"You're wasting a good opportunity, there's much profit to be made here. This is a rare opportunity for this town to finally regain its popularity." Said the wolf, trying as hard as he can to convince Lumpy. "Sorry, we're not about to let our town be run by a corporation, the people here deserve better." Said Lumpy, leaving the dissatisfied wolf. The wolf gritted his canine teeth in anger, punching the wall to appease it. How dare he refuse to accept his offer! Didn't this guy know who he is? He was lucky enough to be offered a large sum for this small piece of land and he spits on his pride? The two tigers stare silently at their boss, they were told to protect him if the rumors about its residents having a serial killer walking among them was true, but that wasn't the most pressing matter at hand.
"Sir, should we report back to your father?" asked one of the bodyguards. "No, this is something I won't fail to do, the old man may have failed in the past but I won't, the old fool gives up too easy. But not me, I'm not like him. And if there's no way to buy it from them, then I'll have the last laugh at least" Said the wolf, pacing back and forth, thinking of a way to get the residents to just sell them even a small piece of land. If they could just give him some room for them to crawl in, it'd be easier to expand, these people are just as stingy as his father's fat fists. Bah, even the two thieves who were known to be greedy for money don't want to sell their own.
His thoughts drifted to Mime, come to think of it, he hadn't said a single word despite his advances being so forward, and he hadn't asked where he even lived, or his name. The wolf grinned and thought that this trip might be worthwhile after all.
Mime was all better now, he moved into the worker's rest house as soon as he did. It was more convenient to live there instead of going back and forth to his house. Russel and he were busy with the usual routine, practice with the knife, cook the fillets and get just the right amount of sauce. Russel had to admit, now that Mime knew how the place worked, he was doing a far better job than he did. "Yarr! You be doin a lot better than how you just did a week ago matey." Said Russel, proud of Mime. Mime rubbed the back of his head, nobody ever complimented him before on anything that he's done. The place was also starting to become packed with more customers than usual, it seemed that the incident was slowly being forgotten, and customers occasionally asked about the ingredients of the food.
Russel was about to serve a customer, who had his face obscured by the happy tree newspaper. "What can I serve to you lad? Asked Russel. "I'll be having one of your burgers, some of fries and a soda" said the stranger. Russel listed the orders down and went to the kitchen cooking the food. Mime filleted the fish like a pro, cooking the food with ease, when Russel entered the room, he attached the list on a hook which Mime read. It said "A burger, fries and a soda for the guy with the newspaper"
Mime immediately prepared the food along with the other orders. Mime went back and forth inside the restaurant, giving each of the customers their food. He hadn't seen people outside of happy tree town and he had to say that there were many more species of other people, three were foxes, spiders, dragons, dogs and many more species he hadn't seen before.
The last order was for the guy with the newspaper, Mime approached the said man, placing his order on the table. He was about to leave when he felt the man's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his hand. The sudden disorientation sent Mime sitting next to the stranger who had placed his newspaper down on the table next to the food. It was the wolf again! "Going somewhere my sweet?" said the wolf with a suggestive smile on his canine face. Mime immediately felt uneasy, he tried to leave but he felt the wolf slink his arms around his waist, preventing him from escaping. "Now now, what's the hurry? I just want to talk to you. I never got to know your name, or where you live. Perhaps we can get to… know each other at your place?" he said with a wolfish grin.
The wolf noticed that Mime was now wearing his makeup and disliked it. "Oh, what's this now?" he said while taking out a handkerchief, "Making yourself presentable for me eh? Let's fix that." Said the wolf who wiped his makeup off. "There" came the response of the wolf when he was done, his doe-like face was back, for all the customers to see. "You look really cute without all that, would you like to come with me so we can spend some quality time with me? And my, you have such smooth fur" said the wolf pulling Mime closer to him. He started nuzzling his neck and taking the scent of Mime's fur, he even smelled like a female, his hands drifted underneath his shirt, feeling up Mime's body with his paws. "So what's your name my lil purple?" probed the wolf in Mime's ear.
Russel was making his rounds, checking for new customers to take their orders, he saw Mime sitting on one of the tables. He was puzzled why Mime decided to sit with a customer. Until he saw the familiar shape and colour of the wolf who was preoccupying himself with Mime, his hands underneath his shirt and whispering who knows what to him.
Russel immediately stormed toward the two, pulling Mime away from the canine molester. "What you be doing to me employee ya damn molester!" said Russel angrily, Mime slouched into the seat, he was shaking in fear of both the wolf's grabby hands and Russel's outbursts. "Oh I'm just taking my side order of doe, can't a customer get to know his waiter?" said the wolf confidently, clearly not afraid of the raging otter. "No, especially not from you." Russel said bluntly.
A vixen caught their eyes on the conversation, when they saw the wolf, they squealed in delight, "OH. MY. GOSH. Is that Alex Hawthorne? The Alex Hawthorne? Oh my it's really him!" and with that announcement, a lot of people in the restaurant immediately came rushing towards the 3 whipping out their own cameras and phones to record the public entry of the young wolf. Alex became annoyed along with Russel while Mime was confused from the fast turn of events. Alex got an idea and immediately turned the situation to his advantage.
"Yes! It is I, Alex Hawthorne. I decided to grace this humble restaurant with my presence in the hopes of restoring its damaged reputation. But not only have I discovered a restaurant worthy of my appetite but also someone that I love." Many gasped and made sure that they were recording. The group of vixens had their hearts fluttering, wondering if one of them caught Axel's eye. Russel grew suspicious, what is with that attitude all of a sudden, what is he plotting? "For this young doe here has captured my heart, and I intend to make… uh whats his name again? Axel took a look at Mime's nametag and thought how unusual the name was. "Mime, what a unique name. Yes, I intend to make Mime my own." Said Axel, causing many of the customers to turn to him. "Oh my! She looks so gorgeous!" said a cat "And very shapely too." Said a dragon.
Mime was becoming nervous from all the attention he's getting, and they were mistaking him for a girl, the one thing he was trying to avoid all his life. They kept asking him questions "How far did your relationship went?" asked a bear. "Did you two ever kiss?" asked another customer, an iguana. "Can I date you if you two ever break up?" asked a shameless lion.
Russel had enough of this, he pushed past the crowd and shielded Mime from the flashing of the cameras. "Yarr! He be not dating anyone. Also, he's a guy." Defended Russel. The mass of paparazzi shots focused on him. "With that face? Its hard to believe he's a guy" said a customer. "Yeah, I saw him and Axel cuddling, he wasn't even complaining" retorted another customer. "Who are you to say anything about Mime and Axel's relationship?" inquired a customer. "Because I'm his boyfriend!" which got a lot of jaw-dropping reactions including Mime.
"Well this just got interesting" said Axel, walking towards the two, the crowd making way for the ambitious wolf. "I should've known you were taken already lil purple. Tell me, are you happy with him?" taunted the wolf, the crowd held their breaths, waiting for a reaction from Mime. Mime panicked, he was frozen, everyone bored holes in his eyes, not taking their sight out of him. Russel stepped in and said "He can't be speaking, he has a condition. And even if he can, he would never speak bad about me or me business. Because I treat him right, unlike you who was busy touching him in all sorts of places" said Russel.
"Oh, so we have a mute here have we?" said Axel. "Well then, that just makes this even better. I bet I can steal his heart from you by the end of all this, you can keep your restaurant but I assure you that he'll be all over me by the time I leave." As Axel strolled out of the restaurant, taking with him the eavesdropping customers, leaving a few customers who hadn't cared about the whole ordeal with their restaurant including Buddhist Monkey and the Tiger General who were busy with their own food in their casual outfits.
"Yarr! I swear I'll ban him if he tries that again. Lad, its best you forget what happened to ye here. Don't let it be getting to ya" said Russel who got back to work. Mime's heart was still fluttering from what Russel just said. "Because I'm his boyfriend" Russel's voice kept repeating in Mime's mind and the thought made him pull at his own clothes and looking at the ground. But the whole ordeal had also instilled fear in him, Axel was going to come back, "I assure you he'll be all over me by the time I leave" and the promise of his inevitable return filled him with horror. What were they going to do now?
Somewhere else in Happy Tree Town.,.
Petunia was working in the diner, with her husband Handy helping him. A few tree friends such as Disco Bear, Pop and Cub, Nutty, Toothy, Flippy and Flaky were busy eating their food. "Its just the same old shows, isn't there anything good on right now?" complained Toothy, who kept changing the channels of the diner's television. He came upon a channel and stopped "Hey Nutty, isn't that Russel's restaurant?" asked Toothy. "Oooooooohhh, yes it is" said Nutty who continued drinking the whole bottle of syrup. "Huh, I forgot all about Russel's restaurant, guess it finally earned some publicity" said Pop who was busy feeding Cub some pancakes.
"Because I'm his boyfriend!" which got a lot of jaw-dropping reactions including Mime. Everyone joined in on the crowd and Mime's reaction. "Wait, when were Mime and Russel a couple?" asked Flaky which got a lot of shrugging from the other tree friends.