Grown to Love

Chapter One

The sun was already setting as James cooked the steak on the grill in the backyard. He looks over to his left and watches his son, Fox, run up a tree. Following him was Wolf, son of his good friend Marcus. Wolf and Fox met only a year after Fox was born. Though Wolf was two years older than him, he never saw it as an issue. The two pups had done just about everything together. Now seven and nine years of age, the pups were out running around in the McCloud's backyard on a warm summer evening. Fox sat on a branch and stared down at Wolf as he breathed heavily. Wolf looked up and frowned. "No fair!" Fox stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. "You know I'm no good at climbing. Get down here!" Fox shook his head. "No thanks. I think I've won this game." He smiles and kicked his legs. Wolf sighed and sat down, leaning against the tree trunk. "You'll have to come down soon." Wolf muttered. He looks over at James and sees him chuckling as he cooks. Wolf then stands and walks over to him. He stands next to him and peers up, looking at the steak as it sizzled. "Don't worry little guy," James placed his hand on Wolf's head and rubbed his hair around. "They're almost ready." Wolf smiles and takes a deep breath in through his nose, enjoying the smell of the meat as it's cooked. Fox folded his arms as he looked down at Wolf and his father. He turned to his stomach and started to make his way down the tree. He then walks over to the two. "Dad how much longer?" "Like I told Wolf, they're almost ready. Why don't you two boys go get the plates and I'll get them going?" Wolf and Fox smile and run inside. They stopped as they passed the living room and peer over to the couch. They find Peppy, James's best friend, sleeping. The two boys look at each other and giggle. Fox walks over to the refrigerator and opens it, reaching to one of the lower drawers and pulls out a bottle of mayonnaise. He walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a wooden spoon. Wolf opens the bottle and Fox places the spoon in, taking a large amount of mayo out of the bottle. They walk over to Peppy and find his mouth wide open. Fox takes the spoon and places it in Peppy's mouth. Immediately, Peppy wakes up gagging. The boys run to the stairs and run right up to Fox's room as they laugh. Peppy spits the mayo out of his mouth after removing the spoon. He looks up at the stairs and sighs. From outside, James could be heard laughing. "Haven't you taught Fox better than that?" Peppy questioned as he walked to the kitchen sink to rinse his mouth. "Oh give him a break Peppy. He's only a pup." "I know and that's what's worrying me. Wolf is getting older, he'll be a teen in a couple years, leaving Fox still with a child's imagination. What if Wolf ends up doing something that wouldn't be good? What if it influences your boy to do something of that sort?" James shook his head. "Tsk tsk Peppy," He then reaches over to a tray he had next to him. He places the several pieces of steak on it. "You're looking at this all wrong. Wolf, he's a good kid, I can't see him doing anything bad. Besides, even if he had the idea to do something wrong Fox'd talk some sense into him. My boy may be childish for the most part but he's no idiot." James cleans his hands with a wet rag and goes in the house. He made his way to the second floor and knocks on the door of Fox's room. "Fox, Wolf, time to eat." There'd been no answer. James knocks once more. "Boys?" He opens the door and doesn't see the pups in the room. He starts opening the closet and checking under the blankets. As he lifted one of the many blankets on the bed, he heard giggling. He knelt down and looks under the bed. He finds Wolf and Fox covering their mouths as they wriggle around in the blankets they'd wrapped themselves in. "Come on boys, time to eat." James walked to the door and watched the two crawl out from under the bed. They make their way to the door. "And make sure you apologize to Peppy." Fox groans and turns to face his father with a pout. "But why? We were only playing." "I know but did he really like what you two did?" Fox and Wolf glance at each other and back to James. They shrug. James kneels and places a hand on both of their shoulders. "Listen boys, I know you two are young but you should think about how others feel when you choose to play with them. This is a good example; you two thought it'd be fun to mess with Peppy while he slept, correct?" They nod. "Well Peppy didn't find it too amusing. You see, you should think twice before you do something that could anger or even upset someone, even if you think it to be a joking matter. Now, when we get down there you apologize to Peppy and we eat, ok?" The two smile and nod then make their way down the stairs. Peppy was walking back outside with some cups in his hands when the boys passed him. When they got outside, they turned around and looked up at Peppy. The hare looked down at them and waited. "Yes?" He finally said after they stood silently. "We're sorry Peppy." Fox started. "We didn't know you didn't like mayo." Followed Wolf. Peppy slightly chuckles. "It's not that I don't like mayo, it was just very surprising to have a whole spoonful of it being stuck into my mouth while I slept. It kinda scared me you know?" The boys nod. "We won't do it again." "Well that makes me feel better. Thanks boys." Fox and Wolf then make their way to their seats and wait to be served.
Fox walked into his bedroom and threw himself into his bed. He sat against the wall and looked over at Wolf's bed. Wolf was laying on his back with his legs up against the wall. He leans his head back and finds Fox looking at him. He smiles and waves over at him. Fox smiles and waves back then turns to his back and lays his legs against the wall just as Wolf had done. "How long are you staying again?" Fox finally asked. Wolf turns to his stomach and lays his chin against his arms. "About a week. My dad said he'd be out in Venom for work. But your dad said that if I needed to stay longer he'd be ok with watching over me until my dad gets back." "Awesome!" Fox jumped up and down to the floor. He then goes up to Wolf and sits down in front of his bed. "I'll get to hang out with you every day and night now!" "But don't we kinda do that already?" Wolf chuckled. "Well, yeah but it'll be even better cause you're here all the time now!" "Until my dad gets home." Wolf said as a reminder. "Right." Fox wags his tail and smiles. There was a knock on the door and James opens it. He sticks half his body through and looks over at the boys. "Ten o'clock. Bed time." Fox stands and gets into his bed and wraps himself up. Wolf turned to his pillow and faced the wall. James turned the light off and shut the door. The moonlight gave a soft blue light to the room as it slightly came through the blinds. There was silence for a long while. Fox had opened his eyes and stared at the wall he was facing. "Hey Wolf, you up?" He whispers. There's a long pause before he receives a reply. "Yeah. What's up?" "We're best friends right?" "Of course we are." Wolf replies with a comforting tone. "Why wouldn't we be?" "I don't know. I was just thinking." Fox said, gripping his pillow a little. "We'll always be friends right?" Wolf smiles on the other side of the room. He gives a slight exhale. "Always. Now go to bed." He chuckles. "Goodnight Wolf." Fox pulls his blanket up closer to his face. "Night Fox."