Chapter 4: Birds of a Feather

"When is your dad gonna let us be in your room without the door being open?"

"As far as I know, never."

Another month has passed and now Lucy and Ozzy's relationship has bloomed. By now both Lucy and Peppy have met Ozzy's family, and their relationship is now fully established. While things between the two had become more intimate, their privacy is not always granted by Peppy. Lucy sat at her desk preparing for a test, and Ozzy sat atop her bed holding a can of his favorite energy drink. Lucy turned her head around to look at him, shaking her head.

"You shouldn't be drinking that so late, you're never gonna fall asleep."

"I plan on staying up late anyways. you know, I'm what they call Night-Otter."

"A Night-Otter?" Lucy gave him a confused stare.

"C'mon, you've heard the expression before, right?"

"What? No, it's Night-Owl, you dingus."

"Well in my house, we say Night-Otter."

"That's because your family is... you know what, nevermind," Lucy turned back to look at her laptop. She has a test tomorrow, and despite her vast knowledge and good studying habits, the stress is still eating away at her. Ozzy got off the bed and walked over to Lucy's desk and stood next to her.

"What the heck am I looking at?"

"Electromagnetic frequency formulas."

"Man, I don't have a clue what all those letters mean. How are you supposed to calculate this?"

"I'd try to teach you, but I don't have all night."

"WOW, are you calling me dumb?"

"Okay, Mr. Night-Otter."

"Shut up!" Ozzy took another sip of his energy drink to cover up the look of embarrassment. Lucy looked up at him.

"I love you, Ozzy"

"I love you too." Ozzy kissed her forehead and played with her ears before the two looked back at her laptop. Lucy stared at the screen before pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil. She scribbled a formula on it and began solving. Ozzy wanted to say something, but she looked concentrated. He tried to make sense of what she was doing, but it was way too complicated for him to begin to understand.

"Ozzy?"

'Yeah?"

"Stop breathing down my neck, please."

"Oh...sorry." He backed away from her to let her finish the problem. He stood and watched her ears. He knew she was stressed. He wanted to comfort her, but letting her be was for the best. He turned and walked to the door. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom." there was no response as he walked out of her room into the hall. Navigating the interior of the Hare estate was daunting at first, but he'd spent a lot of time here the past few weeks, so he knew where to go. He walked down the hall towards the bathroom. Turning the corner he very nearly ran right into Peppy.

'Woah, hey Ozzy, I was just coming to see you."

"You were?"

"Yes. So the StarFox boys are gonna come here for dinner next weekend. Would you like to join us?"

"Wait, really? What's the occasion?"

"There's no occasion, they're not busy, so they want to come over. Are you free?"

"Yeah, I'm free next weekend, that sounds great."

"Perfect. Anyways, I'm gonna go to bed. It's kinda late, shouldn't you be heading home?"

"I'll leave in a little bit."

"Ok, son. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Mr. Hare."

The two moved past each other and continued walking in their separate directions. As Ozzy made his way to the bathroom with a large grin on his face.

Ozzy made his way back to Lucy's room to find her in the process of closing the tabs on her laptop.

"What took you so long, you get lost again?"

"No, no I was talking to your dad. He said that StarFox was coming over for dinner."

"Yeah he told me that he talked to you about it. You excited?"

"Of course."

Lucy closed her laptop, and got out of the chair and went to her bed.

"And, um, sorry if I was being moody earlier."

"No, you're fine Lucy. You're just stressed. You done now?"

"Yeah, I'm finished." Ozzy walked over to her bed and laid down beside her. The two got close and he put his head up against her shoulder and neck. Lucy turned her head and began kissing the top of his head. "You're a great cuddler by the way." she said between kisses.

"it's in an otter's nature."

Ozzy wrapped his arm around Lucy and pulled her in closer. They could feel each other's warmth. There was a long period of silence where the only sound was them breathing. Then Ozzy pulled himself up on top of Lucy and the two began making out. They could taste each other's lips and feel each other's breath. They found a rhythm, and moved their bodies along with it. This was the first time the two engaged in a session like this, but they both knew it wouldn't be the last. While it only lasted for about two minutes, to them it felt like hours. Both of their body temperatures sky-rocketed, and the heat became too much to bear. Ozzy got off from on top of Lucy and returned to the side of her. Neither of them said a word for ten minutes. Lucy looked over at Ozzy to see that he looked visibly upset, like he was stressed.

"Hey, you okay"

"Lucy, am I an asshole?"

"No, why would you ask that?"

"You see, I'm friends with these guys, and well, they're not good people."

"Like how?"

"You know, they just do bad shit. Your dad would never let us be together if he knew who I was friends with"

"Then why are you friends with them?"

"It's complicated. I knew one of them ever since I was a kid. Basically grew up with the guy. And now he's friends with a bunch of really bad people, and well, so am I. I mostly just play online games with them, but I've been with them a few times. I've thought about leaving, but I...I don't want to leave him, so I stay. I just fear that I'm like them."

'It sounds like you care a lot about this guy, is there any way you can convince him to stop hanging out with those guys?"

"I don't think so, I just don't know what to do anymore. I'll admit, part of me likes it though."

"What?"

"I live a very sheltered life, and it's kind of fun to be with bad influences. I just don't want things to go too far. I don't want to end up like them."

"You know Falco, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well he used to run with some bad people before ending up with Fox. You can tell that he misses that kind of life, but he's a good person now, and that's all that matters. But I just want you to be safe. If you think leaving is a good idea, then you should probably do it."

"It's not that easy. These guys... they scare me. Leaving is something I can't really do."

"So its like a gang?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Fuck, Ozzy, but you said you just play games with them."

'I do, I've only been with them a handful of times."

"Ozzy, what if they hurt you?"

"I don't think they ever will."

"Okay, just be careful."

"I will, Lucy." Ozzy looked over at the clock on her nightstand. "Fuck, its late. I should get going."

"Yeah, you okay driving this late?"

"I should be fine."

The two got out of bed and walked downstairs to the front door of the estate. Ozzy started putting his shoes and jacket on, while Lucy grabbed something from the key bowl near the door. As soon as Ozzy got his jacket on, she handed it to him. It was one of the devices used to open and close the gate to the estate.

"Here, I think it's about time for you to have one of these. They open the gate. Just don't lose it."

"Oh, thanks Lucy." Ozzy pulled his car keys from his pocket and opened the front door. He turned back to Lucy and gave her a kiss. "Bye Lucy. Love you."

"Love you too Ozzy. Bye. Drive safe."

"I will." he stepped outside and closed the front door behind hm. Lucy watched as he got into his car and drove away. As his car disappeared from her sight into the night, she turned away and walked back to her room.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully things will start getting more interesting. I wonder if any of you have predictions. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading:)