Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 129 - Ebb

Time had passed by without Roger's notice. It seemed slow at first, but the more he transitioned back into normal life, the quicker it went. Minutes and hours became days, and days became weeks. School flew by, and he watched as his sophomore year of high school melted away.

He had been to several of the school's football games, even the ones that they played in other cities. Hunter came by a lot more now and even managed to meet Roger's parents once more on a weekend. They seemed to accept him into their son's life well enough, though the fox was unsure of how much they knew about their supposed friendship.

It did not really matter to him much anymore. He had slowly accepted what their relationship meant, and while still a secret, he felt less and less embarrassed by it. Perhaps it was more that he felt a little more accepting of himself.

The hype about his surgery was long gone, as was the cast. There were signatures of several of his classmates, and much to his relief, nothing else. He had expected to see at least one phallic object, but the only thing that even resembled such a thing was a scribble where someone had crossed out their name because they misspelt it.

It was nice, though. They had cut through the middle of it so that he could glue it together and keep it, if he so desired, which he did, even if it smelled a bit. He had it on a shelf in his room, which they looked at from time to time. It sat next to the cards that his classmates had given him.

His eyes had recovered not long after he returned to school. His fur had grown back for the most part, though it felt a little different than the rest of his fur. The doctors told him that that was normal, and it would return to normal after about a year when his summer and winter coats cycled through. He was relieved to hear that.

The weather was getting warmer, and he wore looser-fitting clothes now that the sun stayed out longer. He had never really enjoyed the summer. He much rather preferred to stay inside where there were air conditioning and fans, as well as where he could remove his clothes and just lounge around naked, playing games and reading books.

The big, all-encompassing final tests of the semester were upon them sooner than they had hoped, and Roger had been helping Hunter get ready for them as his original purpose had been. He really did not need to help the wolf very much anymore: he understood the material just fine, and the foundation had been laid for the wolf to be able to grasp concepts and learn on his own in class.

Still, they did their homework together and shared each other's company. Every day together brought them a little closer and made Roger feel a little more comfortable. They had been together for months now, and he still felt like that blushing kit back when he first let out all of his feelings. He had gotten used to sitting on the wolf's lap, having his arms around him. It was his favourite seat.

The gossip still spread about various things. He heard it all, now a circumspect fox who let nothing said slip by his ears. Perhaps he appreciated his hearing a bit more after his brush with the lion. He had never met anyone that was deaf, but Greg had handled it very well, it seemed.

Some of the rumours revolved around Hunter and some revolved around Roger. Most of the rumours had nothing to do with either of them but rather had to deal with the quarterback, or the cheerleaders, or the teachers, or the students that had very little to their name in terms of popularity. The latter usually had a sort of calumny that only teenagers could dream up.

The coach had reevaluated his opinions of the wolf. While the polar bear quarterback had still been the star player, though it was less from skill these days as it was the support of all of his fans and admirers. He did his job better than anyone else because no one else was allowed to have it. In Roger's opinion, the wolf could beat him any day of the week, back and forth across the field.

It was politics, and he hated politics. At least Hunter had been given a break, and his grades had improved drastically. He even began to ace some of his tests, though not all of them. He still struggled with some of the more abstract topics in his language class, but it was passing.

None of it mattered if he did not pass the final, though, so they prepared for that. They studied everything, even the things that Roger knew the wolf had a firm grasp on, just in case the overwhelming amounts of knowledge they had to go through would somehow jar it out of the wolf's head.

The school became hectic around that time. Parties nearly halted with almost all of the students cramming for the tests, having not paid attention for the rest of the year. Roger was grateful that he did not have to do such a thing. He never needed to study, and now that he seemed to be grasping everything with much more ease, he had less of a reason to do so.

Mr Levy, the skunk teacher, had given him his personal e-mail, in case he ever needed a letter of recommendation further down the road, for a job, or for school, or for an education program. It was a nice gesture, Roger thought. As far as he knew, though, he could have acquired such things easily from nearly anyone. At least this one carried a little weight.

When the finals came around, they were administered in a different building. The students were put into small cubicles with a computer in front of them, a stack of paper and a couple of pencils for their utilization if they needed it. For the language test, they would have to write an essay, but booklets were given for that specific test. All of the notepaper that they would use had to be discarded in a shred box by the door.

Roger poked at the tip of one of the pencils he was given. It was very sharp and new, the eraser had never seen a mistake, and it was the same length as the other pencil. They might have been siblings.

He wondered how Hunter would deal with the situation. He hoped that the wolf was not claustrophobic, but he did not recall him ever being scared of such a thing, or very many other things aside from raucous invectives.

The tests were generated on the computers, except for the essay. Roger clicked through it, taking only a few seconds to read over half of the question before finding the answer and selecting it. It felt like the test the year prior had been more difficult, but perhaps he was just with a higher understanding this time around. If there were any positives about that tumour, at least it seemed to have jarred something in his brain.

He finished his tests and sat quietly, closing his eyes. He knew everyone around them still struggled with the first test, and by the time they even neared halfway, he finished his last one. The essay took the longest simply because he had to write it out. He wished he could have just typed it, instead, but at least if it was written, no one could say that it was not his.

He wondered if he could leave yet. He took his packet, left the blank pages of paper since he did not need to use them, and stood from his seat. A test administrator came over to him and asked if he needed any help, to which he gave him the packet. He then expressed that he was leaving, as there was no reason for him to stay when he was done.

The administrator looked at the essay and was stunned, too much so to even respond to the fox. Roger exited the room and building, taking a seat outside, waiting for Hunter to finish.

He decided to take a nap in the sun while he had the chance.