A/N: I apologize for the last chapter that took too long. I was really busy with gaming, drawing, writing and working. The first three are something I love doing. The last thing is what I need to do. And because my shift is at random, well, I don't know what to expect. So anyway, I've already planned where to end the story. All I need are answers from all of you. Would you like me to turn this into a rated M story?
Because in one of the future chapters, that one is going to be explicit. I can go either way but I'd like to hear answers from all of you.
Also, I have passed all my driver's test with flying colors and now I have more freetime like before. And if anyone who will be wondering, I got 94% in the test. A solid A. Anyway, onwards!
Max was sleeping heavenly for the first time. The cold air, in his hoodie with his hood on, and snoring very loudly even. It was the first time he actually got a really good sleep for the past 10 years. He always prefered the cold atmosphere even though he's not so use to it. Because it was like a sleeping gas to him only in a good way. And unlike his couch back home which was all leathery and red, Sophie's was made from wool and was grey. It felt like he was sleeping on a bed but only in the shape of a couch.
"What the…!" shouted a voice. "That doesn't count! I totally dodged that!"
Max frowned at hearing the shout. He opened his eyes to find Sophie in her dark blue pajamas, sitting in front of him with her backs facing him. She was playing a Dark Souls game with her ears all droopy. But what he couldn't figure out was why she was angry.
Until he saw her character died. She gripped her controller tight, gritted her teeth and hit her forehead with the thumbsticks on the controller.
"That's so horseshoe crab!" she shouted.
Max chuckled softly, trying not to surprise her. However, she was so focus on the game that she didn't notice him getting up from the couch. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was already almost 12 in the afternoon and she was still wearing her pajamas. He walked slowly and quietly behind her, creeping up on her.
As soon as he got close enough… "Morning," he said.
She jumped a bit and looked up behind her. "Oh, Max…" she said in an annoyed tone. "Morning…"
Max looked at the screen and found her preparing stuff at the bonfire against the boss. He hugged her which put her bad mood aside. Her frown turned into a neutral expression as she looked over at the fox.
She smiled and held his paw. "I didn't… Wake you, did I?" she asked.
"Oh, not at all," he said sarcastically. "You were so loud I didn't even wake up."
She laughed and turned her attention back to the TV.
"Where's the bathroom?" he asked, yawning. "I could really use a shower. It's been a long day after all."
"Yea…" she said, changing her weapons and fast travelling to another location. "It's in my bedroom. Be warned though. The water's really cold."
"I'm pretty sure I can handle something cold."
She shook her head in annoyance but with a smile as he walked to her bedroom, proceeding to take off his clothes before entering the shower. He looked up at the showerhead.
"How bad can it be, right?" he said to himself, shrugging.
And as soon as he turned the valve to the right, it was one of the biggest regret he has ever said in his life.
He started screaming after being showered under the ice cold water. It felt as if he was being frozen alive. Meanwhile in the living room, Sophie's right ear moved and she turned around, giggling, shaking her head. "I warned you…" she said softly before focusing back to her game.
After Max was done and surived from the cold torturous water, he wiped himself as dry as he could and stepped out of the bathroom, with his legs shaking before sneezing once.
"Damn, that's cold!" he said to himself before sneezing again. He sniffed. He wiped himself dry again and went straight for his backpack to find something warm to wear. Luckily, he has brought his thickest hoodie made from the finest sheep's wool. At least, that's what he was told before he bought it.
He put on his long-sleeved shirt on and his cargo pants and went straight for his leather gloves before rubbing his two paws together to keep them warm as he gritted his teeth. Lesson learnt, never underestimate the water in Tundratown.
He was still feeling a little cold after putting on his white hoodie. His body shook a little but manage to calmed down after a few seconds. And as he stepped outside, he saw a very focus jill trying to beat a boss in the game. Max didn't want to interrupt so he tiptoed to the living room quietly and watched her play, bending over behind the couch.
"Almost there!" she shouted. "Come on!" Her character kept rolling as the boss kept striking. "Don't rush this…" she muttered. She frowned with her teeth gritted. The scary music kept playing until she saw an opening. She stood on her knees high and quickly pushed the attack button hard, sending it the final blow. Her eyes widened, her paws covering her mouth as she watched the boss falling and fading away before the message: "HEIR OF FIRE DESTROYED" slowly appeared before her. She dropped her controller and covered her face in her paws as she let out a huge and loud sighed after tasting victory.
Max stood up and chuckled.
Her sensitive ears heard him and she turned around. Her ears dropped the moment she saw him. She gave him a nervous smile and blushed. "You… Saw…?" she asked.
"Not all though," he answered.
She turned back around, lighting up the bonfire that appeared after the boss was defeated and saved the game. She sighed again, looking up in the ceiling and raised her paws in victory. "You have no idea how it feels like to finally win after taking so long…"
Max smiled and rubbed her head. "Guess you really do know how to have fun after all," he said.
"Oh please. It's the only thing I can do in Tundratown really. That and also because I was all alone before."
"Well, not anymore. I'm here."
She looked up at him and smiled. "Yea..."
"Hey. Do you think you can show me around the place? I could use some new clothes. The ones I brought isn't as warm as I thought it'd be though."
Her ears stood up and her tail wiggled. "Yea, sure," she said.
Max sniffed her neck and covered his nose. "And I think you could use the shower," he said.
"That's mean…" she said, giggling.
Max smiled and lay on the couch. "I'll be waiting for you. In the meantime, you think I can play a little?"
"No!" she immediately answered. "I… I mean, you can play some other games, like…" She looked into her drawers filled with video games. She pulled one out and showed it to him.
"Metal Deer Solid V?"
She nodded. "One of the best games of 2016 too."
"I've never even played the first game."
"Well…" She handed the game to him. "Neither did I. The story is good though. So I think you'll definitely like this."
"You 'think', huh?"
She giggled. "Just enjoy the game, silly." She walked into her bedroom towards her bathroom to take a shower.
Max looked at the game console carefully, scratching his head. "How do I change the game?" he thought. He opened the case to reveal a disc of the game inside and then back to the console. He frowned and looked up at the TV to see that it was in the menu part for the GameStation. He took the controller and select the game, giving him multiple options to do with it. And one option caught his eyes. 'Remove disc'.
And so he selected it and success. "I am a genius!" he thought.
Few minutes later, Sophie came out of the shower, wiping the fur on her head. "Max, do you need me to…" Her sentence was half finished when she noticed him watching the scene with Quiet who was a red vixen, stretching in the plane and her ears stood up firm.
Max didn't seem to move and paid attention to the scene too. The hare looked at him and pouted, feeling a little green inside her. "Max?" she called.
He turned around and waved. "Hi, Soph," he replied. He pointed at the scene. "Why does she keep bending over for me?"
Her ears began flapping. She knew it was just a video game. But the way how Max said it, it's almost as if Quiet was trying to seduce him or something.
"Soph? You okay?" Max called, after noticing her ears moved.
"Huh? Oh it's… It's for the fanservice…" she said.
Max turned back to the TV and pushed some buttons. "Can I skip this or…?"
"Of course you can," she said quickly. She noticed her controller isn't lighting up and walked towards him, grabbing the controller. "Oh, I see. Batteries dead. Woops."
"So, I didn't break it?"
She froze and gripped on the controller tight. "D-Did you drop it…?" she asked.
"No."
And just like that, she brightened up. "Then the batteries just died," she said laughing. Just like Max who values his gamefox and mangas, she values every part of her GameStation.
"Anyway, you were asking something?" he remined.
"Oh, yea. I forgot. Do you need me to wash your clothes?"
"Sure. I'm pretty lost already so I have no idea what to do anyway." His tummy then growled and he looked down at it. "Um… Can we get some lunch too?"
Later…
The two of them were seen at a restaurant called the Igloo. The building was shaped like a giant igloo where they were selling hot drinks and food. Max and Sophie were drinking some hot cocoa and were laughing during their conversation. The fox was talking about her rage over a video game. She would cover her face every time he'd make a bad impression of her.
Their food came after a few moments. Both were having fish and chips. And that's when Max notice something. Sophie was going to eat… Meat?!
"Er… Are you sure you're suppose to eat… That?" he asked, a little nervous.
"What?" she said. And she realized something and pointed at the fish. "Oh, you mean the fish? You may not know it but, hares are omnivores too."
Max gave a confuse look.
She giggled. "There's a difference you know," she said. "Rabbits and hares aren't the same. But hares are still prey because we only eat dead meat." She poked at the fish. "Like this one."
Max's eyebrow raised and chuckled. "Knowledge…" he said. "I just learnt something."
The two of them laughed at his reaction and enjoyed their lunch before heading for the mall.
(Fun facts about hares: Yes. They DO eat meat but only carrion just like vultures, which are also preys in case anyone doesn't know. Also, a full grown hare is almost as big as a fox. ALMOST.)
As time passed by quickly, the fox and hare were now at the mall, browsing through some clothes. Max looked through at all the sweater, jackets, hoodies or anything that was made from real wool. Sometimes he just wants to feel them but he just can't seem to bring himself to take off his gloves.
"Max," Sophie called, carrying some clothes, walking to him. "I found some that maybe you might like."
But he didn't turn to her and just kept rubbing on one of the hoodies.
She looked at what he was focusing on. It was black hoodie with two yellow stripes on both sides all the way down from the collar to sleeves. And on the back was a bluish white small-sized text in a frozen-looking font that read in all capital letters, 'I'VE CHILLED IN' and on the bottom, was a large-sized text in all capital letters with the same font that said, 'TUNDRATOWN'.
She touched his paw which he quickly turned to her direction. "Do you want this one?" she asked.
"To be honest…" he said. "I wanna know how thick it is first. But you know…" He showed her his gloved paws.
"Why don't you just take them off? You seem to be fine doing it at home."
"There's a difference between homes and public places." He wrapped his fist with his other paw. "I just can't do it is all."
She pouted and looked around, putting the clothes away. She grabbed his paw and slowly removed it.
"H-hey…" he persisted.
Sophie rubbed her fingers on part of his paw that was being revealed. "It's okay, Max," she assured. "It's just to feel it right?"
Max looked at her and didn't even realized she already removed his glove on his right paw. He looked at his bare paw and slowly felt the wool on the hoodie he was looking at slowly.
It felt so soft and warm. This was the first time he felt something other than Sophie's paws in public for a long time now. Most of the time, he would buy something and then knows what it feels like. Sometimes he would regret buying them but then again, he was always the kind to not bother whether or not he made the decisions as long as it was the right one.
He carefully pulled his paw away, making sure he didn't scratch it. He turned to Sophie and smiled. "Feels warm…" he said softly.
"So… You want this one then?"
He looked back at the hoodie and nodded. "Yea… Would be nice to remember where I got this from."
It was getting late now. And unlike in Sahara Square, Tundratown looked darker when the clock hit 7. But all the buildings turned on their colorful neon lights. Max looked up around him. It was so much more colorful than he has seen from the other two section. It was almost everyone here was celebrating Christmas.
Max and Sophie bought a few more things even after buying the tod's new hoodie. Just by hugging it the bag, Max could feel its warmth touching his fuzzy face.
And while walking home, the fox kept spinning around while looking out, gasping in awe at the beauty. The colors truly fit well with the snowy atmosphere.
Sophie held his paw, leading him home while his head kept moving, left, right, back and front, trying to get a glimpse of every building. She even hoped he doesn't get astrayed from all the lights too even though that was impossible.
"And you called me easily impressed, huh?" she smacked back, giggling.
"This and that are two different things," he countered lousily. But he didn't mind. He only said that to get some laughs out of her. And indeed he got what he wanted.
The two best friends returned home, with snow on their clothes. Max shook his head and body getting the snow off and removing his gloves, hanging them on the coat-rack but Sophie just took off her sweater and wiped the snow off of her head.
"That was quite the shopping," he said, shivering a little. "Kinda wish that it had more excitement to it."
"If you think so, wait till you see what I have planned tomorrow," she smirked.
Max smiled. "I'll be waiting for it then."
"Anyway, I should go take a shower. The heater won't last long before 8."
Max froze and looked at her. "Wait… What heater?"
"You know. For the shower."
"What?!"
"The heater switch was literally right next to the bathroom door. Didn't you see it?"
"And you didn't tell me about it?! I could have been frozen alive!"
Sophie smiled and turned around. "Well, you're just gonna have to get use to this place then."
Max formed a sly smile and hugged her from behind tightly and lifting her up in the air. She giggled, flailing her legs begging for him to release her. He put her down but didn't let go, laughing along with the hare.
Little did they know, they were… So close to each other. Max's lips was close to Sophie's neck. She could feel his warm, heavy breathing touching her, sending shivers down her spine. She grabbed his bare paws, lifting up her head, giving some space for him on her neck.
"Max…" she muttered, blushing after feeling his warm breaths making contact with her neck.
Max opened his eyes and shook his head, letting her go. "S-sorry…" he said, his ears dropped and was now looking down.
She turned around, smiled at him and held his paws. "It's okay…"
Max looked at her for a while and then away, blushing. "Ladies first…"
She smiled and walked away to the bathroom before taking one last look at him. "Hey, Max…" she called, making him turned to her. "Thanks for staying… It's actually way better than living alone…"
He smiled and nodded. "You have no idea…"
Her smile became wider before she entered her room to give the fox some time alone.
A/N: And today's chapter ends here. As I've asked before from the beginning. Would you guys and gals like the story go for rated M? Because in future chapters, it might get a little violent, bloody and sexual. But it depends on what you all want. To be honest, I don't know which one to pick but I can write either a rated M or T story even.
Anyway, be sure to leave reviews about your answer. I need all the reviews I can to make up my mind. I repeat the question: Would you like it to be rated M or stay as rated T?