Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 76 - Necessity

With redoubled effort, the two studied throughout the night. The school day ended up being normal for the most part, but it seemed that the wolf had lost much of his enthusiasm for school. Instead, it seemed as if he were merely progressing through the day so that he could visit the fox in the afternoon.

When they did meet, it was at the wolf's house. His yard was big enough that they could practice playing football, and they could still study at night.

The first few days, the fox was exhausted. He oft felt a shortness of breath and his arms were weak, and it hurt. Walking home was becoming more and more of a chore, but it was what he accepted.

Hunter seemed to be enjoying it, though. After practice, they would take turns taking a shower, and then open their books, finish their homework, and study. Many a time the fox thought to suggest they save time by taking a shower at the same time, but he was never bold enough to ask, and when he did think about it, he could physically tell that it was a bad idea.

A week passed and they had become close again. Roger's initial thought was that the wolf losing his favourite activity was enough for him to succumb to isolation, but it had not. It felt close, though, to the fox.

Now they sat against each other once more, and when they slept over at one another's house it was in the same bed. It was not odd to Roger that his parents had not noticed such a thing, but perhaps it was merely that they did not make any mention of it if they did notice. Hunter's mom did not mention anything if she noticed, either, but probably because it was much more normal in his situation.

The younger wolf had gotten used to the fox, especially after Roger had bought him that gift. Often times he would have woken up on his own accord during the weekends, but now Matt would come in and wake him up, giving absolutely no indication that he cared that the fox slept in the wolf's bed, or that he was in but only boxers.

He played games with him, not only because it was a friendly thing to do, but because the fox liked playing games. He had liked it before, but lately, he did not have much time to do so.

Mary had not been mentioned very often, and when she had been, it was only in passing. It seemed that she was becoming a sore subject.

During school, Roger did not see her. Hunter saw her, of course, since they shared a class, but there were very few words exchanged between them, it seemed. She, at first, asked if he would reconsider his refusal, but he was adamant.

It was immediately made official the wolf's separation from the team. A couple of the players seemed disappointed, but all of the ones that had sided with the quarterback had made their stance clear enough that they approved of him being dropped. There were a few notes here and there from parents that it was a good decision, and the coach, is the one that made such a decision, agreed.

The skunk had expressed his condolences to the wolf after class the first day. It was mentioned that if he needed anything from him, the fox and wolf were free to seek him out. All contact information was in the syllabus that he had passed out on the first day.

Even the history teacher seemed to be regretful that such an event had occurred, but it was merely what had come to pass. She just wished it had come about differently.

The wolf's mood was improving, though. He was getting used to not heading to practice and merely spending time with the fox. It almost seemed as if he preferred it, but Roger knew that his skill, or lack thereof, in football was no replacement for actually playing the game. The way they practised was more or less how a child would do it.

Roger attempted to recruit some of his friends to play with them, but only a couple had shown any interest in the sport, much less in participating. Dan had mentioned that he would help, though, since he felt that it was a poor situation for the wolf to be in. It would be another week, however, before he was able to help, as his schedule kept him busy.

The weekend had come and the days were no different, except now they had more time to practice. Roger's muscles were sore and it often felt like his arms and legs were asleep. He felt after every single time they passed the ball that his arms would fall off and that when he was tackled, he was dying.

A week of agony had passed again. The wolf was absorbing more information readily and quickly, and the fox could see his development had gone back, and even exceeded what it once was. It was, however, as predicted that his motivation was lowered significantly.

Halfway through the next week did someone appear at the wolf's house. A ferret that the fox had not seen before. He peered over at him curiously.

Hunter introduced him as one of the football players. "This is Roger, and this is Brandon. He's one of the fastest players on the team."

Brandon offered his paw for Roger to shake. "Was, anyway. Nice to meet you."

Roger shook his paw, and then the ferret turned to the wolf. "Yeah, the coach has gotten a bit dickish ever since they gave you the boot. Guess he's gone mad with power from all the praise, so I up and left. It's fine, they can find someone else, or maybe Brian can do all the plays himself. You know how it goes, star of his own show."

The wolf frowned and kicked the door in front of him. "That's not good at all."

"No, no it isn't. Anyway, you asked for someone to help out, I'll help out. I don't need all that drama on that team, I've got enough from my girlfriend, know what I mean? She'll drown the world with her crying, that one...." The ferret spat on the ground and looked over at the fox and smiled. "Yeah, sorry, I listen to a lot of music."

Roger shrugged. "It's no problem."

Brandon patted the wolf on the arm roughly and said, "I can only stay an hour though. The girl needs me for dinner after or I won't hear the end of it. She thinks I'm at practice, but fuck that."

The wolf waved his tail a little and nodded in agreement. Roger took this moment to back away and rest a little. As soon as he sat down, he felt too tired to stand. He watched as the ferret passed the ball between each other, watched as the wolf would dive and the ferret would twist around and dodge him. Roger took note and figured he would learn to do that; it would be much less painful.

Every now and then, though, the wolf would catch him, more frequently as time passed on. It was as if he was out of practice and was getting back into it, which was probably the case.

Perhaps this was better, the fox thought. This was what needed to be done.