Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 46 - The Future

Another day had come and gone. Night had fallen on the two. Was the silence a wasted day, or was it wasted when the day was busy? Roger could not decide.

He had become comfortable. He thought, maybe comfortable was not correct. Maybe he had become complacent.

Hunter had been sitting next to him for a while. The fox meditated on the past week or so. Before all of the events that had taken place, he would not have imagined himself developing a friendship with the wolf, or that he would welcome it so willingly after he realized his own desire for it.

He wondered about it, that if this friendship had easily blossomed so well in such a short time, what would have happened if he gave others a chance? The primary thing that prevented him from having such friends was his prejudices and bias, and being forced to discard those allowed him to find within the wolf an individual of which he valued.

He cast it off for the time being. He thought so much about the future and the past, he had to live in the present now. Still, it was a valid topic, the future.

"Hey, Hunter?" he said, attempting to draw the wolf's attention.

In reaction, the wolf turned his head and asked, "Yeah? Something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong." Roger gave him a smile and then continued, "I was just thinking, like about what would happen after school, where I would go and stuff."

"We meet up after school, right?" Hunter stated. He seemed puzzled, judging by the look he gave.

"I mean, yeah, after school we meet up and study, that's fine. I mean after high school. Like... I think I'll go to a university, but I haven't picked one out yet. I don't know what I want to study yet, so I need to decide that first, I guess." Roger shrugged.

Hunter nodded and remained silent.

The fox asked, "Well, how about you? Do you know what you're going to do after high school?"

The wolf thought about it. He was silent for a while, and Roger considered restating the question, but the wolf eventually answered. "I just want to go somewhere where they'll let me play ball. Maybe for a team, I don't know yet."

Roger nodded. Of course, he thought. It made sense. "What about after that?" he asked. "After college, do you want to do that professionally?"

Hunter shrugged. "If that's what happens."

"Hey, if you become a professional player, you'll probably get a bunch of money," the fox mentioned. "And then have a huge house and you could do whatever you want. And then I can sleep on your couch, right?"

The wolf laughed a little. "What about you? You're smart, you can get a better job and stuff. Maybe I'm going to be sleeping on a couch."

Roger shook his head. "Nah, you wouldn't. If someone were living in my house, they'd at least get a bed, if I were rich and stuff."

"Do you mean it?" the wolf asked. His ears were perked and he seemed eager to hear the answer.

"About the bed? Yeah, I wouldn't force someone on a couch when I can get them a bed, I mean come on," the fox responded.

"No," the wolf said. "That I'd get to live in your house."

Roger thought for a moment and then said, "If it comes to that circumstance, I don't see why not, but it's a long ways off. I think by then you'd probably have found a girlfriend and would want to live with her. Maybe even the same for me. And then, of course, I doubt I'm going to just stumble upon a bunch of money...."

The wolf nodded. "I'll get to come to visit, then, if that's what happens, right?"

"Well, yeah." Roger patted the wolf on the back. "Could visit every day if you wanted."

"And if we're not rich and don't have a big house and stuff?" the wolf asked.

"Well, I guess if we're still near each other, we could just be roommates. That would help financially, definitely. We could split up the chores and stuff. Maybe we could even get more roommates, and then we'd have to pay almost nothing," Roger said. He watched the wolf's reaction.

The wolf's expression was that of excitement, and he seemed eager for such an event to occur. His tail was moving back and forth as it usually did when it betrayed his feelings.

"Are we always going to be friends?" Hunter asked.

The question caught him off guard for the most part, but he collected himself and responded, "Not if you keep asking."

Hunter's ears drooped and he apologized, but the fox quickly added, "It was a joke! Of course, we are, okay?"

The wolf nodded and returned to his jovial state, albeit less in magnitude than it had been previously.

Roger sighed. The wolf was too delicate sometimes to joke around with, he figured. Maybe that would change in the future, but as far as he could tell, such an answer was out of his grasp. He redirected the conversation.

"Well, if you had to work, what kind of job would you want to do?" he asked.

Hunter shrugged. "I don't know. Something easy, I guess?"

Roger nodded. "Well, that can be good, I guess, but easy jobs don't pay much usually. Engineering is usually pretty good, or business, or medicine, or law..."

"Yeah, but I don't know how to do any of those things," the wolf argued.

"That's why you learn," Roger responded. An idea came across his head. "Maybe massage therapy? You could be a masseuse, they pay alright I've heard."

Hunter quirked his head. "Do they teach that here? I don't know if I'd even be any good at it."

Roger nudged his side. "Well, from what I've experienced, you're pretty decent at it. And I imagine they would have some of those classes in college, just have to find one. You could tie it into physical therapy, for all those guys that injure themselves somehow."

The wolf nodded. "I don't know. Maybe. I just wanted to play ball, though."

"Well, you probably still can. Nothing says you can't do both," the fox said. Hunter seemed wary of it, still.

He added, "It's really just a matter of practice. Do it enough and you get good it at, and you're already pretty decent judging with how you dealt with my legs the other day. And if you need practice, you can always practice on me." He laughed toward the end to indicate he was joking.

Hunter put his paw on the fox's shoulder. "Maybe. It'd be good to help everyone feel better, I guess."

The fox agreed. "That's a good enough reason as any."

The wolf looked at the time and began to pack up. "I should probably be heading back home." There was reluctance in his voice, but he was compliant with what was necessary.

It was the daily ritual, it seemed, for them to meet and depart. Roger helped him pack all the while thinking of how to break the cycle. He said, "Hey, tomorrow, would you want to go study in the park? It exists, we might as well utilize it."

Hunter wagged a bit. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"Alright. I'll see you there tomorrow, then," Roger said.

"Well," Hunter mentioned, "I do have practice after class tomorrow. It won't take too long, maybe an hour, and then I can grab a shower there and we could go."

The fox nodded. "Alright, sounds like a plan."

The night ended.