"You still in here? Come on, Trav. You've been at this all day," Duke teased at the ferret still mulling over the paper he had written. Duke was there that morning when Travis had finally finished it. But now it was nearly 5pm and Travis was still at his desk staring at those pages that same way he had when he first put his pencil to the first line.
"I know, I know. I just feel like I'm missing something…," Travis groaned to himself, sitting back in his chair. He had been at this all night and had gone over each line of each page for what felt like even longer, but something but wouldn't let him walk away and just be done with it.
"Come on," Duke smirked, pulling Travis' chair away from the desk. "You need a break." Travis gave a defeated sigh and turned back to the persistent weasel.
"Fine, you win," Travis got up from his chair and stretched for the first time in solid hours. He turned around to face Duke, seeing the weasel smiling. He leaned against the table which had an assortment of chips and drinks on it. "When did you get these?"
"Wow, you were really into it, weren't you? You didn't hear me bring in any of this stuff?" Duke snickered.
"I guess not," Travis exhaled.
"Well, come on. I'm bored and you need to relax," Duke chuckled, picking up a can of soda and handing it to Travis.
It took Travis a few minutes to really relax, but once he did the mammals were talking to each other like they were lifelong friends.
"So, I've been meaning to ask you. Have you thought about what you're gonna do after this?" Travis asked sheepishly.
Duke chuckled and shook his head. "Hmm, the age old question. You know what you're gonna do, I bet."
Travis felt himself getting a bit flustered. He took the weasels' words as a compliment, never mind if that's what they were actually meant to be. "Well, yeah. I'm gonna study agriculture. Who knows maybe in like 15 years I'll come up with a whole new way to grow stuff."
"Hmm, glad you got something figured out. You probably guessed that I got no idea what I wanna do," Duke admitted with a shrug. "Truth is, the only reason I'm here is because ol' mom and dad. Something about a family tradition."
"So, they made you come here?" Travis asked.
"Yep, just like everything else I've ever done. It was never what I wanted to do. It was always about what would give me the best edge over the 'competition' and what would look the best on my record," Duke scowled, looking off in the distance. Travis just stayed quiet and let the weasel continue.
"My whole life they just pushed me in whatever direction they felt like was the best for me. They never cared if they were good at it or even liked it. And now they sent me out here and I have no idea what I wanna do," Duke chuckled dryly before turning back to the ferret who was listening intently.
"You'll figure it out, I know ya will," Travis blushed as he heard his southern accent slip out. He felt a spike in embarrassment well up in him.
"What was that?" Duke snorted. "Something you're not telling me?"
"Yeah… I grew up in Bunnyburrow. A country podunk in the middle of nowhere," Travis groaned to himself.
"What's wrong with that?" Duke asked.
"A whole lot. I wasn't the best person back then. I was a bully and hypocrite. I only had one friend and he's still my best friend in the world. But we did some bad things in the past and I still feel bad about it. And it got even worse when I…" , Travis stopped, the only one he ever talked about this was Gideon and his parents.
"When you what?" Duke asked carefully.
Travis took a deep breath and continued. "When I found out I was gay. I didn't have a problem with it, but I can't say the same for others back in high school. The things they said to me, did to me. I l know that it wasn't right….But sometimes I think I deserved it. Like some kinda karma," Travis admitted.
"Travis…" Duke said slowly. "I don't care about that. But you didn't deserve to be bullied. I think you're one of the nicest guys I know."
"Hehe. Took some practice," Travis smiled a bit. "It's been a while since I talked about this. Thanks for listenin'," Travis thanked, letting his accent out.
"I guess neither of our past were the best," Duke sighed.
"Guess not. But I'm glad I'm here now," Travis admitted. "…Hey, Duke. You remember last week? The party?"
"Oh, you remembered that?" Duke smiled a bit.
"Hehe. Yeah, I do," Travis blushed and looked away.
"Hey, don't worry about it. You're actually a pretty good kisser," Duke smirked.
"Uh, thanks," the ferret blushed even harder. The two talked for a little while longer until Duke let Travis continue finishing up his paper.
Left alone once again in the dorm, Travis looked each page up and down. He looked at every line and checked for perfect punctuation. For some reason, the paper seemed just fine to him now. Perfect, even. Travis beamed and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It was finally done, finally over. He could turn it in tomorrow and never have to look at it again.
Travis looked back at the leftover wrappers and empty bottles that sat on the small table. He smiled a bit and made a note to himself to do something nice for Duke sometime.