A soft tune in the dark night air blew freely in the cool breeze. A sad tune, a mournful tune. It was something this red fox, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, did every night, at his lover's grave. The melody was something beautiful once, something he heard the now-deceased wolf often make when he was happy, when they walked the streets together, or went shopping or he hummed it when showering. But now, it lost its' happy touch and was more grim.

The red fox sighed, "Derek... I miss you."

Turning around and heading to his car, the creature drove off in to the night. The cool breeze still in the air lifted dead rose petals that were which laid on Derek's grave in the sky, the sharp wind seeming to hum the music back...

  ---

"School sucks, man!" a tall white cat slammed his locker shut, then turned back to the smaller purple wolf next to him, sticking out easily in the crowded halls during the passing period due to his odd color. "I'm thinking of going swimming this weekend, what about you?

Ben raised a hand up to his own head and scratched himself somewhat nervously, but then smiled and shrugged, looking up into his friends' eyes with confidence, "Sure, man! I don't have anything better to do. And you're right, school sucks, but I don't want to be a loser, Fletch." Smirking softly, he pointed at the cat. "Like you!"

Fletch held up his hands and made a sad face, "Ouch, Ben! That cut deep, bro'." The sound of his voice implied he was joking, however. "The only loser is the guy who never learns to enjoy life, remember that, little dude." With that, he ruffled the purple wolf's hair and then walked off to his next class while the smaller creature waved a fist in an overly dramatic way.

"I'm not little!" he shouted to his friend's back with playfulness. 'He really makes life easier...' Smiling, he grabbed his junk and made his way to Mr. Whisker's, vaguely thinking to himself that it was funny how "Mr. Whisker" rhymed, which was why the teacher often just preferred to be called by his first name.

  "Good morning, class," Mr. Whisker spoke, standing behind his desk and carefully looking over the area. He was a tall, thin red fox, whose eyes seemed to hold a sadness, though few people actually noticed this. A few of the students replied with murmured good mornings. "I hope you all did the weekend assignment I gave you. Well, time to hand 'em over."

'I hate math,' was all the purple creature thought as he sat down in his chair in the back row, thankful he at least was the furthest from the teacher's view, closing his eyes and resting his head on a palm. Students all started to get up from their seats and set their paper on Mr. Whisker's desk quickly, then sat back down, the teacher's eyes catching the sleeping student. He sighed and shook his head.

A tall, muscular lion jock slowly stepped to Ben's desk. The wolf slipped off of his hand and his forehead smacked down on the work table, however, this didn't seem to wake him up. The whole class was watching at this point, all of them fighting hard to keep themselves from laughing at the sight, as to not wake the creature up... yet. When the lion got to Ben's desk, he looked over to Mr. Whisker with a wicked grin, asking permission with his eyes. The teacher nodded.

  Within an instant, the lion had slammed his textbook down next to the purple fuzzy head, instantly waking him up.

"WAHH!" Ben yelled out as he fell from his chair, landing promptly on his ass

"Good morning!" the lion greeted mockingly.

"Kyle, you're such a dick!" the wolf replied, rubbing his rump painfully before sitting back down.

"At least I got one, man," Kyle replied and a few of the popular girls in the room began to giggle. Ben would have made a retort, but before he could, his train of thought was interrupted.

"See me after class," Mr. Whisker ordered with a voice as insipid and monotonous as the look in his eyes.

'Damn it.'

For the remainder of the class, Ben had to strain himself to not fall asleep out of boredom, but he accomplished it, somehow unbeknownst to himself. After it ended and the bell rang to signal the end of the day, the purple wolf attempted to casually exit the class. He even went as far as hiding in front of an uncaring tall raccoon so the teacher wouldn't see him, but it was as if he had a sixth sense.

  "Ben, don't leave yet," Mr. Whisker demanded calmly without looking up from grading papers, making marks with a red pen.

'Damn it again,' he thought, sighing in defeat as he walked to the teacher's desk. "Yes, Mr. Whisker?"

"Syf," the fox replied, finally looking up from his papers.

"Sorry, Syf," Ben apologized, closing his eyes and smacking himself softly for his mistake.

The older male sighed, leaning back and rubbing the red fur on his face, "You're a difficult student, Ben."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," the young wolf replied, though they both knew he wasn't really sorry. He just honestly flat-out didn't care.

"I honestly wonder why you bother coming to my class sometimes," Syf proclaimed in all seriousness. Ben wanted to say, "Yeah, me too, man," but he held his tongue, letting the fox continue his lecture. "Can you tell me what your problem is? I noticed you didn't turn in the weekend assignment I gave out."

"Oh, that," the wolf chuckled nervously, trying to buy a few seconds of time to think of an excuse. "Well, you see, my brother..."

  But Syf cut in, "No, not that, I don't really care about you not doing your assignment, it doesn't surprise me. And I know you don't have a brother."

'He doesn't care? Thank God...'

"I mean, in general, with this class. Do you think it's boring, are you having trouble understanding something, or is there some kind of problem outside of class getting to you, maybe at home?"

The last question seemed to change Ben's facial expression, which the fox observed, but didn't vocalize. "Uhm, it's just boring, I guess," the wolf mumbled, looking down at his feet.

Syf put his index finger on the purple fluffy chin, pushing his face up so that Ben was looking up into his eyes once more. The wolf was assuming something was going to be said, but instead, they just stared at each other's eyes. The awkwardness grew for the young one, until he couldn't take it and had to break the silence.

"What? There really isn't a problem, really," he attempted to convince, but wasn't doing a good job.

"Ben, I've seen my own eyes in the mirror enough times to know when something's wrong." Ben wanted to ask what he meant by that, but decided to refrain. The fox withdrew his finger and held both of his hands on his desk before continuing, "I'm not going to call your parents and tell them whatever you tell me, I'm not going to punish you, or get mad. Could you just tell me why you're not doing your work in any of your classes, even sleeping during many of them?"

  The wolf felt a little annoyed and it showed on his face, he didn't like his privacy being pried in to. "Is it your job to ask that crap?" he asked.

With a shake of his head, the fox replied, "No, it's just my own individual curiosity."

Ben shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I really just want to go home right now." He didn't even wait for permission to leave, he just walked out of the room right there. Syf sighed, then simply continued to grade the papers again.

---

Panting, Ben opened the door of his house and stepped in. His house was definitely not a clean place. There were boxes that had never been unpacked, even after all the months of residency. Old newspapers on the ground, red carpet with fallen fur that needed to be vacuumed up, and dust covering many objects. He liked to tell visitors that it looked like this because they were poor, which was partially true. They were indeed poor and had some out-of-date junk laying around, but it was mostly like this just from everyone being plain lazy.

"Where've you been?" a deep, strong voice asked impatiently, belonging to another purple wolf, much more muscular than his smaller offspring.

  The young wolf slugged his backpack and tossed it lazily on the ground, then glared at his father, "I was kept after school and I missed the bus, jerk!"

Instantly, a hand smacked Ben's muzzle and he fell down on the ground with a cry, having felt like a brick had just rammed into him. "Don't talk to me like that! Do you understand?!" his father's loud voice boomed.

"Fuck you, man!" the younger male yelled back, through the blood and the tooth cascading from his mouth. He then scrambled to his feet, busting through the front door to leave. "I'll come back when the weekend's over!"

"Whatever!" was all that was said before the door slammed.

---

The Hender family's home was a much more fancy place than the wolf's own. Everything was white and perfectly clean, and sparkling chandeliers of alternate colors hung from the ceilings. Here you could find a flat panel HDTV, neatly-kept racks of dozens of DVD movies, plus a lot of various other expensive good-looking things laying around.

Fletch heard the knocking at the front door, and politely held up his hand to keep his parents sitting down. "Nah, man, it's okay, I'll get it." The cat put down his fork while his parents kept eating at the dinner table, though they kept an eye on him so they could see who was at the door as their son opened it.

  "Hey, Fletch," Ben waved at his friend.

The cat wore a worried look on his face, "Dude, what happened to your face?" He raised a finger and pointed, which made the wolf turn and hide his head under his hand.

"It's nothing. Look, I kind of can't stay home this weekend..." he trailed off, not finishing his sentence, having tried to change the subject too fast for his own mind to follow. It didn't matter though, as his friend spoke up a split second after, anyways.

"Oh, your parents," Fletch simply whispered, knowing about his friend's home troubles. Not wanting to say more, he waved for his friend to come inside. The teenage cat went back and sat down at the dinner table, with his friend following and sitting down on a nearby chair. Ben was hungry, he couldn't deny that, but he didn't want to be rude so he kept quiet and tried to ignore the smell in the air.

"Woah, what happened to your face?" Ron Hender, the father, asked worriedly, pointing with a finger. Hally, Fletch's mother, wore the same look on her face momentarily before putting her fork down to listen.

  "Oh, this?" Ben chuckled nervously, then waved it off. "Not much, just got smacked by a football some asshole jock threw at me at school, it's nothing."

The answer seemed to please them enough to leave the purple creature alone and continue eating. Ben had come here a lot, especially as of late, when his home troubles began. He and Fletch were best friends and had been for years. He often slept over, or vice versa (though not nearly as much), and they would go to the movies together, or one of a million other things! They dressed the same, despite Fletch having a much more wealthy position than his friend, and they liked almost all the same stuff. Almost...

"So! You boys wanting to go out swimming this weekend? It seems like a good time as any to me, though it's a little late right now. Tomorrow?" Ron spoke up, pushing his plate away when he and his son finished, while Hally silently picked up the plates and cleaned them in the sink.

"Sure, sounds awesome, though I don't think I'm very good at swimming," Ben shrugged.

  "You'll do fine, man! It'll be a blast," Fletch reassured, holding a thumb up to his fuzzy purple friend.

"Well," Hally spoke, over the running water in the kitchen and with a voice as sweet as ice cream and as soft as snow. This being the first time she said anything since the purple wolf had arrived, "you two had better get some good sleep then, your father wants to leave early for it."

"Nine AM," he specified.

"You old people are crazy, going to sleep early and waking up early," the young cat smirked, waving an arm in the air. "You folks need to remember what it's like to be young again!"

"Stay up late, drink booze, go to parties and flunk school?" Ron asked, giving the smirk back.

"Exactly, dude! See, you got it all right in your head, but you ain't doing it right, man," he pointed a finger at his father and all Ben could do was watch and laugh.

"Well, I have a job I need to get up early for five days out of the week, so that we don't end up homeless, dude," he put emphasis on the word 'dude'.

Fletch gave a deep laugh, then waved over to his friend, "Come on, let's go to my room, play some games or something." Ben nodded and followed him up the stairs, opening the first door in the hall. Pure white with a gold handle, the door was decorated with a few signs and stickers such as "Keep Out" and "Watch Out for Dog". They walked inside and Fletch closed the door, sitting down in his leather chair, while Ben took a seat on the large bed's edge. The room was almost as fancy as the rest of the house. A nice TV, various video games and consoles stacked up on top of each other, and an expensive computer sitting on a desk, all resting above the spotless ivory carpet on the ground.

  "Man, you've told me before that your father smacked you around a lot for not doing your work and crap," the fluffy white cat said, breaking the silence after a few awkward moments. "But it just seems weird to me that he'd fuck with you that much just for not doing your work. He's really that crazy, dude?"

"Yeah, he is," the purple wolf answered simply while looking down at his feet, having now realized that through this whole time he still had on his shoes. Ben kicked them off and then slid them under the bed.

The cat hmm'd, then shrugged and scooted over next to his TV, picking up a controller and tossing it to his friend. "You want to hit up on some games then?", His voice having completely changed into over-excitement.

"The wolf sighed and laid the game controlled down on the floor, kicking it back over to his friend. "Nah, I'm really not in the mood, dude. I was thinking of just laying down and sleeping."

"This early?" the cat asked, but didn't wait for an answer. Instead, he got up from his chair and sat down next to his friend, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling him close. His warmth covered Ben's body in an instant, which made him murr lightly, but not enough for his friend to notice. Being this close to him with his hot breath brushing Ben's smacked and swollen cheek, making the pain tingle with pleasure and filling his head up with clouds.

  "Dude, hello? Earth to Ben? Aren'tcha going to answer me?" the cat asked, with intonation to imply he thought his friend was crazy, so he proceeded to give him a noogie.

"Huh-OUCH! Hey, cut it out!" the wolf started to giggle and tried to push the hand away, but his friend grinned, knowing he was stronger and taking advantage of it by grabbing his purple friend around the chest and holding his arms down at the same time. Keeping the noogie up for a moment, both of them laughed until he did eventually let go. Afterwards Ben tried to straighten his headfur as best as he could.

"Now that I have your attention," Fletch chuckled, clearing his throat and putting a more serious face on. "Really, what's up, man? You're all actin' depressed, not wanting to play games, watch anything, and you come to me with a badass bruise. This kind of stuff has happened a lot before, but not this bad, not this often. What's happened recently, dude? Something had to have happened."

Ben groaned, then laid down flat on the bed. He covered his eyes by laying his arm over his face, sighing. 'I can't ever get away with anything from you...'

  "Come on, dude, we're best friends. You can tell me what's up," Fletch attempted to reassure, grabbing his friend's arm and moving it aside.

"It's..." he started, but found that as soon as he had, every word and emotion all went to his mouth at once, unable to put all of it into one word and causing him to hesitate. He looked into his friend's blue eyes, as beautiful as the sky and as warm as a bright sunny day with no clouds. Ben didn't finish, simply staring into the eyes, coming to a loss.

"Dude, I know I'm hot, but answer," Fletch joked, playfully slapping his friend. However, Ben didn't realize it was a joke at first and blushed hard, turning his head away.

"Uhm..." was all that could be forced out of his muzzle.

The cat didn't know what it all meant at first, just staring in confusion, but then, it slowly dawned on him, putting a big "Ohhh..." expression on his face. He leaned back, "Oh... your dad's been smacking you around lately, for being gay?"

"That about nails it," Ben sighed, choking on his words. Guess his secret was out now.

  "Man, I'm cool with it, you don't have to be all shy around me," the cat cheerfully yelled, then grabbed his friend and lifted him up. Leaning in close with him caused the wolf to freeze up again, but just for a moment, until he worked up enough courage to talk again.

"So, are you, too?..." Ben asked shyly.

Fletch opened his mouth to answer, but then just went into deep thought for a minute, "You know, I never really sat down and thought about it. I just see people I think is hot and then I get a hard on. Maybe I'm bi, maybe straight, but if I'm bi, then I just haven't met a dude I think's hot yet."

"Oh..." he sighed disappointedly. It implied Fletch wasn't attracted to him, which hurt. His friend didn't catch on to that, though.

"So, dude," Fletch clapped his hands together, then got up and leaned againts a wall with his hands, showing off his rump. "How's my ass, man? I'd ask myself, but I can't ever really get a look, kind of like when dogs or cats chase their tails in circles, always trying to catch it."

  Ben laughed and then grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it up and threw it at his friend's butt, which hit the spot and bounced off.

"Hey, man! That's my science paper!" But the cat wasn't mad, laughing with his friend and straightening the paper out, then laying it down on his desk again. Fletch sat down next to his friend again without really thinking why, sighing deeply and then laying down. "Well, since we're not going to really do much right now, I think I'll crash for the night."

Ben looked over to his friend laying down, smirking, "I don't 'spose you'll have me sleep on the floor tonight?"

Scratching his head, Fletch shrugged, "You've always slept on the floor before, man. Why, you wanting to sleep on the bed? I can stay on the floor for the night then, it's cool."

His friend started to get up, but Ben held him down, shaking his head, "No, that's not exactly what I wanted..."

The cat took a second to think on it, then laughed heartily. The purple wolf felt embarrassed, but it was immediately washed away when his friend hugged him and forcefully made him lay down against him, "Whatever, man. Night." Fletch clapped his hands and the light turned off, then quickly fell asleep with his face buried into the purple fur on the beck of Ben's neck. It had all happened in just a few short moments, leaving the wolf speechless. But, all he knew was he felt warm against his friend, who was so care-free and wild, so... cute, so... so everything he ever really wanted in another guy. Falling asleep that night turned out to be an easy task.

  ---

Syf parked his car and stepped out with a rose in his hand, like he did every night. His heart felt as cold and lonely as the night air did at the cemetery, walking to a certain grave, marked with a tombstone that held the name of 'Derek Whisker'. Sighing, the fox bent down and laid a rose on top of the dirt, then stepped back, staring at the name before him. With a sad look, he began to whistle an all-too-familiar tune, the wind carrying it away from his lips and spiraling it into the endless black sea of night. He sniffled, putting his hand over the name on the stone, tracing his finger over each letter, closing his eyes and imagining the wolf's face while he did. Once he traced the last R, Syf opened his eyes again, turned around and left. When the cemetery was all alone to itself, it whistled the tune, accepting the rose petals as wind tore them off and carried them, mixed with the music, taking them into the endless heavens.

---

"Time to wake up, boys!" Ron bursted in the room, yelling at the top of his lungs in excitement. He was already in his swimming trunks and ready to hit the road.

  "Aaagh, Daaaaaad, five more minutes..." Fletch grumbled in his sleep, not even opening his eyes up.

But, both of the teenagers on the bed almost screamed in pain when Ron decided to open the window up, letting the bright sun shine down over their faces. Even with their eyes closed, the light still hurt.

"Come on, boys! No time to waste, let's go!" he grabbed both of the smaller kids and began pushing them out the door and down the stairs.

"Uhm, but we haven't even showered," Ben yawned out, but it only made the middle-aged white cat laugh.

"You want to get wet, so you can go into a big river and get wet again? Nonesense, come on!" he hurriedly spoke, pushing them on into the car, where Hally was already waiting inside. The young boys sat in the back and Ron drove.

Fletch didn't say much, just staring out the window, until his purple friend cleared his throat to get his attention. "Uhm... thanks, you know, for letting me stay in your bed."

The cat chuckled and just shrugged, thinking nothing of it and looking back out the window. Eventually, they arrived at the river, all of them stepping out and running into the river at the same time, diving in. Well, all except for Hally, who just sat down on the sandy shore and looked out over the sparkling water, sun shining down on it. Fletch and Ben swam out far from the others in the lake, laughing at each other as they splashed water on to one another and dunked each other's heads underneath the surface. Ben was a good swimmer, despite what he had said earlier, he simply didn't want to give himself any credit, not liking to do that sort of thing.

  "Wow, man, this is so awesome!" Ben yelled out, smacking water with his hand and making it hit his friend, both of them laughing.

"Dude, it so is!" the cat yelled back, then dove under the surface and grabbed his friend, pulling him under and giving him a noogie under water, then let go and they both swam back up, laughing until their longs ached.

hey were having so much fun, that the two of them didn't even realize they had swam out so far. Suddenly, Ben's face looked scared, something in his gut and the way the water felt told him something. Fletch look at him worriedly and ask what was wrong, taking note of the wolf's facial expression, but not the water. But there wasn't time to answer. Before Ben could do anything, his body was swept under the water and pulled with ferocious force. He opened his mouth to scream for help entirely due to instinct, but his mouth was rewarded with a flood of water, choking him. He flailed his arms and legs, trying to get back to the surface, but he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, his body was too weak. Air was completely vacant from him and Ben began to feel blackness surround his brain, strength leaving him.

  'Oh God, please, don't let me die...'

At that moment, it was if his prayer was answered. A hand grabbed him and pushed him up to the surface, the wolf gasping for air. He didn't know who it was at first, but he figured it had to be Fletch eventually, as he was the only one with him out this far. He felt himself being pushed up high and then falling, the action repeating, over and over. The cat was jumping from the ground and then jumping again. The current in the water made it too difficult to simply grab him and swim to the surface and to safety, this was all he could think of at the moment.

Then, there was one final jump and Ben felt himself thrown forwards into the water, but it was safe water, he was out of the current. Ben felt weak, however, swallowing too much water and being tossed around like a rag doll too much to stay conscious...

The next thing he knew, there were sirens and people crying. His eyes popped open and Ben immediately started to cough up water on to the sand he laid on. He was back on shore, safe and sound! So... why were there cops around?

  Hally patted the purple wolf on the back as the poor thing coughed, until his lungs were empty of water and full of air. He looked up to the middle-aged female cat worriedly after he looked around and realized something.

"Where's Fletch?" Ben asked, his voice hoarse.

It wasn't until now that the wolf noticed she was crying, or at least had been. "Well, that's what the police want to ask you..."

'Oh shit,' was all he thought. The police wanted to ask him where his friend was? That could only mean one thing. Fletch was missing.

That night had been spent with many questions from the police, many notes taken. An emergency rescue party was dispatched, looking for Fletch and Ben was simply taken him from a ride with Ron and Hally. Nothing was said between them, he simply stepped out of their car and walked up to his house. The wolf vaguely registered that he had told his father he'd only be back once the weekend's over, but right now, it was the least important thing in the world. Slowly, he opened the door and stepped in, seeing his father on the couch, who was drinking a beer and watching TV, but whose attention was immediately changed.

  "Well, well, well, who has decided to show their pussy face now?" Ryan hissed vilely with clenched fangs.

Ben didn't even say anything, he just started to walk to his room, but was intercepted by a body blocking the way.

"What the fuck are you doing here, you little runt?!" the father yelled at him, his darker purple fur standing up as he growled at his son.

"Dad, not now," Ben mechanically spoke, trying to push his father aside, but was instead pushed flat on his ass in return.

Ryan pointed down with a harsh finger, "What've you been up to? Going out to fuck, or something?!"

"I went swimming," the same mechanical, emotionless tune remained.

The adult snorted, "Yeah, swimming nude, I bet."

Suddenly, Ben felt a rush of anger consume him. Not even himself saw it coming, it just exploded like a volcano. The teenager clenched his fist and rose up suddenly, punching his father. It didn't do much, however, as he was rather week, but it did put a look of surprise on Ryan, not expecting his son to have stood up for himself for once in his short life of seventeen years.

  "Listen, you fucker!" Ben yelled straight into his father's face, spitting over his fur as he did. "I went swimming this weekend, with my friend from school. That cat you saw a few times and thought I was always fucking in my room. We went swimming today and there was a current in the water when where we swam out too far. He saved my life and now he's missing, the police think he's God damn dead. I'm going to my fucking room, thank you very much." The kid stomped off, leaving a shocked father to just sit down on the couch and think to himself.

No other words were said for that night, not even the usual disturbances of angry stomping in the night, banging at his door. Nothing. Normally, a night like this would have been heaven for the young wolf, but tonight, he almost would have wanted it. At least it'd be something to get his mind off of Fletch.

'Fletch...' he thought. Fletch. His best friend. Was he still alive? Why did he have to disappear? If only there was a little more time, then he could have been able to tell him that he thought of him as more than his best friend, one with a cute ass. The thought made him smirk, but it faded instantly. Ben loved him, if he were to be totally honest with himself. He loved Fletch and now he might possibly be dead. He might never get to tell him how he really felt. No sleep will come this night, instead, nightmares will come while even awake.

  ---

After a week, it had been assumed Fletch was dead. A funeral with an empty casket was held on that weekend, people filling it up with flowers, musical CDs that the poor young cat had wished he received for that coming Christmas, love letters that family and friends hoped would somehow be read for whose name was written on it. Ben himself had written on a piece of paper that simply said 'I love you,' not bothering to fold it in half so that others would not see, like everyone else had. He didn't care if people read it, it's not like his name was written on it, so no one would know.

All the week before the funereal, Ben was unable to do even less work that what little he used to do. He didn't sleep in class, because he couldn't sleep anymore. Altogether, he probably had less than 24 hours of sleep total that week and every moment of sleep he did have, all he could see was Fletch's face. He didn't care about people teasing him in the halls anymore, or in class. Hell, even Kyle, the lion who abruptly woke him up before, asked if he was okay when he saw Ben's bloodshot eyes and had been unresponsive whatsoever to a few names he threw at the purple wolf.

  Every night ever since the funeral, the lonesome wolf had went to his friend's grave at the cemetery, crying while he stood on top of the dirt and hugged the tombstone. He cried his name, he yelled out 'I love you' more times than he could count, he even slept on top of the grave once for a couple hours, until the night grew too cold to handle. But on this particular night, as he walked his way to the cemetery after his father had went to sleep, he heard a whistling coming from the cemetery. He tried to ignore it, figuring someone else was here and the two of them would be polite enough to just leave one another alone, but it was impossible when he found that the whistling was coming from just two rows up from where Fletch's empty grave. Unable to ignore it, Ben simply listened. It was a beautiful tune, full of happiness. Even though the wolf was quite sad, the music somehow lifted his spirits and he couldn't explain why. It was magic.

"Yo," a deep voice greeted, the whistling having stopped. 'So, he must have been the whistler then,' Ben thought.

  "Hi," the purple-furred creature greeted in return, walking up to where the voice was coming from. Now that he was closer, he could see it was a grey wolf, laying down on top of a grave and leaning his back against the tombstone. "That was a beautiful thing you whistled, man. Where'd you learn it?"

"Oh, that?" he chuckled, proudly. "It's just something I kind of made up. But anyways, what's a young kid like you doing out here in the middle the night, on a school night no less?"

Ben groaned and then sat down next to the older grey wolf. He was quite attractive, but that wasn't much of the point right now. "I can't sleep. A friend of mine died recently."

"Oh, no, that's terrible," the stranger comforted, leaning over and hugging Ben closely, his warm embrace feeling so similar to Fletch's warmth when he had slept with his arm around him that night. So much that it made him cry. "But it'll be okay. Time moves on and people with it, but the memories will always live."

The words were soothing and the purple wolf settled to just small sniffles, hugging back. But then something seemed weird and he leaned back to look at the stranger's eyes, which were green and full of sunlight. "What's someone so cheerful like you doing out here all alone?"

  He shrugged. "I hang out here a lot, the place has become almost a home," the older male chuckled and then ruffled the smaller wolf's headfur. The subject was changed, "How's school?"

"Shit."

A laugh filled the night, "Aw, come on, man. It's not that bad. I know you can't be doing too well with your friend passing away recently and all, rest his poor soul."

Ben simply nodded, "I'm not doing too well, but I wasn't doing very good before, anyways. I'm pretty lazy."

"Lazy people make the world go around!" the wolf cheered. "But you should try more. I know it hurts and all, but if you never move on, you'll be left with the memories forever and eventually, you'll be nothing more than one yourself. Fletch loved you, just like you loved him, he just never got around to saying it."

A soft whimper was all that was said, so the grey creature continued, comforting as softly as a pile of feathers breaking a fall. "You have to keep trying. Really, think about it. If you give up and fail school, what're you going to do with your life? Sit on your ass at home and be a loser, do some drugs, live in a cardboard box when your dad kicks your ass out on the street? Not only that, but there's so much to live for, so much to do. So many parties to go hang out at, so many new movies coming out you have to go watch at the theaters!" Then, he leaned in and whispered, "And so much love to give."

  Ben looked up and just stared into this strange, kind person's eyes, "How do you know he loved me?"

He grinned and shrugged, not really answering. "Listen, just sleep on what I said to you tonight, alright? Your friend wouldn't want you crying over his grave every night for the rest of your life, just like I wouldn't want someone doing it over mine and just like you wouldn't want someone doing it over yours. Let alone an empty grave," the wolf ended it with a lick on the teenager's sleep, then pushed him a little to get Ben to stand up. He waved at the teenager, a sort of playful 'shoo, shoo, go away' manner.

For once in quite a long while, Ben smiled, a tear-filled smile, but a smile nonetheless, "Thank you." He turned around and began walking, the whistling continuing as he walked out of the cemetery site. But then, he realized.

'How did he know Fletch's name?!'

Ben turned around, but no one was there. The whistling was gone as well.

---

That night, unknown to him, he somehow had slept decently. His dreams still were of Fletch, but they were happy dreams. Dreams of them playing video games together and laughing. Ben woke up and didn't feel the pain of insomnia, no longer sweating in restless sleep anymore. He somehow felt happy. It was a sort of sad happiness, like an angry storm had came and then went and you look out over a field, seeing the rain make the grass sparkle and a rainbow appearing. It was the first stage of moving on.

  He never really had more than one friend in school, so there wasn't really anyone to talk to anymore, so he just talked to himself to make up for it, whistled, too. He whistled to and from every class that Friday, ignoring the teasing still, but in a happier mood of doing it. On that note, much of the teasing had stopped and many teachers were nicer to him, having seen his little story on the news. Even Mrs. Tahkens wasn't being a bitch. Maybe it was because he had started to actually do his class work.

Friday night, last period of the day, the bell rings. Everyone picks up their books and scurries off out of the room, Ben being in the last row and thusly having to be the last one of of the class. On his way out, he whistled, everyone but one person ignoring him. But he was stopped before he could exit the door.

"Wait! Ben, stay a moment," Syf ordered suddenly, not sounding mad, but surprised.

"Yes, Syf? Somethin' wrong?" the purple wolf asked politely.

"No, nothing's wrong, just..." the red fox hesitated, then pointed up with a finger. "Could you... whistle that again?"

  Ben folded his ears and cocked his head in confusion, but then shrugged and did so. While he did, Mr. Whisker looked down at his desk with a hand over his muzzle. The tune wasn't like how he made it, but it was the happy one he had long forgotten, full of the essence of a summer breeze. Syf began to cry, which made the whistling stop and Ben empathetically put a hand on the fox's back.

"Dude, what's wrong?" he asked softly.

But an answer wasn't given, instead, a question. "Where did you learn that?"

Ben thought for a moment, he thought hard. "I... I can't remember, I'm sorry. I guess I just kind of made it up."

It took a moment for the fox to accept the answer, so he just nodded and blew his nose with a tissue, throwing it in the trash. "I'm pleased to see you finally doing your work. I saw what happened on the news, what made you change so fast?"

Smiling proudly, the wolf stood tall with his back straight, "I learned that I needed to move was all. I don't want to flunk, get kicked out when I turn 18 by my father for being a failure and then live in a box. People who love each other wouldn't want the other to cry forever over them, anyways."

  Syf leaned back in his chair, smiling dimly, "You don't say, hm?..."

Ben looked up to the clock and then groaned in disappointment, "Man, I'm going to miss the bus again, fuck." He caught himself a second too late on his curse word and then covered his mouth, but Syf waved his hand at it, not caring.

"It's okay, I held you up, I'll drive you home," the fox stood up and then pushed his chair in. But then, before he left, he looked at the wolf, who was easily at least a foot shorter. "But, well, I know I shouldn't, but it's the weekend and I feel bad for what's happened to you. Would you mind taking the evening for some coffee?" But he cut in on himself before the purple fuzzy thing could reply. "Wait, kids don't like coffee..."

Ben laughed, "No, no, it's fine, I'll take some."

The fox smiled.

---

The two sat down at a table, sipping at their full, steamy cups. Ben coughed when his first drink and made a face, which made the fox laugh. The coffee house was pretty ordinary-looking, nothing special or fancy, but it was clean and it had some damn good liquid to drink, on the contrary to its' basic appearance.

  For a long while, they talked about his schoolwork, but eventually, it moved slightly away from that, moving on to Syf talking of his other classes, or other classmates. How both of them thought Mrs. Tahkens, an English teacher teaching on the same grade of Syf, was a bitch, how the jocks at school were mostly stupid and the preppy school girls tried too hard to look 'sexy' and ended up looking ugly, slutty and overall disgusting. They ended up liking the same music, which was a bit of a surprise due to their age difference (though, it wasn't that immense, but it was still a surprise), they both preferred comedy movies over horror and they both agreed TV dinner sausage is one of the worst foods ever. But it moved on to Syf asking if the wolf saw anyone cute at school.

"Uhm," Ben scratched at the table nervously with a claw, but then realized he didn't have to answer. He shrugged, "Nope, not really, man. There aren't any girls I like." He grinned at the last sentence, intentionally putting it in there for its' possible multiple interpretations.

  Syf smirked, then replied, "Referring to the other teachers and people I see walking by, or driving by everyday, there aren't any girls I like, either."

Chuckling, the purple wolf rested his chin on a palm and laid the elbow on the coffee table, "But what about referring to the students?"

He shrugged, "I'm not really legally allowed to look at 'em. Besides, most are too immature and generally stupid to be my taste, their age set aside."

Ben sighed, "Yeah, kids are stupid."

Unexpectedly, Syf put his red hand on his student's arm, "But you're not a kid, you're not stupid and immature like the rest."

"Huh?" was all he could think of to say, lifting his head up from his palm.

"You've been through a lot, you've grown fast from experience. Being an adult isn't about how old you are, it's about what you've been through. Experience comes from events, not time," he explained.

The wolf smiled sheepishly and scratched his head, "Uhm, thanks. My dad thinks I'm a loser, though. Oh, shit, my dad!" Ben stood up from his spot, looking afraid.

  "What? What's wrong, Ben?" Syf asked with concern, standing up, too.

"I need to call him, we've been here for two hours! Oh, man, he's going to kick my ass," the wolf whimpered.

Syf produced a cellphone from his pocket and handed it over, which Ben immediately grabbed and dialed in his home number, that was therefore recorded in the "called messages history," though the wolf didn't realize this and Syf grinned. However, that's not the point for the current moment, as his father was blathering angrily about how pissed he was for his son hanging out with some strange man at a coffee shop, wanting to know how good their fucking is going. Rolling his eyes, Ben closed the phone and handed it back.

"I don't think I can go home for the night, man," he sighed.

The slender fox slid the cell back in his pocket, "It's okay, I know how fathers can be about that sort of thing. I'd tell you to stay over at a friends', but..."

He nodded, "Yeah..." The wolf's ears perked up with curiosity and he looked at Syf in the eyes. "Wait a minute, what do you mean by 'that sort of thing'?"

  Syf chuckled, "Man, it's not hard to hear someone yelling like that, even over a phone."

Ben blushed and stuffed his hands in his pants out of embarrassment, then turned around and spoke over his shoulder, so he wouldn't have to have his face seen, "Shit, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay," he said, patting his young student on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You can stay at my house if you want. I can't say I'm really prepared, but you can sleep on the couch."

It took a moment for Ben to overcome his embarrassment, but when he did, he smiled, "Better than the gutter."

---

Syf Whisker's house was somewhere in between that of Ben's and the Hender's. It was middle-class, with clean white walls, mostly-stainless brown carpet and a decent CRT television set.

Ben took off his shoes and left them at the door, as did Syf. The red fox smiled and then scratched his cheek, going into the kitchen after telling his guest to make himself at home and go ahead and watch TV. He didn't ask what Syf was doing, just turning on the tube and flicking through the boring crappy TV, but he found that all TV is pretty much crappy and instead simply went to the kitchen to see what was happening.

  Inside there, Syf was stirring in a spoon in a steel pot, the smell of multiple foods in the air. Rice on the stove, cornbread in the oven and fish on another part of the stove. With one hand, he stirred, with the other, he flipped the fish over on to their other side. Ben was surprised the fox could cook like that, one thing with one hand each. The poor wolf could barely cook a simple egg.

Syf turned around and smiled, "Oh, I didn't see you there! I'm sorry if this isn't much, I'm not much of a cook when it's on short notice, I mainly just made my favorite and hoped you would like it."

"Oh, no man, this looks freaking sweet!" Ben enthusiastically cheered, holding his arms out, pointing to the food. "I can't cook for shit, dude! In fact, I've pretty much rarely gone beyond using the microwave."

The red fox snorted, "What? That's not cooking, man. Here." Syf got behind the small wolf and pushed him up to the stove and after some protests, he finally got Ben to try to mimic what he had seen, Syf holding his hands and guiding them through the process, whispering into his ears on directions soothingly.

  After a few minutes, the fox stood back very slowly, letting go of his students' arms and leaning back against the table. Ben had assumed he was still being watched carefully and felt more confident because of that, but in reality, he was cooking without help. Syf kept a careful eye on the clock, then eventually spoke up. "Alright, that about does it! Food should be pretty much done."

Ben turned around and then noticed he wasn't being as watched as closely as he had thought, eeping and setting the stirring spoon and fork that he had been using aside. Syf laughed, happy he could teach more than just math. He pulled two plates and then sat them down on a dinner table, followed by placing cornbread, fish and rice being placed on the plates, still steaming hot and fresh. Grabbing some silverware and paper towels, he sat them down next to the two plates and motioned for Ben to sit, which he did.

Upon the first bite, Syf was rather impressed. He wouldn't lie to himself, it definitely wasn't quite as good as what he could do himself, but for someone who had never gone much further than a microwave, it was some damn good shit. When Ben took his first bite, he went wide-eyed and gave a big cheer, not believing himself, "Wow, I cooked this?!" They ate in almost silence, the only sound was silverware hitting plates. It wasn't because either of them preferred to eat without talking, it was because the wolf was too busy eating his deliciously impressive meal and Syf didn't want to interrupt him with simple small talk, finding it too cute to watch his student eat to bother.

  After they had finished, Syf grabbed the plates and silverware, rinsing them off and putting them in the sink to clean at a later time, then threw the paper towels away. He turned to Ben, smiling.

"I hope you enjoyed that," he smiled sweetly.

Ben nodded, giving a thumbs up with it, "It was pretty sweet, I can't believe I did that. Though, you were cooking before I got there, so I don't give myself full credit."

But the fox just waved it off, "I had only just set it up, you did most of the work. The only thing I really did was mix the cornbread, but the oven cooks that, I just wait."

Involuntarily, the wolf burped and then covered his lips in embarrassment, which made Syf laugh, thinking it was adorable. He grabbed Ben by the shoulder and they both walked back to the living room, both of them sitting down and leaning back. Ben didn't really take note of it and just thought nothing of it, but he leaned against Syf's chest comfortably, sitting down on his lap. Why or how Ben ended up sitting like that, he never really cared, but that's just how it ended up. As the red fox flickered through the channels, trying to find a decent thing to watch, he soon came to the disappointment with that all TV is pretty much crappy, then turned the tube off entirely and sighed, putting the remote on a small table in front of the couch and then raised his legs up on it, leaning back with his student still on him. Ben made no movement to move and still made none when the fox began to pet his head fur without really thinking. It was just an old habit of sorts. The wolf murred and closed his eyes, not out of fatigue, but just because he enjoyed it. Syf smiled and then kept it up while he used his other hand, scritching behind a fluffy purple ear, making the wolf giggle.

  "Hey, stop it!" Ben barely managed in between giggles, but his tone was kind and playful, he didn't really want it to stop. "Why are you doing that?"

"To be entirely honest, I really don't know. All I know is I don't want to stop," and he didn't.

It didn't stop there. Very slowly, gradually, his first hand traced a finger down to the young teenager's chest, gently massaging the area with his palm once he reached the destination. His other hand slid down Ben's back, which eventually rested on his tailbase, stroking it gently there. The wolf wagged his fluffy tail, Syf taking it as a good sign. He sighed and leaned forward with his eyes closed, the wolf's own still shut tight, taking a risk and kissing him softly. At first, Ben popped his eyes open in surprise and time totally stopped. The ticking of the clock on the wall ceased, his heart no longer pumped. But, just as quickly as it happened, Ben smiled and closed his eyes. The ticking continued and his heart began beating once more, but faster, faster out of excitement as he kissed back gently, but he flickered out his tongue, lapping at Syf's lips. This made the red creature murr and he opened his mouth invitingly to suckle deeply on the wolfish tongue, bringing the long wet sponge down his throat. As Syf did this, he lowered the hand from Ben's chest and slowly reached in between his legs, grabbing him softly there, squeezing through his pants, which seemed too tight at this point. This caused the wolf to gasp, which thusly broke the kiss. A moment passed and he caught his breath, grinning into his teacher's eyes.

  "Are you sure you want to do this? We don't know each other much beyond school and I think you could lose a lot more than your job if anyone found out..." Ben asked and informed with hope, looking away, not wanting to see Syf's face if he got turned down.

"Shh," the fox put a slim finger over Ben's lips. "I know we don't really -know- each other, which is weird to say that, since I've seen you five out of seven days of the week for months, but... Well, we'll take it slow."

Nodding without words, the wolf kissed his new apparent boyfriend, the two of them opening mouths again, but this time, Syf had his turn slithering in his tongue and lapped around inside Ben's warm maw, snaking its' way down his throat, which made the cute puppy whimper. The fox's hand had never left his student's crotch, but it did make a movement of unzipping the pants in the way, tugging them down slowly and taking the boxers down with them at the same time. Without looking, he took a firm grip on the already-fully hard wolf length, squeezing it with strength. The sudden attention made Ben gasp and break the kiss, looking down to get a view of what was happening. Syf growled, though a bit playfully, not had wanting the kiss to break right then, so he replaced Ben's muzzle with his neck, taking a deep bite at it, but not painful.

  'Oh my God, this fucking rocks.' Ben moaned softly as the fox hand began to pump him and Syf tugged softly as skin and fur caught in his mouth. Returning the favor, well, half of the favor, Ben rather quickly slid his hand down his teacher's pants, easily finding the bulging fox cock inside. Upon contact, a loud mouth vibrated over the wolf's neck and he assumed it was an enjoyable action. Grinning, he undid Syf's pants just enough to pull his length out, squeezing it and stroking it in the same rhythm that was being given. Syf was larger than his wolfy guest, though it was probably that size due to age and not because Ben was small. In fact, he was pretty big, not all that much smaller, which impressed the older fox. Using two hands for the handiwork, Syf began to fondle the warm, musky balls of the creature laying on top of him, making Ben moan with excitement and thrust hard into the fox grip, intentionally. Grinning, Syf started to do the same.

Syf broke the bite and then kissed the wolf again, deeper than before, saliva dribbling out from his mouth and on to the purple fur on Ben's chin, soaking it, but neither of them cared. The wolf cock began to grow its' knot with every passing pump, Syf giving an actually good squeeze right over it every time his hand glided over it, twisting his wrist over it as well. Quickly, it formed its' full thickness and Ben could no longer keep the kiss up, having to pan too much for it to be a wise choice, lest he pass out. Putting his head against the fox's chest, he growled, whimpered and clawed at it, every stroke bringing him closer, but he never stopped stroking back. Large spurts of pre sputtered out and Syf decided to push himself from under Ben and instead down on the ground, still pumping the entire time, but no longer receiving it. However, it was worth it, because as the wolf came, the second before, Syf engulfed the whole length down his muzzle, swallowing hard at the semen collected in his throat, petting Ben's warm orbs to get a few extra jets of cum. The sudden and unexpected oral surprised the wolf, making him howl out loudly. Syf smirked, 'I hope that didn't wake up the neighbors...'

  Long moments passed before Ben slowly pulled his wolf cock out of the fox muzzle, which made Syf whine and fold his ears back, looking up to the wolf with a sad expression. But all he did in return was grin and then suddenly pounce the fox, keeping him on the ground as he turned and laid down over Syf's body, squeezing the fox knot that had partially appeared already. Never having done this before, all he could hope for was the best. Ben closed his eyes and kissed the fox tip before parting his lips, sliding the length smoothly into his mouth, pressing gently over the length with his tongue and flicking over the tip every time he pulled back, starting to bob his head. It must have been good, because the fox groaned in pleasure, grabbing the purple head over his crotch and thrusting in and out of it fast, but only as fast as Ben could handle. While Syf muzzlefucked him, he didn't pass the chance to lick at the irresistible tailhole in front of his face, nuzzling deeply at it and lapping continuously. This made the wolf get completely hard again in seconds, thrusting hard againts Syf's chest, the fur rubbing over his sensitive flesh, tingling him. It would only be seconds until the fox came, Ben knew, so he used his free hands to fondle Syf's fuzzy balls and massage at the explosed flesh between his spread out legs, directly underneath the tail.

  "Nnngh, B-Beennn," Syf muffled out, not bothering to stop eating out the cute ass in front of him.

However, Ben couldn't make the same reply, as a cock was in his mouth. Musky fox sperm shot as hard as a cannon into the wolf muzzle, Ben making as much effort as he could to swallow all of it, but some still leaked out and dribbled down the slick shaft and down Syf's balls. While he came, the fox couldn't control himself and bit down hard on the purple, fluffy rump and Ben moaned with a full mouth, wiggling his butt into Syf's face, as if trying to get deeper into the mouth. The bite was too much and he had to pull the length out of his mouth, arching his back and howling at the sky, clawing at the ground and tearing the carpet with his claws, covering the red fox with a nice puddle of white over his chest.

As soon as their orgasms died down, Ben laid next to the fox comfortably, snuggling up and nuzzling into Syf's neckfur. Neither of them wanted to move out of the position, the night was going perfectly, all they wanted to do was lay still with each other and not move. So, they didn't.

  "You're not getting any free A's for this, just to make that clear," Syf whispered into Ben's ear, which made him 'Awww!' in disappointment, but he smiled while doing so, clearly unhurt.

"That might have went a little further than 'taking it slow,' cutie," Ben smirked.

"Oh well," the fox shrugged. "And... thanks."

He cocked an eyebrow, assuming at first he was being thanked for sex, "Hm?"

Syf scratched his head, trying to put his thoughts into words, "Just, you know, thanks. For being a nice person. I was depressed for awhile, because, well, a friend of mine died recently, too."

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," Ben brought a hand up to the fox's cheek, petting him.

"It's okay, it was a couple of years ago, but we were real close," he explained, putting a special tone for the word 'close,' making the wolf nod, understanding what he meant but it. "There's not much of the story to tell. He went out to go shopping, like he did every Saturday, got in a car wreck, died. Not with anyone else, though. It was an icy day and he hit an empty parked car. Witnesses said it happened when he swerved to avoid running over a cat."

  "That's terrible." The short story almost had Ben in tears. "What was his name?"

"Derek."

'Derek Whisker, hm, sounds familiar, somehow...' he thought.

Syf nuzzled against his new lover's headfur, "But it's all over now, I'm finally over it. I think it's because of you."

There weren't words Ben could think of that could equal the same thankfulness, so he just hugged his boyfriend tightly, nuzzling into his chest. Neither of them moved from the position the whole night, drifting off in to a soft, peaceful sleep, with dreams of one another, just as if they were still awake.

---

This night at the cemetery, wind cut through the air sharply. This night, after so many nights for so many years, it was finally void of visitors in the dead of night. No crying foxes, no mourning wolves. And it remained as such, for years to come. All except for the dark red rose petals being carried swiftly in the wind, spiraling endlessly up and down, to the heavens and then almost touching the ground, just to be lifted up again, the wind seeming to whistle a soft, happy tune...