USUK ONESHOTS!

Fox and Rabbit

Alfred and Arthur met when they were very young. Arthur was terrified of Alfred, and the young fox didn't know why until he was older.

Foxes used to kill rabbits and eat them back when they were full animals. It was rabbit instinct to be scared of foxes. Foxes were larger and stronger and had long, sharp teeth.

But when Alfred met the beautiful rabbit, he was the small one. Probably because he was also younger.

All Alfred wanted to do was show the older rabbit that he wasn't scary. The rabbit wasn't scared of his younger brother, so why was he scared of him? That hurt Alfred's feelings. Alfred wanted the rabbit to like him, too.

He just didn't know how to tell a rabbit that.

So, every way he tried to impress or show the rabbit he wasn't scary, he ended up frightening the older rabbit more.

Why? He brought him presents. Did Arthur not want presents? He smiled, too! His biggest smile that his mama loved and praised.

Nothing Alfred did did anything to improve his relation with Arthur.

Until when they were teenagers. Arthur was sixteen, Alfred twelve, so not quite a teen. He was close. Just two more months until he was a real teen. He was so excited!

Arthur had to go into town to but some things, and Alfred followed. Arthur had dropped the list and the wind tossed the paper into an alley. Alfred knew that alley too well. He'd never personally experienced what happens there, but he knew if he didn't jump in, the same thing the others said would happen was going to happen to his precious rabbit. He couldn't have that!

So, as swiftly as he could, Alfred ran into the alley just in time. Arthur was being grabbed by a lustful, nasty, greedy cat, others nearing them.

Arthur was so terrified.

Alfred flattened his ears as his fluffy tail bristled. He snarled and leapt on the cat grabbing Arthur. He pushed the rabbit behind him and glared at the alley cats. He hissed and barked each time one of the alley-dwellers stepped closer as he backed out with Arthur clinging to the back of his cloak.

"Are you okay?" Alfred asked, turning to the rabbit, concern replacing anger and protection.

Arthur only nodded as he shook, clutching the basket in his trembling hands.

From then on, Arthur would stay close-by Alfred. At fourteen, Alfred was a whole inch taller than Arthur. Arthur claimed that it was annoying and stupid since he was much older than the fox, so Alfred teased him constantly about it.

Alfred was just so glad Arthur wasn't scared of him anymore. However, Alfred still didn't understand one thing about Arthur.

Arthur would disappear for a week, somewhere in the mansion. His mom said, when he asked, that Arthur would go to the maid's 'heat room.' Alfred had no idea what that meant until he was sixteen.

His father and mother sat him down, telling him that they needed to speak with him. He wondering why Matthew wasn't with them, and his mother simply said he already had this talk since his heats already started. Alfred was confused, but he wouldn't question his mother. So he listened to his father and mother as they explained to him what heat was and how those on heat should be treated.

Oh, he remembers thinking, so that's where Arthur and Matthew go.

When Alfred turned seventeen, he experienced a rabbit's heat first hand. Arthur had been stressed and tired, exhausted from more and more work, so he was oblivious to the signs of heat until he started.