Kyle was awoken by the buzz and ‘ping’ of receiving a text. He opened his eyes, looking around. He was sprawled out on bed, with Jiffy pressed to his side, under his arm. Jiffy’s silky tail was draped over Kyle’s torso like a blanket. Kyle slowly sat up and rubbed at his muzzle. He slipped from the bed quietly, doing his best to avoid waking Jiffy. 

Kyle nabbed his phone once he was close enough to his desk. He glanced at it, then quickly unlocked the phone when he saw the text was from Rupert. 

Dad: Pit stop to refuel and get a snack. 
Dad: Drive’s going good. 

Kyle smiled at the texts. He quickly typed out ‘glad to hear it!’ and added a heart emoji. Kyle paused with his thumb over ‘send’… then deleted the emoji. He hadn’t really used them with his father before this trip. But Kyle hesitated again… finally adding the heart emoji back. He quickly tapped ‘send’ before he could question himself again. Now that his playtime with Jiffy was over, Kyle’s mind returned to worrying over Rupert. Over what had happened… but more so, that Rupert had gotten so little sleep last night. And he was doing such a long drive alone.

Kyle set his phone down and pulled his boxers on, then his jeans. A moment’s fumbling through boxes and he pulled his sandals free as well. After his first year in the dorms Kyle wasn’t too shy about going around shirtless or bare pawed, but a trip to the shared floor bathroom was not the time for the latter. 

Kyle stepped out of his room and looked down along the hallway. No one was about at the moment, though a couple doors were open. People still moving in, or hanging out and ready to meet their floor mates, Kyle would guess. Kyle walked to the hallway’s mid-point and pushed the bathroom door open. Kyle counted three sinks, three stalls, and two urinals… then caught a whiff of the room. Clean, at least, but it had a strong smell of weed. It was a bit of a wallop to Kyle’s nose, then he snorted and shook his head. The bathroom was pretty comparable to the setup he had last year in a different dorm building, spare someone lighting up in it. It must have been a while ago, since the smell wasn’t too strong, and Kyle couldn’t smell any smoke in the air.

Kyle walked to the far wall where lockers and baskets were set up. The bathroom continued to the right, past the sinks, where there were three tiled shower stalls. Nice and roomy for large furs, with white curtains for privacy. Kyle idly wondered if he’d be in the bathroom when floor mates were having fun with their girlfriends in the showers again. Just before he turned back, Kyle took note of a sign on each of the two walls separating the three stalls. 

“Please do not masturbate in the showers. The plumbing is not designed to handle semen.”

That earned a good laugh from the boomer. Kyle returned to the urinals and unzipped his pants. The bathroom felt familiar enough to last year, but the signs were definitely not in the other building. That and someone tainting the bathroom with weed. Getting high had always been relegated to the dorm rooms or out on some corner of campus. 

There was an odd, heavy feeling as Kyle freed his sheath, and he remembered his little pre-nap fun with Jiffy. Kyle chuckled and shivered as he gripped his sheath base, squeezed and rolled up, and Jiffy’s load dribbled out his sheath tip and into the urinal. Kyle swabbed the tip of his sheath clean with a finger, lifting it to lick clean. 

“Mmm. Nutty.” Kyle mumbled to himself, then chuckled at his own dumb joke. With that mess taken care of, Kyle relaxed and slipped an inch free of his sheath. A long sigh accompanied the relief of his emptying bladder. Kyle shook himself free and tucked back away, washing his hands before leaving the bathroom. 

Kyle turned back down the hallway toward his room. He was just in time to spot Tommy walking into their dorm. 

“Fuck.”

Kyle quickly hopped back to his room, pulling his key card from his pocket, and entered the dorm. 

“Sorry dude…”  Kyle chuffed as he closed the door behind himself. Tommy had set up at his desk with his laptop, and looked to Kyle with a confused expression. 

“… why?” Tommy asked quietly, glancing over to the bed and back. “I don’t care if Jiffy’s taking a nap here. I’m pretty quiet, it won’t be a problem.”

Kyle finally looked to the bed. Jiffy had curled up, fluffy tail wrapped around him. The black length covered nearly all of the squirrel’s body. Kyle slowly looked back to Tommy, who glanced down to Kyle’s bare torso, then back up. 

“Uh… he’s naked.” Kyle said, both quiet and flatly. 

Tommy glanced to Kyle’s bed, then quickly turned forward to his laptop again, reaching to close it. “Crap, sorry dude, I didn’t mean to interrupt-”

Kyle reached his paw out to stop Tommy. The cat flinched back, chair scooting a couple inches. Tommy’s bright eyes were staring up at Kyle, pupils narrowed and Tommy’s breathing faster.

Kyle was abruptly aware of how much larger he was than Tommy. Nowhere near the reaction Tommy’s mother had, but still… Kyle withdrew his hand, ears dipping. 

“No, no dude, you didn’t interrupt anything. We just… fell asleep. I didn’t realize it was so late already. It’s your dorm too, I’m the one that should be sorry.” Kyle scratched at his ear base and chuffed, “You don’t need to go anywhere. Just give me a moment to get him up and dressed? Don’t want you seeing anything you’d regret.” Kyle forced a little chuckle with that. 

“Uh… yeah. Sure, that’s fine.” Tommy nodded, turning back to his laptop and scooting back to his desk. 

Kyle was frozen for a moment, looking between Tommy and the sleeping Jiffy. His apology felt insufficient, and the brief fear Tommy had shown… Kyle padded into the room, over to his bed. Hoping he hadn’t just caused irreparable damage to his relationship with Tommy. 

“Excuse me, mister Johan. It’s wakey wakey time.” Kyle rumbled affectionately while gripping and wiggling Jiffy’s shoulder.  

Jiffy stirred, his eyes opening and glancing up at Kyle. He lifted a hand, closing his eyelids and rubbing at his right eye. 

“Do NOT call me that.” the squirrel protested groggily, yawning after. Jiffy sat up with his legs crossed, rubbing at both eyes with his palms. “Damn it… Ugh, I slept with my contacts in.” Jiffy grumbled, face scrunching up as he rubbed. “What time is it?” He asked once the stickiness in his eyes had subsided. 

“About dinner time. Tommy’s back.” Kyle answered quietly. The soft words still got a strong reaction from Jiffy. The squirrel’s eyes shot open and he glanced over to Tommy’s side of the room, where the cat was typing at his laptop. 

Jiffy mumbled something in sciuridae, his tail lifting to once again conceal his body. “I’m sorry Tommy!” Jiffy squeaked, louder. “I’m getting dressed right now.” Jiffy continued as he scampered to his pile of clothes. As always, Kyle was impressed by the twitchy speed the squirrel mustered when he wanted. 

“It’s okay dude. At least you two are getting some action this semester. Keeping my fingers crossed I’ll find some lady and be so lucky.” Tommy responded with a dry chuckle, though he was careful not to turn to say it. “So uh… you two said you’re not together earlier, right?” Tommy questioned a moment later. 

“You can turn around, I’m dressed.” Jiffy squeaked, sitting on the side of the bed and starting to pull his shoes on. “And yeah, we’re not dating or anything. Just having some fun. You know how us gays are.” Jiffy chuckled, glancing over to Kyle. 

Kyle rolled his eyes, leaning against his pillow and wall. “Like I said, I can’t afford mister nut butter over here.” Kyle shot back, smirking in return at Jiffy. 

“… Uh… so like…” Tommy continued, glancing over his shoulder, then turning. “Do you mean… Is that like a… lady of the night sort of thing?” The cat naively asked. Silence followed, then raucous laughter from both Kyle and Jiffy. Tommy joined with a small chuckle, nervous and confused.

“No.” Jiffy answered once he finally tamed his laughing. “No, there’s no…. money exchange or anything. We’re just not dating. Friends with benefits.” And something in sciuridae again. Jiffy shook his head, finishing tying his second shoe. He sat back and jerked a thumb toward Kyle. “Kyle just likes to tease me because I pay for stuff when I can. My family’s quite well off, where Kyle’s family started kind of…”

“We weren’t poor, but Jiffy’s family could buy the entire state if they wanted.” Kyle teased, leaning forward and nosing Jiffy’s cheek, hugging the squirrel to his chest. Jiffy just rolled his eyes, letting Kyle exert his greater size and strength, getting comfortable once he was in Kyle’s lap. 

“Oh, that’s cool. My family’s pretty okay off. Not like… ‘buy a town’ rich. Let alone a state.” Tommy mused, glancing back at his laptop. He turned forward again and leaned back in his chair. “So like… where is your family from, Jiffy?”.

Both roo and squirrel were quiet for a moment, Tommy sinking back in his chair a little further. 

“Like… You speak shared tongue… sorta different? Or is that like, a rodent thing? I don’t really… well. Rodents don’t seem to like being around me. And that’s totally fair!” Tommy was quick to add. Tommy’s inner ears were flushed, and his eyes wide, pupils narrowed again. Kyle tried not to react, but was starting to think it might be an awkward semester.

Jiffy, of course, was far smoother than Kyle could ever be. Far better at dealing with awkwardness than Kyle, who immediately started over-thinking and choked up. Jiffy slipped off Kyle’s lap and bed, then made his way over to Tommy. 

“Sorry, we didn’t really properly meet, I just came in riding Kyle.” Jiffy held his paw up to Tommy, who took a moment to reach forward and shake Jiffy’s paw. “My name’s Johan bin Awang. I grew up in one of the larger islands of the third ocean archipelago. I use Jeff for my localized name, but like Kyle said, Jiffy’s preferred.” Jiffy smiled sweetly, retracting his paw. “Are you local to Woodfall?” Jiffy asked. 

Tommy retracted his paw as well, sitting back in his seat. “Uh… Not quite. I mean, compared to you, yeah. Grew up in the first high state.” Tommy jerked his thumb eastward. “We drove seven hours to get here, so it wasn’t too bad. Had to drive the minivan all alone, though.”

“You have a car on campus?” Kyle asked, still observing from his bed. 

Tommy looked over and nodded, smiling. “Yup! And happy to do rides whenever either of you need it. I got to exercise it regularly or the old thing gets cranky.”

“Neat!” Jiffy squeaked, then put his paws on his hips and smiled big and bright. “And Tommy, as an official representative of the sciuridae clan of rodents, it’s awesome to meet you! You promise not to stalk or try and pounce me, and I promise I won’t avoid you.” 

Tommy was quick and adamantly responded, “I’d never! I promise! I’m seriously not that kind of cat… I hate that sort of thing. I’m just… I’ve always been quiet. And uh… probably kind of awkward. I’m never sure what to say… But that sounds awesome.” Tommy leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, smiling at Jiffy. “And thanks for taking a chance on me. I’m real excited for the semester… it’ll be cool to actually make friends with some people besides other than cats.” Tommy’s smile shifted over to Kyle, then back to Jiffy. “I’m going to the restroom, but you guys want to get dinner after? We should get going soon to be on time.”

Jiffy gave a thumbs up, then turned and headed back to the bed. Tommy headed out the dorm room door, letting it shut behind him.

The awkwardness had been so thick in the air. Kyle was envious of how Jiffy could dispel it, saying and doing just the right thing. Even if the squirrel tended to ham it up. But as Jiffy hopped onto the bed and hugged tight to Kyle, the kangaroo realized how Jiffy’s smooth attitude and confidence was a show. Kyle cuddled the squirrel to his chest while Jiffy clung close. Kyle was used to the rapid tempo of Jiffy’s pulse, far faster than his own; but now it was a thundering buzz against Kyle. Jiffy took slow breaths while Kyle breathed in the scent of fear, far overpowering Jiffy’s personal, warm squirrel scent. 

“It’s cool you’ve got a built in body pillow, Jiffy.” Tommy mewled, glancing over with a smile. 

“Oh, yeah, thanks!” Jiffy smiled brightly, riding atop Kyle’s tail base and arms around the roo’s neck again. He brought his tail around to the side, lifted a little higher, fluffing it up for Tommy to see. “I love this thing.” He squeaked, waving his tail before returning it behind him. “Isn’t quite a built in chair like macropods, but it’s pretty useful.” Jiffy added while nuzzling the back of Kyle’s ear. 

Kyle rolled his eyes, but kept walking toward the mess hall behind the dorm building. He walked slowly, so Tommy could keep up; so inefficient, but worthwhile to keep with the normal folk, as Rupert used to tell Kyle. 

“Mine’s just useful for balancing, so… You both have me beat there.” Tommy chimed, looking down at his watch. He looked back up, “Anything I should know about large dorm cafeteria etiquette? I was in a medium last year.”

“It’s… normal? I think. I’ve never been in a medium dorm. Or small dorm, really.” Kyle added, looking back at Jiffy. 

“You could have hung out! You’d just have to like… squat and hunch the whole time you were there.” Jiffy squeaked in response. “Or… all fours! You look good on all fours.” 

Kyle chuffed and rolled his eyes, looking back to the mess hall. A short walk behind the dorm, but so slow at Tommy’s leisurely pace. Kyle could already smell the food inside, his stomach giving a bit of rumbling in eagerness. Even after all that pizza at lunch, Kyle was eager for dinner.

A mess of laughter, chatting, and auditory chaos filled the air as the trio stepped in to the building. It seemed they were late to the party. After last year’s start, Kyle should have expected something like this. Two groups of furs were at the tables closest to the doors, separated by their species groups. There was a brief pause in the noise when the misfit group of three furs entered. 

Then there was a quick chant. “Cats cats cats!” as a puma bounded over. She took Tommy’s hand and quickly pulled him back to one of the tables. Tommy looked bewildered as he was tugged to a table with a lion, tigers, and a few other big cats. Spotty ones, though Kyle couldn’t get a good look past the large tigers. 

“Oh come on! He can’t count, he’s not even a big cat! He’s like, a quarter of a cat!” Yapped an exceptionally tall fox, long-limbed fox. A glance toward the upset voice showed a table, unsurprisingly, full of canines. Mostly wolves and larger dog breeds. 

“Whoa. Never seen a maned wolf in person… they really are all gangly.” Jiffy’s quiet voice whispered in Kyle’s ear. Kyle’s attention shifted back to the fox… maned wolf. He nodded in agreement and glanced to the other tables. The usual mixture of bears, horses, cattle and a few oddball species sat mixed up between the tables. Kyle had no idea on most the specific species. He had enough trouble with big cat and dog species. The bovines and horses looked different from one another, but Kyle had no idea on species. Then Kyle spotted two crocodile-like furs, of significantly different mass, chatting up a camel. From the looks of it, this dorm was more diverse than the one Kyle was in last semester. And yet Kyle was the only kangaroo in the room yet again.

“I presume you’re Kyle?... And you must be a guest.” The voice was soft and dry. Jiffy’s arms cinched around Kyle’s neck as he looked to his left. A large- very large- snake was resting beside him, at equal height to Kyle. Kyle glanced down to the body resting on the ground beneath her, realizing she could certainly tower over him. The snake’s chest that swelled with breaths, just like any anthro. Below that her body was undefined, just a tube of snake. Though Kyle noticed the snake portion of her body also swelled and narrowed with breaths. It trailed on so long…

Kyle snapped his attention back up, meeting the snake’s eyes. She had a clipboard pressed to her flat chest, against a Woodfall University polo shirt. 

“Yup, that’s me!” Kyle chuffed, hoping he hadn’t been looking away too long. “I made my friend miss dinner with his pals, so he’s just hanging out to eat with us.” Kyle jerked a thumb up toward his shoulder, gesturing to Jiffy. 

“Name’s Jiffy! Nice to meet ya!” the squirrel squeaked, the snake returning a smile and nod of greeting.

“Are you the RA?” Kyle asked, glancing back to the clip board then back up once more. 

“That’d be me! I’m Immi, one of your RAs.” She gestured over to one of the tables, where a lizard of some sort was standing on the table’s bench seat. He seemed to be discussing something, rather excitedly, with a tapir seated just beside him. “My husband, José, is the other RA.” 

Kyle nodded, watching as the tapir burst out laughing. He looked back to find Immi making a check on the clipboard. 

“You’re checked in. We’ll be doing a little announcement in a minute, then we’ll open the cafeteria.” She smiled to Kyle, then Jiffy, then turned. Kyle watches, half mesmerized, as she seemed to effortlessly glide along the floor to speak with Tommy. His attention was only snapped away when he felt Jiffy shudder against his back. “Ugh. Nice lady but… snakes make my skin crawl.” 

Kyle wanted to inquire further, but he didn’t have the advantage of a quiet voice and tucking his muzzle into Jiffy’s ear. Kyle chose an open seat at one of the sparser tables, the one with the camel and crocodiles. He let Jiffy off atop the table, just in case, to avoid being sat on. They greeted the camel and crocodiles, then started talking with one another. A couple times there was another uproar as another canine came in, some breed of dog. Then a wolf. The ‘dogs!’ chant was stronger than ever, as the canine count took the lead. 

Kyle pulled his phone free, opening the map app again. Kyle waited for updates to load as he zoomed out. Then the icon for Rupert loaded, yet further down the state. He was making good time, but Rupert would certainly be getting home late. 

“Alright everyone, we’ll have our dorm meeting now!” Immi spoke, impressively loud, as she moved to one side of the room. Immi rose a bit higher, then another coil lifted, José standing atop it. The lizard as rather small, certainly not suited for the ‘large’ dorms. Probably just too tall for the ‘small’ dorms. Then again, Immi could likely use an XL dorm room herself. Kyle would guess it worked out fine, given the RA suite was usually the biggest room in a dorm building. 

“Hi everyone, I’m Immi! I’ve met most of you now, and almost everyone checked in is here. We’ll have a few late arrivals over the next couple days, so we’re asking you all have dinners here at our dorm’s mess hall for the week.”

“Are any cats?” one of the tigers asked loudly. The canine table was looking rather smug with their lead, until the question was asked. Both tables attention was fixated on Immi. The snake paused for a moment, then sighed and rolled her eyes, though she seemed amused. “Why is this such a thing for your two families?” she teasingly asked, looking between the two tables. No response came from either. Immi sighed over-dramatically, reading over the dorm list, clearly dragging it out on purpose. Finally, she looked up to the tiger who had asked the question. “… Two lions. All canines have checked in.” 

There was an uproar from the cats table. The canine table looked so downtrodden it made plenty of the other furs in the room laugh. Once the volume dropped back down again, Immi continued. 

“Alright. Now that that’s settled… I have some exciting news to share. While we might have more cats…” she grinned to the two competing tables. “We also have the most diverse large dorm in the history of campus! That’s pretty awesome! We’re also at full capacity, all 48 spots of our building are full. Please be respectful that we do have three medium sized furs in our building, and be careful around them. I also encourage you to bring friends of all sizes to our building. So watch your step, be welcoming, and don’t let me get even a single report of size, or any other form of, discrimination.” 

And thus followed a ten-minute presentation where Immi and José took turns going over the rules of the dorm, information on school holidays, safety concerns, some more rules about ‘illicit substances’, and that’s where there was an interruption. 

Immi stopped, looking over to the canine table. A long, slender, black-furred arm was up, the maned wolf raising his hand. 

“Yes, Rory?” 

Kyle curiously watched as Rory lowered his arm, rubbing at the back of his head. “Yeah, uhm… so this was an issue last year.” Rory looked over to the other tables, scanning over the rest of his dorm mates. “I’m on the third floor, and just so you all know… Maned wolf piss smells like weed. So uh… don’t report to Immi and José if the bathroom smells weedy. Just means I was in there recently.” 

That roused a good bit of laughter. Kyle turned to Jiffy, chuffing, “… dude I thought someone had actually smoked in there. That’s nuts.” 

Jiffy was snickering at it too. He leaned closer, “Hey, free pass to get high. Just keep it in the bathroom.” And winked at Kyle. 

Immi brought order back to the room, nodding to Rory after. “Thank you for sharing, it’s good to know! Every species has their own little quirks, right?” She looked back to her clipboard and continued with the introductory meeting. Penalties for being caught with alcohol in the dorms, regardless of age; then some activities that were upcoming at the college. 

“Finally, we know that both José and I are reptiles, and that may make some of you uncomfortable. A lot of regions don’t have significant reptile populations, and we understand you might not have ever interacted with one before. Well… now you have a chance to. We’re comfortable being asked any questions what so ever, talking about any subject. Please don’t hesitate to come to us.”

José continued, “On the other hand, we are the RAs. Please respect us as you would any other RA. We’ve been hired by the college to maintain the dorm and enforce the rules within it.” José got a touch of a smirk, “And that goes for both of us. You may have noticed I’m barely tall enough to be viable for a medium dorm, and the smallest person by far in our building. But… well, does anyone recognize my species?” He asked, scanning over the room. “And not you reptiles either!” he quickly pointed at one of the crocodiles raising her hand. 

Silence stretched on for a little, before a sweet, squeaky voice called out, “Gila monster?”. Kyle glanced back at Jiffy, who’s ears were a little red. The squirrel shrugged, and Kyle looked back to the RAs. 

“Bingo!” José nodded, pointing to his own mouth. “And, some of you may know we are venomous. It’s not lethal, but rather painful. Like… you’ll just wish you were dead for two to three days. I am licensed by the school to use venom if I deem it necessary. Additionally, Immi is licensed for constriction.” 

Immi nodded, but looked more serious than José’s playful demeanor. “By no means do we want to do either. Neither of us have had to when we RA’d last year, and I hope we never have to.” She added. “But please recognize that, as large furs with claws, jaws and kicks,” as her eyes skimmed over Kyle, “you have a lot of potential to do some serious damage very quickly. We are trained to resolve conflicts as immediately as possible. So let’s all do our best to get along and follow the rules, alright?”

There was general nodding amongst the dorm’s furs. Some looked proud that they were recognized for their power, others ashamed, a couple uncomfortable. At least, with that, the meeting was over. José was lowered back down and Immi made her way to the cafeteria section, sliding the gate open. The dorm mates began heading to the section with food fitting their physiology, checked out, and finally Kyle had dinner. Jiffy couldn’t eat even half of the smallest portions, so he ended up picking at an extra-large herby meal Kyle and he agreed on. Most of the meal was spent with Kyle and Jiffy talking to one another, catching up and simply spending time together. Jiffy and Kyle’s relationship had been exponential last year. Even if they’d only met at the start of second semester, Kyle felt so close to the rodent at the end of his Freshmen year. The summer so far apart had been a constant itch at the back of his head. 

But now they were together again, and Kyle savored every second of their conversation. More than just catching up, they talked about changes, thoughts, moving forward… only interrupted as the camel- Desta- joined their conversation about majors. Kyle appreciated having a fellow second year who hadn’t declared a major yet. 

Kyle cleaned up for Jiffy and himself, then had the squirrel mount up before they headed out. The roo and squirrel pair were only halfway out the door when Tommy dashed to catch up. He turned back and waved, “See you later!” 

Kyle glanced back, seeing the puma wave in return. Kyle looked to Tommy, grinning. He wondered if Tommy was going to find a ‘lady friend’ much faster than expected as the three heading back to the dorm together. 

“That went pretty well.” Kyle chuffed, looking back to Jiffy, then to Tommy. Both nodded, seemingly pleased with the meeting and meal, from Kyle’s perspective. While Kyle hopped up the stairs- legs burning, but it was fun to show off to the dorm mates present- Tommy took the stairs. Soon enough all three were back in Kyle and Tommy’s room, relaxing back and content in their fullness.

Jiffy was tapping at his phone, summoning the transport schedules to get him back to his dorm. One of the best part of Woodfall U’s phone app was the real time tracking of the buses constantly circling and moving through campus. 

“So … uh… is that normal?” Jiffy looked up, to Kyle, then to Tommy. Back to Kyle, and he squeaked, “… Your RAs threaten you in large dorms?” 

Kyle’s ears perked. He turned as Tommy spoke, “Yeah, that was… weird. Doesn’t happen in the medium dorms. At least… not the one I was in.” Thus, all eyes were on Kyle. The roo chuffed and scooted back, resting his back against the wall, more sat up to properly meet the gazes. 

“I… Suppose? It’s not really a threat. It’s just…” he raised his paw up and scratched at the back of his ear. “There’s a lot of… posturing and chest puffing. Like they said, we’re the furs that could really do damage… to each other, or the dorm. The felines can claw real deep, the bovines can charge through a wall, I could gut someone with a kick…” 

Kyle refocused on both his roommate and best friend. Both stared, stone faced. Jiffy seemed alright, but Kyle was sure he was just making it worse for the now-frightened Tommy. 

“We wouldn’t! Like… it’s not actually dangerous around us. But … we could, right? Just like either of you could hide a gun and shoot one of us. It’s just… built in for us. So the RAs in large dorms establish they are very capable to enforce rules. I hear in the extra-large dorms, it’s even more intense. Just… the biggest and strongest, or most dangerous furs that are… cool, chill. Level headed to be RAs”

Tommy was the first to respond after a good bit of silence. “Well… crap.” Tommy flopped back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling far too tall for someone his size. 

“Dude, don’t stress out… You’ll be fine. Kyle’s roommate last year was a fox smaller than you. And you’re rooming with the coolest fur I know. Kyle couldn’t hurt someone. Doesn’t have it in him.” Jiffy squeaked, looking over to Kyle. “… Well. Only if they were trying to hurt his friends.” Jiffy smiled affectionately to his lover, then looked back to Tommy. “I think you’ve got the best of both worlds. Sweet roommate who’d never hurt you, and a big body guard.”

Kyle nodded eagerly, “Yeah, there wasn’t a single incident in my dorm last year. Lik I said, posturing and chest puffing.”

Tommy looked back over, between the small squirrel, and the large kangaroo. Eventually Tommy smiled and nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind. And thank you.” Before flopping his head back to the bed.

Kyle wasn’t so sure Tommy was actually relieved… but he absently nodded, smiling in return. “Mm.” Was all he could reply. His thoughts returned to his Rupert. What his father had instilled in him. Red kangaroos were the guardians of the homelands, and the homelands made them powerful for that purpose. Though Kyle’s lineage had abandoned their duty, moving so far away… they were still red kangaroos. Rupert had taught Kyle early on the power of their claws and fists. The danger of their kicks and foot claws. 

A beeping and buzz stole Kyle’s attention from his racing thoughts. He reached over, grabbing his phone, hopeful for a text from Rupert. He unlocked the phone, only to find an email. He opened it and skimmed, groaning and dropping the phone to his chest. 

“Great news, huh?” Jiffy peeked up from his phone. 

“Advisor scheduled meetings. I’m seeing him tomorrow. Probably to grill me about choosing a major, with a side of disappointment at my not taking summer classes.” Kyle grumbled, rubbing at his forehead. “I’ve got to meet at the library tomorrow too, for orientation…” he sighed. The university couldn’t even give him a couple days to catch up with friends. 

“Orientation? Do you work in the Library?” Tommy asked.

“Mmmhmm. Work study. Helps cut down my tuition. Mostly just checking in books and re-shelving. The librarians love that I’m tall, makes it faster. Most of the time I just sit around and do homework.” Kyle chuffed. 

“Or ogle hot guys. Or hang out with your super-hot best friend.” Jiffy added with a teasing smile. 

“Exactly.” Kyle responded, leaning his socked foot over to rub at Jiffy’s side. Jiffy teasingly puffed and shoved at the foot with a squeaky ‘eww!’ that earned a laugh from Kyle.

“I should head out. The bus is almost here.” Jiffy squeaked, pocketing his phone. He scampered up the bed on all fours and hugged tight against Kyle’s chest. “It’s so good to have you around again.” He squeaked into Kyle’s chest. He lifted his head after, giving Kyle a brief kiss. “Love ya big boomer.”

Kyle returned the kiss and hugged around Jiffy, squeezing gently. “I love you too, nut.” He chuffed while nuzzling atop Jiffy’s head. 

Jiffy held on a moment before hopping off the bed and letting himself out. Kyle shifted to lay in his bed, thinking back over the day. The past two days. Without his big distraction in a small package, Kyle’s brain went back to obsessively over-thinking. Everything had changed, everything was different and confusing, and his head and heart were so tied up in an emotional tangle he had little chance of sorting. He kept checking his phone, only to find the icon for Rupert was a little further away on the map.

Kyle eventually got up to distract himself with unpacking and sorting, ensuring his computer was set up correctly, organizing his clothes and the like. Enough to pass the evening and into night. Tommy ended up going to bed earlier than Kyle, but the kangaroo needed to stay up, to wait. Headphones and idly browsing the internet to keep him from constantly checking the map app. 

Finally, Kyle’s phone vibrated. Kyle quickly lifted it to keep the sound from waking Tommy. 

Dad: Made it home safe. Passing out, work early. Maybe call this weekend? Love you bud. 

Relief washed over Kyle, knowing Rupert was safe. He had such a bad feeling about the sleep-deprived drive since Rupert had left. Then Kyle’s chest swelled with emotions, reading the text a couple times before he tapped at the screen. 

Love you too dad. So much ♥