FicWad

"Hey, Wolf? Can I ask you a question?"

Wolf looked up from the lure bobbing at the end of his fishing pole and blinked. He'd thought he was alone. Someone else might have objected to the disturbance in their fishing, but the sight of his best friend looking down inquisitively at him, ears perked, just made him grin. "Hey, Goldie. What'cha wanna know?"

The little lab sat down next to him and pulled her legs to her chest, rocking slightly in a somehow very Goldie-ish way. "I was wondering...do you ever get tired being the only human here in Avon? I mean, yes, there are enough animals here to keep a body company, even if it is a small town, but do you ever miss having someone of your own species around?"

The human thought about it, tilting his head up and causing his jaw length fringe of silver dyed hair slide back behind his ears. "No," he concluded at last, "I really don't. I have enough friends that it doesn't matter."

"Really?" Goldie cocked her head to the side, ears lifting a little further forward. "You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Wolf raised an eyebrow at her. "I wouldn't have said so otherwise. Here, look at it this way - do you miss having other dogs around?"

"Well...," with a sigh, Goldie turned and looked into the river, resting her chin on her knees. "Actually, yeah, kind of. Not that you and the others aren't great friends - Sven is a sweetie, Pippy's more fun than three barrels of monkeys, and Peewee...well, he's gruff, but he's got a good heart - but there are certain things that only another dog would understand, y'know? Things like the urge to howl at the moon or chase dragonflies. It's not the same..."

"Aww, don't worry, bone-breath." With a sympathetic grin, Wolf reached out and ruffled his friend's floppy ears. "Nook still has plenty of houses open for sale. With any luck, some big hunk of a dog will move in and you two can settle down and have enough puppies to keep the entire town company!"

"You're horrible!" Laughing, she stuck out her tongue at him. "Big meanie!"

"Meanie?" Contriving to look hurt, Wolf held his hand over his chest. "Me? Does this mean you won't go out with...ah rats!" The sentence was cut off as the bobber was suddenly yanked under the water and then the line went slack. "Dang it! Got away!"

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to distract you!"

"Don't worry about it." Wolf sighed and reeled his line in. "It's just a fish."



Within a week, the other three empty houses standing in Wolf's square were sold. He stood looking at the signs sitting on their lawns, uncertain what he was supposed to be feeling.

He'd lived in Avon for three months now. He was starting to get settled and settled meant getting used to the fact there were no other humans. He'd have been perfectly at ease if the houses had been bought by animals...perhaps a cat or a chicken or even a sea bass with legs (okay, that would have been odd...)...but they hadn't. He now had three very human neighbors to deal with.

"So, your name is Koi?" Wolf ducked as the girl in front of him hefted a carpet over her shoulder. She looked at him and brushed her page-boy hair out of her face.

"Yup. Koi Herrington. I'm from Milton." She freed up one hand and held it out to him, balancing the carpet with the other. She was a very solidly built girl and somehow her Nook n' Go overalls suited her. While friendly, something about her suggested she wasn't the best arm wrestling adversary.

"Wolf Greyson." He clasped her hand in a good, firm handshake. Yup, he definitely wasn't going to be arm wrestling her any time soon. "I'm from Southgate, just south of Eastminster. You know, one step up from suburbia, not quite small enough to have only three families, but small enough that everyone has at least two connections to you and knows most of your business."

"And you didn't go running to the big city when you moved out?" She arched an eyebrow. Her hair was a really interesting colour. It lay somewhere between auburn and chestnut brown. Wolf kind of liked it. It matched her eyes.

"Nah. I like the actual small town vibe...figured that one out when I went to University. I just wanted to move someplace with a few more animals. Where I grew up it was mostly people." He grinned. "I like my diversity."

"Hear you there." Koi returned the grin and then pulled a map out her pocket. "Look, I have to deliver this carpet to someone named Sven...wanna' come with me? I could use the company."

"Sure thing." Wolf pushed off of the fence he'd been leaning against. "Sven's place isn't far."

"He's not going to take our heads off if we're late, is he? I had to deliver an ax to some ape named Peewee over by the cliff...thought he was going to behead me with the merchandise."

That prompted a laugh. "Sven's harmless. Peewee's harmless too, really. I mean, I guess he wouldn't be if he hit you, but he's all bark, no real bite, if you get my meaning."

"Good to know, 'cause I can fight, but I don't really want to. Giving someone a black eye your first day in town doesn't exactly make the world's best impression, eh?" She winked one of those red-brown eyes at him.

He grinned. She wasn't quite his type, but damn it was going to be fun to have her around. "No, but if you could blacken Peewee's eye, it would be an impressive one! So, outside of the grumpy ape, who else have you met in town?"

"Let's see..." Koi chewed her lower lip thoughtfully and looked up at the tree tops as they walked. "I've done deliveries to Peewee and Tiara, wrote a letter to someone named Dotty, and nearly got flattened by a couple of jocks whose names I didn't catch. They were playing soccer. A blue hawk and a lion with a dyed mane?"

"Pierce and Aziz. Nice guys but...yeah. A bit gung-ho at times."

"Just a touch." She made a face. "Oh, and Kitty of course...she let me come in and take a look at her house when I was moving in. I'm glad her decorating isn't as pink as her hair. I was afraid I was going to die of sugar shock."

Wolf knew the feeling. When he'd first seen the cheerful, dark eyed girl moving boxes into the house kitty-corner from his, it he'd been unable to really get past the strawberry sugar colour of her hair. He'd fully expected her to be rabidly cute, everything-must-be-warm-and-fuzzy type who would flip out if you so much as accidentally stepped on an ant. Fortunately he'd quickly discovered that while she was quite girly, she also had a fully functioning brain and some fashion sense. And, he had to admit, the pink hair looked good on her. "Kitty's pretty nice. Have her cook for you sometime...the first night she was here, she didn't want to eat alone, so she invited everyone over for omelets. Very good."

"That's good to know. I can cook, I just normally don't want to bother." She gave a kind of rueful grin. "Ramen works for me. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll make stew."

"I've progressed to spaghetti twice a week and canned soup the rest of the time. Still, not what you'd call gourmet."

"Right then. If you smell smoke from my place, bring the fire hose and I'll return the favor. Deal?"

"Deal."

Through the trees ahead of them came the sound of light laughter. "Almost there." Wolf moved a low tree branch out of Koi's way. "It sounds like Sven has company. Looks like you'll get to meet some more towns-creatures."

"Great."

When they cleared the trees, it turned out that the "towns-creatures consisted" of Goldie. The other new human in town was standing next to her with his back to them. He was tall, thin, and had black hair that was pulled back in a loose tail that reached the middle of his shoulder blades. Wolf studied him a bit as they walked up. Well, he at least looks good from behind...

Koi announced their presence by clearing her throat. "Delivery for Sven."

"Oh! That's me!" The somewhat senile old Billy goat looked over the top of Goldie's head, bushy brows raised slightly. "Oh, is that the carpet I ordered? Is it really here?"

"One carpet." Koi confirmed, swinging the long package down off of her shoulder and resting one end on the toe of her shoe to keep it out of the dirt. "Prepaid, so all you have to do is sign for it."

"Excellent!" Sven hurried around his guests to sign the little clipboard Koi produced from her overall pocket.

"Hey, Wolf!" Goldie waved her paw in front of his face, distracting him from the girl and goat.

"I'm here, I'm here!" He laughed, batting at the waving paw. "What?"

"I want you to meet our other human! This is Raven." She gestured to the man standing next to her. "I don't think you two have met."

Wolf, having almost forgotten about the other man, turned. He froze.

Raven's lips lifted in a slight smirk. "Oh, we've met, actually, although it's been a few years. Hello, Wolf. Fancy meeting you here. How have you been?"

The gears in Wolf's brain lurched, grinding painfully against each other. "R...Raven?" He blinked frantically. The lean, high boned face, the near-black eyes, the not-quite-square rimmed glasses, they were all very familiar and all very much something that belonged to a different setting. A detached little voice in the back of his head noted that the Nook n' Go overalls did not suite the other man one whit.

"Yes, Raven." The other man arched an eyebrow. "I thought we'd established that."

"Wolf, are you okay?" Goldie was looking at him with active worry in her liquid, brown eyes.

Wolf shook his head to clear it. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine I just...bit of shock, really. I hadn't expected..."

"Where did you two meet before?" The lab looked back and forth between the two of them.

"School." Raven supplied. "We were roommates in University for a quarter. Of course, we fell out of touch afterwards because someone apparently doesn't know how to write..."

"Hey, I didn't exactly receive anything from you either." Slowly recovering from his shock, Wolf was quickly remembering why Raven had gotten on his nerves. Frequently. Of course, the other man was teasing and they both knew it, but the sardonic humor could get tiresome.

"This is true." With a small bow, Raven conceded the point. "I will claim an equal amount of the fault. Still, it is pleasant to see..."

"Hey, Raven!" Koi cut through the conversation. "Not to interrupt, but we should get back to work."

"True, otherwise the old tanuki might kick us out in the street." With a smile and a polite nod to both Wolf and Goldie, Raven excused himself. "I look forward to continuing this delightful discussion when I'm off duty. Goldie, Sven, delightful to meet you both, and Wolf, it's wonderful to see you again. I look forward to catching up."

"Yeah, should be fun." Wolf waved and watched with mixed feelings as the other two humans walk back toward Nook n' Go.

"Well, I feel silly!" Goldie exclaimed as soon as the others were out of ear shot. "Introducing you to your old roommate!"

"Don't worry 'bout it, you didn't know."

"Yes, but still! Why don't you ever talk about him?" His friend glared up at him as if failing to inform him of his entire life's back story was a grave sin. "Seriously, he seems really nice, and he's wicked cute!" Switching from scolding mode to curious less time than it took to blink, she asked, ears perked, "Do you think he'd go out with me?"

Wolf tried to keep the wry tone from his voice and face, but he failed, miserably. "Given that we used to date? No."

Her ears drooped. "Oh. You don't think he'd be interested because I'm a girl? Or because I'm a dog?"

With a deep sigh, Wolf raised his hands to his temples and rubbed. "I don't think he'd be interested because you're not a book. Seriously, if Raven winds up dating anyone in Avon, it'll probably be Blathers, and they'll be too busy talking literature and fossils to get to anything else." He paused. "Sorry, that sounded really bitter, didn't it?"

"Like Peewee swallowing a lemon." Sven piped up.

Wolf winced. "Um. Yeah. Sorry."

"Wolf?" Goldie was looking concerned again. "Are you going to be okay with him being here?"

"I...yeah." Another pause and he looked off in the direction Raven and Koi had gone. "Yeah. Raven...is a good friend. Very loyal and, well, when he wants to be very passionate. I guess I just haven't gotten over the fact that he likes books more than doing stuff with me, that's all." He managed a weak smile. "I'll be fine. Just give me a bit, 'k?"

"No problem!" Beaming broadly, Goldie latched onto his hand. "Come on! Let's go to the beach and do some fishing! That'll distract you for a bit!"

"Oh boy! I could really go for a red snapper stew for dinner!" Sven's eyes brightened. "Let me get my pole!" He vanished back inside of his house.

Wolf laughed. "Thanks. Really, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Probably starve! Seriously though," Goldie gave him one of her sweetest smiles, the kind that could turn Peewee into a meek little pile of goo, "you're like the brother I never had. I have to look out for you!"

"Thanks."

...the brother I never had...

...I'd really rather stay home and read tonight...

Boy, Wolf sighed as Sven reemerged with his fishing pole. Do I know how to pick 'em.



Finished