly pulse within his skull; too much switching for one day. Noah found himself wandering his way to the stairs, not hearing the red panda sneaking up on him. The vulpine jolted upright as arms wrapped around his waist. A voice softly whispered in Noah’s ear, hot and dripping. “I need to take a shower but maybe we could…?” Quinten’s muzzle trailed down, gently pressed into his boyfriend’s neck.
“Mmmph Quin, I know you have been itching all day…” The fox cooed, a smirk stretching across his face.
“Ey take it to the damned bedroom ya two.” Rozanne walked by, slapping the red panda on his rear.
“Eek! Oh you’re one to talk! Don’t think I haven’t seen Lily sleeping in your room lately.” Quinten hissed back.
A meek, bumbling voice piped up behind the group. “I-It’s like, not whatcha think Quin! I-I…” Lily hung her head in shame. “I’ve just like, felt lonely lately… and I just like… I don’t like sleeping alone and I… b-being hugged feels nice… yaknow after everything with my parents and- I’ve just… felt so alone an-” The sharkgirl’s ears perked up to the feeling of not one, not two, but three sets of arms wrapping around her.
A now guilty red panda awkwardly spoke, “I… I only meant that in jest Lily I’m sorry… didn’t mean anything bad by it…”
“O-Oh it’s like… okay I’m just… yaknow not like, into the romance n stuff… I just like being held and to feel useful...”
Quinten looked up, seeing Rozanne mouthing “asshole” to him before releasing the hug. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Well… I… I hope you two have a good night.”
Noah grabbed Quinten’s arm, dragging him up to their room. The red panda made his way into the bathroom as a deep exhale escaping his lips. He shook off the guilt, refocusing his emotions on the fox on the bed. Quinten bit his lip and closed the door.
The sound of a showerhead hissed from beyond the doors. While he waited, Noah glanced around his wardrobe, figuring out his outfit for tomorrow. He pulled out some black jeans and a gold turtleneck to go with his trenchcoat. Flopping onto the bed, he pulled out his phone, setting a couple alarms before plugging it into the charger for tonight.
The vulpine took off his tanktop and shorts, staring up at the ceiling. His mind began to drift to what he’d do after this mission. Cassius promised them time off soon. Maybe vacation up to Sedona or Tahoe was in order. It was getting into the fall; the weather was beautiful. People at school and not on vacation… it would be remote and out of the public eye. Noah wanted the proposal to be perfect, Quinten deserved that much.
His ears perked up in response to the sound of the shower turning off. He sat up, excitedly watching the door. It swung open as steam poured forth. A topless red panda stepped out, lightly shimmering in the moonlight. Quinten blushed as he locked eyes with his boyfriend, slowly crawling next to him on the bed.
“Hun, is there something on your mind?” Noah whispered, dropping his eyelids as he smirked. He slowly ran his hand along Quinten’s chest, playing with the freshly washed fur.
“Well… y-yes… I want things… badly… but can we afford to? I mean with the mission tomorrow. I just, I’m nervous about it and what if it goes south? If something happens, do I have to cover, do I have the strength to do what needs to be done, and what if you get hurt or Rozzy or Lily? What if we get stranded in the fight of our lives? What if we disappoint your father? What i–” The red panda was forcibly shut up by the feeling of lips being pressed hard against his. His worries began to fade as his body was overtaken with a burning desire. He pressed back into the kiss.
Noah pulled off the kiss, slowly kissing down his boyfriend’s face until he reached his neck. The fox softly whispered, “The only ‘what if’ I can think of, is what if I let you go into the field with such a cloudy mind sweetie. Relax, we got this. But you have to tell me if you still want this.”
Quinten bit his lip, the worries being overpowered by different thoughts, needs, and desires. “I-I want you…”
A soft moan echoed out from the red panda’s lips as the fox sunk his teeth into Quinten’s neck. This would be the last peaceful night for Captain Noah Reynard.